datasets.iitb.crawledDocs.yn_08Oct08_file_275 Maven / Gradle / Ivy

  Campaign 2008 Play the electoral outcome prediction game. Full state-by-state coverage of all '08 races. recent posts Stories by Category | Stories By Date Related Links More on The Fix From The Post BlogRoll washingtonpost.com's Politics Blog | | ( ) The Keating Fight (And Why It Matters) John McCain in Pueblo, Colorado. By John Moore -- Getty Images Photo Responding to a to raise the issues of character and ethics over the final month of the presidential campaign, Barack Obama began a full-frontal assault on the Arizona senator's ties to developer Charles Keating, who was convicted of fraud in the savings and loan scandal of the late 1980s. At noon today, the Obama campaign released a dedicated to exploring McCain's role in the S&L scandal that eventually enveloped five senators (four Democrats and McCain) a.k.a. the "Keating Five." The mini-documentary seeks to paint the relationship between McCain, then a member of the House, and Keating (who was chairman of Lincoln Savings and Loan) during the mid 1980s as entirely nefarious -- casting Keating as seeking to buy off his friend McCain. While the "Keating Five" has occasionally come up in McCain's political career, it has never been an issue that has caused him any significant agita. McCain, who was but nothing else by the Senate Ethics Committee, has pointed to his experience with the "Keating Five" as his spur to pushing for campaign finance reform and the limitation of money in campaign politics. Recognizing the potential peril in the Obama attack on Keating, the McCain campaign quickly organized a conference call at noon today (the same time the ad was set to be released) with John Dowd, the lawyer who represented McCain during the Senate Ethics hearing. (Interesting Dowd fact: After supporting McCain's presidential candidacies in 2000 and early 2008, to former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson .) Dowd described McCain as "fully open" to all of the questions posed by the Ethics panel, adding: "There was no merit to the allegations against John." He went on to describe the , who chaired the investigation, as a "stooge" for then Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell (D-Maine). "This was a classic political smear job on John," added Dowd. For McCain, within a career built on reform principles. And, it's for just that reason that his campaign needs to beat the story back as quickly as possible. At the root of McCain's appeal -- particularly to independent voters -- is his image as a crusader against the political establishment, someone who, although he has spent more than two decades in Washington, has never caught "Potomac Fever." (For the record, the Fix HATES that phrase. And, for a terrific defense of our fair city make sure to check out .) The "Keating Five" episode has the potential -- we repeat, potential -- to cast a pall over that McCain as maverick image. The more people see McCain as just another politician, the worse chance he has of making a comeback in the final month of the campaign. The same goes for Obama and the questions surrounding . (Side note to candidates: Do NOT hang out with developers -- no good will come of it.). The more , the more Obama's promise of a new politics wears off -- a promise that lies at the core of Obama's appeal. McCain must hope that the renewed focus on the "Keating Five" is nothing more than a single day story, overridden by . The real question is whether Obama, who has tended to shy away from direct personal attacks during the primary and general election debates to date, will make mention of Keating tomorrow night. If he does, the story could have legs well beyond today. By Chris Cillizza | October 6, 2008; 2:33 PM ET | Category: Previous: | Next: Add The Fix to Your Site Be the first to know when there's a new installment of The Fix! This widget is easy to add to your Web site, and it will update every time there's a new entry on The Fix. Comments I made a nice video for Barack Obama at: Obama 2008. God bless USA. Posted by: wembakoy | October 7, 2008 7:30 PM | . . Voted One Of The Nation's Top 5 Blogs For The Election of 2008 Bookmark it now !!!! . . Voted One Of The Nation's Top 5 Blogs For The Election of 2008 Bookmark it now !!!! . . Posted by: 37thandOStreet | October 7, 2008 6:11 PM | McCain and G. Gorden Liddy McCain and U.S. Council for World Freedom (USCWF) McCain and Iran-Contra Affair Posted by: celebrate2too | October 7, 2008 6:03 PM | Hey king_of_zouk: Since I doubt Obama is spending his time on this forum I will try to answer as much for you as possible: What happened to your wife? Who is raising your kids? ----------- I think you answered your own question there What did you mean when you said our soldiers were bombing villages and killing babies --------- He didn't say "babies" and yes, the evidence shows that our airstrikes are killing a large number of civilians including women and babies, regardless of the intent to kill terrorists. His point is that you don't win the will of the people by killing indiscriminately, it is part of sound judgment, part of a strategy. do you really think the surge failed? ---- The stated purpose of the surge was to create a climate of stability so there could be political reconciliation in Iraq. We kept our part of the bargain, the Iraqi Government failed to keep their part. In that sense, as of now it is a failure. But one must also look at ALL the reasons Iraq has calmed down. 1. The Anbar awakening which happened 6 months before the surge was announced 2. Al Sadr's army devolved into criminality and he pulled back to weed out the bad. 3. Satellite imagery shows that heavily populate Sunni areas were ethnically cleansed and fled prior to the surge being announced. There simply was no one there to fight. Of course putting 30k more boots on the ground of the finest Army in the world is going to help, but one must be realistic rather than just claim what a great success it has been for the sake of national pride. How were you able to collect so much from Fannie in such a short time? ------ The same way he collected from other INDIVIDUALS, McCain's CAMPAIGN MANAGER was receiving $15k per month up until August for apparently doing nothing and McCain bald-faced lied about it. Can you tell us more about invading Pakistan? ---- I think he has said all he needs to say, he recognizes that Pakistan is THE HOTBED of Islamic extremism, not Iraq. Can you justify picking Biden who seems to have no end of fact confusion? --- Yes, Joe Biden is a respectable statesman with great foreign policy cred. He, just like McCain has earned the right to make gaffes. We know Joe Biden, we know John McCain. Obama nor Palin has earned the right to make gaffes, that is why they are judged harder. Posted by: JRM2 | October 7, 2008 3:20 PM | "John McCain was CLEARED of all wrongdoing in the Keating 5 case-" ---- Out of all the members of the Keating Five, McCain was the ONLY member who traveled with and had large investments with Charles Keating. Posted by: JRM2 | October 7, 2008 2:46 PM | The press has not been allowed to ask Palin questions therefore, we don't know much about her. She said it herself its only been five weeks. However, what we do know of her only makes us ask more questions about her. Palin and her husband has been reported to be members of a Successionist group called the AIP (Alaskan Independence Party.) Todd was in it as late as 2002.) What do they stand for? If it was Obama's wife involved in AIP up until 2002 questions would be raised about her patriotism. Also, in a time when we need to be fiscal responsible, no questions have been asked about Palin leaving a town of about 5,400 in 20 Million dollars worth of debt. Yet she brags on her executive experience. With Alaska having the highest incidents in the country of rapes and murder against woman, again, no questions have been asked. I thought the Governor was for women. Is it possible that women being force to pay for rape kits, may very well have something to do with her stance on abortion, since there is a morning after pill in the box? The press have been used and abused by the McCain Camp. They would rather focus on lipstick and pigs for three days, rather than real issues. McCain brags about suspending his campaign and now is taking credit for getting the bailout bill passed. Obama spoke from the senate floor on the issue. Where was McCain? The press didn't report that McCain voted for pork in the bill after he claimed that he would veto any bill that had pork in it. The media is plain stupid and lazy especially the press corps that follows Palin around on the plane and can't get access. Why don't they threaten to leave like they did at the United Nations, meet and greet, for Palin? The press was told by the McCain that the subject or focus on the economy would be changed and the press act like they don't play a part. The people who are being flimflamed is the public, because like Palin the McCain Camp controls the press. Posted by: MILLER123 | October 7, 2008 1:32 PM | The proliferation of personal attacks on Senator Obama (especially including the regurgitation of so many that have already been thoroughly repudiated) is a symptom of the desperation of the McCain camp. Expect great clouds of smoke to be blown about, with the names of Ayers and Rezco, and loaded words like "terrorist" and "patriot" and "liberal" and "traitor" tossed around in contexts utterly divorced from reality or meaning (beyond intentionally misleading implications). The symmetrical answer to Mrs Palin's diatribes about Bill Ayers' conduct in the dim and distant past would be remarks about her own and her husband's friendly political associations with the man who said: "The fires of hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the American government. And I won't be buried under their damn flag." Yes, indeed, lets talk about radicalism and people who hate the American flag, Mrs. Palin. Posted by: Iconoblaster | October 7, 2008 1:14 PM | Thatsnuts doesn't sound so crazy, with a post that refutes some of the wingnut claims in here, and concludes with: "I bet the rantings of folks like "thecannula" and "37thandO" would have to look a lot harder to find things to cut and past if they simply required reasonable proof that what is cut and pasted had any resemblance to the truth." Looking at 37th&O's posts, I can only infer that he's posting here before he dons his hood and heads off for the cross burning. His rhetoric about 'radical hatred filled black liberation theology' is from another planet...and his banner headlines posting techniques, combined with the rabid rhetoric, make him sound a little bit hysterical. Posted by: Iconoblaster | October 7, 2008 1:03 PM | Let's talk about Sarah Palin too. She spoke to a group who wants to Alaska to secede from the US. Her husband was a registered member of this same party, The Alaskan Independence Party, until 2002 when Palin ran for state office. We had a bloody Civil War over states wanting to secede from the Union. It is a traitorous notion, and I don't want my Vice President thinking it is okay for people to advocate for succession from the US. I think Palin is unpatriotic. It is certainly not country first. And if we want to talk about pastors, look at the video of Palin and the witch hunter pastor who is praying over her to protect her against witchcraft. Does Palin really believe in witchcraft? Heaven help us if she should become the President. Posted by: LW22 | October 7, 2008 12:50 PM | We are in the middle of a financial crisis caused by lax regulation. I think it is important for people to know that John McCain did push bank regulators to lay off his friend, Charles Keating's savings and loan before it crashed because Keating was doing illegal things. While McCain was found not to do anything illegal, it does point to McCain's stance on regulation... he isn't for it. McCain called his pressure on regulators a mistake, and rightly so, but he did not learn the important lesson, that regulation is necessary so we don't get into the mess we are in today. McCain has been for deregulation all these years after the Keating scandal until it now becomes apparent that the best political move is to talk down deregulation. Voters need to know that... it is an important part of the debate. But McCain calling Obama a friend to terrorists when he had nothing to do with Ayers is apalling. Obama was a child when that happened. Ayers is not his friend, just someone in the community that Obama has encountered. If Obama is guilty by association, then McCain is guilty for being on the board of John Singlaub's group who sold arms to Iran just after the Iran hostage crisis. That was awful to deal with Iran, and McCain was connected to the group that did it. Just like Obama had nothing to do with Ayers, I don't think McCain sold arms to Iran. It is a stupid attack by McCain and it has no legs. Posted by: LW22 | October 7, 2008 12:44 PM | Democrats for John McCain and Sarah Palin in 2008 Posted by: hclark1 | October 7, 2008 12:14 PM | Bunker dwelling Republitards are confronted with a legitimate Republican scandal and all they can blather on about is loose associations with a guy (Wright) who's already been talked about and put into the dumpster by Obama...get over it. Posted by: SchmaltzyTheGolem | October 7, 2008 12:08 PM | KaneMan wrote: Are you better off than you were eight years ago? GAS Prices January 19, 2001: $1.45/Gallon GAS Prices October 6, 2008: $ 3.89/Gallon DOW January 19, 2001: 10,587.59 DOW October 6, 2008: 9,955.50 NASDAQ Jan 19, 2001: 2770.38 NASDAQ October 6, 2008: 1862.96 CPI, January 19, 2001: 175 CPI, September, 2008: 315 Dollar exchange with Euro, Jan. 19, 2001: 1.068 Dollar exchange with Euro, October 6, 2008: .733 Are you better off than you were eight years ago? Better yet, are you ready for another four years same as last eight? ************************************************ ************************************************ I was not and still am not a fan of Bill Clinton, but I was better off when he was in the White House. Dumbya and friends war without end policies led to a complete failure to do anything of substance in the domestic arena and has not only led to economic disaster, but the inferior of our infrastructure&both industrial and technological, have slowed to a trickle. If you have a Republican incumbent in your district, vote them out and keep voting no until the RNC shows some capability to function in this century! As an independent/former GOP voter, I believe the RNC has to disband and build from the bottom-up. Its no longer the party of Lincoln; its hijacked by neo-cons cabal. Posted by: Wassanss | October 7, 2008 11:30 AM | Why does everyone always say that the economy is NOBAMA's territory when he has never done anything to improve the economy of Illinois or the nation? The democrats have a proven track record over the past several years that we're in the crisis BECAUSE of them. Any intelligent person would understand this. MCCAIN/PALIN Posted by: Michelle_Obama | October 7, 2008 10:52 AM | DANGER!! OBAMA GOES TO WAR AGAINST FREEDOM OF SPEECH Site: We CAN NO LONGER AFFORD to continue to travel on the path of the Democratic and Republican 'push forward' into the destruction of our Constitution and Sovereignty as a nation and elect politicians such as Obama and McCain to ANY office of government were they can continue to make laws against us and REFUSE to listen to our voice. We MUST look into 3rd Party Presidential Candidates such as REP. CHUCK BALDWIN - endorsed by Ron Paul. He is the ONLY candidate that promises to defend and protect our Constitution and our Sovereignty! IT IS OUR TURN TO STAND UP FOR OUR REPUBLIC AND MAKE A REAL CHANGE HAPPEN - VOTING AGAINST DEMOCRATIC AND REPUBLICAN RULE IS THE BEGINNING! Posted by: cingi | October 7, 2008 9:01 AM | The Villages Daily Sun- Republican Vice Presidential Candidate draws 60,000 fans to market square for road to victory rally By MATT DIXON, DAILY SUN THE VILLAGES Sarah Palin greeted The the cannula posts this. It is a print of a new item from a Florida paper, the Daily Sun. "Villages on a sunny Sunday afternoon, rallying Central Floridas Republican base and continuing to capitalize on the momentum born out of the decision to make her the GOPs vice presidential candidate. Donning her trademark glasses, the 44-year-old Palin addressed roughly 60,000 people, according to public safety officials." Now for the truth. This story reported 60,000 people. The reporter got the number from a McCain rep who told the reporter that the public safety people estimated the size of the crowd at 60,000. Two things here: 1. The reporter was not at the event. 