Murtha and ABSCAM? How About McCain and The Keating 5?

[GOPS Worst Fear]

Why doesn't anyone harp on the Keating 5 scandal with John McCain? If they bring up Murtha then they should.

http://www.nationalreview.com/contributors/levin040501.shtml

[zanne]

1. The powers that be are already hard at work.

Murtha smear campaigns are starting. They'll throw the mud and see what sticks. I think he's a threat to the DLC.

[rinsd]

3. Are you aware of John Murtha's issue positions beyond the Iraq War?

[rinsd]

2. Well for one thing they were all Democrats except for McCain

Which is something the party wishes not to publicize.

Also McCain was able to defuse that by promising to clean up both himself and DC (major theme of the straight talk express). It was the impetus behind McCain Feingold at least that's how McCain presented it.

[mulsh]

6. Ironic since McCain got the most money

of all the Keating 5, plus 3 trips to the Bahamas.

But Keating was more than a constituent to McCain--he was a longtime friend and associate. McCain met Keating in 1981 at a Navy League dinner in Arizona where McCain was the speaker. Keating was a former naval aviator himself, and the two men became friends. Keating raised money for McCain's two congressional campaigns in 1982 and 1984, and for McCain's 1986 Senate bid. By 1987, McCain campaigns had received $112,000 from Keating, his relatives, and his employees--the most received by any of the Keating Five. (Keating raised a total of $300,000 for the five senators.)

After McCain's election to the House in 1982, he and his family made at least nine trips at Keating's expense, three of which were to Keating's Bahamas retreat. McCain did not disclose the trips (as he was required to under House rules) until the scandal broke in 1989. At that point, he paid Keating $13,433 for the flights.

And in April 1986, one year before the meeting with the regulators, McCain's wife, Cindy, and her father invested $359,100 in a Keating strip mall.

http://www.slate.com/id/1004633/#

[rinsd]

8. Not sure if ironic is the correct word

Unless you are referring to his new found need for reform when he decided to run for higher office
;-)

[blondeatlast]

9. He's VERY uncomfortable when the subject is broached.

He's well aware that he got lucky he wasn't implicated any further than he was.

[durtee librul]

10. Yeah...

and goood old war boy was also mixed up really tight with Fife Symington ..... another crook in AZ. McCain has a LOT of dirty laundry he needs to put in order and if he don't, then he can expect to be 'swift boated.' He wouldn't hesitate to do it to a dem....he gets NO free ride from me.

The public needs to know what a buffoon he really is.

As far as Murtha goes, as much as I respect him...can we REALLY afford to have him there with his skeletons? The public spoke to clean up DC....

[blondeatlast]

11. That's the one where the Baptist retirees lost all their money.

Couldn't think of it--had a blonde moment--but it got tremendous play here through the New Times and Jana Bommersbach.

There's an excellent overview of the scandal here and plenty more with a Google search (symington mccain):
http://www.mtexpress.com/2000/03-22-00/3-22murphy.htm

Gad, I try to be nice, but I was walking in a lovely shopping area about this time last year and passed right by that sphincter ex-governor. Mr. BAL spun me around because I WOULD have said something awful to him and probably have caused a major scene.

[cui bono]

4. Murtha is being brought up because Pelosi endorsed him when she

vowed to get corruption out of the House and apparently he has some issues. What does McCain have to do with the House of Reps?

Bringing up McCain over this sounds like the right wing's "what about Clinton" line. They're not related.

[rusty_parts2001]

5. I love Murtha for his stand on the war, but

an objective view of the entire Abscam FBI tape suggests to me that, at least back then, he was open to the idea of a bribe, just not quite at that moment. The tape is about an hour long and is vintage Murtha, obscenities and all. See for yourself: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2131539854655700584

[blondeatlast]

7. McCain is still in politics and he's clearly unconfortable with the subject.

As an Arizonan, I can tell you that the Keating scandal touched on all kinds of things and the stink remains to this day. Ask any of the Baptist retirees who lost their pensions due to the machinations of the K5/S&L debacle.

If you want to delve more into it, log onto your library's database and search for their names and the author "Bommersbach" (spelling is exact, btw).

But it is an innocent vacation picture that symbolizes McCain's Achilles heel and carries the reminder of the scandal that threatened his political career.

In the picture, which was taken in the Bahamas, McCain is seated on a bandstand while wearing an outrageous, straw party hat. Next to him on the dais, a bottle tipped to his lips, sits Charles Keating III, son of developer Charles H Keating Jr.

McCain calls the Keating scandal ''my asterisk.'' Over the years, his opponents have failed to turn it into a period.

Edit: Here's the link to that, sorry...
http://www.azcentral.com/specials/special39/articles/1003mccainbook5.html

I don't think he's any real contender but if we can make him uncomfortable enough as a Senator, an awful lot of angry Zonies would appreciate it, myself included. He's a mean one when pressed--really mean.