Today the Huffingtonpost reminded us that McCain is no maverick. McCain often likes to cast himself as Washington reformer: we know that's bull. The Huff's Chris Weigant remind us today in an excellent piece that McCain needs to be called out and the we the American people must call out the media, if they fail to call out McCain. And we all know the media has been somewhat soft on McCain and overly and strangely obsessive with Barack Obama.
KEATING FIVE:
At Keating's behest, four senators--McCain and Democrats Dennis DeConcini of Arizona, Alan Cranston of California, and John Glenn of Ohio--met with Ed Gray, chairman of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, on April 2. Those four senators and Sen. Don Riegle, D-Mich., attended a second meeting at Keating's behest on April 9 with bank regulators in San Francisco.
Regulators did not seize Lincoln Savings and Loan until two years later. The Lincoln bailout cost taxpayers $2.6 billion, making it the biggest of the S&L scandals. In addition, 17,000 Lincoln investors lost $190 million.
In November 1990, the Senate Ethics Committee launched an investigation into the meetings between the senators and the regulators. McCain, Cranston, DeConcini, Glenn, and Riegle became known as the Keating Five.
(Keating himself was convicted in January 1993 of 73 counts of wire and bankruptcy fraud and served more than four years in prison before his conviction was overturned. Last year, he pleaded guilty to four counts of fraud and was sentenced to time served.)
McCain defended his attendance at the meetings by saying Keating was a constituent and that Keating's development company, American Continental Corporation, was a major Arizona employer. McCain said he wanted to know only whether Keating was being treated fairly and that he had not tried to influence the regulators. At the second meeting, McCain told the regulators, "I wouldn't want any special favors for them," and "I don't want any part of our conversation to be improper."
But Keating was more than a constituent to McCain--he was a longtime friend and associate. McCain met Keating in 1981 at a Navy League dinner in Arizona where McCain was the speaker. Keating was a former naval aviator himself, and the two men became friends. Keating raised money for McCain's two congressional campaigns in 1982 and 1984, and for McCain's 1986 Senate bid. By 1987, McCain campaigns had received $112,000 from Keating, his relatives, and his employees--the most received by any of the Keating Five. (Keating raised a total of $300,000 for the five senators.)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-weigant/friday-talking-points-36_b_108401.html
We know the republicans have know morals and they will try to connect Obama to the usual suspects like Ayers, Wright and Resko. Most Americans by now know who these three individuals are, i mean, c'mon, the media has made sure of that. But what most Americans do not know is Keating Five. So if McCain surrogates bring up Rezko, we should counterattack with Keating Five. PLEASE RECOMMEND THIS DIARY. THANKS!