2. When interviewed the police chief said the department a. did not make it a point to count heads. b. said the crowd looked more like 8 to 10 thousand. Isn't that what you might expect for a turnout at a "retirement" community with a population of 12,000. I bet the rantings of folks like "thecannula" and "37thandO" would have to look a lot harder to find things to cut and past if they simply required reasonable proof that what is cut and pasted had any resemblance to the truth. Posted by: Thatsnuts | October 7, 2008 8:26 AM | . . . Let's all review how this year, not decades ago. OBAMA REFUSED TO DISAVOW Rev. Wright and his BLACK LIBERATION THEOLOGY TEACHINGS. What is worse is that Obama exposed his children to the HATE OF BLACK LIBERATION THEOLOGY FOR YEARS. EXPOSED HIS CHILDREN TO THAT RACIST HATE UNTIL IT BECAME POLITICALLY IMPOSSIBLE FOR OBAMA TO CONTINUE TO BRING HIS CHILDREN TO THE RACIST CHURCH ! IF A WHITE candidate had a similar church, the Washignton Post would be railing against that candidate. The bias is great, the racism is unbelievable. The media has given Obama so many passes. Then they have to go and get some FALSE CHARGES FROM DECADES AGO. Investigate Obama and his democratic friends in Chicago. Investigate his friend REZKO who has been indicted and whose story much of America does not know. Investigate all the connections between Michele Obama and Farrakhan. BE SERIOUS MEDIA. YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING DRINKING THE KOOL-AID OF THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN TALKING POINTS AS IF IT WERE TRUTH. . . Posted by: 37thandOStreet | October 7, 2008 7:24 AM | . . . Let's all review how this year, not decades ago. OBAMA REFUSED TO DISAVOW Rev. Wright and his BLACK LIBERATION THEOLOGY TEACHINGS. What is worse is that Obama exposed his children to the HATE OF BLACK LIBERATION THEOLOGY FOR YEARS. EXPOSED HIS CHILDREN TO THAT RACIST HATE UNTIL IT BECAME POLITICALLY IMPOSSIBLE FOR OBAMA TO CONTINUE TO BRING HIS CHILDREN TO THE RACIST CHURCH ! IF A WHITE candidate had a similar church, the Washignton Post would be railing against that candidate. The bias is great, the racism is unbelievable. The media has given Obama so many passes. Then they have to go and get some FALSE CHARGES FROM DECADES AGO. Investigate Obama and his democratic friends in Chicago. Investigate his friend REZKO who has been indicted and whose story much of America does not know. Investigate all the connections between Michele Obama and Farrakhan. BE SERIOUS MEDIA. YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING DRINKING THE KOOL-AID OF THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN TALKING POINTS AS IF IT WERE TRUTH. . . Posted by: 37thandOStreet | October 7, 2008 7:15 AM | There is apparently a problem with the audio. I have a clean copy of the "Keating 5" video posted at: Posted by: scootmandubious | October 7, 2008 1:40 AM | There is apparently a problem with the audio. I have a clean copy of the "Keating 5" video posted at: Posted by: scootmandubious | October 7, 2008 1:38 AM | There is apparently a problem with the audio. I have a clean copy of the "Keating 5" video posted at: Posted by: scootmandubious | October 7, 2008 1:38 AM | No wonder I had the most troubling times trying to figure out why McCain's actions seemed to be against the people. He had a relationship with Charles Keating and was in Keating's corner in actions against the people, and he worked closely with Phil Gramm. People suffered due to Keating's actions, and they suffered thanks to Phil Gramm. Both believe in deregulation, and by golly McCain who was DIRECTLY involved with the two, well by golly he was talking all about deregulation as recent as his Republican campaign. And THEN when the stuff hit the fan, he wanted to "suspend" his campaign to show us (The United States of America) well just how serious he is in attending the problem. Obama wasn't going to put on a face for us; he got attacked by the opposition ticket for telling us how it is with McCain's obvious political stunt. By golly, give me Obama and Biden who actually have a clue moreso than McCain does in terms of his stances, his policies, and knowledge. Give me the competent ticket. I don't want the Bush ticket, the ticket that plays face for America. No wonder McCain had his idea, as Phil Gramm said we're in a mental recession and that we've become a nation of whiners (and then we witness the financial crisis, let alone increasing price of groceries, you name the problem right before our eyes), that our economy is fundamentally strong. By golly, no wonder McCain. No Way, No How, No McCain/Palin; don't get me talking on Palin. How about it McCain? How about it on the issues eh? Enlighten me. Really. Yeah, McCain is making implications on Obama based on who he simply knew. Meanwhile, we make no implications on McCain, but there is actual prove of political relationship with Keating and Phil Gramm, as McCain actually worked with them on policies (which McCain agrees with) and the people have been affected by them. That is the difference, and it does America no good with him in presidential authorities to go back to supporting his corrupt policies. No Way, No How.....NO He'll do anything to get in office. Select Palin for VP, stop talking the issues to the public after the financial crisis in Washington, jobs being lost etc. With McCain's thought process, getting lazy on the United States of America on The Issues, is justified if he could "manipulate" us with b.s. over experienced substance. Don't let McCain and Palin (the "experienced" ticket) get lazy on us America. Don't let them ease into our White House, getting lazy on us in the last hour. Indeed, we're not seeing leadership at this final hour on their part. Obama's campaign put the breaks, and brought a rude awakening to McCain and McCain's camp. They had to hurry and call a conference. They didn't think they'd be scrutinized with equal standard. If they don't like it, they need to drop this tactic. I'm sure Obama would be obliged. Thank you Ohio and Michigan!!! Posted by: Obama2008 | October 7, 2008 12:25 AM | No wonder I had the most troubling times trying to figure out why McCain's actions seemed to be against the people. He had a relationship with Charles Keating and was in Keating's corner in actions against the people, and he worked closely with Phil Gramm. People suffered due to Keating's actions, and they suffered thanks to Phil Gramm. Both believe in deregulation, and by golly McCain who was DIRECTLY involved with the two, well by golly he was talking all about deregulation as recent as his Republican campaign. And THEN when the stuff hit the fan, he wanted to "suspend" his campaign to show us (The United States of America) well just how serious he is in attending the problem. Obama wasn't going to put on a face for us; he got attacked by the opposition ticket for telling us how it is with McCain's obvious political stunt. By golly, give me Obama and Biden who actually have a clue moreso than McCain does in terms of his stances, his policies, and knowledge. Give me the competent ticket. I don't want the Bush ticket, the ticket that plays face for America. No wonder McCain had his idea, as Phil Gramm said we're in a mental recession and that we've become a nation of whiners (and then we witness the financial crisis, let alone increasing price of groceries, you name the problem right before our eyes), that our economy is fundamentally strong. By golly, no wonder McCain. No Way, No How, No McCain/Palin; don't get me talking on Palin. How about it McCain? How about it on the issues eh? Enlighten me. Really. Yeah, McCain is making implications on Obama based on who he simply knew. Meanwhile, we make no implications on McCain, but there is actual prove of political relationship with Keating and Phil Gramm, as McCain actually worked with them on policies (which McCain agrees with) and the people have been affected by them. That is the difference, and it does America no good with him in presidential authorities to go back to supporting his corrupt policies. No Way, No How.....NO He'll do anything to get in office. Select Palin for VP, stop talking the issues to the public after the financial crisis in Washington, jobs being lost etc. With McCain's thought process, getting lazy on the United States of America on The Issues, is justified if he could "manipulate" us with b.s. over experienced substance. Don't let McCain and Palin (the "experienced" ticket) get lazy on us America. Don't let them ease into our White House, getting lazy on us in the last hour. Indeed, we're not seeing leadership at this final hour on their part. Obama's campaign put the breaks, and brought a rude awakening to McCain and McCain's camp. They had to hurry and call a conference. They didn't think they'd be scrutinized with equal standard. If they don't like it, they need to drop this tactic. I'm sure Obama would be obliged. Thank you Ohio and Michigan!!! Posted by: Obama2008 | October 7, 2008 12:23 AM | Earlier today the McCain campaign had the gall to hold a conference call and have McCain's lawyer from the Keating Five scandal, John Dowd, claim that: "...he vehemently disagreed with the judgment of the Senate Ethics Committee that McCain had made some serious mistakes. "That's not something that as his counsel I accepted," Dowd said. "Dowd singled out the late Sen. Howell Heflin (D-AL), who vocally criticized McCain at the time, for particular scorn. "But you know, Sen. Mitchell was the majority leader, and Howell Heflin was his stooge," said Dowd. "And he was doing what he was told because the rest were Democrats in the hearing. So it's sort of a classic political smear-job on John." And what did McCain have to say about his involvement in the Keating scandel...back in the day when he wasn't losing a presidential campaign, that is? "I created the appearance of impropriety so it was my -- I was guilty, and therefore did not represent the people of my state in the manner which they expected of me". [CNN, Larry King, 10/12/02] "The biggest mistake that I made in my life was attending a meeting with four other senators and four regulators because of the appearance of impropriety, and it is something that will always be a mark on my record, and something that people will judge me for the rest of my life". [GOP Presidential Primary Debate, 1/7/00] "Despite my recovery, the Keating Five experience was not one that I have walked away from as easily as I have other bad times. Twelve years after its conclusion, I still wince thinking about it and find that if I do not repress the memory, its recollection still provokes a vague but real feeling that I had lost something very important, something that was sacrificed in the pursuit of gratifying ambitions, my own and others', and that I might never possess again as assuredly as I once had." [McCain, Worth the Fighting For Page 204] For nearly 20 years, McCain has talked about his involvement in the Keating Five scandal as the biggest mistake of his political career, but now that it's become a part of the campaign conversation, McCain is too much of a coward to stand up and accept responsibility for his past words and actions. . Posted by: DrainYou | October 6, 2008 11:37 PM | thecannula, after eight years, your tactics of fear no longer work on the people. We can see through your lies and deception and will no longer be fooled. If you are truly scared of advisers with links to terrorism and dictatorship, then you could not possibly support McCain given the associations of his Chief Strategist, Charles Black. I will not insult your intelligence and cut and paste an article here - I am sure you understand how Google works. Posted by: VirginiaVoter08 | October 6, 2008 11:37 PM | Obama's career got it's start with help from Rezko. Rezko, who bilked a Chicago teacher's pension program, helped Obama buy his home property at a steep discount. Rezko was a business partner with Nadhmi Auchi, a guy who bought arms for Saddam Hussein. Obama admitted his close relationship with Rezko. There is no doubt about the existence of that relationship. Obama would have to return a lot more than just one small donation from Rezko to undo that relationship. Obama's promise of a "new politics" is fraudulent. I think all the self-righteous folks here beating their chests about McCain's alleged lack of ethics should really ask Obama to give the full details of his relationship with Rezko. Because if they don't and they vote for Obama, they'll likely live to regret that vote. Posted by: ttj1 | October 6, 2008 11:31 PM | Geez, folks. It's nothing but cut and paste today. Get a clue. If you can't make the case, IN YOUR OWN WORDS, get out. BB Posted by: FairlingtonBlade | October 6, 2008 11:25 PM | Mike Klonsky? Who is He? