So, what was the Keating Five scandal all about? What was John McCain's role in it?

You can hear the story here (13 minutes 26 seconds):



Unless you are a free-market fundamentalist, in which case nothing will challenge your devotion to an unregulated kleptocracy, you should find this directly relevant to the recent financial milieu which has allowed unbridled greed and manipulation to lead us into the current economic shitpile.

Obama was 8 when Ayers was practicing domestic terrorism. I highly doubt he had, at that point, even heard of the Weather Underground. I am unaware of Obama ever advocating terrorism.

McCain was in his 50s when this was going on. I highly doubt that he can claim naivete in the Keating affair, though he may well plead close friendship. It is a matter of record that McCain has, on numerous occasions and rather consistently, advocated deregulation.

McCain has regretted his involvement in this.

I made the worst mistake of my life by attending two meetings, the first with the chairman of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, the government agency charged with regulating the practices of the nation’s savings and loans, and a week later with four bank examiners based in San Francisco who were at that time investigating the investment and lending practices of Lincoln Savings and Loan of Irvine, California, owned by my good friend and generous supporter Charles Keating.

Even last year he was saying, "I was judged eventually, after three years, of using, quote, poor judgment, and I agree with that assessment."

My own opinion is that allowing the robber barons of a century ago or today to run loose and savage the populace is to tolerate, excuse, and even promote financial terrorism. The American People is now feeling a sort of fear for the future that might be termed "economic terror."

The McCain-Palin campaign wants to discuss associations. Let's start with this one.

Visit Keating Economics: John McCain and the making of a financial crisis.

You can also read commentary by John Dougherty here. An excerpt:

Black, now an associate professor of economics and law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, said in a telephone interview Wednesday that McCain’s long-standing opposition to regulation of the financial markets and his support for relaxed accounting standards that allow institutions to mask losses makes him unqualified to handle the financial crisis that threatens an economic Armageddon for the country.

[Emphasis mine, as usual]

h/t to BarbinMD.
--the BB