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September 11, 2008 at 2:20 pm #588029
JenVMemberMcCain was the only Republican implicated in the Keating Five scandal, yet today he lectures his party and his president about “the corrupting influence” of money in politics. He rails against the so-called “wealthy special interests” and their ability to buy access to elected officials, yet this is precisely what the Keating Five scandal was all about. And, of course, under McCain’s current standard, a politician who takes a principled position that may benefit a donor is corrupt, even if no law has been violated.
The John McCain of old should be thankful that his political fate wasn’t determined by John McCain the “reformer”.
September 11, 2008 at 2:21 pm #638611
JenVMemberSeptember 11, 2008 at 4:15 pm #638612
acemotelParticipantAnd more McCain hypocricy:
I know it’s a targeted piece, but the facts are nevertheless true: the McCains’ worth, the homes they own, his reasoning, his words. They don’t live in the same world as most US citizens making less than 1 million a year.
September 11, 2008 at 4:45 pm #638613
RainyDay1235MemberAnd technically, he shouldn’t even be running, since he is not technically a ‘natural born citizen of the united States’.
Okay, it’s a stretch, but fun to think about. He makes up for it in being more than TWICE the age requirement, LOL.
September 11, 2008 at 6:33 pm #638614
JoBParticipantJenV..
thank you for that link.. to a piece written before the Palin nomination…
it’s good to be reminded why this is so important.
September 11, 2008 at 7:37 pm #638615
hellonwheels206MemberJenV, JoB, acemotel…..love your entries…it gives me reassurance that there are people out there thinking before voting. Keep up the good work!
September 11, 2008 at 7:55 pm #638616
JoBParticipanthellonwheels206.. i always enjoy trading ideas with a fellow thinker…
luckily, there are enough of them on this forum to keep life interesting.
September 12, 2008 at 4:31 am #638617
JennyMember“Thinking before voting???” C’mon, Jen, the Keating Five scandal is part of why McCain became such a reformer in his later years. Everyone knows that.
This summary from Wikipedia is basically accurate:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keating_five
Several accounts of the controversy contend that McCain was included in the investigation primarily so that there would be at least one Republican target.[21][22][23][9] Glenn’s inclusion in the investigation has been attributed to Republicans who were angered by the inclusion of McCain, as well as committee members who thought that dropping Glenn (and McCain) would make it look bad for the remaining three Democratic Senators.[21][23] Democrat Robert S. Bennett, who was the special investigator during the scandal, suggested to the Senate Ethics Committee that it pursue charges against neither McCain nor Glenn, saying of McCain, “that there was no evidence against him.”[22] The Vice Chairman of the Ethics Committee, Senator Warren Rudman of New Hampshire, agreed with Bennett, but the Chairman, Senator Howell Heflin of Alabama, did not agree.[9]
Regardless of the level of their involvement, both senators were greatly affected by it. McCain would write in 2002 that attending the two April 1987 meetings was “the worst mistake of my life”.[24] Glenn has described the Senate Ethics Committee investigation as the low point of his life.[7]
September 12, 2008 at 4:46 am #638618
JoBParticipantJenny..
that’s not exactly the view of those who were entrenched in Republican politics in Arizona during the investigation…
but nice slant on the story.
September 12, 2008 at 5:28 am #638619
AnonymousInactive1989 Phoenix New Times article shows Arizona wasn’t buying his claims of innocence. Interesting to note that almost 20 years ago people were tired of him using the POW image.
“You’re John McCain, a fallen hero who wanted to become president so desperately that you sold yourself to Charlie Keating”
“You won’t let anyone forget that you were a prisoner of war. But you have played that tune too long. By now your constant reminders about your war record make you seem like a modern version of Arthur Miller’s tragic failure Willy Loman.”
http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/1989-11-29/news/mccain-the-most-reprehensible-of-the-keating-five/1
September 12, 2008 at 5:38 am #638620
acemotelParticipantperfect, JT. perfect.
TY, hellonwheels. (your name reminds me of a great poem, I am going to have to look it up now….) Thank god for thinking people like you! I have never felt so afraid for my country.