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ELECTION 2008 Meet Obama's new Bill Ayers associate Ex-communist leader tied to terrorist eliminated from campaign website -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: September 14, 2008 8:20 pm Eastern By Aaron Klein © 2008 WorldNetDaily Mike Klonsky JERUSALEM The official campaign website of Sen. Barack Obama has completely scrubbed a series of user-generated blog postings on the candidate's site by a former top communist activist who is an associate of former Weathermen terrorist leader William Ayers. The move has raised questions regarding Obama's relationship with the deleted blogger, Mike Klonsky, who runs an education organization that was founded by Ayers and that received a substantial grant from a group directed by Obama. Obama's official site allows registered users to form groups and post content in online "community" blogs. The site boasts tens of thousands of such community blogs. Obama's spokesmen previously have stated the campaign does not monitor all content posted on the blogs, but it promptly removes any content brought to its attention that is deemed inappropriate or hateful. Klonsky posted several blog pieces on Obama's site on education policy that did not contain what can be described as hateful material, but his postings were entirely deleted in June after several independent bloggers noted Klonsky's connections to Obama and Ayers. Klonsky is director of the Small Schools Workshop, an outreach program founded in 1991 by Ayers with the stated goal of providing support for teachers who want to create smaller learning environments. Ayers reportedly recruited Klonsky to head the Workshop. The Small School Workshop was originally associated with the University of Illinois in Chicago, where Klonsky previously taught in the education department alongside Ayers. The group was headquartered for a time inside the university's department of education building. In 1995, with Obama as its chairman, the newly formed Chicago Annenberg Challenge, or CAC, a school reform organization, gave the Workshop a grant of $175,000. The CAC provided another $482,662 to the Workshop over the next few years. Ayers was one of the original grantees of the CAC and was co-chairman of the Chicago School Reform Collaborative, one of the two operational arms of the CAC. (Story continues below) Klonsky served with Ayers and Ayer's wife, former Weathermen terrorist Bernadine Dohrn, in the Students for a Democratic Society group, a major leftist student organization in the 1960s that later splintered, with Ayers and Dohrn leading a more activist approach with the Weathermen. Klonsky reportedly favored less aggressive tactics, promoting the philosophy that young workers possessed the potential to be a revolutionary force to overthrow capitalism. In the 1970s, Klonsky became a top communist activist and leader of the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party. He reportedly identified as a Maoist, and traveled in 1977 to Beijing, where he held friendly meetings with the Chinese leadership. In a book, "Revolution in the Air," author Max Elbaum, himself a former Maoist activist, recounts that in Beijing, Klonsky toasted the Chinese Stalinist leadership who, in turn, hailed the formation of his Communist Party group as "reflecting the aspirations of the proletariat and working people," effectively recognizing Klonsky's organization as the all-but-official U.S. Maoist party. In a brief conversation with WND yesterday, Klonsky would not state whether he is still a communist. He did not deny his associations with Ayers or his communist activism in the 1970s. Klonsky's blog postings were removed from Obama site during a period the presidential candidate has been repeatedly questioned about his relationship with Ayers, who is currently a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago and was a member of the Weathermen group, which sought to overthrow the U.S. government and took responsibility for bombing the U.S. Capitol in 1971. Ayers has admitted to involvement in the bombings of U.S. governmental buildings in the 1970s. Ayers told the New York Times in an interview released Sept. 11, 2001, "I don't regret setting bombs. I feel we didn't do enough." He posed for a photograph accompanying the piece stepping on an American flag. Last week, Ayers wrote on his blog he still feels not enough was done to oppose the Vietnam War, although he clarified, "I don't think violent resistance is necessarily the answer, but I do think opposition and refusal is imperative." In 1995, the first organizing meeting for Obama's state senatorial campaign was reportedly held in Ayers's apartment. Obama then served on Ayers' CAC. In a widely circulated article, WND first reported Obama served on the board of the Wood's Fund, a liberal Chicago nonprofit, alongside Ayers from 1999 to Dec. 11, 2002, according to the Fund's website. According to tax filings, Obama received compensation of $6,000 per year for his service in 1999 and 2000. The "Friends of Barack Obama" campaign fund lists a $200 campaign contribution from Ayers April 2, 2001. The two appeared together as speakers at several public events, including a 1997 University of Chicago panel entitled, "Should a child ever be called a 'super predator?'" and another panel for the University of Illinois in April 2002 entitled, "Intellectuals: Who Needs Them?" Ayers wife, Dohrn, has also served on panels with Obama. Dohrn was once on the FBI's Top 10 Most Wanted List and was described by J. Edgar Hoover as the "most dangerous woman in America." Ayers and Dohrn raised the son of Weathermen terrorist Kathy Boudin, who was serving a sentence for participating in a 1981 murder and robbery that left four people dead. The charges against Ayers were dropped in 1974 because of prosecutorial misconduct, including illegal surveillance. Posted by: thecannula | October 6, 2008 11:25 PM | Yes, McCain cleared but not before he was rebuked by the Senate Ethics Committee for exercising poor judgment. Let the record show (as it does) that the man has poor judgment. Posted by: VirginiaVoter08 | October 6, 2008 11:22 PM | John McCain was CLEARED of all wrongdoing in the Keating 5 case- Let's see what the American people say about The Ayres "ONE" over the next 4 weeks: National Review- August 28, 2008 12:00 PM Barack Obama, Aspiring Commissar By the Editors ...But we are talking about more than a mere association. Bluntly, Obama has lied about his relationship with Ayers, whom he now dismisses as a guy who lives in my neighborhood. Ayers and Obama have made joint appearances together; they have argued together for reforms of the criminal justice system to make it more criminal-friendly; Obama gushed with praise for Ayers 1997 polemical book on the Chicago courts; and they sat together for three years on the board of the Woods Fund, a left-wing enterprise that distributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to their ideological allies. Most significant, they worked closely together on the Chicago Annenberg Challenge (CAC). The CAC was a major education reform project, proposed by Ayers, which was underwritten by a $49.2 million grant from the Annenberg Foundation, complemented by another $100 million in private and public funding. The project ran for about five years, beginning in 1995. As the liberal researcher Steve Diamond has recounted, Ayers ran its operational arm, the Chicago School Reform Collaborative. Obama, then a 33-year-old, third-year associate at a small law firm, having no executive experience, was brought in to chair the board of directors, which oversaw all fiscal matters. By the time the CACs operations were wound down in 2001 it had doled out more than $100 million in grants but had failed to achieve any improvement in the Chicago schools. What little is known about the grants Obama oversaw is troubling. As Diamond relates, one of the first CAC awards in 1995 was $175,000 for the Small Schools Workshop, which had been founded by Ayers and was then headed by Mike Klonsky. It was only the beginning of the CACs generous funding of Klonsky a committed Maoist who had been an Ayers comrade in the radical Students for a Democratic Society (the forerunner of Ayers Weatherman terrorist organization), and who hosted a social justice blog on the Obama campaign website until his writings were hastily purged in June after Diamond called attention to them. The CAC records, said to comprise 70 linear feet of files, have long been maintained at the library of the UIC, the public university where Ayers teaches. This summer, Kurtz made an appointment to review them and, after being assured access, was blocked from seeing them by library administrators, who stammered about needing permission from the donor whom they declined to identify. Kurtz energetically raised public awareness to the stonewalling, and the library finally relented this week. That is, as Barack Obama prepares to accept the Democrats nomination tonight, the records of his only significant executive experience just became available for review on Tuesday. Kurtz began his review, and on Wednesday was invited on Milt Rosenbergs radio program to discuss it. Rosenberg is a Chicago institution. His program, Extension 720, has aired for more than 30 years a civil forum where knowledgeable guests from across the political spectrum discuss important issues in revealing two-hour interviews. What happened Wednesday night was stunning, as even the normally unflappable Rosenberg observed. The Obama campaign which has emissaries appearing everywhere declined Rosenbergs invitation to have a representative appear on the program and respond to Kurtzs factual assertions. The campaign did, however, issue an Obama Action Wire that encouraged supporters to contact the program (telephone information was provided) and use scripted talking points to disrupt Kurtzs appearance, which it deemed unacceptable. As the Politicos Ben Smith reported, the campaign also urged supporters to demand that Rosenberg scrap the appearance of Kurtz, whom the campaign libeled as a smear-merchant and a slimy character assassin. The rant was reminiscent of the work of the left-wing media watch-dog Media Matters for America. Other than denigrating Kurtz for being conservative, Obamas operatives have provided no response to the substance of his claims. In their only pretense of engaging him, they accuse him of telling a flat out lie that Ayers recruited Obama for the CAC. Though it is a reasonable inference that Ayers recruited Obama, the careful Kurtz has stopped short of making it observing only that Obama offers no explanation of how he was recruited if not through Ayers, his friend and the CACs driving force. The station, WGN, has made a stream of the broadcast available online, here, and it has to be heard to be believed. Obamas robotic legions dutifully jammed the stations phone lines and inundated the program with emails, attacking Kurtz personally. Pressed by Rosenberg to specify what inaccuracies Kurtz was guilty of, caller after caller demurred, mulishly railing that we just want it to stop, and that criticism of Obama was just not what we want to hear as Americans. Remarkably, as Obama sympathizers raced through their script, they echoed the campaigns insistence that it was Rosenberg who was lowering the standards of political discourse by having Kurtz on, rather than the campaign by shouting him down. Kurtz has obviously hit a nerve. It is the same nerve hit by the American Issues Project, whose television ad calling for examination of the Obama/Ayers relationship has prompted the Obama campaign to demand that the Justice Department begin a criminal investigation. Obama fancies himself as post-partisan. He is that only in the sense that he apparently brooks no criticism. This episode could be an alarming preview of what life will be like for the media should the party of the Fairness Doctrine gain unified control of the federal government next year. Posted by: thecannula | October 6, 2008 11:03 PM | John McCain was CLEARED of all wrondoing in the Keating 5 case- Let's see what the American people say about The Ayres "ONE" over the next 4 weeks: National Review- August 28, 2008 12:00 PM Barack Obama, Aspiring Commissar By the Editors ...But we are talking about more than a mere association. Bluntly, Obama has lied about his relationship with Ayers, whom he now dismisses as a guy who lives in my neighborhood. Ayers and Obama have made joint appearances together; they have argued together for reforms of the criminal justice system to make it more criminal-friendly; Obama gushed with praise for Ayers 1997 polemical book on the Chicago courts; and they sat together for three years on the board of the Woods Fund, a left-wing enterprise that distributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to their ideological allies. Most significant, they worked closely together on the Chicago Annenberg Challenge (CAC). The CAC was a major education reform project, proposed by Ayers, which was underwritten by a $49.2 million grant from the Annenberg Foundation, complemented by another $100 million in private and public funding. The project ran for about five years, beginning in 1995. As the liberal researcher Steve Diamond has recounted, Ayers ran its operational arm, the Chicago School Reform Collaborative. Obama, then a 33-year-old, third-year associate at a small law firm, having no executive experience, was brought in to chair the board of directors, which oversaw all fiscal matters. By the time the CACs operations were wound down in 2001 it had doled out more than $100 million in grants but had failed to achieve any improvement in the Chicago schools. What little is known about the grants Obama oversaw is troubling. As Diamond relates, one of the first CAC awards in 1995 was $175,000 for the Small Schools Workshop, which had been founded by Ayers and was then headed by Mike Klonsky. It was only the beginning of the CACs generous funding of Klonsky a committed Maoist who had been an Ayers comrade in the radical Students for a Democratic Society (the forerunner of Ayers Weatherman terrorist organization), and who hosted a social justice blog on the Obama campaign website until his writings were hastily purged in June after Diamond called attention to them. The CAC records, said to comprise 70 linear feet of files, have long been maintained at the library of the UIC, the public university where Ayers teaches. This summer, Kurtz made an appointment to review them and, after being assured access, was blocked from seeing them by library administrators, who stammered about needing permission from the donor whom they declined to identify. Kurtz energetically raised public awareness to the stonewalling, and the library finally relented this week. That is, as Barack Obama prepares to accept the Democrats nomination tonight, the records of his only significant executive experience just became available for review on Tuesday. Kurtz began his review, and on Wednesday was invited on Milt Rosenbergs radio program to discuss it. Rosenberg is a Chicago institution. His program, Extension 720, has aired for more than 30 years a civil forum where knowledgeable guests from across the political spectrum discuss important issues in revealing two-hour interviews. What happened Wednesday night was stunning, as even the normally unflappable Rosenberg observed. The Obama campaign which has emissaries appearing everywhere declined Rosenbergs invitation to have a representative appear on the program and respond to Kurtzs factual assertions. The campaign did, however, issue an Obama Action Wire that encouraged supporters to contact the program (telephone information was provided) and use scripted talking points to disrupt Kurtzs appearance, which it deemed unacceptable. As the Politicos Ben Smith reported, the campaign also urged supporters to demand that Rosenberg scrap the appearance of Kurtz, whom the campaign libeled as a smear-merchant and a slimy character assassin. The rant was reminiscent of the work of the left-wing media watch-dog Media Matters for America. Other than denigrating Kurtz for being conservative, Obamas operatives have provided no response to the substance of his claims. In their only pretense of engaging him, they accuse him of telling a flat out lie that Ayers recruited Obama for the CAC. Though it is a reasonable inference that Ayers recruited Obama, the careful Kurtz has stopped short of making it observing only that Obama offers no explanation of how he was recruited if not through Ayers, his friend and the CACs driving force. The station, WGN, has made a stream of the broadcast available online, here, and it has to be heard to be believed. Obamas robotic legions dutifully jammed the stations phone lines and inundated the program with emails, attacking Kurtz personally. Pressed by Rosenberg to specify what inaccuracies Kurtz was guilty of, caller after caller demurred, mulishly railing that we just want it to stop, and that criticism of Obama was just not what we want to hear as Americans. Remarkably, as Obama sympathizers raced through their script, they echoed the campaigns insistence that it was Rosenberg who was lowering the standards of political discourse by having Kurtz on, rather than the campaign by shouting him down. Kurtz has obviously hit a nerve. It is the same nerve hit by the American Issues Project, whose television ad calling for examination of the Obama/Ayers relationship has prompted the Obama campaign to demand that the Justice Department begin a criminal investigation. Obama fancies himself as post-partisan. He is that only in the sense that he apparently brooks no criticism. This episode could be an alarming preview of what life will be like for the media should the party of the Fairness Doctrine gain unified control of the federal government next year. Posted by: thecannula | October 6, 2008 10:59 PM | From "Fact of The Matter" http:www.need4trth.blogspot.com Read the full stry and watch the KEATING ECONOMICS doucmentary..... Tonight marks a sad moment in American politics. The McCain Campaign has decided to attack the character of 'Senator Obama, to distract us from the fact that today THE DOW JONES DROPPED BELOW 10,OOO. The reason McCain's camp wants to distract us is, because they are CLUELESS, on what to do about the ECONOMY, needed TAXATION, ending a 7 YEAR WAR and OCCUPATION,which by the way was an egregious, extraordinary glaringly blatant MISTAKE, where lives have been lost and continue to be lost, FIGHTING THE WRONG WAR. McCain having publicly blundered and proved himself a liar when it came down to bringing not both sides of the aisles together but just a certain fringe in his very own party in to agreement. Most notably McCain/Palin/and the RNC are beginning to sense America rise above the lies and the smears and a sleeping stupor, and begin to put their eyes on the Real Man of Integrity and Character and Truth. The REAL "Man In The Arena" Senator Barack Obama, whom we see as MORE CAPABLE AND READY TO LEAD than an erratic confused, name calling, angry, ill tempered, untreated PTSD sufferer of delusions of FALSEHOODS THAT he thinks can win an election. McCain is in fact saying, "I'll call him a Terrorist and Lie that he is somehow involved with Osama Bin Laden, if it wins me the White house." It is the beginning of the negative campaigning (round 3) for the McCain Campaign and perhaps (round TRUTHS you didn't know about John Sydney McCain)from the Obama Campaign. John McCain said today at a rally, "I don't need to take lessons of truthfulness from a Chicago politician." The old guilt by association tactic. IT WON'T WORK THIS TIME. You see, when you are a PATHLOGICAL LIAR, YOU LIVE IN A LIE AD BELIEVE IT'S THE TRUTH. Creating doubt and questions which actually have no REAL vallidity, because they are just questions to confuse the populace, throw them off track to what's really at stake, As Senator Obama has said, "these are distractions, SILLI SEASON in Washington," with a vile motive to attack with non-issues to distract from real issues. We the American populace have heard the "War Hero" story. We've heard about the White hat wearing, Sheriffs Badge Bran danging, Riding in on 'Ole Silver, Boots, Belt Bridle and Fake Reagan imitation of calm, Maverick Story about John McCain. The The Corporate Media has almost totally protected and covered and recreated John McCain as Something he never was. REAL. So now that the red phone moment occurred here at home and McCain knew not what to do...The Corporate Medias Facade of the Maverick has as Peter Murphy said in the song "Your Eyes", "The grand facade so soon did burn" After the smoke is clearing we Now see the REAL McCain.....READY TO FALL APART AT THE SEEMS. HOW DOES MCCAIN TRY TO RECOVER? HE SAYS, LET'S TURN THE PAGE....... FORGET ABOUT THE STATE OF THE ECONOMY THE WAR AND OCCUPATION OUR COMMITTING YOUR SON'S AND DAUGHTERS TO A MISTAKE, MY INVOLVEMENT IN TE DEREGULATIONS THAT NEARLY RUINED OUR BANKING SYSTEMS AND LET'S LOOK AT THIS PROPAGANDA AD... Posted by: need4trth | October 6, 2008 10:49 PM | The Villages Daily Sun- Republican Vice Presidential Candidate draws 60,000 fans to market square for road to victory rally By MATT DIXON, DAILY SUN THE VILLAGES Sarah Palin greeted The Villages on a sunny Sunday afternoon, rallying Central Floridas Republican base and continuing to capitalize on the momentum born out of the decision to make her the GOPs vice presidential candidate. Donning her trademark glasses, the 44-year-old Palin addressed roughly 60,000 people, according to public safety officials. It was an energized crowd at Lake Sumter Landing Market Square for the proclaimed Road to Victory Rally. The Alaska governor spoke about the recent economic bailout, high gas prices, taxes and this years political buzz word change. Over the next 44 days, in our time to seek reform in government, we are going to take our case for reform to every voter of every background in every party, or no party at all, she said. Florida, with your vote we are going to win and we are going to Washington to shake things up. Capitalizing on her outside-the-D.C.-Beltway status, Palin chided the status quo, and praised GOP presidential candidate John McCains maverick image. Americans are tired of the old politics as usual, tired of those who run with the Washington herd, she said, We need to take the maverick of the Senate and put him in the White House. With the rally coming on the heels of last weeks $700 million economic bailout, Palin stressed her views of McCains ability to reinvigorate the nations economy. The first thing John McCain is going to do is get our economy back on track, Palin said. Palin blamed the recent failing of several prominent lending houses on the mismanagement and greed of top executives. People in Florida should be outraged, huge financial institutions going under because of their own bad practices and are now asking the public to bail them out ... and top executives are walking off with multi-million dollar golden parachutes. Palin said trimming the number of federal agencies that regulate Wall Street is a needed step to ensure that an economic meltdown of this magnitude never happens again. It is like Sen. McCain said just yesterday, we dont need a dozen federal agencies doing the job badly, we need the best agencies doing the job right, she said. Palin called last weeks buyouts an economic crisis. Palin also addressed high gas prices, stressing her commitment to tapping into Americas domestic oil supply. I know here in Florida there are high gas prices, they are making a full tank seem like a luxury, Palin said. That is nonsense I know what works, we need American energy resources. On taxes, Palin towed the conventional Republican line: Lower taxes benefit businesses. It is small businesses that create the jobs in this country, the best way to help them is to take less from them and leave more for them so they can expand, so they can grow, prosper and thrive, Palin said. She juxtaposed her philosophy on taxes with that of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obamas. Our opponents disagree with this, they have some kind of strange ideas about raising taxes at a time like this, even, Palin said. Palin also leveled an attack at her counterpart, Democratic vice presidential nominee Joseph Biden, who earlier this week said that paying higher taxes is a patriotic thing to do for wealthier Americans. Their massive tax increase is about quote patriotism, she said. They said that just this week, that paying more taxes is patriotic, to the rest of America (raising taxes) are about killing jobs and hurting small businesses. Matt Dixon is a reporter with the Daily Sun. He can be reached at 753-1119, ext. 9089, or [email protected]. Posted by: thecannula | October 6, 2008 10:36 PM | Not in the Villages they don't. Your car will be towed away if you don't belong there. They will get mad if someone walks on their grass. ------------- By the way, The population of the Villages is around 10 or 12 thousand. True, True, and Irrelevant! People came from all over the region- 60K! But don't listen to me...listen to Joe! "Look, all you have to do is go down Union Street with me in Wilmington or go to Katie's Restaurant or walk into Home Depot with me where I spend a lot of time and you ask anybody in there whether or not the economic and foreign policy of this administration has made them better off in the last eight years." According to Delawareonline The News Journal, Katie's Restaurant is no longer in business; locals remember it on Union Street 25 to 30 years ago. ********** Looks like "Say It Ain't So Joe" needs a rest (and some new points and PLUGS)- Sarah and John are just going have to give him one.... Posted by: thecannula | October 6, 2008 10:13 PM | Report abuse Posted by: popasmoke | October 6, 2008 10:22 PM | By the way, The population of the Villages is around 10 or 12 thousand. True, True, and Irrelevant! People came from all over the region- 60K! But don't listen to me...listen to Joe! "Look, all you have to do is go down Union Street with me in Wilmington or go to Katie's Restaurant or walk into Home Depot with me where I spend a lot of time and you ask anybody in there whether or not the economic and foreign policy of this administration has made them better off in the last eight years." According to Delawareonline The News Journal, Katie's Restaurant is no longer in business; locals remember it on Union Street 25 to 30 years ago. ********** Looks like "Say It Ain't So Joe" needs a rest (and some new points and PLUGS)- Sarah and John are just going have to give him one.... Posted by: thecannula | October 6, 2008 10:13 PM | By the way, The population of the Villages is around 10 or 12 thousand. That 60,000 was a fantasy of Mccain as they have been doing about other crowds. Palin had trouble getting 1500 today. ------------- Hey, did you guys see the turnout Palin got at The Villages retirement community in Florida last week? 60,000 people turned out......... Hey, Popasmoke- I guess they don't drink mochachino lattes! Posted by: thecannula | October 6, 2008 9:27 PM | Report abuse Posted by: popasmoke | October 6, 2008 10:01 PM | It is an entirely republican retirement village. Average is in the 60's to 70's. They turn out for anything free, there is nothing else for them to do. They get thousands when they show a free movie. -------------- Hey, did you guys see the turnout Palin got at The Villages retirement community in Florida last week? 60,000 people turned out......... Hey, Popasmoke- I guess they don't drink mochachino lattes! Posted by: thecannula | October 6, 2008 9:27 PM | Report abuse Posted by: popasmoke | October 6, 2008 9:52 PM | John Keating McCainiac & Sarahcide Palingate 2008 *Country First Savings & Loan* Is Why The Keating5/Lincoln Savings & Loan Matters ______________ We must take our country back from Ali Mohammad McCain and Osama Bin Palin! My Friends..If they want to play the blame game with silly tactics flavored with racial overtones and list Barack Obama's name with terrorists, muslims, thugs, resko/ayres fibs, anti-hillary accusations, & flag pins; We must demand the following GOP/McCainiac issues come to the forefront and be answered in the media: ~Keating 5 www(dot)keatingeconomics(dot)com ~Fundamental Deregulator ~Deregulation of Social Security ~Deregulation of HealthCare ~Enron Loophole ~100 Year War Monger & $Trillions$ Spent On Iraqi War ~Vicki Iseman Girlfriend and Media Lobbyist ~Brokaw/McCain Friendship ~Infidelity/Adultery ~Anti-Catholic ~Tax Break Elimination ~Voted Against Equal Pay & Equal Rights For Our Mothers, Sisters, Daughters, Grandmothers, Nieces, Aunts, Wives, & Girlfriends ~Temperament-Erraticsism, Is There A Blood Relation Between McCraziac & Bill-Had-Sex-With-A-Show-Intern-O'Reilly ? ~McCain Campaign Lobbyist ie. Rick Davis & 169 more Lobbyists ~Andrew McCain + Nevada based Silver State Bank ~Andrew McCain + CMKM Diamonds,better known as CMKX ~Palingate/Troopergate Criminal Investigation ~Palin's REV.THOMAS MUTHEE Witchdoctor Video ~Betrayus With A Surge To Nowhere In Iraq ~US Council For World Freedom; Radical, Dangerous & Racist Organization ~Voted Against Veteran Benefits At Home ~4th Stage Cancer & recurrence rate ~Radical Criminal: G. Gordon Liddy's Fundraiser At His Home For & With McCain ~Anheuser Busch(Budweiser)Cindy Mccain #1 National Debate Sponsor ~*Straight Talk America PAC, *Altria Group, *American Issues Project, *National Campaign Fund, *Vets For Freedom ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ www(dot)mccainslobbyists(dot)com www(dot)mccainsource(dot)com