Obama allies warn GOP to back off attacks.

[babylonsister]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OBAMA?SITE=CONGRA&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Obama allies warn GOP to back off attacks.

By CHARLES BABINGTON
Associated Press Writer


ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) -- Barack Obama's allies warn that John McCain's attacks on the Democrat's character will lead to the political equivalent of mutual assured destruction: fire your big weapon at your own peril.

Several Obama surrogates said his supporters may start reminding voters of McCain's ties to Charles Keating, a convicted savings and loan owner whose actions two decades ago triggered a Senate ethics investigation that involved McCain as one of the "Keating Five."

snip//

McCain and his aides, Obama said, "are gambling that he can distract you with smears rather than talk to you about substance. They'd rather try to tear our campaign down than lift this country up. It's what you do when you're out of touch, out of ideas, and running out of time."

Noting the nation's serious economic problems, Obama said: "Yet instead of addressing these crises, Senator McCain's campaign has announced that they plan to turn the page on the discussion about our economy and spend the final weeks of this campaign launching Swiftboat-style attacks on me."

Obama has denounced Ayers' radical views and activities. However, Ayers hosted a small gathering for Obama in 1995, early in his political career. Obama and Ayers live in the same Chicago neighborhood and served on a charity board together, but there is no evidence they have palled around.

Rep. Rahm Emanuel, a Chicago Democrat and Obama supporter, warned against McCain's strategy.

"If we are going to go down this road, you know, Barack Obama was eight years old, somehow responsible for Bill Ayers," he said. "At 58, John McCain was associating with Charles Keating."

"If we really want to talk who is associating with who, we will," Emanuel said. "The American people will lose in that transaction."

Just months into his Senate career, in the late 1980s, McCain made what he has called "the worst mistake of my life." He participated in two meetings with banking regulators on behalf of Keating, a friend, campaign contributor and S&L financier who was later convicted of securities fraud.

[tosh]

1. Fair warning!

[buff2]

3. I say BRING IT ON!

It's time the repugnuts got a taste of their own medicine! :thumbsup:

[panader0]

2. That would be a great debate question: " Now, each candidate: What

was the worst mistake of your life?" A great chance to bring up mccane's connects to Keating. They went fishing, BBQing, golfing etc. They were pals like bush and Kenny Boy.

[babylonsister]

4. Looks like they are still connected...

http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2008/09/the-keating-50000.html


The Keating $50,000


Published by Massie Ritsch on September 3, 2008 10:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)


Individuals at a law firm founded by Charles H. Keating, Jr., who symbolized how political influence contributed to the collapse of savings and loans in the 1980s, have bundled at least $50,000 to John McCain's presidential campaign since June, the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics has calculated, making the Cincinnati-based firm McCain's sixth-largest contributor during that period. McCain was among "The Keating Five," a group of senators who benefited from more than $1 million in campaign contributions connected to Keating and personally intervened with government regulators to allow his S&L to make risky investments that ultimately defrauded thousands of investors and cost taxpayers $3.4 billion.

In amounts ranging from $200 to $2,300, about 30 partners and employees of the legal firm Keating, Muething and Klekamp, as well as their family members, have contributed $50,200 to McCain's 2008 campaign. All but two of the contributions came in July, and all but three of those July donations were logged on July 31, suggesting they were delivered at the same time. As with any bundle of campaign contributions, it's difficult to determine which donor was the "bundler," the person who solicited the contributions on the campaign's behalf. McCain's online roster of bundlers, which purports to name any individual bundling $50,000 or more for the campaign, does not associate any of McCain's major fundraisers with the Keating firm.

[mrbarber]

5. And let's not forget...

Palin's secessionist supporting husband.