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

[harobamason]

Its already playing over in Europe on the BBC ... Huge!

[MiddleRiver]

Country first!!! Yeah, right!

[johnie2xs]

As per this link................

http://mediamatters.org/items/200810040004

..... the Obama people ought to start banging on McCain for his association with G.Gordon Liddy, a true American terrorist, if ever there was one.

[trailblazer]

Woah. After watching that, I feel like I need to take a shower. John McCains' words after viewing: "oh sh*t." He should just concede so some confidence in the market can be restored.

[mrsmdressup]

And that same anger in his eyes that he showed at the last debate. That's what stood out to me the most.

[bongogirl]

From Politico: The Keating episode took a searing toll on the senator and his wife, Cindy. Robert Timberg, in his 1999 biography “John McCain: An American Odyssey,” wrote that the trouble began with the senator “carelessly choosing his friends.”

“McCain had stumbled into a scandal of immense proportions,” Timberg wrote. “Charles Keating, it turned out, had built his financial empire on the life savings of elderly retirees, men and women who watched helplessly as their dreams were snuffed out along with the assets of Keating’s Lincoln Savings and Loan Association.

Obama/Biden '08

[lvdragonlady]

Once careless, always careless and since this was not his first time being careless, it just shows that he does NOT learn from his mistakes.

[mijumom]

I doubt he stumbled, that implies he was ignorant of what was happening. He is a dishonest and cunning thug.

[Obamican7]

This is a very ballsy move. I knew they must have had something in their back pocket like this. I just hope it doesn't backfire.

McCain's senility is getting to him: http://fiturl.com/0jF

[Changeizgood]

Hey everyone;

Put on c-span.org/live and see the bankers of lehman telling on the "deregulators" on Wall Street.

This is serious, check it out, if you want to find out how much "speculation" is being used.

Not only is America "plastic and bidding on OUR future" but it is a speculated guess, on our labors, though our jobs have been hemmoraging for nine almost ten months.

C-SPAN.ORG = true and balanced news and congressional and senatorial hearings and meetings.

Bye bye rethugliKLAN ConMen.

America is gonna vote you out NeoCon Men CROOKS!

Ha!

[mrsmdressup]

Everyone really should read this article.

Daniel Chun: The Case for Insanity

we can all relate!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-chun/the-case-for-insanity_b_132228.html

[popizzy]

The O campaign has really out done themselves. This was not something they just threw together at the last minute...they've been working on this one for a while.

Now I've been watching the news all weekend and all they've talked about is Palin bringing up this Ayers thing, I really want to see how much they talk about the Keating 5.

CNN just showed another clip of Palin talking about it this morning and briefly mentioned Obama's video. Now they're doing an investigative story about Ayers. Again....lets see how much attention they give this 13 minute movie.

[shirleen01]

Great comment. Jusst wait until they get Palin! She will be so glad to run her uneducated @#(*# back to Alaska.

[Americanwhiner]

It will tell us all we need to know about MSM if they do not address this in a BIG way. You're so right.

[bongogirl]

OBAMA / BIDEN '08!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Danigirl65]

I can see the video so it's still there

[Crit]

The Republican base needs to watch this, but they will likely stick their heads in the ground.

[Tommygun264]

They're too busy trying to resurrect Rev. Wright.

[2008FedUP]

Wonder how FOX (FIX) news is gonna sweeten this up. They are becoming more and more militant and angry over there.

[poropo]

am scared of mc cain with this story so how can we trust him. with this only will show you what our country will be in his admistration. i was once thinking of voting him but my mind is made up today. am voting obama.

[PFAnimals]

Video is no longer available at keatingeconomics.com.... interesting

[Actionmac]

sure it is try this link it's the download link to play in the browser my QuickTime took control.

http://www.barackobama.com/images/keating/keatingeconomics.mov

[Glenn1441]

Yes, the video is available. Obama's campaign produced it. The site is overloaded with traffic, which affects the play-ability, and/or availability, of the vid.
Check back from time to time if you've not seen it yet.

[Americanwhiner]

Yes it is. You have to hit "replay" to have it run through without stopping and starting, but it most certainly IS there.

[cvkathy]

It says this video is no longer available. Is that so?

[Actionmac]

try this link it's the download link to play in the browser my QuickTime took control.

http://www.barackobama.com/images/keating/keatingeconomics.mov

[TheSecularist]

Thanks. Your link runs more smoothly than the Huff Po video.

[Glenn1441]

It is available. The site is overloaded at times with traffic. Don't forget, this site was put together only to present this video. It is not robust. Click on the link 'Download Movie,' found below right of video 'screen.'