www(dot)therealmccain(dot)com/butler www(dot)mudflats(dot)wordpress(dot)com www(dot)plnewsforum(dot)com/index.php/forums/viewthread/39966 www(dot)phoenixnewtimes(dot)com/1989-11-29/news/mccain-the-most-reprehensible-of-the-keating-five/1 www(dot)rationalrevolution0(dot)tripod(dot)com/war/bush_family_and_the_s(dot)htm www(dot)republicansexoffenders(dot)com www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=GEtZlR3zp4c McCain Campaign Has Strong Ties To Corporate Lobbyists At Center Of Bailout www(dot)thinkprogress(dot)org/2008/09/22/mccain-campaign-lobbies-bailou McCain on Special Interest, Lobbyists and DC SleazeWhat you should remember www(dot)personals(dot)nymag(dot)com/blog/1069/post_78180.html?dcb=personals(dot)nymag(dot)com Media advance myth of McCain as lobbyist foe www(dot)mediamatters(dot)org/items/200802260009 the McCAIN BUSH GRAMM foreclosure plan: called BIG BANK BAILOUT (4 more years of BUSH PILLAGE?) www(dot)miami(dot)craigslist(dot)org/mdc/pol/850631984(dot)html G. Gordon Liddy: John McCain Finds His Own Radical Criminal Ties At A Fundraiser For McCain At Liddy's House www(dot)huffingtonpost(dot)com/2008/05/05/g-gordon-liddy-john-mccai_n_100134(dot)html NOW, IF YOU NEED TO KNOW MORE, PUT "credit default swap + Mccain lobbyists" INTO THE GOOGLE SEARCH BAR AND YOU CAN'T BELIEVE THE UNETHICAL THEFT THAT MCCAIN HAS PULLED OVER THE EYES OF ALL THE LOW INFORMATION AMERICANS THAT WILL VOTE FOR HIM. IT IS DISGUSTING AND IT'S THE SAME LIPSTICK ON THE SAME PIG! Posted by: wyattobamanation | October 6, 2008 9:36 PM | Only one candidate running for the Presidency has been rebuked by the Senate Ethics Committee for exercising poor judgment. Are we talking about judgment here? Posted by: VirginiaVoter08 | October 6, 2008 9:35 PM | I am far more concerned with the terrorist associations of McCain's chief strategist, Charles Black. Remember, this is the man who said that another terrorist attack would be to be benefit of the McCain campaign. Yikes! Posted by: VirginiaVoter08 | October 6, 2008 9:33 PM | Hey, did you guys see the turnout Palin got at The Villages retirement community in Florida last week? 60,000 people turned out......... Hey, Popasmoke- I guess they don't drink mochachino lattes! Posted by: thecannula | October 6, 2008 9:27 PM | jandcgall1- McCain was cleared on any wrongdoing in the Keating case- Obama saved $300,000 in PERSONAL FUNDS on the sale of his home by allowing Rezko to bribe him with a loan from Nadhmi Auchi, an Iraqi money launderer, the money used to overpay for Obama's side yard- THEN voted for $14 million in funding to Rezko tenement development....oh, to make up for it, he donated $150,000 (?????????) IN Rezko CAMPAIGN DONATIONS....Audacity for sure! Posted by: thecannula | October 6, 2008 9:21 PM | Popasmoke too - you please identify your relationship with the Obama campaign Dawd, bonjedi and the poster who creates screen names to look like other posters: Please identify yourselves as part of the Obama campaign - it is only right that your comments are attributed to your hope and leader Obama. . Posted by: 37thandOStreet Posted by: 37thandOStreet | October 6, 2008 9:16 PM | . . Obama is the racist here - if a white politician went to a church like the Rev. Wright's church - and brought his children to that church for years - the liberals would shun that white person and brand him like no other. The liberals are angry. However, the pass that Obama has received from the media on his own racist behavior being in that church and going there for so long - it is truly unbelievable. . . Posted by: 37thandOStreet | October 6, 2008 9:15 PM | Palin had an interesting day in Florida today. In a Starbucks she had to hurried out by the secret service as people were yelling at her and calling her names. I think they were actually afraid for her safety. At a rally as palin was referring to Obama as a terrorist, members of the audience were yelling out "Kill Him Kill, Him" as Palin continued to stir them up. Palin is one sick person. She is the perfect "STOOGE" for the republicans. Posted by: popasmoke | October 6, 2008 9:11 PM | Dawd, bonjedi and the poster who creates screen names to look like other posters: Please identify yourselves as part of the Obama campaign - it is only right that your comments are attributed to your hope and leader Obama. . Posted by: 37thandOStreet | October 6, 2008 9:06 PM | . . . Let's all review how this year, not decades ago. OBAMA REFUSED TO DISAVOW Rev. Wright and his BLACK LIBERATION THEOLOGY TEACHINGS. What is worse is that Obama exposed his children to the HATE OF BLACK LIBERATION THEOLOGY FOR YEARS. EXPOSED HIS CHILDREN TO THAT RACIST HATE UNTIL IT BECAME POLITICALLY IMPOSSIBLE FOR OBAMA TO CONTINUE TO BRING HIS CHILDREN TO THE RACIST CHURCH ! IF A WHITE candidate had a similar church, the Washignton Post would be railing against that candidate. The bias is great, the racism is unbelievable. The media has given Obama so many passes. Then they have to go and get some FALSE CHARGES FROM DECADES AGO. Investigate Obama and his democratic friends in Chicago. Investigate his friend REZKO who has been indicted and whose story much of America does not know. Investigate all the connections between Michele Obama and Farrakhan. BE SERIOUS MEDIA. YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING DRINKING THE KOOL-AID OF THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN TALKING POINTS AS IF IT WERE TRUTH. . . Posted by: 37thandOStreet | October 6, 2008 8:56 PM | Hey, I just saw a great commercial for a new Movie starring Leonardo Decaprio and Russell Crowe, based on the Barack Obama candidacy- "Body of Lies" Posted by: thecannula | October 6, 2008 8:55 PM | Keating cost taxpayers: $3,400,000,000 Rezko cost taxpayers: $0 Keating cost taxpayers a trial, a congressional investigation, and a hearing Rezko cost taxpayers a trial Keating is an unethical businessman Rezko is an unethical businessman McCain had a personal relationship with Keating and accepted money, gifts, and favors from Keating Obama had a personal relationship with Rezko and accepted money, gifts, and favors from Rezko McCain's poor judgment included abdicating his responsibilities to his constituents Obama's poor judgment did not interfere with his responsibilities to his constituents McCain's poor judgment (deregulation) destroyed the entire S&L industry and ultimately cost taxpayers over $160 Billion Obama's poor judgment did not affect an industry and did cost the taxpayers anything McCain's transgression hurt homeowners equity, caused consumers to pay extremely high interest rates, put thousands working in the real estate industries out of work, and ultimately trickled down to hurt the overall economy Obama's transgression hurt the principals McCain's transgression looks a lot worse on paper. I think McCain will have a harder time convincing voters to let this one slide given the current financial crisis-- looks a lot like deja vu all over again Posted by: jandcgall1 | October 6, 2008 8:36 PM | Keating cost taxpayers: $3,400,000,000 Rezko cost taxpayers: $0 Keating cost taxpayers a trial, a congressional investigation, and a hearing Rezko cost taxpayers a trial Keating is an unethical businessman Rezko is an unethical businessman McCain had a personal relationship with Keating and accepted money, gifts, and favors from Keating Obama had a personal relationship with Rezko and accepted money, gifts, and favors from Rezko McCain's poor judgment included abdicating his responsibilities to his constituents Obama's poor judgment did not interfere with his responsibilities to his constituents McCain's poor judgment (deregulation) destroyed the entire S&L industry and ultimately cost taxpayers over $160 Billion Obama's poor judgment did not affect an industry and did cost the taxpayers anything McCain's transgression hurt homeowners equity, caused consumers to pay extremely high interest rates, put thousands working in the real estate industries out of work, and ultimately trickled down to hurt the overall economy Obama's transgression hurt the principals McCain's transgression looks a lot worse on paper. I think McCain will have a harder time convincing voters to let this one slide given the current financial crisis-- looks a lot like deja vu all over again Posted by: jandcgall1 | October 6, 2008 8:36 PM | Make up you own mind. Posted by: popasmoke | October 6, 2008 8:12 PM | For those of you Undecideds, please research the Silver State Bank of Nevada. It is the 11th U.S. Bank to go under this year. Take a look at the names of the bank's board of officers. See a familiar name? Posted by: SueMVetforObama | October 6, 2008 8:11 PM | Well we just got finished with the last day of voters registrations here is Florida and in our little group we did over 600 just today. My wife has done several thousand herself since she started. I was at the Obama office today and it was a steady stream of people wanting tee shirts buttons, stickers and yard signs. Our ground game is really coming together as we get ready for the end game. I read so many posts on here by people who go on and on and I have to wonder what they have really done to actually get their candidate elected beyond the crap they post here? I would say most do nothing just come here and bit*h. Posted by: popasmoke | October 6, 2008 7:40 PM | The United States Senate - Senator Mc Cain's club, censured him for his involvement with Charles Keating. Keating was just the face on a huge BANKING SCAM, does that ring a bell. Senator Mc Cain's own comments is all anyone has to read, his own words, no spin. We are not talking about some vague friendship with some supposed radical, but rather a direct connection with a man that cost us billions. Posted by: oldgeek143 | October 6, 2008 7:18 PM | The Republicans know no truth except their own greed and lust for power. The Republicans are masters of lies and corruption. In another 30 days, their criminal neocon party and its nominees will be consigned to a minor footnote in American history. Most Americans are now saying good riddance to bad rubbish. Posted by: Continuum | October 6, 2008 7:11 PM | Hey Obama: What are you hiding? Where are your school transcripts? Where are your papers written when you were a "professor". Who is contributing all that foreign money to your campaign? Where are all your old friends hiding? What happened to your wife? Who is raising your kids? Why did you go to that church all those years? What did you mean when you said our soldiers were bombing villages and killing babies? do you really think the surge failed? can't you think of one program you will cut? how will you pay for all your socialist programs on top of your fannie mess? How were you able to collect so much from Fannie in such a short time? Why did you block legislation that would have dealt with this mess? Tell us more about the UN spending you propose. What about the cost of the health care? What will you do about illegal immigration? Can you really raise taxes in a down economy with no effect? What is that shadow military org you propose with a giant budget? Can you tell us more about invading Pakistan? Can you justify picking Biden who seems to have no end of fact confusion? Just a few minor questions some enterprising journalist might want to ask. Probably not. Posted by: king_of_zouk | October 6, 2008 6:32 PM | This is all just so much crap and is exactly why politics and politicians get a bad name. I had expected better of both these candidates. I don't give a damn about Ayers, Rezko, Wright, or Keating - it is old news at best. I am concerned about the economy, health care, foreign relations, deficits, education, climate change, energy, etc. Demonstrate to me who is the most thoughtful and intelligent leader, who has the best advisors, etc. Get of the demagoguery and tell me how you will lead the country. Posted by: wmw4 | October 6, 2008 6:30 PM | If McCain and his campaign brings up William Ayers, which is a non-issue over 40 years later, then the Obama campaign has the right to bring up the Keating 5. I cannot wait for them to bring up Jeremiah Wright so that the Obama campaign bring up the video of the "laying of hands" on the Moose Mom. Posted by: Scott76 | October 6, 2008 6:24 PM | "Chris you and the media is really drinking the Obama Kool-Aid today why don't you go ahead and PRINT THE OBAMA TALKING POINTS" Oh hush up, you racist. Capital letters don't make you look scary. Posted by: DDAWD | October 6, 2008 6:09 PM | Obama wants to keep the campaign focused on issues, like the Repubs mismangement of the economy, and not mud-slinging. But if McCain's campaign keeps insisting raising the name Aryes, the Obama campaign has to raise the name of Liddy. When McCain says "Rezko" Obama has to say "Keating." McCain says "Rev. Wright, " Obama says "Rev. Hagee." Tit for tat is the only way to get desperate Repubs back to the issues. Posted by: dcwsano | October 6, 2008 5:51 PM | "Let's all review how this year, not decades ago. OBAMA REFUSED TO DISAVOW Rev. Wright and his BLACK LIBERATION THEOLOGY TEACHINGS." That never happened. Quit lying. Posted by: bondjedi | October 6, 2008 5:50 PM | Wow, three polls with +8 for Obama nationally. All three of those polls have a 50% for Obama. Two double digit leads for Obama in Virginia. (Obama is at 264 if you exclude the RCP tossups. McCain can't lose VA) I guess I can see why McCain is going to take the path he is taking. Posted by: DDAWD | October 6, 2008 5:48 PM | I really don't care which party each of them was from. What matters about the Keating 5 is that only one of them - John McCain - is still in Congress. The mess isn't really cleaned up until we get rid of ALL the perpetrators. Mr. Deregulation's judgment does not seem to have improved in the ensuing years. Posted by: ddipaula1 | October 6, 2008 5:39 PM | Over the weekend, John McCain's top adviser announced their plan to stop engaging in a debate over the economy and "turn the page" to more direct, personal attacks on Barack Obama. In the middle of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, they want to change the subject from the central question of this election. Perhaps because the policies McCain supported these past eight years and wants to continue are pretty hard to defend. But it's not just McCain's role in the current crisis that they're avoiding. The backward economic philosophy and culture of corruption that helped create the current crisis are looking more and more like the other major financial crisis of our time. During the savings and loan crisis of the late '80s and early '90s, McCain's political favors and aggressive support for deregulation put him at the center of the fall of Lincoln Savings and Loan, one of the largest in the country. More than 23,000 investors lost their savings. Overall, the savings and