GEITHNER SHOULD HAVE SENT IN A FEW SWAT TEAMS

According to POLITICO, then-Treasury Sec. Geithner called up S&P's parent company and bitched:

Harold McGraw III, CEO of S&P parent company McGraw Hill Financial, said that two days after this announcement, Geithner called and warned him that the ratings firm had made an error in its analysis and that “you are accountable for that,” according to a legal document filed Monday.
McGraw said in his deposition that an angry Geithner said on the call that S&P had made previous mistakes and would be “looked at very carefully.” McGraw added that Geithner told him “you have done an enormous disservice to yourselves and to your country” and that the downgrade had caused real damage to the struggling economy.

There is a LOT of evidence that S&P and other ratings agencies fucked up the ratings for mortgage-backed securities, so I don't think Mr. McGraw has much in his favor although some of the Baggers are comparing this to Chris Christie's Bridgegate.