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From Kathy Gill, Former About.com Guide to US Politics

McCain And The Keating Five

Monday October 6, 2008
Politico reports that Barack Obama is launching an online attack against John McCain at noon. The negative campaign is based on an almost 20 year old scandal known as the Keating Five. Whether or not you watch Obama's 13-minute "documentary" on the topic, I recommend reading this analysis of McCain's role by the Arizona Republic.

I learned three key things from that article:

  1. McCain on the scandal: "I was judged eventually, after three years, of using, quote, poor judgment, and I agree with that assessment."
  2. McCain was a freshman Senator who had been in office for three months when he was pressured by Arizona senior senator Dennis DeConcini (D) to get involved in the meetings.
  3. The independent counsel was Robert Bennett (better known today for defending President Clinton in the Paula Jones case). Bennett recommended that both McCain and John Glenn be dropped from the Senate Ethics Committee investigation. It was, however, a Democratic Senate; the committee said no. McCain says it "the first time in history [that] the Ethics Committee overruled the recommendation of the independent counsel."

Comments

October 6, 2008 at 10:47 am
(1) lorraine sheaffer says:

I think john mccain learned a lesson from this.
but who is obama to demand john mccain to tell all.
obama has many skeletons in his closet that he never will give a sraight answer to. And i think the public needs to know it all.

October 6, 2008 at 10:59 am
(2) Julie says:

I learned Obama associates himself with terrorist!
This is the video Obama doesn’t want you to see! It shows the connection between William Ayers (terrorist) and Barack Hussein Obama. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEeHl0h3NBo

October 6, 2008 at 11:39 am
(3) Alphast says:

Typical end of a campaign. Each candidate tries to smear the other… The level is the one of the first grader court.

October 6, 2008 at 11:42 am
(4) Alphast says:

On the other hand, if that’s all that each campaign team can find on its counterpart, it is a rather good sign for both candidates. Let’s face it, the Ayers connection is weak and does not tell anything about Obama’s ideas, ethics or policies. And (as Kathy shows it in her post), the attack on McCain is more showing that he was inexperienced when he began… Big deal indeed.

October 6, 2008 at 12:10 pm
(5) JohnnyTech says:

I have started to educate myself on the John McCain Kating Five scandal. This topic is definitely becoming popular among the news agenecies today.

http://www.congratstothewinners.com/2008/10/john-mccain-keating-five.html

October 6, 2008 at 5:38 pm
(6) uspolitics says:

Thanks for the comments. I’m with Alphast on this one!

October 7, 2008 at 11:28 pm
(7) Chuck Manson says:

The Ayers connection is part of a pattern. Obama seems to like to hang with anti-American types like Ayers, Wright and criminals like Rizko. Bad judgement. This guy would do anything to become President. Highly relevent since this isn’t what we want, bad judgement?

October 8, 2008 at 2:37 am
(8) KJ says:

I read about the Keating Five Scandal before this election became one between Obama and MacCain. It quoted John MacCain as saying “I don’t know what I was thinking.” Doesn’t say much for someone seeking the highest office in the U.S. in my opinion. Those who mention the “terrorist connection,” read the details. Their relationship was based on Education Boards in Chicago, where Ayres is now a professor at the University of Illinois in Chicago and Ayres wife is a professor at Northwestern University. Any major newspaper explains this. Hope EVERYONE gets out and votes, no matter whom you support.

October 9, 2008 at 8:00 am
(9) Alphast says:

Hi Chuck,

Long time no see. Were you in holidays? ;-)
Anyway, with all due respect, I think you exaggerate a little bit about the “hanging with”. Sitting on the same board is hardly hanging with. Even less agreeing with. The same goes for Wright. I would tend to agree with you on the Rizko connection though. That, specifically, shows at least very bad judgement or even sliding ethics.

But again, what is the alternative? Mc Cain and Palin? Please, give us a break. Palin is an empty shell and Mc Cain has no clue and just as many past “poor connections”, to put it mildly. But more importantly, he is representing the party, mentality and ethics of the same bunch who put the USA in this current catastrophic situation, both from an international and domestic point of view.

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