Monday, October 06, 2008

Debunking Obama's Keating Five Smear.

For a guy who supposedly has his coronation locked up, Obama is sure acting frightened. Now that Team McCain seems to be finally mentioning The One's ties to felons, racists and terrorists, he is launching a campaign ad blitz to try and hang the albatross of the Keating Five around McCain's neck.

Since the Treason Media will merely repeat the smears instead of explaining just why McCain was lumped in with the genuinely corrupt Dems on the take, we'll just have to spread the Truth ourselves. In this case, McCain's best defender is an unlikely source: Dem lawyer Bob Bennett (brother of Bill) who defended Bill Clinton during his impeachment trial. From his book, "In The Ring, The Trials Of A Washington Lawyer," comes this quote:

After reviewing my report, the committee voted on October 23, 1990, to hold a public adjudicatory fact-finding hearing in the matter as to all five senators. This was perhaps the first time the recommendation of a special counsel not to charge a senator was rejected. This was pure politics as the Democrats on the committee did not want to cut McCain loose so that only Democrats would remain in the proceedings. If Senator McCain was not going to be cut loose, in retaliation the Republicans were going to keep Senator Glenn in the proceedings. McCain was the victim of politics, and poor Glenn was held captive to the decision on McCain. So much for nonpartisanship.
Got that? McCain didn't do anything wrong but got (and is getting) smeared because the Dems needed a patsy to mitigate their actual criminality.

What I don't understand is that after getting raked over the coals by the Dems, McCain has spent the rest of his career tonguing their sacks and snarling at conservatives. Stockholm Syndrome, perhaps?

MORE! I'd just posted the above when I saw this showing that Obama has no problem with Keating Five members...when it helps Him!
John Glenn? Senator John Glenn got caught in the same Keating 5 scandal that Obama now wants to use as an attack on McCain. The Keating 5 — Senators Alan Cranston, Dennis DeConcini, Donald Riegle, Glenn, and McCain — stood accused of intervening with federal regulators on behalf of Lincoln Savings & Loan, which later went bankrupt and cost taxpayers $2 billion. Glenn and McCain got cleared by the Senate of any wrongdoing, but were scolded for “poor judgment” in their contacts with Charles Keating. Cranston, DeConcini, and Riegle all were found by the Senate Ethics Committee of having “substantially and improperly” interfered with the regulator (FHLBB) when it attempted to investigate Lincoln. Cranston received a formal reprimand, and only Glenn and McCain won re-election after the scandal.

Is the Keating 5 scandal a legitimate political issue in this campaign? Yes. It involves McCain’s judgment and political record, and Obama can certainly raise it as a point for voters to consider. However, McCain has never denied using poor judgment in this case and has repeatedly apologized for it.

Obama, on the other hand, has never fought anyone for reform, and the use of John Glenn as a surrogate makes Team Obama especially hypocritical in raising the Keating scandal. If Glenn is clean, then so is McCain. If McCain is tarnished, then so is Glenn. Obviously, Glenn helps Obama in Ohio, so Obama has no real complaint over the Keating 5 scandal that outweighs his desire to win the election. Like so much of Obama’s reform rhetoric, his faux outrage over the Keating 5 scandal shows him as nothing more than a poseur.
Will the media point out......ah, who am I kidding?

No comments: