Obama To Hit McCain On Seventeen-Year-Old “Keating Five” Scandal

• October 6, 2008

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.
Retaliating for 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.

First, this happened seventeen years ago. And guess what? McCain’s still in the Senate. He was almost the Republican nominee for President in 2000. He is the Republican nominee for President in 2008.
Nobody cares about Keating any more.
As for the idea that deregulation caused the current credit crisis, let’s keep in mind that it was the collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – two government sponsored entities that gave more money to Barack Obama than any other politician in America over the last 20 years – that sparked the credit crisis. It was Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that held or secured 51% of the nation’s $12 trillion mortgage industry. It is government regulation after government regulation that forced banks to give loans on low-value homes to people with questionable credit.
It is government regulation that makes home sellers and buyers have to spend two hours signing their names at closing.
The credit crisis isn’t a problem with deregulation. The credit crisis is a problem with government interference in the markets and no amount of obfuscation and water-muddying from the Obama campaign is going to change that.

Tags: Domestic Issues, Politics

http://proof-proofpositive.blogspot.com/ proof_positive

This is in response to McCain hitting Obama with FORTY year old â€˜terrorist’ connections…

A) The “connection” isn’t forty years old
B) William Ayers as recently as 2001 confirmed that he was unrepentant and “wished he’d done more”
C) McCain was not indicted for any charges, Ayers was, in his own words:

“Guilty as sin and free as a bird.”
http://bullwinkleblog.com/ Bullwinkle

It’s been well over 5 hours since I asked WOOF about giving banks his money and no response. I almost regretted calling him a dickhead. Glad I stopped at almost. I do regret debasing poodles though.
rightwing consipracy’s brother

Amazing, the only (R) was McCain, all the rest were (D) and I wonder how many (D)’s will be unhappy with nObama for bringing it up again. I suppose that’s the reason for not really going public, but e-mailing millions of supporters a link to a website. If it really mattered, nObama would be shouting it from the rooftops.
http://SayAnythingBlog.com The_Whistler_ofnd

How much of the $12 trillion mortgage industry was [loans to people that the government forced banks to make.]

Well they did force banks to lower standards to boost home ownership among minorities.

That required lowering the standards to all, did it not. And once the standards were out then anyone and everyone was getting a loan.

So while the problem likely cannot be laid on minorities the law to help minorities can certainly be blamed.

And don’t forget that Fan and Fred bought up these loans and packaged them. As long as they were doing that there was no risk to the originator to the mortgage so they only had to put the paperwork in order and pass it along.
Mickey

John McCain was exonerated on this long ago. His innocence is a matter of official record.
http://massbackwards.blogspot.com/ Bruce

But, according to the Left, the years immediately following this “scandal” were the best years the American economy has ever experienced.

Where’s the beef?

This pales in comparison to Frank, Dodd, Obama, Waters, etc. propping up Fannie and Freddie to the point of destruction, while reaping the rewards via tens of thousands in campaign money.
FlyOnTheWall

John McCain was exonerated on this long ago. His innocence is a matter of official record.

I care he was found innocent. If he was guilty 17 years ago it would still be an issue.

Woof, muddy water much?
http://sayanythingblog.com/readers/author/realitybasedbob/ realitybasedbob

If not for John McCain, the scandal would be called the Keating Four.

(H/T someone else.)
OCKerouac

Ummm… This is in response to McCain hitting Obama with FORTY year old ‘terrorist’ connections…
http://bullwinkleblog.com/ Bullwinkle

Strangely when I go to the bank it’s is to give the bank money.

– Woof, the dickhead poodle

You give money to banks, why?

Why would anyone even as stupid as you ‘give’ anything to banks?

The money you ‘give’ them wouldn’t be to repay loans, would it?

Is depositing your welfare check ‘giving’ money to a bank?

WOOF, you are a moron.
Bat One

Could it be that the Obama campaign, having complained about “Swift-boat” style attacks from McCain, is doing the very same thing that they complained about?

Why, that would be hypocrisy on the part of Obama… a distraction from discussing issues!
http://www.chaosinmotion.com/blog William Woody

This will be a mistake on Obama’s part: so far he’s claimed the high road, and allowed people to forget his hypocrisy throughout his campaign, such as his swearing he’d never disavow Wright before throwing him under the bus, or promising to take matching funds before walking away from it. The problem is there has to be a gap of a few weeks: saying on Saturday “how dare McCain go negative” and then going negative yourself on Sunday permits people to more easily see the contradiction.
http://bullwinkleblog.com/ Bullwinkle

The result of the collapse of Lincoln Savings and Loan was that 23,000 bondholders were defrauded and many elderly investors lost their life savings. After a lengthy investigation, the Senate Ethics Committee determined in 1991 that Alan Cranston, Dennis DeConcini, and Donald Riegle had substantially and improperly interfered with the FHLBB in its investigation of Lincoln Savings. Senators John Glenn and John McCain were cleared of having acted improperly but were criticized for having exercised “poor judgment”.

Poor judgement? Where have heard of that being used as a valid before?

Oh yeah, Obama and Rezko, Obama and Rev Wright, Obama and Pflegler, Obama and Ayers…

If it’s valid for Obama to excuse his associations and business dealing with terrorists, felons and racist preachers it’s valid for John McCain.
http://sayanythingblog.com/readers/author/sparkiearbuckle sayanything-81

bullwinkle
thanks for sharing.
http://sayanythingblog.com robport

Ummm… This is in response to McCain hitting Obama with FORTY year old â€˜terrorist’ connections…

Obama’s own spokesman confirms that Obama and Ayers communicated with each other at least through 2005.

Poodle,

Strangely when I go to the bank it’s is to give the bank money.
I missed those days when they force a loan into your pockets.

If you’re saying that the people who took the loans shouldn’t be bailed out either, I’m with you.
WOOFX

How much of the $12 trillion mortgage industry was

government regulation that forced banks to give loans on low-value homes to people with questionable credit.

?? Give us a metric.

Strangely when I go to the bank it’s is to give the bank money.
I missed those days when they force a loan into your pockets.

Is it Tuesdays, Thursdays?

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Obama To Hit McCain On Seventeen-Year-Old “Keating Five” Scandal

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