Looks like the Obama camp has decided to go after the Keating scandal full throttle! Since their mini-"documentary" is well-produced and thirteen minutes in length, one can only assume they've had this one waiting in the wings. Looks to me like they've been holding back deliberately, perhaps hoping they would never be pushed to go there. No doubt many Democrats will be cheering. (You can see a small preview here.)
For those unfamiliar with the Keating Five scandal, the gist of it is Charles H. Keating bribed five US Senators to the tune of $1.3 million to keep federal regulators away from his bank, Lincoln Savings & Loan. (These senators had been at the forefront of the deregulation movement.) When the bank went belly up in 1989, along with many other banks during the Savings & Loan deregulation fiasco, it turned out Keating's bank had made $600+ million in illegal investments and had failed to report hundreds of millions in losses. Tens of thousands of people lost their pensions and Keating went to jail for fraud.
While I must admit I am surprised to see this brought out so late, especially since there has already been considerable ugliness out of the McCain camp, I guess Gov. Sarah Palin's outrageous claim that Obama is "palling around with terrorists" was the final straw. I worry about the negativity of it, but I am glad to see Obama will not take McCain's crap lying down--and tying the Keating Five scandal to the recent financial crisis is the smart way to pitch it. It gives broadcasters something to talk about other than just the corruption charges themselves.
Monday, October 06, 2008
"I don't know, you naughty boy, I've never Keated."
Posted by Dr. Strangelove at 2:44 AM
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8 comments:
The ONLY way this would work is by linking the S&L crisis to the current banking crisis. McCain was one of two Keating Five who was largely cleared of wrongdoing. The other was John Glenn (D- Ohio). Interesting, both of the cleared Senators were "true American hero" types.
In any case, trying to say that McCain was corrupt is going to be a hard sell because he can truthfully say he was cleared of wrong doing.
All that said, I agree that this latest round of attacks had to be retaliated against. It may also serve the purpose of pissing off McCain and provoking his temper in the next debate. That would be interesting.
RBR - I think the point is that Obama has one really good piece of dirt on McCain and has to use it the mudfest that McCain is preparing.
McCain was not cleared of wrongdoing, btw. And he has since discussed what a blight on his vaunted "honor" this is. I hate it how military people use the word "honor" to mean "you can't ever accuse me of bad intentions." That's total BS.
Yes, this can be linked well to the financial scandal. In fact, it fits nicely. Reformer?
LTG,
I'm inclined to think that McCain was dirty in this deal. But there is still the official statement from the Senate Ethics board that said he did nothing illegal but only "showed poor judgement."
I do think that this will push McCain's buttons most effectively. He'll get outraged that Obama is questioning his "honor." Add this to the fact that McCain clearly does not like or respect Obama (witness his behavior in the debate and during the recent bail out crisis) and we could see McCain blow his top in the next debate.
This old Boston Globe Story is interesting: http://graphics.boston.com/news/politics/campaign2000/news/Pluck_leaks_helped_senator_to_overcome_S_L_scandal+.shtml
Did you order the Code Red??
You're damn right I ordered the code red...oh, wait...
Older voters, those who are now in their 60s, remember the S&L scandal well. Reminding them of Mccain's unsavory connection to that can hurt McCain with his biggest voting bloc, and that's good. Apparently he does directly tie this to the current financial scandal. Message: you can't trust him.
Opposing counsel filed a brief against me last month that said, "We vigorously object" to any use of blah blah blah. And I had a hard time not laughing.
Whoa! I watched the first half. It's brutal on McCain. Absolutely brutal. His head will probably turn bright red when he sees it. Makes me so happy.
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