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

[mjtaylor22]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081006/ap_on_bi_ge/meltdown_kashkari;_ylt=AoIlj6L95H1rU2xIolX3mPms0NUE



By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer 29 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - The administration has selected a former Goldman Sachs executive to be the interim head of its $700 billion rescue effort for financial institutions.

Neel Kashkari, the Treasury's assistant secretary for international affairs, was selected Monday to be the interim head of Treasury's new Office of Financial Stability.

The designation was made by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who was the head of Goldman Sachs before he joined the Bush administration in 2006. Kashkari, 35, will head the office created by the emergency legislation enacted Friday to fund the largest government bailout in history.

[KareninSac]

Are you kidding me? Some 35-year-old is going to be in charge? From one of the offenders? I weep for the America that once was. The Bush regime has now officially destroyed this country.

[kiran888]

why is the requirement to be the Secretary of treasury, to be BALD!!

[Bajafox]

I am reading and listening now for some month about McCain being (and describing himself) a MAVERICK. He never was and he never will be. He has been all his live an OPPORTUNIST and his HEROE STORY during the never declared war in VIETNAM served that purpose. So yes he suffered - as hundreds or thousands of other service member before and after him did - and when he was released from the famous HANOI HILTON he used those years of imprisonment to sell his opportunism leaving his first (badly injured first wife) hunting as he always has done in the years before the war beautiful (and rich) women until he struck it big time with his second wife. Once he got elected to the Senat he started to sell the image of being a MAVERICK to achieve attention. The only thing I do not understand why he is so much glorified. If he wins this election he will accelarate the DOWNFALL of the US and solve no problems neither nationally nor internationally. My hope is that the American Electorate has learned something after the experience of electing GWB twice.
Good luck for the next election.
You know, black humans are as intelligent as white with one difference - they have to work much harder to achieve the same goals - even under affirmative action.

[Gotcha54]

Up until 4 years ago I lived in Arizona for 25 years and I was so sick of McCain using his POW experience every time he was in trouble in an election. It was a despicable act and he didn't care - it was like his ace in the hole! The guy doesn't mind throwing out a harrowing experience to be pitied to win an election - it's a disgrace!

[FatherKindly]

He is a disgrace to the country. We should be ashamed that this is the sort of man we produce and then call him a hero.

[chitown8]

Bravo!

We really do have to work hard just to be considered an equal!

[UtahLady]

McCain's no real maverick.

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/23316912/makebelieve_maverick/print

[fallsgonnakillya]

That presentation is very well done, in my view. Thank you for posting it.

[IhaveaDREAMwhitegirl]

We need more double digits in the swing states to counter possible election fraud. Obama is doing well but I think a landslide win for Obama/Biden is the appropriate reaction to Bush/Mccai­n/deregula­tion politics.

Cheney, Bush, Mccain and their ilk have shown such distain for 98% of americans, who they have repeatedly treated as deaf- toddlers, (not to mention our NATO friends) , and fleeced this country like a good ole carpetbagger.

This election must not be stolen again, please check your voter status at www.votersunite.org and let's get Obama a landslide victory this country deserves.

[leightron]

McCain may have been exonerated ethically, but it was proven 20 years ago, as it's being proven now: McCain does not have the judgment necessary to avoid a financial crises, or to steer the country out of one, for that matter.

McCain's camp is painting Obama as a terrorist because he lives in the same neighborhood at William Ayers. By that logic, McCain could be labeled a Vietcong because he spent so much time in Hanoi.

[Chillinout]

And Obama turns over one of the cards he has been holding in the hole. Coming soon, Paling and the AiP. Barack has so many aces in the hole it isn't even funny.

I think the McCain campaign has made another strategic blunder here by trying to bring up these tenuous ties to Ayers, et al.

[LoveMuffin]

This video really needs more sources. It has one guy telling the whole story, which objectively speaking makes it look like that guy's point of view. They should've gotten at least one or two more sources, even just to support what the bearded guy said, to make it look like a "real" documentary.

