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For those pleading with the Obama camp to bring up Keating 5 ask yourselves this.....
Did George Bush bring up the Keating 5 during his nasty primary battle with John McCain?
Exactly....
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Comments (5)
That's probably because of Neil Bush's ties to Silverado
September 22, 2008 11:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think Micah616 is right; also, in 2000 the S&L scandal was a decade old and seems to have been adjudicated. Plus, he did something like apologize by saying he should have been more careful (a weaselly apology, no doubt).
Now have a new crisis, a new scandal. Is Keating relevant? Not per se, but it does start to constitute a pattern, indeed several patterns. One is that McCain is up to his chin in banking lobbyists and another is that his fingerprints are all over banking policy and regulation: he is a deregulator going back to Keating.
If Obama is going to bring Keating up, which I think he should, it can't be just to say 'John was a bad boy 20 years ago. It has to be made a framework for portraying who he is today.
September 22, 2008 12:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Officially, McCain was cleared of impropriety and the Ethics Committee noted his involvement was minimal. He's also done quite a bit of mea culpaing since, sincere or not. I don't think mentioning Keating Five would go anywhere -- if anything, McCain could turn it around by saying his past mistake, innocent in nature, has only served to make him more vigilant in the present. I wouldn't want to give him that opportunity.
The people who'd care about it already know, and the people who don't would see it as old, irrelevant, and witch-hunty.
September 22, 2008 12:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's the point. I don't think bringing it up will do much to affect the race. I think there is a reason the O camp hasn't done it yet or if they will do it at all.
September 22, 2008 12:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, I was agreeing and elaborating on why -- sorry if that wasn't clear. :) It'd be nice if it were otherwise, but I think McCain would definitely get a media/public opinion pass on this.
September 22, 2008 12:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
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