Earlier this year, when questioned about the sea of lobbyists that are running his campaign John McCain said, "At no time have I ever done anything that would betray the public trust." Richard Nixon, another Republican, once said, “I am not a crook.” We all remember how accurate that claim turned out to be.
Here are four non-debatable, documented events that might make John McCain wish he’d never had that senior moment when he uttered that claim.
The Keating Five Scandal
According to Wikipedia, The Keating Five were five United States Senators accused of corruption in 1989, igniting a major political scandal as part of the larger Savings and Loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s. John McCain was one of those Senators.
Charles Keating was Chairman of Lincoln Savings and Loan Association, which had come under investigation for highly questionable investment activities. The Federal Home Loan Bank Board feared their risky investment practices were exposing taxpayers to huge potential losses. Keating primed the pump with $1.3 million in campaign contributions, including John McCain and called in his favors.
He arranged for the five Senators to meet with the Federal Home Loan Bank Board and ask them to pull back from their investigation. They did. Keating was asked whether his contributions had bought him influence, he said, “I want to say in the most forceful way I can: I certainly hope so.” His company failed and taxpayers were stuck with the massive debt to bail them out.
Keating was hit with a $1.1 billion fraud and racketeering action. Keating ultimately served five years in prison for his corrupt mismanagement of Lincoln Savings and Loan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keating_Five
"At no time have I ever done anything that would betray the public trust."
---John McCain
The Criminal Thefts Scandal
John McCain’s wife Cindy, has had a problem with drug abuse and addiction. She claimed it was brought on in part by her direct role in the Keating Five corruption scandal both Cindy and John McCain were involved in. Earlier, Cindy McCain founded the American Voluntary Medical Team, which was a non-profit organization that organized trips for doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel to provide emergency medical care to disaster-struck or war-torn third-world areas. During 1992, Tom Gosinski, the director of government and international affairs for AVMT, discovered that she was stealing drugs from her own charity that were intended for disaster relief in third-world countries.
In January 1993, Cindy McCain terminated Gosinski's employment, the man that discovered her drug thefts, on grounds of "budgetary reasons". In spring 1993, Gosinski tipped off the Drug Enforcement Administration to investigate McCain's drug theft, and a federal investigation ensued. McCain's defense team, led by Washington lawyer John Dowd, combined with the considerable influence John McCain could wield, secured an agreement with the U.S. Attorney's office that limited her punishment to financial restitution and enrollment in a diversion program without any public disclosure.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cindy_Hensley_McCain)
Cindy McCain has had other questionable encounters with violations of the law. During several of John McCain's campaigns he used her family's office equipment, such as computers and copiers and Cindy McCain personally paid some of the campaign's bills. Cindy McCain's father, James Hensley, and other Hensley & Co. executives gave so much the Federal Election Commission ordered McCain to give some of it back. During this presidential campaign, the use of Cindy McCain's private jet by her husband is again coming under campaign scrutiny.
(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/03/cindy-mccains-fortune-pro_n_94833.html
"At no time have I ever done anything that would betray the public trust."
---John McCain
The Hezbollah Terrorist Connection
The cornerstone of John McCain's campaign, and the one hope he has to lure voters during the election is his self-claimed strong position on terrorism. He frequently attempts to bind that with, what he hopes voters will consider, is his good judgment. Both took a serious beating a couple of months ago.
John McCain was forced to remove a man from his finance committee that was labeled as a supporter of Hezbollah, and "a key agent of the terrorist group in the Detroit area". Those allegations did not come from the Democrats. They came from Debbie Schlussel, a Republican and conservative writer. It's hardly an asset to have a terrorist helping you raise funds. It certainly doesn't give the appearance of good judgment to employ a member of Hezbollah, an organization the US State Department labels as a "terrorist organization", as a key fund raiser.
So you want to be president of the United States and you want people to think you're strong on fighting terrorism and exercise good judgment, then it's discovered you've actually hired a terrorist to go out help raise money for you. That ought to drag in the votes. It would also be interesting to know where this alleged terrorist went to get the money he brought into John McCain's campaign. Did any of McCain's new campaign funds actually come from other terrorists? It’s unknown if John McCain used that money or disposed of it.
Here's the link to additional details posted on the ABC News website....
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/04/the-mccain-hezb.html
"At no time have I ever done anything that would betray the public trust."
---John McCain
The Financial Meltdown Scandal
In 1999, John McCain, a long time advocate of federal de-regulation, voted for the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which passed in the Senate by a vote of 54-44. The deregulation bill loosened restrictions on the activities of banks, brokerage houses, and insurance companies. That's where this current crisis started.
In 2008, McCain expressed approval of the results of financial deregulation he helped pass by pointing to it as a model for health care policy, writing: "Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation."
