Paul Revere by Cyrus Dallin, North End, Boston

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Sunday, September 21, 2008

GOOD POINT

From TPM:

"You would never know it from watching the news, but one of the candidates in this race happens to have been previously implicated in a national scandal involving pressuring regulators to back off of a bank making risky moves with its assets, leading to disaster for investors and an expensive government bailout.

Is there a good reason why no one is mentioning John McCain's Keating Five membership in any of these arguments over who is on the side of regulating risky private banking practices? I know that McCain sort of asked for our forgiveness or something at some point during his "maverick period" around 2000-2003, but since he wants to engage in a debate about who is on the side of government regulation of risky banking practices, I think maybe we're allowed to call him out on this issue. Does anyone believe that if Barack Obama were one of the Keating Five that the Republicans would for some reason hold back from mentioning that fact?"

1 comment:

Patrick M said...

Is there a good reason why no one is mentioning John McCain's Keating Five membership...?

I had to do some quick research to argue this point. I knew he had been cleared of wrongdoing (along with the great state of Ohio's John Glenn), but the details were sketchy. In addition, it was something that had been brought up and rehased ad nauseum before.

However, it looks like it was the motivator his future actions in the McCain-Feingold (Rape of Free Speech) Campaign Finance Reform bill. That, at least, shows atonement for his "poor judgment". However, if you wanted the top reason I don't like McCain, THIS is it.