September 12, 2008 at 5:51 am #638621
JennyMember> 1989 Phoenix New Times article shows Arizona wasn’t buying his claims of innocence. Interesting to note that almost 20 years ago people were tired of him using the POW image.
You’re relying on a column in a free weekly for that judgement that “Arizona wasn’t buying his claims”? OK, I am impressed.
September 12, 2008 at 6:11 am #638622
AnonymousInactiveI’m noticing you aren’t refuting the article, is what I’m doing.
But here’s most of the same facts without the obvious disdain the Arizona writer felt, if it makes you feel better. (The Boston Globe 2008)
” Black, a senior federal savings and loan regulator at the time, attended a meeting at which he felt McCain and four other senators PRESSURED federal regulators to back off from investigating the troubled Lincoln Savings and Loan”
September 12, 2008 at 6:37 am #638623
AnonymousInactiveAnyone can alter history on wikipedia. Just for fun, here’s a website devoted to collecting real articles and op-eds from the 80’s and 90’s (some current too) about The Keating 5.
September 12, 2008 at 10:59 am #638624
soclwrkrinmotnMemberGood reads, JT and JenV. I find it interesting that the GOP is counting on the lack of memory of the US citizens. If I think about, it is another slap in the face from the GOP…they obviously assume we are too stupid–or too overworked–to remember and research.
September 12, 2008 at 6:34 pm #638625
hellonwheels206MemberI have now,on three specific occasions, seen McCain asked about the adds he endorses regarding Obama that are obviously outright lies and YET, he deflects the question and will not admit it.
I’m with acemotel, I too am very concerned about the future of our country. This election is so crucial. NO ONE person can fix this mess the Republicans have gotten us into his first 100 days in office, but John McCain is not going to approach the solutions based on what’s best for all of America. He will bandaid as much as he can to retain the power of the Republican Party.
Can’t the public see that he has changed his focus over and over? I’m baffled. Look for the latest breaking news…should hit the airways by tomorrow..Air America reported this morning that thousands of ballots have been sent ot Obama supporters that are confusing that will make the recepiant think they are voting by ballot when in fact it is a fradulant ballot. What won’t they stoop to? Air America is investigating what lists were acquired and is going to reveal all they can pertaining to the fraud. This has Carl Rove written all over it. He doesn’t want a Democratic win, because Obama has said that they will proceed with his prosecution if there is a Demcratic win.
September 12, 2008 at 8:40 pm #638626
JoBParticipantahh…. vested interest… in addition to being a loyal republican:)
September 12, 2008 at 8:43 pm #638627
JoBParticipantjenny…
refute the information.. not the source.
my comment was unsupported..
but JT’s was… and there was plenty of reading in her additional link to keep anyone who wanted to learn more busy for a very long time..
September 14, 2008 at 8:26 pm #638628
JennyMember> JoB: Jenny…
> refute the information.. not the source.
JT’s website is subtitled, “One Crook Went To Prison, The Other Is Running For President”. The About page begins, “After 8 years of watching the country go down the tubes, we couldn’t sit by and let John McCain continue George W. Bush’s destructive policies without a fight.”
Well, of course. But anyway, the information is old news. The question is, what was McCain’s role in it all? Here’s a NYT editorial from that time:
NY Times, Nov 29, 1990: “How to Judge the Keating Five”
The five contend that no law or rule has been broken, and in the narrowest technical sense they could be right. But Robert Bennett, the committee’s special counsel, argues for a less literal ethical standard:
Whether the five disgraced the Senate by creating an appearance of impropriety through extraordinary, unwarranted intervention on behalf of a political giver.
Under this test, he faults Senators Alan Cranston, Dennis DeConcini and Donald Riegle but would excuse Senators John Glenn and John McCain. There’s no law or rule that literally forbids meetings. Indeed, some such meetings are justified. Oversight of the bureaucracy and constituent service are Congressional duties and the tools of responsive government. …
> JT: I’m noticing you aren’t refuting the article, is what I’m doing.