loan crisis required the federal government to bail out the savings of hundreds of thousands of families and ultimately cost American taxpayers $124 billion. Sound familiar? In that crisis, John McCain and his political patron, Charles Keating, played central roles that ultimately landed Keating in jail for fraud and McCain in front of the Senate Ethics Committee. The McCain campaign has tried to avoid talking about the scandal, but with so many parallels to the current crisis, McCain's Keating history is relevant and voters deserve to know the facts -- and see for themselves the pattern of poor judgment by John McCain. Posted by: JHigginss | October 6, 2008 5:36 PM | What other line of attack can McCain take up? He's already lost on the economy; why not call Obama a terrorist liar? Posted by: parkerfl1 | October 6, 2008 5:36 PM | The market is in the tank with Dow Jones industrials plunged as much as 800 points and set a new record for a one-day point drop and all the major indexes fell more than 7.5 percent. The benchmark index that gauges fear in the market jumped to the highest level in its 18-year history. Last month, 159,000 Americans jobs were lost. I could not sleep the whole weekend after opening my 401K statements with a quarter of retirement account vanish. And McCain wants to talk about gimmick character shenanigans. Where the FCUK does this idiot live at? McCain is beyond out-of-touch. More than any other time, we need a stable, smart and rational person at the helm of our economy. John McCain and his stupid running-mate, Sarah Airhead Palin cant provide the required leadership. No amount of character attack is going to persuade any reasonable person from the Economy. Its all about the ECONOMY. We are at a crossroad and the decision we make on November 4th will determine if America remains the World leader or to begin the slow but sure decline that the Great Britain has been on in the last century. keatingeconomics.com Posted by: JHigginss | October 6, 2008 5:35 PM | . . Chris you and the media is really drinking the Obama Kool-Aid today why don't you go ahead and PRINT THE OBAMA TALKING POINTS WHY DONT YOU LINK TO THE OBAMA WEBSITE AS WELL - MIGHT AS WELL If you are going to print the Obama talking points you should attribute your points to the Obama campaign, isn't that right? . . Posted by: 37thandOStreet | October 6, 2008 5:29 PM | "Please remind your readerst that 80% of those who were in the Keating Five were DEMOCRATS." Thank you Captain Obvious. It has also been pointed out that this is the only manner in which McShame has behaved in a bipartisan manner. Posted by: bondjedi | October 6, 2008 5:27 PM | "Chris: Please remind your readerst that 80% of those who were in the Keating Five were DEMOCRATS." and 0% of that 80% are running for president, so the only % that matters is the other 20%, which is named John McCain. Posted by: koolkat_1960 | October 6, 2008 5:27 PM | Did McCain really just say that Barack Obama gets "touchy" and "angry" whenever he gets questioned on his credentials or policies? I know that projection is a common psychological phenomenon, especially for those who find themselves in desperate situations. But for a set piece speech that must mean it's afflicted McCain's entire campaign. I mean, I still remember McCain's boil over performance at the Des Moines Register editorial board last week .. . . And now a member of the paper's editorial board, who I assume was in the room, is asking whether McCain is just too touchy and unstable to be a safe person to have as president. From the weekend column ... "John McCain is angry. You can feel it in the clenched muscles in his throat, the narrowing of his eyes, the controlled tone with which he handles a question he doesn't like, as if struggling to contain something that might spill out. We've seen that body language on TV. But around a Des Moines Register table Tuesday, the anger and tension were palpable. And unsettling." . . Eeesh ... I think the lesson is that it's hard to take potshots about the other guy (Obama) being 'angry' when you're (McCain) in the midst of having your own on-air breakdown with fifty years of anger and resentment boiling to the surface for everyone in America to see. Posted by: DrainYou | October 6, 2008 5:26 PM | . . Chris: Please remind your readerst that 80% of those who were in the Keating Five were DEMOCRATS. . . Posted by: 37thandOStreet | October 6, 2008 5:24 PM | Serious misstep by the Obama campaign. Now, the floodgates can be opened for the McCain campaign, the media, and other groups to openly and relentlessly question Obama's ties to questionable characters. This can not help Obama. He created his own trap. Posted by: bcurtis1 | October 6, 2008 5:19 PM | . . . Let's all review how this year, not decades ago. OBAMA REFUSED TO DISAVOW Rev. Wright and his BLACK LIBERATION THEOLOGY TEACHINGS. What is worse is that Obama exposed his children to the HATE OF BLACK LIBERATION THEOLOGY FOR YEARS. EXPOSED HIS CHILDREN TO THAT RACIST HATE UNTIL IT BECAME POLITICALLY IMPOSSIBLE FOR OBAMA TO CONTINUE TO BRING HIS CHILDREN TO THE RACIST CHURCH ! IF A WHITE candidate had a similar church, the Washignton Post would be railing against that candidate. The bias is great, the racism is unbelievable. The media has given Obama so many passes. Then they have to go and get some FALSE CHARGES FROM DECADES AGO. Investigate Obama and his democratic friends in Chicago. Investigate his friend REZKO who has been indicted and whose story much of America does not know. Investigate all the connections between Michele Obama and Farrakhan. BE SERIOUS MEDIA. YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING DRINKING THE KOOL-AID OF THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN TALKING POINTS AS IF IT WERE TRUTH. . . Posted by: 37thandOStreet | October 6, 2008 5:18 PM | 37th - the Dems are clearly responsible for this and have their fingerprints all over it. the press will not report it that way, instead going with the wall street greed meme. Otherwise their savior and messiah would still be without any claim to accomplishment. Can you imagine if the single accomplishment of a Presidential candidate were that he stopped up legislation that would have averted a catastrophe because he: 1. was getting big donations from them 2. was a leading advocate for ACORN, a criminal enterprise intent on breaking election laws and forcing banks to lend to unqualified buyers. You see the Dems have always preferred the unqualified, a position now engulfing their presidential candidate. how perfect - the party of unqualified borrowers nominates the most unqualified candidate. anyone who reneged on their loan should definitely vote for him. Posted by: king_of_zouk | October 6, 2008 5:13 PM | National Review- August 28, 2008 12:00 PM Barack Obama, Aspiring Commissar By the Editors ...But we are talking about more than a mere association. Bluntly, Obama has lied about his relationship with Ayers, whom he now dismisses as a guy who lives in my neighborhood. Ayers and Obama have made joint appearances together; they have argued together for reforms of the criminal justice system to make it more criminal-friendly; Obama gushed with praise for Ayers 1997 polemical book on the Chicago courts; and they sat together for three years on the board of the Woods Fund, a left-wing enterprise that distributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to their ideological allies. Most significant, they worked closely together on the Chicago Annenberg Challenge (CAC). The CAC was a major education reform project, proposed by Ayers, which was underwritten by a $49.2 million grant from the Annenberg Foundation, complemented by another $100 million in private and public funding. The project ran for about five years, beginning in 1995. As the liberal researcher Steve Diamond has recounted, Ayers ran its operational arm, the Chicago School Reform Collaborative. Obama, then a 33-year-old, third-year associate at a small law firm, having no executive experience, was brought in to chair the board of directors, which oversaw all fiscal matters. By the time the CACs operations were wound down in 2001 it had doled out more than $100 million in grants but had failed to achieve any improvement in the Chicago schools. What little is known about the grants Obama oversaw is troubling. As Diamond relates, one of the first CAC awards in 1995 was $175,000 for the Small Schools Workshop, which had been founded by Ayers and was then headed by Mike Klonsky. It was only the beginning of the CACs generous funding of Klonsky a committed Maoist who had been an Ayers comrade in the radical Students for a Democratic Society (the forerunner of Ayers Weatherman terrorist organization), and who hosted a social justice blog on the Obama campaign website until his writings were hastily purged in June after Diamond called attention to them. The CAC records, said to comprise 70 linear feet of files, have long been maintained at the library of the UIC, the public university where Ayers teaches. This summer, Kurtz made an appointment to review them and, after being assured access, was blocked from seeing them by library administrators, who stammered about needing permission from the donor whom they declined to identify. Kurtz energetically raised public awareness to the stonewalling, and the library finally relented this week. That is, as Barack Obama prepares to accept the Democrats nomination tonight, the records of his only significant executive experience just became available for review on Tuesday. Kurtz began his review, and on Wednesday was invited on Milt Rosenbergs radio program to discuss it. Rosenberg is a Chicago institution. His program, Extension 720, has aired for more than 30 years a civil forum where knowledgeable guests from across the political spectrum discuss important issues in revealing two-hour interviews. What happened Wednesday night was stunning, as even the normally unflappable Rosenberg observed. The Obama campaign which has emissaries appearing everywhere declined Rosenbergs invitation to have a representative appear on the program and respond to Kurtzs factual assertions. The campaign did, however, issue an Obama Action Wire that encouraged supporters to contact the program (telephone information was provided) and use scripted talking points to disrupt Kurtzs appearance, which it deemed unacceptable. As the Politicos Ben Smith reported, the campaign also urged supporters to demand that Rosenberg scrap the appearance of Kurtz, whom the campaign libeled as a smear-merchant and a slimy character assassin. The rant was reminiscent of the work of the left-wing media watch-dog Media Matters for America. Other than denigrating Kurtz for being conservative, Obamas operatives have provided no response to the substance of his claims. In their only pretense of engaging him, they accuse him of telling a flat out lie that Ayers recruited Obama for the CAC. Though it is a reasonable inference that Ayers recruited Obama, the careful Kurtz has stopped short of making it observing only that Obama offers no explanation of how he was recruited if not through Ayers, his friend and the CACs driving force. The station, WGN, has made a stream of the broadcast available online, here, and it has to be heard to be believed. Obamas robotic legions dutifully jammed the stations phone lines and inundated the program with emails, attacking Kurtz personally. Pressed by Rosenberg to specify what inaccuracies Kurtz was guilty of, caller after caller demurred, mulishly railing that we just want it to stop, and that criticism of Obama was just not what we want to hear as Americans. Remarkably, as Obama sympathizers raced through their script, they echoed the campaigns insistence that it was Rosenberg who was lowering the standards of political discourse by having Kurtz on, rather than the campaign by shouting him down. Kurtz has obviously hit a nerve. It is the same nerve hit by the American Issues Project, whose television ad calling for examination of the Obama/Ayers relationship has prompted the Obama campaign to demand that the Justice Department begin a criminal investigation. Obama fancies himself as post-partisan. He is that only in the sense that he apparently brooks no criticism. This episode could be an alarming preview of what life will be like for the media should the party of the Fairness Doctrine gain unified control of the federal government next year. Posted by: thecannula | October 6, 2008 5:09 PM | Keating Five is hugely relevant to today's crisis, and it should be part of the campaign dialogue. And, by the way, please don't make your pro-McCain-Palin comments in capital letters. It's hard to read and just plain annoying. Less caffine might help. Posted by: osullivanc1 | October 6, 2008 5:04 PM | . . . Let's all review how this year, not decades ago. OBAMA REFUSED TO DISAVOW Rev. Wright and his BLACK LIBERATION THEOLOGY TEACHINGS. What is worse is that Obama exposed his children to the HATE OF BLACK LIBERATION THEOLOGY FOR YEARS. EXPOSED HIS CHILDREN TO THAT RACIST HATE UNTIL IT BECAME POLITICALLY IMPOSSIBLE FOR OBAMA TO CONTINUE TO BRING HIS CHILDREN TO THE RACIST CHURCH ! IF A WHITE candidate had a similar church, the Washignton Post would be railing against that candidate. The bias is great, the racism is unbelievable. The media has given Obama so many passes. Then they have to go and get some FALSE CHARGES FROM DECADES AGO. Investigate Obama and his democratic friends in Chicago. Investigate his friend REZKO who has been indicted and whose story much of America does not know. Investigate all the connections between Michele Obama and Farrakhan. BE SERIOUS MEDIA. YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING DRINKING THE KOOL-AID OF THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN TALKING POINTS AS IF IT WERE TRUTH. . . Posted by: 37thandOStreet | October 6, 2008 5:00 PM | Democrats for John McCain and Sarah Palin in 2008 Posted by: hclark1 | October 6, 2008 4:57 PM | . . thecannula Never Forget that Wall Street was deregulated under BILL CLINTON and that is how this entire mortgage mess started - the DNC took money from the Wall Street Lobbyists It was Senator "Chuck" Shumer from New York (D) pushing for the Deregulation. Senator Chris Dodd (D) took the most money from the Wall Street Lobbyists. Do not forget Rep. Barney Frank (D) who heads up the Committee who was supposed to oversee Wall Street for the past year and a half WHILE THIS CRISIS WAS DEVELOPING. THE SENATOR IN SECOND POSITION TAKING THE GREATEST AMOUNT OF MONEY FROM FANNIE MAE AND FREDDIE MAC - OBAMA - SO NEVER EVER TRY TO SAY THE DEMOCRATS ARE NOT AT FAULT. . . Posted by: 37thandOStreet | October 6, 2008 4:54 PM | The Ayers "ONE" and the Keating 5 National Review Online- Monday, October 06, 2008 