Only academic conservatives like yourself see it that way, just like academic liberals see the late 1970s as the product Nixon's monetary policy changes. It's all purely academic.
The majority of regular average people in 2008 (you know, voters) saw it as a reason to not trust Republicans at all, just as the majority of average people in 1980 dropped the New Deal Democrats. That's the problem the Republicans have right now.
In 1980, voters turned their backs because they understood (inherently or by political indoctrination) that unbalanced demand-manipulation caused inflation, which undermined the US economy. High marginal tax rates were seen as the segue to demand-manipulation and lack of productivity.
In 2008, voters turned their backs on Republicans because they were pissed off. That's as deep as the argument goes. What did Bush do? You could argue that his political impotence in Term 2 allowed Congress to run amok with their banker friends and raise min wage right before a recession (as if sticky wages aren't bad enough), but that's hardly a sign of Republican policy. The only legitimate arguments blamed Republicans for the exorbitant cost of post-secondary education, but that was it. Democrats were equally culpable for blocking energy development, and allowing oil to reach $140/bbl.
It's true that CRA and the Anti-Redlining Ruse cannot be directly traced to the mortgage-backed securities collapse. However, they are both part of government programs to manipulate demand on behalf of corporate America.
