McCain Camp Trots Out First Keating Defense -- Claims Investigation Was A Political Hit Job

[bigtree]

from AmericaBlog: http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/mccain-now-saying-keating-five-scandal.html


Holy crap.

I'm listening to the McCain campaign conference call about John McCain's involvement in the Keating Five scandal. McCain's lawyer just said that the Keating Five investigation was "political" as it concerned John McCain. He shouldn't even have been admonished by the Senate, his lawyer says. (http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/lawyer_defending_mccain_on_kea.php)


Then McCain's lawyer dropped the real bomb.

The Keating Five Investigation was "a political smear job on John McCain." WTF? He called Howell Heflin, who led the hearings, a "stooge" of the Democratic machine out to get poor, innocent John McCain.

This opens up the entire question of McCain's supposed contrition. If McCain thinks he did nothing wrong, and that it was wrong for the Senate to scold him for his actions during the Keating Five Scandal, then he isn't contrite at all, he isn't sorry at all. He's learned nothing. You can't turn a new leaf when you don't think you did anything wrong. This is one hell of an admission. Get more on the Keating Five Scandal at the new Obama campaign Web site, KeatingEconomics.com And here is the Obama campaign's new documentary about McCain's involvement in this ethics scandal


(if the video isn't loading well, it may be because of the absurd amount of traffic trying to watch it - use this link instead if you're having a problem): http://www.barackobama.com/images/keating/keatingeconomics.mov

[TwilightGardener]

1. I'm not able to view the video--will wait till later.

[fasttense]

2. If it was a political hit job,

then why did McInsane apologize?

[stillcool]

3. A political hit job with all those Democrats?

[karynnj]

9. Just a cover so you wouldn't know it was a hit job on McCain

Actually they even included the equally high profile Glenn.

[trof]

4. Howell Heflin may have been a lot of things, but...

nobody's EVER called him a 'stooge'.
He was a very able politician and a highly respected member of the senate.

[Ashy Larry]

5. Tom Delay said the same thing about his scandals

which resulted in his being rebuked by the house ethics committee, just like McCain was rubuked by the Senate ethics committee.

What's the difference between John McCain and Tom Delay?

[RDANGELO]

6. That investigation was actually carried out by a special prosecutor.

All of the Democrats were more severely fingered than McCain, who I believe was the only Republican. This was during the Reagan administration. I remember watching the hearings on CSpan. The special prosecutor was Bob Benett, The brother of Bill Benett.

[bigtree]

7. Bennett defended McCain, albeit with a contradictory argument

Here's Standard Newswire's attempt to use Bennett's statements to defend McCain that he included in his book, 'Pure Politics': (I'm not linking them)


"At the completion of my investigation, I filed my report with the committee. I recommended that no further action be taken against Senators McCain and Glenn principally because once they learned that there was a criminal referral, they stopped aggressively doing Keating's bidding with the regulators."


All Bennett is saying here is that once McCain knew his ass was going to be prosecuted he tried to back off. But the fact remains that McCain did try and influence regulators on behalf of Keating.

[TexasObserver]

8. Was McCain's wife was in business with Keating?

I seem to recall she and her money were somehow involved.

[Beausoleil]

10. There is a connection

"In addition, McCain's wife Cindy McCain and her father Jim Hensley had invested $359,100 in a Keating shopping center in April 1986, a year before McCain met with the regulators."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x6735630

[bigtree]

11. yep. It's all over the net

here's one account: http://www.azcentral.com/news/specials/mccain/articles/0301mccainbio-chapter7.html


. . . the details are In spinning his side of the Keating story, McCain adopted the blanket defense that Keating was a constituent and that he had every right to ask his senators for help. In attending the meetings, McCain said, he simply wanted to make sure that Keating was treated like any other constituent.

Keating was far more than a constituent to McCain, however.

On Oct. 8, 1989, The Republic revealed that McCain's wife and her father had invested $359,100 in a Keating shopping center in April 1986, a year before McCain met with the regulators.

...When the story broke, McCain did nothing to help himself. When reporters first called him, he was furious. Caught out in the open, the former fighter pilot let go with a barrage of cover fire. Sen. Hothead came out in all his glory.

''You're a liar,''' McCain snapped Sept. 29 when a Republic reporter asked him about business ties between his wife and Keating.

''That's the spouse's involvement, you idiot,'' McCain said later in the same conversation. ''You do understand English, don't you?''

He also belittled the reporters when they asked about his wife's ties to Keating.

''It's up to you to find that out, kids.''

And then he played the POW card.

''Even the Vietnamese didn't question my ethics,'' McCain said.

The paper ran the story a few days later. At a news conference, McCain was a changed man. He stood calmly for 90 minutes and answered every question.

On the shopping center, his defense was simple. The deal did not involve him. The shares in the shopping center had been purchased by a partnership set up between McCain's wife and her father.


more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/specials/mccain/articles/0301mccainbio-chapter7.html

[TexasObserver]

13. I thought Cindy McCain was dirty in Keating Five, too.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

12. Then let's go back and examine the entire scandal in detail

if McCain wants to clear himself. In fact, let's convene new Senate hearings where John McCain can testify and explain his involvement. If McCain now retracts his apology and claims it was all a hit job, let's re-open the investigation and give him a new opportunity to prove it.