McCain's "Keating 5" Scandal Involvement To Be Highlighted By Obama Campaign

Update 12:30pm Monday, October 6:
The Obama campaign has released the full video of "Keating Economics: John McCain and The Making of a Financial Crisis." Watch it below:

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The Obama campaign, in an effort to combat increasingly negative attacks by the McCain camp, is launching an aggressive, multi-pronged effort to highlight McCain's involvement in the "Keating 5" savings-and-loan scandal:

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) on Monday will launch a multimedia campaign to draw attention to the involvement of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in the "Keating Five" savings-and-loan scandal of 1989-91, which blemished McCain's public image and set him on his course as a self-styled reformer.

Pushing back against what it calls McCain's "guilt-by-association" tactics, the Obama campaign is e-mailing millions of supporters a link to a website, KeatingEconomics.com, which will have a 13-minute documentary on the scandal beginning at noon Eastern time on Monday. The overnight e-mails urge recipients to pass the link on to friends.

The Obama campaign, including its surrogates appearing on radio and television, will argue that the deregulatory fervor that caused massive, cascading savings-and-loan collapses in the late '80s was pursued by McCain throughout his career, and helped cause the current credit crisis.

The Obama camp released this 30-second trailer for a 13-minute video highlighting McCain's connection to the scandal that will be released in full tomorrow at 12pm EST on the website keatingeconomics.com.

A former federal regulator with intimate knowledge of the savings-and-loan scandal recently told HuffPost's Seth Colter Walls that McCain is repeating mistakes from the Keating era:

William Black -- a deputy director of the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation during the "Keating Five" scandal that nearly ended McCain's political career -- says the Arizona Republican's chief errors at the time were underestimating the importance of regulation and relying too heavily on slanted advice from captains of industry.

"In the S&L crisis, he took his advice from the worst [kind of] criminal. Charles Keating is the person he went to for his policy advice," Black said. "Now, he certainly is getting advice from Phil Gramm, Carly Fiorina, Rick Davis -- the whole group of economic and top political advisers are lobbyist types. He just doesn't seem to get it, ever, that the advice is going to favor their clients. Even if they just stop being lobbyists, you can't just turn that off instantly. It's their mind state that develops. ... The biggest lesson is that, when you deregulate and de-supervise, you create an environment where control fraud emerges. You hyper-inflate bubbles; you get criminalization."

Click here for more information about the "Keating 5."

Comments

[Independent voter]

If McCain is going to talk about character, then it's time to talk about his adultery, his wife's drug abuse, her theft of narcotics and his efforts to cover it up.

Bring it on mccain!

[ensure]

Revealed: John McCain and the Keating Scandal: http://www.sefermpost.com/sefermpost/2008/10/revealed-john-m.html

John McCain: The Most Reprehensible of the Keating Five: http://www.sefermpost.com/sefermpost/2008/10/john-mccain-the.html

[vain jane]

maher's gonna love this. finally, obama with fangs.

[emack06]

I did not know this about sarah palin. I pipl her at www.pipl.com. She had two cases against her. One was dismissed.

http://orca.courts.state.ak.us/names/individ_results.asp?rdRow=WHERE+CaseNumber+%3D+%273DI-93-00249CR%27&SResLink=txtLastName%3DPalin%26txtFzcbnstName%3DSarah%26selLocation%3DANY%26txtYear%3D%26txtRecordsPerPage%3D30%26Submit%3DSearch

[Greg285]

About time....Wo­nder what McCain has t say about that?

[whatsgoingon]

There was also another, Bush's brother Neal, with a bank called Silverado. Neal was told he never could work for another bank, but somehow he was working for a wall st. company.

[Changeizgood]

Is this the reason for the Bush embrace.

Hmmmmm!

[JeffDV50]

I cut video profession­ally... A little disappointed in this. Five minutes worth of content spread over 13 minutes. Only one talking head, and several times I was not hearing voiceover audio, like there were a channel or two missing on the final air tape - would someone please check?

The 30 second teaser is great - was expecting more on the long piece.

But nevertheless, we're thrilled with the polls. Stay steady Barack!

[FatherKindly]

If this is an ad, it is far too long and artsy to make its point as trenchantly and as sharply as that point needs to be driven home. The average independent voter will have switched channels after the first thirty seconds.

But it tells a story that needs to be told. Only more directly.

[starboymikey]

If this is an ad, it is far too long and artsy to make its point as trenchantly and as sharply as that point needs to be driven home.
__________­__________­__________­__________­__________­_

Actually, it's not an ad in the conventional sense. It's a short film that actually connects the dots on McCain then and McCain now. I personally find it devastating.

I snort of snoozed through the S&L scandal as it didn't seem to affect me in any way. But seeing it now in context of something much worse that is affecting the whole world ... yikes!

I'm sure the McCain camp will get all indignant about Obama bringing up "ancient history", but it is bound to put the Macster on the defensive again tomorrow night, and that is exactly where we want him and where he deserves to be.

[harobamason]

COMING SOON TO A SCREEN NEAR YOU: TROOPERGATE

Investigators are scheduled to submit a report on the investigation Friday. Oral arguments are scheduled for Wednesday.

[lordball]

All of us can expect that pretty soon. Time to bring that witch down to Chinatown.

[autochrome]

I was really looking forward to this and thought it would be a powerful infusion of hard hitting information at a critical time in the campaign.

This film needs to be edited down to 3 minutes from 16 -- very easy to do if one simply removes the ponderous and self-conscious stylistic mush. I was thrilled to see it and after the opening credits I could tell it had no intention of holding or engaging a viewer. This type of filmmaking should only be done in French.

Sorry, right idea, wrong execution. And what is it with Democrats this year thinking people like reading word montage? If Dems are relying on "hard-hitting" newspaper headlines to counter Repub video attacks, I've got a newspaper conglomerate I'd like to sell you.

[karalad]

Wouldn't be surprised if he is involved in some way with what has happened recently!

[ThankYouVeryMuch]

FINALLY!!! Bring it home, Obama!

[hyjanks]

Oh, come on! Sarah was right. Let's stop all of this finger-pointing and history revision and get on with the business of America which is business (I think she said that--maybe it was a borrowed quote).

Maybe the few RIGHTeous-wingers, Palin apologists, and McCain madmen who contribute to this blog should memorize the following quote:

An intelligent man cannot accept the theory that personalities create history. In my opinion, men make history and play a considerable part in it only if they understand the people's needs and wishes, and insofar as they become part of the people themselves.

--Josip Broz Tiro

[JT16682]

This is long overdue; spread the word, please... However, a shorter, abbreviated version, is needed to convey the critical message to less educated voters in battle ground states. I'm not an elitist, but we have to speak on the same wavelength in order to communicate effectively.

[Maka]

I don't know, I thought the piece had a very "American Justice" feel to it, or "City Confidential" - those crime shows that are so popular on A & E. It was fascinating. So hopefully it's compelling enough to keep others watching.

[JohnnyRivers]

This is way too high above the heads of GOP voting Rednecks. It will not bring Obama any votes. Rednecks respond to THE BABY JESUS, guns and cowboy hats... And they hate Blacks. All Obama can do is carry a bible, put on a cowboy hat and give up the gun issue... Which, in reality, is a total joke anyway.
Eating a few hot dogs at a NASCAR race would help too.

[kiran888]

remember this election is not trying to win over base voters it's about the independents and the undecided. They are undecided because they really delve into the specifics of each candidates, with the truth about McCain's involvement in one of the most major savings and loans scandals, will be good for the dems. I only wish the dems brought this out earlier, this is a major concern for the middle class.

[greymom]

Well said. I believe that the undecided voters are of a higher mental caliber than the ones who vote their culture, what their parents voted, or what talk radio tells them. It does make it understandable for the average person. Perhaps not one with ADD but the average person.

[JohnnyRivers]

At this point in the game the only Independents left are REDNECKS. There is absolutely no "rational" reason for anyone to vote McSame/Palin. It's as clear as a bell. REDNECKS don't do rational.

[CeciliaBertrand]

Actually some rednecks DO support Obama, if a few can - so can many more.