I don't know if McCain's involvement is the Keating thing is really a slam dunk. I think what's more relevant is how even just in the weeks leading up to the Wall Street domino effect of failed institutions, McCain was still touting deregulation.

[Palmz]

Watch it again. There were senate hearings and newspaper articles. Dr Black was giving a first hand account. He was there. Try Google!

[UnknownSoldier]

Obama did not make the video

[ThirdEye]

Perfect timing....­....It's amazing where POWER and GREED will take some people and John McCain is a classic example.

[honestpolitician]

Obama camp, good stuff !! This is a great "Ace in the Hole" that you pulled..An­d the good thing is - it's true - unlike what comes out of the Repub ads.... I just hope there are more Aces in the hole before the months end...

http://politicaladattacks.blogspot.com/

[svccgal]

I am SOOOO glad that he did this, finally, the Republicans are used to wimpy Democrats (Not Bill clinton) but Kerry and Dukakis just sat back. There is more if they want to keep going. Thank You Obama for fighting back! I sent money when I heard about this to the Obama campaign

[duchessdorleans]

I knew they were going to wait to trot this one out. Totally, totally relevant. This did not happen when McCain was 8 years old. This happened when McCain was a Senator. Talk about "Paling around." When the MSM repeats Palin's smear about Obama's relationship to Ayers, do they also mention that it's a load of absolute bs?

[AngryCenter]

No. They show clips of her saying it, then move right on to talking about Tina Fey.

[Kiabell04]

Funny that Palin is trying to attack Obama when she's being investigated!

[kiran888]

but what if Palin and Mccain operatives threaten the witnesses to go against Monegan?? That's what I am afraid of. the fact that Palin was in lock step with increasing the power of a VP role and is in support of Dick Cheney really shows how scary she is, by that statement itself it shows she is one who abuses her power to get her way whether it is legal or not just like Cheney. She is worst than Cheney, it looks like she uses her flirtatious ways to get what she wants too.

By the way, my mother-in-law who lives in asia has repeatedly asked about Palin and her extra-maritial affair and other numerous scandals. It looks like the world really hates her, it's some americans who love her. How does she plan on working with our allies if they hate her? Look at the Pakistani president he pretty much said she was nothing but a pretty face. No one is taking her seriously in the international scene.

[Philberto]

Nice to see Obama has brought out his cahonas, and my aren't they big. It's time McCain gets back what he and his harpy, Palin have been giving out.

[lvdragonlady]

Bottomline is, if there are no regulations or supervision - then the people can do whatever they want without any repricussi­ons.......­..........­..and when it comes to money, a lot of people will sell their s0ul for the 'almighty dollar'.

GREED as simple as that.

[DemsUnite]

Now that's breaking one's foot off in another's aSSce! Thank you.

[Exhaust]

WTF...McCa­in was cleared of this.

[anniek]

uh, no, he wasn't. Nice try though.

[Exhaust]

Cleared of all charges. Go read.

[bpowell1]

And so was Ayers apparently. So why are we talking about any of it. This is what the McCain camp wants let's not give it to em. I can't believe he would go there with what is going on now and his past plus his son just brought down two banks I am surprised.

[Palmz]

In the words of the VPOTUS:

SO?

What is Obama charged with?

[Exhaust]

SO? When the media is talking about Obama's 15 minute internet ad and they're saying it's just dumb, because McCain was cleared of all charges...­that would be your SO.
IT'S DUMB!

[mijumom]

The point is that he was reprimanded AND that he did not get the lesson!!

I knew it would be lost on "Joe Six Pack".

Anyone embroiled in that kind of scandal should know better than to promote the very same policies that led to the collapse. Get it?

[Exhaust]

4 dems and McCain. It was said at the time that McCains shouldn't have been involved in the scandal and the was the Dem Attorney Gerneral.

[AngryCenter]

But he was reprimanded for "poor judgement".