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

[Jessegirl]

Uh-oh....those who live in 7 houses shouldn't start throwing stones.

[Anciano]

4+4=Depression.
8+4=Doom.
8+O=Opportunity

[optech007]

"Sen. McCain's actions were not improper nor attended with gross negligence and did not reach the level of requiring institutional action against him....Senator McCain has violated no law of the United States or specific Rule of the United States Senate." - from the Senate Ethics Committee investigation of the Keating Five scandal.

[Actionmac]

But he DID NOT LEARN from the debacle and to this day he still engages in the same activity...

Voting for and calling for more deregulation.

Blocking or trying to derail investigations into matters that concern the public trust... TROOPERGATE!

[kappa08]

"And Iraq has weapons of mass destruction"...So what's your point?

[doctorwang]

The Senate Ethics Committee did not pursue, for lack of jurisdiction, any possible ethics breaches in McCain's delayed reimbursements to Keating for trips at the latter's expense, because they occurred while McCain was in the House.[47] The House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct said that it too lacked jurisdiction, because McCain was no longer in the House.[51]

McC got away with it. That doesn't mean he wasn't guilty.

[bongogirl]

INSTEAD OF MCCAN'T GOING TO JAIL ALONG WITH KEATING, THE ETHICS COMMITTEE ATTRIBUTED MCCAN'T'S UNETHICAL BEHAVIOR TO "POOR JUDGEMENT" WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now, what about PALIN"S hubby, he was a member of the ALASKA INDEPENDENCE PARTY for MANY YEARS . He and his party WANTED TO SECEDE FROM THE USA; THE ORGANIZATION IS AN ANTI-AMERICAN ORGANIZATION. Palin married this man and had a bunch of babies by him, now WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT HER JUDGEMENT?????????????????????

OBAMA/BIDEN '08

[mijumom]

"Poor Judgment" is enough of an indictment to sway voters. We cannot afford poor judgement in these perilous times. Hey, how about a commercial...

[NoWMDs]

And OJ was not guilty of murder either.

[SheriChardonnay]

thing about Obama's attack is that he tied it to the economy...he stuck his attack to the ISSUE!

[SheriChardonnay]

MORE BREAKING NEWS: THE KEATING 5 STORY HAS MADE IT TO MSM...FINALLY OBAMA HAS UNLEASHED THE DOG....

next up obama will play to palin associations with the alaska indepedence party....her association, her hubby was once a memebe...

MCCGIMMICK DONT THROW STONES AT GLASS HOUSES lmao!

[Glenn1441]

And, of all four candidates of the two tickets, only Palin is under investigation for ethics violations. So yes, the 'glass houses' analogy seems rather appropriate.

[mrsmdressup]

AAAACCKKKKK!!!!!! Tucker Bounds is going to drive me bonkers!!!!!!!!

[recruitgal]

You mean he hasn't already?

[mrsmdressup]

more bonkers that I already am LOL

[kappa08]

He's one of those that is "impartial" but always has something bad to say about the left or progressives and rarely the right.
You know, the guy at the office that is purposly argumentative. Then says he didn't vote for any of them. Because he's an "independant"....pfffftttt whatever. Guys like that need a beating. I gurantee. You will be on A SIDE when I get done with you.

[oscars2212]

Very good documentary. The funny thing about the Keating 5 scandal is, a lot of young adults have no idea what it is. A lot people who were in their early twenties or younger back then, just don't know the details of the scandal. For instance my wife, who is in her mid-30's, had no idea what it was (until today, that is). She was about 20 when the scandal broke, and just didn't give a crap about politics.

So believe it or not this is going to be a very good education for a lot of younger people. It may be old news for old people, but not for younger (under 40) americans.

[Crit]

Also, the "bail out" of the S&L crisis at $3.4 Billion was peanuts compared to present tense. Obviously, more than McCain is at fault for not imposing stricter regulation on the financial industry at the time. This was under George Bush Sr, but more so under Clinton and the Republican Congress.

Absolutely power corrupts absolutely.

[doctorwang]

Very true. Younger Americans are not aware of the S & L crisis, and McC's involvement with Keating (and Cindy's too). Older Americans will be well served by a refresher course in the scandal....and the similarities of that event and the current financial crisis.

[mijumom]

The older people will be reminded and they will have an emotional response to it.

[BrainDart]

Even if I were persauded that McCain learned his lessons, and is spot on with his economic policies.

