The Keating Five (from left:) Sen. Alan Cranston (D-CA,) Sen. John Glenn (D-OH,) Sen. John McCain (R-AZ,) Sen Donald Riegle (D-MI) and Jermaine.
Well, it looks like John McCain will take the gloves off in tomorrow night's debate. We don't know exactly what that refers to, as the Arizona senator wasn't even wearing any gloves when he said it, but we do know what Barack Obama's response is going to be.He's going to bring up the Keating Five.
The Keating Five were five senators in the late 80's who were accused of taking gifts and essentially working for Charles Keating, the chairman of Lincoln Savings & Loan, to keep the Savings & Loan industry deregulated. The deregulation of the S&L industry allowed companies like Lincoln to grow, while also allowing them to make increasingly risky moves with their client's money. When this blew up in everyone's face, an investigation was launched, Keating went to jail and the five senators (including McCain) were dragged down, too.
While Senator McCain was ultimately found guilty of nothing more than "showing poor judgement," his reputation still took a hit. He was able to recover, and no one really talks about the Keating Five stuff anymore. Both the media and Obama's campaign has largely ignored it.
But now, the Obama campaign, in the midst of a financial crisis that has some eerie similarities to the S&L crisis, is coming out with a 13 minute "documentary" highlighting McCain's role in the scandal. And here it is.
1 comment:
The evidence, from the admittedly “Liberal” New York Times, as well as the very “Liberal” PBS Online News Hour PROVES that this pathetic and unfounded attempt to smear McCain with the crimes of Keating is unmitigated BUNK!
1) Although McCain had dealings with Keating (who was a constituent in McCain’s district), McCain was NOT connected in ANY WAY to the CRIMES committed by Keating (and even The New York Times ADMITTED IT).
2) McCain did NOT support, IN ANY WAY, Keating’s request for regulators to ignore his violations (much less eliminate the regulations).
3) In FACT, even the New York Times admits that the Keating scandal ONLY involved Democrats (which is precisely why the Dems were so DESPERATE to lynch the ONLY Republican they could even REMOTELY connect to Keating)!
Quoting the New York Times:
“The special counsel to the Senate Ethics Committee has recommended that the panel clear two of the five Senators under investigation for their links to the savings and loan debacle, Congressional officials said today.
In a confidential report submitted to the committee on Sept. 10, the special counsel, Robert S. Bennett, concluded that there was not adequate evidence to merit a full-scale investigation of John Glenn, an Ohio Democrat, and John McCain, an Arizona Republican, several officials said.”
“If Mr. McCain is dropped from the investigation, the political implications could be significant: He is the only Republican under scrutiny, and Republicans could portray the scandal as a Democratic one.”
4) Quoting the very “Liberal” PBS Online News Hour:
“The Senate Ethics Committee concluded that Glenn and McCain's involvement in the scheme was minimal and dropped the charges against them. In August 1991, the committee ruled that the other three [DEMOCRATIC] senators had acted improperly in interfering with the Federal Home Loan Banking Board's investigation.”
Click here for the UNDENIABLE FACTS on what REALLY caused the current housing mess (AND the Keating related S&L mess).
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