Mayor Daley lashed out at John McCain Tuesday after the Republican nominee included Daley's brother, former U.S. Commerce Secretary Bill Daley, in an attack ad tying Barack Obama to "the corrupt Chicago political machine."
Daley, as quoted in the Sun-Times:
"You had the Keating Five. We had the biggest scandal in America called savings and loan. The biggest scandal. People lost their homes because of greed. And no one is inferring [wrongdoing by] Sen. McCain and the others, who were always known as the Keating Five. So, if people start throwing dirt and mud, remember it comes back and hits you right in the face. [...] It would be a great ad. Remember: People lost their life savings, their own homes for a guy named Keating out of Arizona."
Watch Mayor Daley and Bill Daley call out McCain:
Earlier Tuesday, Bill Daley defended himself against the charges that he worked as a lobbyist and had ties to the indicted fundraiser Tony Rezko.
"The whole thing is an outright lie," Daley told Chicago Sun-Times columnist Michael Sneed. "The ad claims I'm a lobbyist. I've never been a lobbyist! My son, Bill, was a lobbyist five years ago. I don't know what they're talking about."
Daley, who has begun polling for a possible 2010 gubernatorial run, said McCain even called him "the greatest U.S. Commerce secretary ever" at a conference 18 months ago.
McCain "voted for me to be commerce secretary," Daley told the Sun-Times' Lynn Sweet. ''I am part of the Evil Empire? It's not the John McCain that people respected for so many years in Washington."
Sweet sorts out the rest of the charges in McCain's ad and the extent of Obama's involvement in Chicago's "tribal politics" and reform efforts here.
Watch McCain's "Chicago Machine" ad: