In the CBS News article ‘Keating Scandal Still Haunts McCain‘ we see not only that McCain was bought and sold in the early ’90s but that it’s occured since then as well. The article talks about his scandalous past with Charles Keating Jr. Excerpt:
In his early days as a freshman senator, McCain was known for accepting contributions from Charles Keating Jr., flying to the banker’s home in the Bahamas on company planes and taking up Keating’s cause with U.S. financial regulators as they investigated him.
The Keating Five was the derisive name given McCain and four Democratic senators, including then-Sen. John Glenn of Ohio, who were defendants in a congressional ethics investigation of their connections to Keating. McCain is the only one still in the Senate. They were accused of trying to intimidate regulators on behalf of Keating, a real estate developer in Arizona and owner of Lincoln Savings and Loan based in Irvine, Calif.
Keating and his associates raised $1.3 million combined for the campaigns and political causes of all five.
The article goes on to discuss how McCain claims to have learned his lesson, however, long after the scandal McCain was up to his old dirty tricks again. Excerpt:
McCain has claimed the Keating scandal sensitized him even to the appearance of potential conflicts of interest. But in recent weeks, McCain has defended himself anew over another instance in which he intervened with federal regulators on behalf of a prominent campaign contributor - years ago but after the Keating rebuke. Again, McCain denies acting improperly.
McCain wrote two letters in late 1999 to the Federal Communications Commission on behalf of Florida-based Paxson Communications. He urged quick consideration of a proposal to buy a television station license in Pittsburgh, although he did not ask the FCC commissioners to approve the proposal. At the time, one FCC commissioner’s formal nomination was pending before McCain’s Senate committee, and the FCC chairman complained that McCain’s letters were improper.
McCain wrote the letters after receiving more than $20,000 in contributions from the company’s executives and lobbyists. Chief executive Lowell W. “Bud” Paxson also lent McCain his company’s jet at least four times during 1999 for campaign travel.
If you’ll recall it’s McCain’s lobbyist mistress, Vicki Iseman, who caused McCain to cheat on his second wife like he did on his first wife and convinced McCain to go back to his scandalous Keating ways. If he’s willing to cheat on all his wives why wouldn’t he cheat on us, the American people? If all it takes is a pretty face or a promise of money to break the law and use his political power in a corrupt manner why would we want a person like this in the White House? The article goes on to talk about McCain’s legendary anger problem.
McCain conducted a poisonous newspaper interview nearly 20 years ago with his hometown Arizona Republic. Flashing his quick temper, he insulted, cursed and hung up on reporters questioning him about his ties to Keating.
Why would McCain help a man like Charles Keating Jr.? For those who don’t remember Keating ran the Lincoln Savings & Loan and was misusing and stealing money from his bank. We, the taxpayers, had to bail out the bank once it went under. We were stuck paying $2.8 billion of our hard earned tax money to bail this bank out and all Charles Keating Jr. got was a slap on the wrist while he continued to live a wealthy and luxurious life. Thanks John McCain for screwing us, the American people, and helping rich criminals like Keating out. Thanks Arizona for keeping him in the Senate. Why would people continue to vote for McCain? Because he was a POW? The article goes on to say:
Keating sought a quid pro quo from the five [McCain & 4 other politicians]. He wanted government regulators, who were investigating Lincoln, off his back. And he demanded reversal of a new rule limiting an S&L’s direct investment in risky ventures to 10 percent of assets.
The banker’s attitude was summed up the day a reporter asked whether his political donations to the senators encouraged their intervention.
“I want to say in the most forceful way I can, I certainly hope so,” Keating replied.
But McCain had an additional image problem beyond the intervention and his acceptance of Keating’s cash. The two former Navy pilots had become good friends…Keating had flown McCain and his family on several occasions to his home in the Bahamas and other locations.
When his company tried to take tax deductions for the trips, the IRS raised questions. McCain, who said he mistakenly thought his wife had reimbursed the cost [sure - mistakenly], paid back more than $13,000 - years after the trips and after the senator knew of Keating’s problems with the government.
This pretty much sums up Senator McCain. A corrupt and angry politician who has successfully reinvented himself as the good guy despite all his double talk. As the campaign goes on we’ll discuss here other scandals McCain has been involved in. John McCain is not the right person for the White House. He is George W. Bush with an anger management problem which makes him dangerous. Despite Hillary’s insistance that she’d vote for John McCain for president over Senator Obama I have to say I’d even vote for Hillary before I’d cast a vote for John McCain…and I used to be a Republican.
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