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In reply to the discussion: Rachel Maddow Smacks Down John McCain, ‘You need to know what you’re talking about’... [View all]bluesbassman
(19,371 posts)43. Good points and welcome to DU carolo. I'll add McCain's involvement with Charles Keating.
Charles Keating and his Lincoln Savings and Loan were one of the main culprits in the S&L failure and scandal of the late 80's and early 90's. McCain was up to his neck in it, but the Senate Ethics committe chose to let him slide. Even the relatively mild rebuke he received caused McCain to question his own judgement. He has no room to question anyone elses.
McCain and Keating had become personal friends following their initial contacts in 1981, and McCain was the only one of the five with close social and personal ties to Keating. Like DeConcini, McCain considered Keating a constituent as he lived in Arizona. Between 1982 and 1987, McCain had received $112,000 in political contributions from Keating and his associates. In addition, McCain's wife Cindy McCain and her father Jim Hensley had invested $359,100 in the Fountain Square Project, a Keating shopping center, in April 1986, a year before McCain met with the regulators. McCain, his family, and their baby-sitter had made nine trips at Keating's expense, sometimes aboard Keating's jet; three of the trips were made during vacations to Keating's opulent Bahamas retreat at Cat Cay. McCain did not pay Keating (in the amount of $13,433) for some of the trips until years after they were taken, when he learned that Keating was in trouble over Lincoln. In 1989 Phoenix New Times writer Tom Fitzpatrick opined that McCain was the "most reprehensible" of the five senators.
~snip~
The Ethics Committee ruled that the involvement of McCain in the scheme was also minimal, and he too was cleared of all charges against him. McCain was criticized by the Committee for exercising "poor judgment" when he met with the federal regulators on Keating's behalf. The report also said that McCain's
"actions were not improper nor attended with gross negligence and did not reach the level of requiring institutional action against him....Senator McCain has violated no law of the United States or specific Rule of the United States Senate." On his Keating Five experience, McCain has said: "The appearance of it was wrong. It's a wrong appearance when a group of senators appear in a meeting with a group of regulators, because it conveys the impression of undue and improper influence. And it was the wrong thing to do."
Regardless of the level of their involvement, both senators were greatly affected by it. McCain would write in 2002 that attending the two April 1987 meetings was "the worst mistake of my life".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keating_Five
~snip~
The Ethics Committee ruled that the involvement of McCain in the scheme was also minimal, and he too was cleared of all charges against him. McCain was criticized by the Committee for exercising "poor judgment" when he met with the federal regulators on Keating's behalf. The report also said that McCain's
"actions were not improper nor attended with gross negligence and did not reach the level of requiring institutional action against him....Senator McCain has violated no law of the United States or specific Rule of the United States Senate." On his Keating Five experience, McCain has said: "The appearance of it was wrong. It's a wrong appearance when a group of senators appear in a meeting with a group of regulators, because it conveys the impression of undue and improper influence. And it was the wrong thing to do."
Regardless of the level of their involvement, both senators were greatly affected by it. McCain would write in 2002 that attending the two April 1987 meetings was "the worst mistake of my life".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keating_Five
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Rachel Maddow Smacks Down John McCain, ‘You need to know what you’re talking about’... [View all]
Indi Guy
Nov 2012
OP
This is a good reminder. I did not know that. Our racist past continues to haunt us in even the
libdem4life
Nov 2012
#22
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coalition_unwilling
Nov 2012
#24
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libdem4life
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#26
I love her command of context. She is the best teacher of politics and policy on television.
ancianita
Nov 2012
#9
I agree! In fact, that segment should be shown on the Senate floor to rebuke McCain's
pacalo
Nov 2012
#27
An excellent point that repukes nominated someone without foreign policy experience
hughee99
Nov 2012
#13
I'm so tired of hearing how the GOP is supposed to be great at foreign policy...
Indi Guy
Nov 2012
#35
Good points and welcome to DU carolo. I'll add McCain's involvement with Charles Keating.
bluesbassman
Nov 2012
#43