John McCain has gone and done it!! He has jumped out with all sorts of comments about the institutional failures and bail outs currently roiling Wall Street. And ol’ John boy opened up his mouth voluntarily so it’s out there now with the official McCain “said it” label on it. However, even though its been over 20 years, some of us remember that ol’ John McCain was a member of the Keating Five and up to his neck in the Lincoln Savings scandal in the 1980’s. Johnny Mac is betting that Barack will be so hamstrung by his own personal integrity and principles about running a positive campaign that he will not allow his campaign to go after McCain for his role in the Keating 5 Saving and Loan scandal. But Democrats MUST START Talking up McCain’s membership in the infamous Keating 5, and I’ll tell you why below the fold.
I’ll honor Barack’s sensitivities about running a strictly issues orientated campaign, however what ever a candidate introduces into the court of public opinion is FAIR GAME. You bring it up, you own it! Good buddy John McCain has started talking big time about regulation of failed financial institutions on Wall Street, and he has introduced a McCain plan to fix the current Wall Street problems. So McCain has put himself on this political field and baby it’s KICK OFF TIME. It’s also time for Democrats everywhere to punt the Keating 5 scandal to John McCain and let’s see how far he runs with this political baggage. The Senate Ethics Committee censured McCain for his intervention with federal regulators on behalf of Charles Keating, the head of the failed Lincoln Savings. The records from the Senate Ethics Committee (the particular body that deliberated over this matter) can be used to provide the details of McCain’s involvement in this scandal.
But my point is that this scandal is 20 years old and I would guess that the majority of the public doesn’t have a clue as to what the S&L Scandal of the 80’s actually involved, never mind what or who the Keating 5 were. The McCain campaign is counting on the public’s ignorance to make this a non-issue for him in the election. That’s why it’s important for Democrats to get going with the Keating 5 stuff because it will take time to reintroduce the public to the key details. The degree of McCain’s involvement with Charles Keating and his use of his Senatorial position to intervene on behalf of his friend Keating (who was under indictment for fraud at the time) goes directly to the question of his qualification to be President of the United States. It should be noted that McCain just barely escaped being criminally indicted in this same Lincoln Savings scandal.
It is my impression that the Obama Campaign may be holding back to a more propitious time, maybe during the debates, to have Barack drop the words “Keating Five” on McCain. If this is the plan it will have limited impact, and only on those people in the audience who actually know what the words “Keating Five” means relative to McCain’s record as a US Senator.
The question to keep asking over and over again is “Why would America elect a man with a demonstrated HISTORICAL CROOKED BACKGROUND to the highest political office in the land?” We all need to start raising this question all over the country immediately. The more buzz we can put on it the sooner the news media will be forced to get involved. Never mind Sarah Palin, the Keating 5 issue is John McCain’s greatest vulnerability. This story trumps his war record, and his years of service in the US Senate. The companion statement to use in conjunction with the Keating 5 question is the fact that when the Federal Government finally decided to bail out the S&L’s in 1988 the final projected cost had ballooned from 20 billion to a current estimate of 1.4 trillion dollars of taxpayer money, and taxpayers are still paying for the S&L thefts!
UPDATE: Some have commented that there were 4 well known Democrats who were part of the Keating Five. Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savings and Loan crisis) lists under Lincoln Savings and Loan the names of all 5 Senators. All of the Senators except for John McCain are no longer in politics. However, I interpreted the writer’s comments as signifying that if we bring up the Keating 5 scandal it will somehow besmirch the reputations of these four former Democratic Senators.
Three of these Democratic Senators were defeated in the 1988 election because of their involvement in the influence-peddling scheme associated with Charles Keating. John Glenn and John McCain were censured by the Senate Ethics Committee but managed to get re-elected. John Glenn retired from the Senate in 1999. I would imagine it is out of deference to John Glenn that the Obama Campaign is reluctant to light up McCain for his participation of the S&L Scandal. The DNC is may be concerned that if the Media opens up McCain’s role in the S&L scandal of the 80’s, it will likely dredge up and publicize John Glenn’s name also.
My response: Too Bad!! I would rather kick a little dust on John Glenn’s moon shoes than live with the trade off, i.e., John McCain’s STACKED SUPREME COURT, for the rest of my life. Let’s get real people; this election is for all the marbles!! To those super liberals who were P&M during the primary about Barack’s vote in the Senate on the FISA bill; if McCain gets elected, you ain’t see nothin yet. If y’all thought George W was trashing the Constitution with his executive orders, wait till ol’ John McCain starts up writing his EO’s. And in addition he’ll have a opportunity to stack the Supreme Court to make his EO’s stick. We’ve got to get everybody on board to STOP McCain with whatever it takes in the political arena, starting NOW!!! So Let the McCain/Keating BUZZ begin….