John McCain is now claiming he can fix this mess, but he actually helped create the crisis we're now facing. Former Senator Phil Gramm was one of the authors of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, making changes in the banking, insurance and securities laws which Congress had kept at bay for sixty years. Two years later, Gramm left the Senate and according to federal lobbying disclosure records, Gramm lobbied Congress, the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department about banking and mortgage issues in 2005 and 2006. During those years, the mortgage industry pressed Congress to roll back strong state rules that sought to stem the rise of predatory tactics used by lenders and brokers to place homeowners in high-cost mortgages.
Phil Gramm is also the general co-chairman of John McCain's presidential campaign, and his principal economic advisor. He's the individual that denied we're in a recession, claiming it's only a "mental recession" and adding that we're all "just a nation of whiners".
When the crisis first surfaced, McCain assembled his closest advisers last to map out his new policy. Virtually every one invited was a Washington lobbyist. His campaign manager, Rick Davis, co-founded a lobbying firm whose clients have included Verizon and SBC Telecommunications. His chief political adviser, Charles R. Black Jr., is chairman of one of Washington's lobbying powerhouses, BKSH and Associates, which has represented AT&T, Alcoa, J.P. Morgan and U.S. Airways.
Senior advisers Steve Schmidt and Mark McKinnon Mark McKinnon work for firms that have lobbied for Land O' Lakes, UST Public Affairs, Dell and Fannie Mae. McCain's top fundraising official is former congressman Tom Loeffler (R-Tex.), who heads a lobbying law firm called the Loeffler Group. He has counseled the Saudis as well as Southwest Airlines, AT&T, Toyota and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.
We have a massive financial crisis before us, created by the direct and systematic stripping away of federal regulations by Republicans. John McCain was an active participant in that effort. Now that his actions are problematic in his bid to become president, he convened a group of powerful Washington lobbyists, all senior members of his campaign, to map out their next strategy.
When it counted the most, John McCain's judgment was fatally wrong. He's on the record, publicly stating he knows very little about economics. When his new plan was unveiled it wasn’t McCain's Plan, it was the lobbyist's plan. But John McCain and his lobbyist advisers want you to believe he can fix the crisis he actively helped to create.
"At no time have I ever done anything that would betray the public trust."
---John McCain
If that’s not enough, consider the possibility that if John McCain should win the election and then become incapacitated, it would be Sarah Palin, the zero credentialed moose hunter from the frozen tundra that would be responsible for saving our nation from financial ruin. That’s another display of McCain’s flawed judgment.
Here are four non-debatable, documented events that might make John McCain wish he’d never had that senior moment when he uttered that claim.
The Keating Five Scandal
According to Wikipedia, The Keating Five were five United States Senators accused of corruption in 1989, igniting a major political scandal as part of the larger Savings and Loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s. John McCain was one of those Senators.
Charles Keating was Chairman of Lincoln Savings and Loan Association, which had come under investigation for highly questionable investment activities. The Federal Home Loan Bank Board feared their risky investment practices were exposing taxpayers to huge potential losses. Keating primed the pump with $1.3 million in campaign contributions, including John McCain and called in his favors.
He arranged for the five Senators to meet with the Federal Home Loan Bank Board and ask them to pull back from their investigation. They did. Keating was asked whether his contributions had bought him influence, he said, “I want to say in the most forceful way I can: I certainly hope so.” His company failed and taxpayers were stuck with the massive debt to bail them out.
Keating was hit with a $1.1 billion fraud and racketeering action. Keating ultimately served five years in prison for his corrupt mismanagement of Lincoln Savings and Loan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keating_Five
"At no time have I ever done anything that would betray the public trust."
---John McCain
The Criminal Thefts Scandal
John McCain’s wife Cindy, has had a problem with drug abuse and addiction. She claimed it was brought on in part by her direct role in the Keating Five corruption scandal both Cindy and John McCain were involved in. Earlier, Cindy McCain founded the American Voluntary Medical Team, which was a non-profit organization that organized trips for doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel to provide emergency medical care to disaster-struck or war-torn third-world areas. During 1992, Tom Gosinski, the director of government and international affairs for AVMT, discovered that she was stealing drugs from her own charity that were intended for disaster relief in third-world countries.
In January 1993, Cindy McCain terminated Gosinski's employment, the man that discovered her drug thefts, on grounds of "budgetary reasons". In spring 1993, Gosinski tipped off the Drug Enforcement Administration to investigate McCain's drug theft, and a federal investigation ensued. McCain's defense team, led by Washington lawyer John Dowd, combined with the considerable influence John McCain could wield, secured an agreement with the U.S. Attorney's office that limited her punishment to financial restitution and enrollment in a diversion program without any public disclosure.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cindy_Hensley_McCain)
Cindy McCain has had other questionable encounters with violations of the law. During several of John McCain's campaigns he used her family's office equipment, such as computers and copiers and Cindy McCain personally paid some of the campaign's bills. Cindy McCain's father, James Hensley, and other Hensley & Co. executives gave so much the Federal Election Commission ordered McCain to give some of it back. During this presidential campaign, the use of Cindy McCain's private jet by her husband is again coming under campaign scrutiny.
