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Hammering Home the Keating Five Message
I went on Fox News on Monday to discuss the financial meltdown. After taking a sober look at the bipartisan nature of Wall Street deregulation, I forced the discussion to focus on John McCain's Keating Five past. It was actually a pretty incredible debate. Both the Fox News anchor and the GOP spokesman basically freaked out and offered up the "nothing to see here, move along" deflection. They want to hide the undebatable fact that McCain was rebuked by the Senate Ethics Committee for intimidating regulators on behalf of one of his biggest campaign donors, Charles Keating.
Just for historical reference, here is the CBS News on 3/23/08:
In his early days as a freshman senator, McCain was known for accepting contributions from Charles Keating Jr., flying to the banker's home in the Bahamas on company planes and taking up Keating's cause with U.S. financial regulators as they investigated him...Keating and his associates raised $1.3 million combined for the campaigns and political causes of all five. McCain's campaigns received $112,000. The investigation ended in early 1991 with a rebuke that McCain 'exercised poor judgment in intervening with the regulators.'
Now it's true, the Ethics committee didn't go farther than that. But to try to deny that McCain's formative economic experience was intimidating banking regulators -- and that he was rebuked for doing that -- is trying to perpetrate a fraud on the American people.
Judging by the reaction of both the Fox News anchor and the GOP spokesperson, the conservative Establishment sees the Keating Five issue as a major weak point, which is one of the reasons I hammered it home (the other being that McCain's behavior during the S&L crisis is very important considering the current crisis is very similar). As you can see, I didn't relent on making sure that the facts got out in this interview, and I've been pounding away at the issue everywhere I can I hope every branch of the progressive movement similarly forces the issue into the presidential debate.
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Thank you so much, David, for having the um, intestinal fortitude to
appear on TV and challenge these vermin. I don't know how
you do it. Treat it like a game I suppose.
It's been sooo long since I've seen Faux News that it was actually
shocking to see how the host and other guest worked in tandem
to shill their bs in stereo.
Great job!
Good for you David! Hot dog!
Keating was his start but McC and Gramm have passed legistation deregulating banks, etc. We are now reaping the results of neo-com Reaganomics and this is the third meltdown due to it.
#1 Keating drama that led to the S&L crash in the 1980s costing taxpayers $$$
#2 Gramm with McC;s help passes even more deregulations and presto -- we have Enron!
#3 Today's meltdown obviously due to the deregulation about which Gramm & McC have bragged until the last couple of days.
Three strikes and you neo-cons are OUT!!! Take your trickle down with you when you go, won't you.
Vote Obama and elect a democratic congress to back him up, won't you?
YEAH!
In addition to the shared urgency of purpose in electing Barack Obama as President we must elect a 60-40 Democratic Senate majority.
As our financial institutions crumble around us, the Bush Administration, managed by the most extreme adherents of Market Fundamentalism since Hoover, has proposed a bailout amounting to nearly $1 Trillion in institutionalized Socialism. Having destroyed the foundation of our economy this Administration is now intent on billing the American taxpayer.
The irony is that over the last 2 Senate sessions the minority Republicans have set records in the number of partisan filibusters blocking much needed legislation...including financial regulation which may have mitigated our current economic crisis. Over 130 filibusters in 2 years!
A 60-40 majority in the Senate allows the Democrats to legally quash obstructionist filibusters and get our representatives back to work solving the extremely serious problems currently facing our nation.
I urge you to add your voice and your financial contributions to the following Senate campaigns where strong Democrats are facing vulnerable Republicans:
- Alaska: Mark Begich (http://www.begich.com)
- Colorado: Mark Udall (http://www.markudall.com)
- Idaho: Larry LaRocco (http://www.laroccoforsenate.com)
- Louisiana: Mary Landrieu (http://www.marylandrieu.com)
- Minnesota: Al Franken (http://www.alfranken.com)
- Mississippi: Ronnie Musgrove (http://musgroveforsenate.net)
- Nebraska: Scott Kleeb (http://www.scottkleeb.com)
- New Hampshire: Jeanne Shaheen (http://www.jeanneshaheen.org)
- New Mexico: Tom Udall (http://www.tomudall.com)
- North Carolina: Kay Hagan (http://www.kayhagan.com)
- Oregon: Jeff Merkley (http://www.jeffmerkley.com)
David - You are awesome. Keep up the good work. This isn't about winning. It's about informing the public about the truth. Thanks.
Here's a name that bears repeating:
Keating Keating Keating Keating
Don't you find it absolutely amazing that the Republican thugs think it pertinent to forward the connection of Obama to William Ayers, as spurious as it is, and at the same time think the whole Keating Five issue has no merit? They are, I admit, apples and oranges as to substance except for one thing. Influence. Influence is the point in both cases. None, in the case of Obama; plenty, in the case of McCain.
There can be only one reason for this, in my mind; the collective stupidity of the American people. I'm sure a case could easily be made that the MSM is also derelict, but that not withstanding, the inability of the people in this country to understand the importance, and the difference, in these issues go to the base of what motivates the populace.......There is no interest, to the peoples own detriment.
and he voted for the ENRON deregulation which resulted in over 100 billlion dollars in increased UTILITY Bills... California went from 6billlion a year to 60 billion and I am not sure where else this happened...
...
Hammer home the Phil Gramm thing, that he will not be made Secretary of Treasury...He has been hand in glove with McCain for all of these deregulatory messes and then has the ULTIMATE BRASS Bxxxx to say that Americans are Whiners... Well what about the TITANS OF WALL STREET and their handout????
Keating Five makes Fox News go crazy.
Hammer the issue, repeat, repeat, repeat.
Barack Obama? repeat after me: Keating Five.
Say it over & over, it will Bury McCain.
Please keep talking about this subject. Also, why has no one mentioned Silver State Bank and it's collapse after being run by Andrew McCain? The republicans are attacking Joe Biden's son, so why is Andrew McCain not being brought up for his role in a bank collapse? Looks a lot like the apple falling close to the tree.
McCain was rebuked but cleared? What's kind of double talk is that?
caught, rebuked, but let go because he was a war hero. He's gotten a lot of mileage out of the Hanoi Hilton experience. Who else was let go? John Glenn, another hero.
McCain may have been rebuked and cleared....but here's the point......
"I know how to fix Washington, I've been doing it for 26 years.....especially when I was trying to deregulate financial institutions in support of my friend Charles Keating. You know Charles Keating, he went to jail for bank fraud because I could not deregulate fast enough to prevent his failed bank from costing the tax payers billions of dollars. Ya'see my friends, I know how to fix Washington because I broke it."
The Republican brand is tarnished for all of us to see. The Emperor has no clothes.
This Fox announcers parsing should be part of the next Obama ad.
Instead of repeating the "rebuke" line which allowed her to repeat and end on her "cleared" line you might have tossed in the number of trusting citizens who lost their life savings as a result of McCains' machinations.
Very interesting glimpse into the republican-world's dictionary, where "rebuked" means the same thing as "cleared". I wonder if Fox thinks even their viewers can be that stupid. It's also fun to watch how they can attack and defend the concept of deregulation at the same time.
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