As usual with Republican spin, it is simply not true. The CRA has been in existence since 1977. The Republicans tried to kill it in the 1990s and failed.

Here is a 2001 vintage article that shows the banks lobbied for deregulation. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html...

The Bush administration's executive branch failed to regulate even after they saw there were problems:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/18/business...

The Bush administration stopped states from regulating:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...

Former Rep Oxley says it was Bush who discouraged bipartisn legislation that would increase regulation and reform things. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...

The Republican talking points just aren't true.

Finally, a Democratic administration would have done differently. Not only has Kerry been a strong advocate of oversight throughout his career, he added a plank to the official Democratic platform calling for mortgage reform that would prohibit most balloon loans.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html...