(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/03/cindy-mccains-fortune-pro_n_94833.html
"At no time have I ever done anything that would betray the public trust."
---John McCain
The Hezbollah Terrorist Connection
The cornerstone of John McCain's campaign, and the one hope he has to lure voters during the election is his self-claimed strong position on terrorism. He frequently attempts to bind that with, what he hopes voters will consider, is his good judgment. Both took a serious beating a couple of months ago.
John McCain was forced to remove a man from his finance committee that was labeled as a supporter of Hezbollah, and "a key agent of the terrorist group in the Detroit area". Those allegations did not come from the Democrats. They came from Debbie Schlussel, a Republican and conservative writer. It's hardly an asset to have a terrorist helping you raise funds. It certainly doesn't give the appearance of good judgment to employ a member of Hezbollah, an organization the US State Department labels as a "terrorist organization", as a key fund raiser.
So you want to be president of the United States and you want people to think you're strong on fighting terrorism and exercise good judgment, then it's discovered you've actually hired a terrorist to go out help raise money for you. That ought to drag in the votes. It would also be interesting to know where this alleged terrorist went to get the money he brought into John McCain's campaign. Did any of McCain's new campaign funds actually come from other terrorists? It’s unknown if John McCain used that money or disposed of it.
Here's the link to additional details posted on the ABC News website....
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/04/the-mccain-hezb.html
"At no time have I ever done anything that would betray the public trust."
---John McCain
The Financial Meltdown Scandal
In 1999, John McCain, a long time advocate of federal de-regulation, voted for the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which passed in the Senate by a vote of 54-44. The deregulation bill loosened restrictions on the activities of banks, brokerage houses, and insurance companies. That's where this current crisis started.
In 2008, McCain expressed approval of the results of financial deregulation he helped pass by pointing to it as a model for health care policy, writing: "Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation."
John McCain is now claiming he can fix this mess, but he actually helped create the crisis we're now facing. Former Senator Phil Gramm was one of the authors of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, making changes in the banking, insurance and securities laws which Congress had kept at bay for sixty years. Two years later, Gramm left the Senate and according to federal lobbying disclosure records, Gramm lobbied Congress, the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department about banking and mortgage issues in 2005 and 2006. During those years, the mortgage industry pressed Congress to roll back strong state rules that sought to stem the rise of predatory tactics used by lenders and brokers to place homeowners in high-cost mortgages.
Phil Gramm is also the general co-chairman of John McCain's presidential campaign, and his principal economic advisor. He's the individual that denied we're in a recession, claiming it's only a "mental recession" and adding that we're all "just a nation of whiners".
When the crisis first surfaced, McCain assembled his closest advisers last to map out his new policy. Virtually every one invited was a Washington lobbyist. His campaign manager, Rick Davis, co-founded a lobbying firm whose clients have included Verizon and SBC Telecommunications. His chief political adviser, Charles R. Black Jr., is chairman of one of Washington's lobbying powerhouses, BKSH and Associates, which has represented AT&T, Alcoa, J.P. Morgan and U.S. Airways.
Senior advisers Steve Schmidt and Mark McKinnon Mark McKinnon work for firms that have lobbied for Land O' Lakes, UST Public Affairs, Dell and Fannie Mae. McCain's top fundraising official is former congressman Tom Loeffler (R-Tex.), who heads a lobbying law firm called the Loeffler Group. He has counseled the Saudis as well as Southwest Airlines, AT&T, Toyota and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.
We have a massive financial crisis before us, created by the direct and systematic stripping away of federal regulations by Republicans. John McCain was an active participant in that effort. Now that his actions are problematic in his bid to become president, he convened a group of powerful Washington lobbyists, all senior members of his campaign, to map out their next strategy.
When it counted the most, John McCain's judgment was fatally wrong. He's on the record, publicly stating he knows very little about economics. When his new plan was unveiled it wasn’t McCain's Plan, it was the lobbyist's plan. But John McCain and his lobbyist advisers want you to believe he can fix the crisis he actively helped to create.
"At no time have I ever done anything that would betray the public trust."
---John McCain
If that’s not enough, consider the possibility that if John McCain should win the election and then become incapacitated, it would be Sarah Palin, the zero credentialed moose hunter from the frozen tundra that would be responsible for saving our nation from financial ruin. That’s another display of McCain’s flawed judgment.