And even if I still respected his integrity.

And even if I thought his experience would serve America an the World positively.

There is no way I could vote for possibly, maybe probably, putting Palin into that seat. She flies a float place. Would you trust her to pilot a loaded 747 - with you aboard? That's what we're talking about.

[amerifun]

Caught redhanded ! Johnny boy might as well start planning his retirement.
Hey Maverick , It's time to get out a Dodge.

[Questinia]

"Phoenix Sun" 11/29/89-- McCain and Keating. 2 pages of scathing reporting:

http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/1989-11-29/news/mccain-the-most-reprehensible-of-the-keating-five/1

[KGinSanFrancisco]

McCain is despicable, Thank you for the link.

"The story of "the Keating Five" has become a scandal rivaling Teapot Dome and Watergate

By Tom Fitzpatrick
Published on November 29, 1989
You're John McCain, a fallen hero who wanted to become president so desperately that you sold yourself to Charlie Keating, the wealthy con man who bears such an incredible resemblance to The Joker.
Subject(s):
John Mc John McCain, Keating Five
Obviously, Keating thought you could make it to the White House, too.
He poured $112,000 into your political campaigns. He became your friend. He threw fund raisers in your honor. He even made a sweet shopping-center investment deal for your wife, Cindy. Your father-in-law, Jim Hensley, was cut in on the deal, too.

Nothing was too good for you. Why not? Keating saw you as a prime investment that would pay off in the future.

So he flew you and your family around the country in his private jets. Time after time, he put you up for serene, private vacations at his vast, palatial spa in the Bahamas. All of this was so grand. You were protected from what Thomas Hardy refers to as "the madding crowd." It was almost as though you were already staying at a presidential retreat."

[KGinSanFrancisco]

To the people who are having trouble watching the video:
It takes a while to load all the video info through the internet so it keeps stopping and loading which is unnerving. Wait a few minutes ,until it loads, in mute. Then drag the cursor back to the beginning and you can see it without interruptions. That's how I made it work on my Mac and I'm sure it can work on PC's too.

[Icantbelieveher]

Holy crap -- I just looked at this website, watched the video and read the letters that they have posted. When Obama comes out swinging does he come out swinging or what?

It appears that he probably wouldn't have even brought this up if McCain had been above board and honorable, like he said. But just in case, they had this website ready just in case they went desperate!

The Dow is below 10,000, people are losing their homes, and the global economy is tanking and McCain wants to throw stones from his 7 glass houses! What did they think was going to happen? Did they really believe that Obama would not bring this up?

[recruitgal]

I've got my popcorn ready for tomorrow night. I think McCain might lose it....

[OrionGal]

I've got my popcorn ready too! It's going to be an interesting *meltdown*

[PepperzMom]

Save that alredy popped corn for tossing at the TV screen - it'll be stale by then.

Wait til just before to pop what you'll eat - it'll be fresher.

[darker]

CORRUPTION, REPUBLICAN IS THEY NAME!

Republicans PROVED they are chronic LIARS & CHEATS who make empty accusations against others. WE CAN'T AFFORD republicans any more.

Republicans PROVED they are ALLERGIC TO GOVERNING.
REPUBLICANS use gov't ONLY to PROFITEER!
They pad budgets for their pals.
Republicans FALSELY blame others for things of which THEY themselves are guilty.

No more years for Republicans:
THEY'RE TOO MUCH TROUBLE,
AND WE CAN'T AFFORD THEM.

[rbrown1158]

Finally, I was wondering when the "Keating Five" was going to come out. I'm surprised it took this long!

[Actionmac]

Timing and need... if mccain had not used the nuclear option I don't think it would have been used.

This is a bad day for this kind of news regarding your unrepentant behavior surfaces, market down 500 points and do to the same reason the keating 5 were reprimanded.

Also, his involvement was because he helped derailed the investigation of keating... this behavior continues today with his and his campaigns involvement in the attempt to derail the troopergate investigation.

[AZterritory]

My bank closed, I remember! He NEVER worked against deregulation after this, and his voting/attendance record last year was the LOWEST in the Senate. A LOT of Arizonans detest him on many levels. Vote early! Friends don't let friends vote Republican!

[KGinSanFrancisco]

You mean he voted against regulation...

[OlderBudWeiser]

Time and time again, for years. He just stated we need regulation in the last 2 weeks, reacting to the crash on Wall St.