The Ayers Question [Yuval Levin] Very soon after she was picked to be McCains running mate, Sarah Palin was attacked by Obama campaign spokesmen and a Democratic member of Congress for once being seen wearing a Pat Buchanan button. She had an answer and the campaign offered it. Yet now we are asked to believe that its somehow inappropriate to inquire why Barack Obamas political career began in the home of an admitted and unrepentant domestic terrorist of the radical left? Who is Barack Obama? is not an irrelevant question given the job Obama is seeking, and its a question he has sought mightily to avoid answering. The veil of secrecy he has thrown over his past (journalists have been denied access to his state legislative office records, documents about state earmarks he distributed in Illinois, a list of his legal clients, his state bar application, billing records related to Tony Rezko, medical records, academic records all of which are the sort of documents candidates routinely make public) forces the question all the more. The Obama campaigns response to the question appears to be to raise John McCains connection to the Keating Five scandal. It is by no means out of bounds to raise the issue. McCain received campaign funds from Keating, his wifes company had been involved in investment ventures with him, and he once met with federal regulators about Keatings bank though the Senate Ethics Committee found that unlike three other senators involved in the scandal, Senator McCains actions were not improper. The committee said only that he had exercised bad judgment by being involved with Keating at all and not seeing what others were doing. In fact, Bob Bennett, who was the Democratic lawyer selected by the committee to investigate the Keating Five, says in his book that he recommended that McCains name be dropped from the investigation because there was no evidence against him but, for political reasons (the other Senators were all Democrats), McCains name was left on the list. McCains response to that scandal should certainly be compared with Obamas Ayers explanations. McCain has spoken and written about every detail of the Keating mess, has expressed open contrition for allowing himself to be drawn into it even tangentially, and devoted years of his career to combating corruption as a result. He even badly overreacted and pushed for vastly excessive regulation of campaign financing. He has said (in a book in which he details his and others actions in the matter) that merely the appearance of impropriety involved makes his involvement with Keating the worst mistake of my life. Had Obama done and said something similar regarding the sort of radicalism Ayers represents, he would now have an answer to offer. Instead, he has worked with Ayers, supported his causes, and denied any significance to the links between them. That, too, makes this a legitimate question about a man who would be president. 10/06 02:41 PM Posted by: thecannula | October 6, 2008 4:53 PM | Not sure of the details but in Florida today Palin had to be ushered out of a Starbucks by the secret service for her protection. People in the Starbucks were not interested in seeing Palin and began calling her names and yelling at her. Posted by: popasmoke | October 6, 2008 4:51 PM | "I think he can win without it. And I wish he would. I am for Obama and want him to come into office without his getting into the gutter. But i guess that won't happen." Me too, but staying above the fray and losing does no one any good. The Republicans get to continue destroying our country and then pull out those same tactis in four years. If Obama wants to bring about change, it will be much easier to do with a large mandate. getting 350 votes would make it a LOT easier to enact his policies than 270. I don't love this, but I guess I can live with it. Posted by: DDAWD | October 6, 2008 4:51 PM | The Oversight and Government Reform Committee of the House of Representatives is grilling financial company executives this week as part of an investigation of financial industry practices. One wonders what the committee, under its Chairman, Henry Waxman (D-California) has been up to during the last year or so when all signs indicated there were serious problems brewing. Dem leadership on display - a couple trillion dollars short and few years too late. but they will fix all this don't worry. the power to tax comes at the point of a gun. At least they are not lying about raising taxes this time. It is just who will pay them that contains the lie. hint - it's not charley Rangle. he doesn't pay taxes. Posted by: king_of_zouk | October 6, 2008 4:50 PM | Bring back the Rev. Wright and the $20,000.00 Obama gave to his RACIST church which supports BLACK LIBERATION THEOLOGY !!! . Posted by: 37thandOStreet | October 6, 2008 4:50 PM | How much did you lose from your 401k today? Posted by: JRM2 ??????????????? JRM2- Carter and Clinton started this mess- Clinton took credit for the Democrats role on Good Morning America with Chris Cuomo intervieing- Barney Frank said in 2004 that we don't need to question the "safety and security" of Fannie Mae- McCain proposed housing reform act with increased Fannie oversight in 2005- Obama chose Johnson, who helped run Fannie- to choose his VP in 2008- SO, what are you talking about? And- Why did Obama save $300,000 in personal funds in the purchase of his house through his land swindle with Tony Rezko and once caught "made up for it" by donating half that total in CAMPAIGN funds to charity? HUH? Posted by: thecannula | October 6, 2008 4:48 PM | . . 80% of the people in the Keating Five were DEMOCRATS - HOW HYPOCRITICAL CAN THEY BE ??? . . Posted by: 37thandOStreet | October 6, 2008 4:47 PM | "I think this may backfire on Obama much the same way attacking Palin's experience did." The attacks on Palin's experience have worked really well. I mean, it required a contribution on her part in the forms of nationally televised interviews, but yeah. Palin is adored by the people who just want a Bible waved in their faces and could care less about running the country. But the rest of the country just cannot envision her as President. That debate just turned off a lot of undecideds. Many of who voted for Obama today. Posted by: DDAWD | October 6, 2008 4:45 PM | Wow- this campaign will get dirty and the press will do all it can to help that along. McCain was cleared of anywrongdoing in the Keating Five along with John Glenn. Seems that Obama had to go back 20 years to find this. I hope that neither campaign will get into the mud but if they do and Obama himself gets into it he is giving up the label of the new politician and the one who will be different. That is sad for Obama and sad for the Country. I think he can win without it. And I wish he would. I am for Obama and want him to come into office without his getting into the gutter. But i guess that won't happen. I think McCain being stuck with the Bush years and the financial crisis, and the ground operation that the Obama campaign says they have will be enough for Obama to win. Posted by: peterdc | October 6, 2008 4:44 PM | McCain's lies are finally catching up to him. McCain in April 08 declared that there had been "great progress economically" during the Bush years. On more than one occasion, he diagnosed Americans' concerns over the dismal U.S. economy as "psychological." (Phil Gramm, McCain's close friend and economic adviser, supposedly excommunicated from McCains campaign over his "Americans are economic whiners" remarks, is back on board with the McCain campaign again.) . . McCain, a man who owns eight homes nationwide, in March lectured Americans facing foreclosure that they ought to be "doing what is necessary -- working a second job, skipping a vacation, and managing their budgets -- to make their payments on time." And when all else fails, McCain told the people of the economically devastated regions in Martin County, Kentucky and Youngstown, Ohio, there's always eBay. In his defense, McCain's shocking tone-deafness may just be a matter of perspective. When you're as well off as he is, anything below a $5 million income (a figure exceeding that earned on average by the top 0.1% of Americans) seems middle class. *The $100 Million Man* Courtesy of his wife Cindy's beer distribution fortune (one her late father apparently chose not to share with her half-sister Kathleen), the McCains are worth well over $100 million. (In the two-page tax summary she eventually released to the public, Cindy McCain reported another $6 million in 2006.) As Salon reported back in 2000, the second Mrs. McCain's millions were essential in launching her husband's political career. Unsurprisingly, the Weekly Standard's Matthew Continetti, who four years ago called Theresa Heinz-Kerry a "sugar mommy," has been silent on the topic of Cindy McCain. *The Joys of (Eight) Home Ownership* While fellow adulterer John Edwards was pilloried for his mansion, John McCain's eight homes around the country have received little notice or criticism. His properties include a 10 acre lake-side Sedona estate, euphemistically called a "cabin" by the McCain campaign, and a home featured in Architectural Digest. The one featuring "remote control window coverings" was recently put up for sale. Still, their formidable resources did not prevent the McCains from failing to pay taxes on a tony La Jolla, California condo used by Cindy's aged aunt. *The Anheuser-Busch Windfall* As it turns out, the beauty of globalization is in the eye of the beholder. While John McCain apparently played a critical role in facilitating DHL's takeover of Airborne (and with it, the looming loss of 8,000 jobs in Wilmington, Ohio), Cindy McCain is set to earn a staggering multi-million dollar pay-day from the acquisition of Anheuser-Busch by the Belgian beverage giant, In Bev. As the Wall Street Journal reported in July, Mrs. McCain runs the third largest Anheuser-Busch distributorship in the nation, and owns between $2.5 and $5 million in the company's stock. Amazingly, while Missouri's politicians of both parties lined up to try to block the sale, John McCain held a fundraiser in the Show Me State even as the In Bev deal was being finalized. *McCain's $370,000 Personal Tax Break* Earlier this year, the Center for American Progress analyzed John McCain's tax proposals. The conclusion? McCain's plan is radically more regressive than even that of President Bush, delivering 58% of its benefits to the wealthiest 1% of American taxpayers. McCain's born-again support for the Bush tax cuts has one additional bonus for Mr. Straight Talk: the McCains would save an estimated $373,000 a year. *Paying Off $225,000 Credit Card Debt - Priceless* That massive windfall from his own tax plan will come in handy for John McCain. As was reported in June, the McCains were carrying over $225,000 in credit card debt. The American Express card - don't leave your homes without it. *Charity Begins at Home* As Harpers documented earlier this year, the McCains are true believers in the old saying that charity begins at home: . Between 2001 and 2006, McCain contributed roughly $950,000 to [their] foundation. That accounted for all of its listed income other than for $100 that came from an anonymous donor. During that same period, the McCain foundation made contributions of roughly $1.6 million. More than $500,000 went to his kids' private schools, most of which was donated when his children were attending those institutions. So McCain apparently received major tax deductions for supporting elite schools attended by his children. . Ironically, the McCain campaign last week blasted Barack Obama for having attended a private school in Hawaii on scholarship. That attack came just weeks after John McCain held an event at his old prep school, Episcopal High, an institution where fees now top $38,000 a year. *Private Jet Setters* As the New York Times detailed back in April, John McCain enjoyed the use of his wife's private jet for his campaign, courtesy of election law loopholes he helped craft. Despite the controversy, McCain continued to use Cindy's corporate jet. For her part, Cindy McCain says that even with skyrocketing fuel costs, "in Arizona the only way to get around the state is by small private plane." *Help on the Homefront* In these tough economic times, the McCains are able to stretch their household budget. As the AP reported in April, "McCain reported paying $136,572 in wages to household employees in 2007. Aides say the McCains pay for a caretaker for a cabin in Sedona, Ariz., child care for their teenage daughter, and a personal assistant for Cindy McCain." *Well-Heeled in $520 Shoes* If clothes make the man, then John McCain has it made. As Huffington Post noted in July, "He has worn a pair of $520 black leather Ferragamo shoes on every recent campaign stop - from a news conference with the Dalai Lama to a supermarket visit in Bethlehem, PA." It is altogether fitting that McCain wore the golden loafers during a golf outing with President George H.W. Bush in which he rode around in cart displaying the sign, "Property of Bush #41. Hands Off." . . Posted by: DrainYou | October 6, 2008 4:40 PM | The Ayers "ONE" and the Keating 5 National Review Online Monday, October 06, 2008 The Ayers Question [Yuval Levin] Very soon after she was picked to be McCains running mate, Sarah Palin was attacked by Obama campaign spokesmen and a Democratic member of Congress for once being seen wearing a Pat Buchanan button. She had an answer and the campaign offered it. Yet now we are asked to believe that its somehow inappropriate to inquire why Barack Obamas political career began in the home of an admitted and unrepentant domestic terrorist of the radical left? Who is Barack Obama? is not an irrelevant question given the job Obama is seeking, and its a question he has sought mightily to avoid answering. The veil of secrecy he has thrown over his past (journalists have been denied access to his state legislative office records, documents about state earmarks he distributed in Illinois, a list of his legal clients, his state bar application, billing records related to Tony Rezko, medical records, academic records all of which are the sort of documents candidates routinely make public) forces the question all the more. The Obama campaigns response to the question appears to be to raise John McCains connection to the Keating Five scandal. It is by no means out of bounds to raise the issue. McCain received campaign funds from Keating, his wifes company had been involved in investment ventures with him, and he once met with federal regulators about Keatings bank though the Senate Ethics Committee found that unlike three other senators involved in the scandal, Senator McCains actions were not improper. The committee said only that he had exercised bad judgment by being involved with Keating at all and not seeing what others were doing. In fact, Bob Bennett, who was the Democratic lawyer selected by the committee to investigate the Keating Five, says in his book that he recommended that McCains name be dropped from the investigation because there was no evidence against him but, for political reasons (the other Senators were all Democrats), McCains name was left on the list. McCains response to that scandal should certainly be compared with Obamas Ayers explanations. McCain has spoken and written about every detail of the Keating mess, has expressed open contrition for allowing himself to be drawn into it even tangentially, and devoted years of his career to combating corruption as a result. He even badly overreacted and pushed for vastly excessive regulation of campaign financing. He has said (in a book in which he details his and others actions in the matter) that merely the appearance of impropriety involved makes his involvement with Keating the worst mistake of my life. Had Obama done and said something similar regarding the sort of radicalism Ayers represents, he would now have an answer to offer. Instead, he has worked with Ayers, supported his causes, and denied any significance to the links between them. That, too, makes this a legitimate question about a man who would be president. 