Hey Surrogates: The correct Keating talking points

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

re: "McCain was exonerated."

We are not accusing McCain of taking bribes. That matter was dealt with by the Senate Ethics Committee.

We are noting the irrefutable fact that McCain promoted and supported the legislation and delay of regulatory enforcement that enabled crooked Savings and Loan operators to crash the S&Ls and stick the taxpayer with their losses.

Whether John McCain supported those steps because he was paid to support them or because he sincerely thought the deregulation was a great idea the result was the same. Either way it was a disastrous decision that cost the US economy and US taxpayers dearly.

____________________

The point is that McCain campaign WANTS the question to be about ethics, not the wisdom of the regulatory delays themselves.

PHOENIX -- The McCain campaign pushed back hard against the new Obama attack over the Keating Five, arguing that the Arizona senator was treated unfairly by the Senate ethics investigation and asserting that John McCain had been much more open about his relationship with disgraced thrift executive Charles Keating than Obama has been about his connection with one-time radical William Ayers.

In a conference call with reporters this afternoon, John Dowd, the Washington lawyer who represented McCain during the Senate investigation, called the inquiry a "classic political smear job" by the Democrats running the Senate at the time, saying that they only included McCain to make sure that a Republican was among the targets. "John had not done anything wrong," Dowd said.

Dowd's point of view was amplified by Robert Bennett, the Washington lawyer and Democrat who served as special counsel to the Senate Ethics Committee during the Keating Five investigation, which focused on whether McCain and other senators exercised improper political influence over the regulation of Keating's failed Lincoln Savings & Loan.

In an interview, Bennett said McCain should never have been dragged into the ethics case to begin with. He said that after his own lengthy investigation, he came to the conclusion that the case against McCain and former Sen. John Glenn (D-Ohio) "should have been dropped" because the evidence suggested that once McCain understood that the Justice Department was investigating Keating, he backed off any involvement. Dowd noted that McCain threw Keating,once a strong supporter, out of his office after Keating pressed him to intervene in his case.

[hisownpetard]

1. So far, he's only taken two brides that we know of: Carol and Cyndi.

:hi:

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

3. Five bribes for five Senators... I love that movie!

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

16. ---

[UnrepentantUnitarian]

2. Matters to me that he's "taking brides"...

...when he treats the previous ones like crap simply because they've been in a wreck and been disfigured. Yes, that matters to me.

[hisownpetard]

12. Typo corrected!

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

14. spell-check not always my friend

[SIMPLYB1980]

4. K&R.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

17. .

[SIMPLYB1980]

18. Didn't want to add anything your post said it all.

:toast:

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

20. just self-kicking

[SIMPLYB1980]

21. No prob here's another kick for you.

[FloridaGrl]

5. K&R

and he still thinks deregulation is a good idea- look at where it got us then and look where it has gotten us now.

[frickaline]

6. Yes (and K&R), but the obstruction of justice piece does seem like an important side note

Whether he was bribed to do so or not, he knowingly placed himself between the investigator and the suspect.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

7. That's better for the media to chew on, not the Obama campaign

[Life Long Dem]

8. We are talking guilt by association as Obama has said.

If McSame wants to play like that here we go.

And the committee said McSame "practiced questionable
judgment."

[Window]

9. Correct. n/t

[Overseas]

10. K&R -- well said. //nt

[tulsakatz]

11. ...and since our current economy lies in shambles,

it makes the Keating issue even more relevant!! At least by suggesting poor judgement in the Keating scandal, Obama can use that as an example of how McCain conducted himself during another economic crisis.

[democrat2thecore]

13. The meetings that gave "Keating Five" its name

Charles Keating wanted meetings with the banking regulators and got them. The regulators were surprised to find FIVE senators invited to the meetings by Keating. The pressure and threats to back-off was something the regulators had never encountered before. John McCain was one of those five attendees.

Cindy McCain also had a major investment with Keating. Her investment was never officially looked at by the Senate Ethics Committee. Keep that in mind when you say McCain never took bribes. He was up to his neck in the whole Keating scandal. The separate financial accounts for John and Cindy McCain saved his career.

[robertpaulsen]

15. Ethics committee reprimanded McCain for "poor judgment".

Can we afford to have a president who exercises "poor judgment" on economic issues as McCain has so colorfully demonstrated?

That's a concise talking point.

[stillcool]

19. Ethics and Judgment...

John McCain has displayed some really, really piss poor judgment throughout his lifetime.