> But here’s most of the same facts without the obvious disdain the Arizona writer felt, if it makes you feel better. (The Boston Globe 2008)
But JT, even your article couldn’t help mentioning this:
Robert Bennett, the committee counsel, has said the pronouncement against McCain was harsh and the result of “pure politics” by Democrats on the panel. Bennett now is working for McCain to help respond to questions about the senator’s efforts in 1999 on behalf of Paxson Communications. …
McCain has said he has learned the importance of avoiding the appearance of impropriety. He said in his autobiography he would not intervene with regulators or advocate “anything for any purpose that doesn’t serve an obvious public interest.” He eventually renounced the practice of flying on corporate jets, but has stood by his general support of deregulation of financial institutions.
During both his 2000 and 2008 campaigns, McCain has said on many occasions aboard his “Straight Talk Express” campaign bus that he learned from the Keating experience and that it turned him into a proponent of campaign finance reform. Nonetheless, on a recent campaign swing, he acknowledged he would be forever linked to the scandal. The Keating Five, he said, “will be on my tombstone.”
So what, again, is the Keating Five episode supposed to tell us about McCain? Where’s the there there, again? How was this supposed to be damning to the older, wiser McCain somehow, again? How is this supposed to be an example of “more McCain hypocrisy”, again?
September 14, 2008 at 9:09 pm #638629
AnonymousInactiveIt’s perfectly understandable that you would choose to view McCain in the best possible light. Even though he accepted 112,000 (200,000 in today’s dollars) from Keating. Flew all over on Keating’s private jet, including to his private resort property. Had a wife and father-in-law enter into a deal with Keating. Attended not just one meeting, where he could have decided this is BS, but returned for a second meeting with regulators, which resulted in stalling the investigation for 2 years.
I can see how there is no conflict of interest at all and your take is that he learned from his mistakes and became a reformer. No one can buy his influence any more. I guess the 177 lobbyists that have worked on his campaign are all reformed too.
September 14, 2008 at 10:10 pm #638630
JoBParticipantJenny,
i was typing away until i noticed that JT said it better than i could:) Thanks JT.
John McCain did more than meet with Keating…
and it’s likely that had he not had so much washington influence at the time, there would have been more talk about his actual impropriety…
He was lucky to have had powerful friends to distract the public from the hand he had in the cookie jar…
and a glib tongue focusing attention on appearances instead of his actual connections.
Too bad that tongue isn’t still so glib. He could use it now.
September 15, 2008 at 10:45 pm #638631
RainyDay1235Memberhttp://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=IH0xzsogzAk
McCain supporters, I would love to hear from you on these….THESE ADS ARE OVER THE TOP LIES. How can you defend this kind of campaign?
I agree the way they edited Palin’s ABC interview appeared a little biased. No, she did not have any real answers that I could see, but cutting them short did make her look unfairly ignorant. But then again, that interview was agreed to and set up BY THEM, not an ‘I approve this message’ by Barack Obama….
September 16, 2008 at 5:22 am #638632
GenHillOneParticipantDid my ears deceive me? Rove on Fox tonight (sorry if I missed this in another thread) –
Without specifying, Rove said McCain’s campaign has also gone “one step too far” in some of its ads by attributing to Obama some criticisms that don’t meet “the 100-percent-truth test.”
Rove said that the campaigns don’t have to tell 100 percent of the tale when trying to score points but they do have to be careful about claims that are flat out wrong.
“There ought to be an adult who says, ‘Do we really need to go that far in this ad? Don’t we make our point and won’t we get broader acceptance and deny the opposition an opportunity to attack us if we don’t include that one little last tweak in the ad?’” he said.
http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/09/14/rove-both-campaigns-ads-are-over-the-top/
September 16, 2008 at 7:28 am #638633
JanSParticipantGHO…I love that little quote “the 100 % truth test”..what? is he saying that the McCain people are lying? lol…really? There are times when brevity puts it out there. He should have just said that the ads were lies, since they are.
The theory now is that McCain comes across as “uncomfortable” defending Sarah Palin and what he says that he’s “endorsed” in his TV ads (like on “The View”), that it’s his way of communicating that he’s really not happy with it all. So…who’s in charge? Who’s running the show? Seems that he has sold his soul for the election…do we really need this man as a president?
September 16, 2008 at 2:46 pm #638634
GenHillOneParticipantI don’t know, Jan, until the Fox interview, I thought Karl Rove was in charge. Now I just don’t know!
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