10/06 02:41 PM Posted by: thecannula | October 6, 2008 4:39 PM | "how about Penny Pritzker? How come the Washington Post hasn't done a story on her, huh? I don't think Obama can throw her under the bus; she's his senior financial advisor. Unfortunately for Obama, she's also at the heart of a failed bank and the very same dumb-ass lending practices that have led us to the economic situation in which we currently find ourselves." Pssst...she also was involved with McCain in 2000. Just so you know. Posted by: DDAWD | October 6, 2008 4:38 PM | I think this may backfire on Obama much the same way attacking Palin's experience did. When voters begin to think about pols who lined their pockets while banks did funny business, the ones who comes to mind are Obama, Dodd and Frank. so Keating and Fannie may be similar, but Mccain would have to pal around with Osama bin laden to be similar to Ayers. Except Mccain was exonerated and mostly kept as one of the five to deflect the fact that the other four were Dems (of course)by the Dem investigators. moral of the story - if you let Dems get near money, watch the pile closely, they can't help but try to lift some for themselves. Posted by: king_of_zouk | October 6, 2008 4:37 PM | Do the new attacks change the subject? I'm thinking they don't. Maybe in tomorrow's debate a question will get added to both candidates about promises of high-minded campaigns, that have been broken to get into this Ayers/Keating nonsense. But the attacks likely won't last through another news cycle, given the additional 5% knocked off the Dow and S&P 500 today. Posted by: bsimon1 | October 6, 2008 4:36 PM | "I view the Keating 5 issue as largely irrelevant now..." Posted by: ManUnitdFan | October 6, 2008 3:50 PM | --------- Actually, it is more relevant than ever since we are seeing John McCain's economic politics come full circle. How much did you lose from your 401k today? Posted by: JRM2 | October 6, 2008 4:34 PM | Give me a break, Chris. I usually like the Fix because you at least try to be fair, but this story is ridiculous. What's worse, you KNOW it's ridiculous. We all know - because the DEMOCRAT prosecutor who was in charge of this case told us - that McCain was guiltless in the Keating 5 scandal. The only, ONLY reason he even got a small slap on the wrist was because the Democratic committee wouldn't stand for dismissing him and having the only people charged be three Democrats (John Glenn, a Democrat, was also guiltless). Come to think of it, why does Obama have John Glenn speaking on behalf of his campaign and making joint appearances with him? I guess he's really not all that concerned about this issue after all. Moreover, Chris, you hardly presented much of a case against Barack Obama's associations in this story. If you want to give Keating 5 such prominence, then you are obligated as an "objective journalist" (go ahead, laugh at the phrase; I am) to give equal discussion to the many MANY associations Obama has that are reflective of abysmal judgement. Hey, here's a new one for you. We've got Ayers, Wright, Rezco, Raines, Johnson, but how about Penny Pritzker? How come the Washington Post hasn't done a story on her, huh? I don't think Obama can throw her under the bus; she's his senior financial advisor. Unfortunately for Obama, she's also at the heart of a failed bank and the very same dumb-ass lending practices that have led us to the economic situation in which we currently find ourselves. She sure seems a lot more relevant to the discussion -- and the election -- than Charles Keating, seeing as how, you know, she's going to help shape economic policy if America is dumb enough to elect Obama. That's right. A chairman of a bank that failed for issuing bad subprime mortages will be helping us fix this economy. How do you all feel about that, America? That light you see is not the end of the tunnel, it's a train. Posted by: etpietro | October 6, 2008 4:34 PM | Of course, one thing is that people are a LOT less aware of the Keating 5 scandal than Ayers or Wright (these issues being played out over the first half of the year) This issue has the potential to be more damaging to McCain than Ayers is to Obama simply because so many people know about Obama's associations. Posted by: DDAWD | October 6, 2008 4:27 PM | I just watched Cilizza on MSNBC with David Schuster. He sure drives home the point about parity; as in "both campaigns are equally guilty of negative campaigning." More evidence of Cilizza's complete conventional wisdom. Posted by: jimmyjamesjr | October 6, 2008 4:15 PM | Proof by Obamas own words that he is alot closer to Ayer's than he would like to admit: Posted by: chrisesco2001 | October 6, 2008 4:15 PM | "There isn't a single voter in the country who says "I'd vote for McCain if not for the Keating Five scandal." People love to talk about these scandals, but they don't really affect votes. The same is true for the analogous Obama issues, like the William Ayers nonsense that right-wingers have been whining about for months. There's no actual evidence of wrongdoing, just a relationship with a shady character. And that's not the sort of thing that changes voters' minds." Yeah, Keating and Ayers are both nonsense. The Keating stuff is a direct response to McCain's decision to talk about Ayers and Wright. In a perfect world, Obama could just rise above all that, but as we saw in 2004, you can't hope for the better judgement of voters. The result is the campaign we've got today. Posted by: DDAWD | October 6, 2008 4:09 PM | EVERYONE KNOWS THOSE CHARGES AGAINST SEN. MCCAIN IS FALSE!! So, let Obama go at Sen. McCain morals. My belief is that Obama will only degrade himself. BTW, THE BIASED MEDIA WOULD LOVE TO TAG SEN. MCCAIN WITH AN EMOTIONALLY UNSTABLE TAG. SO, SEN. MCCAIN SHOULD ATTACK OBAMA ONLY IN A CIVILIZED MANNER DURING DEBATES!!! Posted by: lazerboy | October 6, 2008 3:57 PM | I view the Keating 5 issue as largely irrelevant now. But then I also view the Rev. Wright, William Ayres stuff as irrelevant too. If the McCain camp wants to open the flood gates on negative campaigning, they have to take it as well as give it out. It's not as if Obama's associations are fair game and McCain's are not. He made his bed, now he has to lie in it. Posted by: ManUnitdFan | October 6, 2008 3:50 PM | Circle Circle dot dot now we have our cooties shot :) It seems John McCain has made a big mistake especially since its so similar to what is bringing our economy down as we speak... Posted by: Beka13 | October 6, 2008 3:48 PM | Not only is McShame mischaracterizing his salad days as Keating Fiver, he also is exaggerating this BS about being a reform-minded maverick. He still flits from home to home on lobbyist-funded jets, and keynotes $1,000 a plate fundraisers that exclude the hoi polloi making up 99% of the electorate. The only campaign-finance reforming he has done is streamline the accounting rules and make it easier for candidates to pile up warchests. John McCain's maverick image is just that - an illusion - and it doesn't square with the reality: that he has been a wh0re for the financial and energy sectors for the last 20 years. Posted by: bondjedi | October 6, 2008 3:32 PM | Oh....now I get it.....NOT! It's that darn "media filter" that's preventing Palin from talking about "the real issues"...cough cough, rather than flinging crap at Obama.....pleeeeeease. Palin has devoted a significant portion of every one of her stump speeches in recent days to lamenting that the "filter of the mainstream media" has not given her a chance to do what she really wants to do: talk about the issues. But in filter-free forums across the country, Palin continues to speak in generalities about where she and John McCain want to take the country, calling for tax cuts, winning the wars, and reforming government, while providing very few details on how she would accomplish those goals. Instead, Palin has increasingly focused her remarks on tearing down Obama. "Either do the math or just go with your gut," Palin said at a rally here this morning. "Either way youre going to come up with the same conclusion Barack Obama is gonna raise your taxes. So theres a pattern here of a left-wing agenda that is packaged and prettied up to look like mainstream policies." . . The McCain/Palin ship is sinking faster than the Titanic and Fear mongering is all they have left. . . Posted by: DrainYou | October 6, 2008 3:27 PM | It doesn't matter. Yes, McCain was involved in the Keating Five scandal. That scandal is peripherally related to the current financial crisis, because it involved banks. But it's still meaningless. McCain wasn't found guilty of any improper act. So we're talking about a minor scandal from over 20 years ago in which nothing was proven. Who cares? There isn't a single voter in the country who says "I'd vote for McCain if not for the Keating Five scandal." People love to talk about these scandals, but they don't really affect votes. The same is true for the analogous Obama issues, like the William Ayers nonsense that right-wingers have been whining about for months. There's no actual evidence of wrongdoing, just a relationship with a shady character. And that's not the sort of thing that changes voters' minds. I'm not voting for John McCain. I don't agree with his positions on issues, with the way he's voted in his time in the Senate, and with the way he's conducted this campaign. The Keating Five scandal doesn't make me less likely to vote for McCain, because I wasn't going to vote for him anyway! I suspect the same is true of anyone who pretends that this is a major issue. Posted by: Blarg | October 6, 2008 3:19 PM | pastor123 - It has nothing whatsoever to do with Palin. The reason Huckabee is preferred by most working class Republican's is becasue of his stance on outsourcing and guest workers. He would end the H1-B and L-1 and every other work visa *immediately*. And, he would enact the tariff's, duties, fees and punitive taxes on corporations and investors that outsource -- things that people, both Republicans and Democrats actually want. Either party could run a sock puppet that promised do whatever takes, anything and everything goes, to end "free trade", and they would get elected. It isn't just about McCain or Bush or Oabama, it's about survival. McCain has made it abundantly clear that he is in the pocket of the bankers and investors and corporate crowd that drove ths country into a ditch. Obama is weak here, too. I haven't heard anything from him about ending the insanity of globalization, only modifying it so it doesn't hurt us quite as bad. Huckabee is a genuine populist. So are people like DeFazio, and Dennis Kucinich. Right now, a genuine populist would steam roll anyone having anything nice to say about Wall Street. Posted by: mibrooks27 | October 6, 2008 3:05 PM | "McCain's role in the S&L scandal that eventually enveloped five senators (four Democrats and McCain) a.k.a. the 'Keating Five.'" Wow, McCain is bipartisan. Posted by: nrudy | October 6, 2008 3:04 PM | There is a real disconnect with the McCain message on this. Today they put McCain's lawyer on the phone to claim that McCain had never done anything wrong in this regard, that it was simply a political vendetta by George Mitchell and Howell Heflin. But that's at odds with what John McCain has always said when he talks about the Keating Five -- he has written and spoken about how the mistakes and "errors in judgement" he made regarding Charles Keating and the S&L intervention with regulators was the worst part of his life (worse than being POW in Hanoi), and it was those mistakes that gave him religion on issues like campaign finance and lobbyist reform. Trying to backtrack on McCain's own statements on this matter is not a great strategy for the campaign - it actually starts to undermine McCain's own message and image about how he came to become a "maverick". They'd be far better off sticking to their original story -- that his mistakes taught McCain a valuable lesson about the influence of money in politics and the importance of being scrupulous about dealings with lobbyists. Instead trying to refight the battle now over whether McCain made mistakes back then and claiming he was the victim of a political vendetta simply reopens the issue for examination. And rehashing those details won't look good for McCain. Posted by: terje | October 6, 2008 2:52 PM | Actor Jon Voight Was On Fox Last Night, He went nuts on Obama. Assuses him of all kinds of Crazy things. Watch his crazy rant at Posted by: pastor123 | October 6, 2008 2:48 PM | According to a new Poll, McCain/Palin is not the most desirable republican ticket, Huckabee/Palin would be the most desirable GOP ticket , A matter of fact, according to the poll. People preffer Huckabee/Palin 4 to 1 over McCain/Palin. See Poll results at Posted by: pastor123 | October 6, 2008 2:45 PM | Not just Charles Keating. Let's talk about Abramoff, the first wife, crippled and poor and loyal, dumped for a trophy bride with money, the booze and bar flies. If McCain wants this to be about character, he'll be buried up to his nose in mud. Posted by: mibrooks27 | October 6, 2008 2:41 PM | Post a Comment We encourage users to analyze, comment on and even challenge washingtonpost.com's articles, blogs, reviews and multimedia features. User reviews and comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the governing commentaries and discussions.     © 2008 The Washington Post Company