So much for "digging up the past"...

[AZhitman]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITI....html

So, Obama's campaign is still playing the game, dredging up something from 20 years ago...

If I were McCain, I'd film my own commercial in response, and air it immediately:

"Hi. I'm John McCain. My opponent's latest commercial wants to remind you of my supposed involvement in the S&L scandals of the late 80's. At that time, it may not have seemed like a big deal to him, because he was high on cocaine, hanging out with counterculture radicals, and not too fond of laws and rules and regulations. However, my name was cleared in 1991, and I spent the next 20 years working for the American people. Have a great night."

[Cold_Zero]

I find it ironic that when the McCain camp brings up the William Ayers relationship with the Obamas and speaks about his comment about our troops in Afghanistan destroying villages, the Obama Campaign accuses the McCain Campaign of putting the current Economic Issues to bed and switching the subject. But it's ok for the Obama Campaign to switch topics and to hash up McCains relationship to Keating.

To look through this petty fighting, the Obama Campaign doesn't want to talk about issues or controversies that don't help their campaign. They aren't stupid, if you control the focus of the campaign in your favor that only helps you. This is why Obama has been expanding his lead in the national and state polls and why McCain is loosing ground.

My advice to the McCain Campaign is to go on the offensive and control the focus of the campaign to issues that help them. Not to play defense and refute what the Obama Campaign hashes up.

[AZhitman]

Agreed.

Time to stop pulling punches.

Even BO's supporters admit they don't know anything about him, so why not?

[audtatious]

Maybe we should dredge up Obama's association with Raila Odinga?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1P_P8lBCsE

[96Qowner]

Barry DOES have great "judgement".

[AZhitman]

Maybe we should compare their fathers.

[hsckris]

Ayers is a bad, bad association for BO. Supposedly Barrack worked on his first campaign hand-in-hand with Ayers, in Ayers' house.

The Keating thing seems targeted to take the heat off of the Ayers situation. And that is SUCH crap -- Mccain was exonerated and Mccain's "alleged" involvement was way more tenuous than BO's connection with Ayers or his preacher for that matter -- I don't even think "alleged" is proper in this situation as he was exonerated.

[audtatious]

"Top Ten Excuses I Didn't Know My BFF (Best Friend Forever!) Willy Ayers Was a terrorlst"

10) Community organizing takes up a lot of time.

9) Jeremiah Wright vouched for him.

8) I’ve always been a supporter of Don’t Ask Don’t tell.

7) There was nothing about it in the Indonesian Press at the time.

6) It wasn’t on the teleprompter.

5) I thought Republicans would like him because he’s bitter and into guns.

4) I was busy that day picking up my $105,849 check from Fannie Mae with my good buddies Doodad Pro and Good Will.

3) I thought terrorists all had names that sounded like…well…mine.

2) How was I supposed to know? After all, he looked like all the other guys on the dollar bill.

1) I really did know and I'm LYING.

[audtatious]

People say McCain is grumpy, what about Obama?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ty6krf18huA

[Bubba1]

Ayers is a bad, bad association for BO. Supposedly Barrack worked on his first campaign hand-in-hand with Ayers, in Ayers' house.

The Keating thing seems targeted to take the heat off of the Ayers situation. And that is SUCH crap -- Mccain was exonerated and Mccain's "alleged" involvement was way more tenuous than BO's connection with Ayers or his preacher for that matter -- I don't even think "alleged" is proper in this situation as he was exonerated.

Whoa. McCain was not exonerated. I think time has made people forget what he did as one of the Keating 5. He accepted $100,000+ in donations from Keating, his friends and family, plus he used Keatings private jet for an all expenses paid vacation to the Bahamas. He then took up Keatings cause with federal financial investigators who were investigating Keating. Pretty sleazy stuff. Keating eventually went to jail, but in what appears to be a plea deal, McCain escaped with a official rebuke that he excercised "poor judgement" in his dealings with the investigators. He al;so had to reimburse the 6 figure donations and reimbursed the cost of the plane's usage. I suspect if the other 4 Keating Senators were not Democrats, (it was a Democratic controlled congress at the time), McCain would have gotten a more harsh penalty than he did.

Being one of Keating 5 is one of the reasons I don't care for McCain. I'm not an Obama fan either, so I'm still undecided.

[AZhitman]

He accepted $100,000+ in donations from Keating, his friends and family, plus he used Keatings private jet for an all expenses paid vacation to the Bahamas.

All prior to anything untoward coming to light....

He then took up Keatings cause with federal financial investigators who were investigating Keating.

Yes and no. He was already championing deregulation. It just happened to benefit a sleazy S&L owner (but would just as easily have benefitted the 'good guys').

in what appears to be a plea deal, McCain escaped with a official rebuke

Umm, no. No "plea deal".

He also had to reimburse the 6 figure donations and reimbursed the cost of the plane's usage.

To my knowledge, this was done voluntarily and independently of any court order.

Being one of Keating 5 is one of the reasons I don't care for McCain. I'm not an Obama fan either, so I'm still undecided.

Even if he was, gimme a white-collar criminal over a counterculture drug-using terrorlst sympathizer anyday.

[hsckris]

Sorry Bubba1, but he was exonerated. According to Merriam Webster's, exonerate means 1 : to relieve of a responsibility, obligation, or hardship 2 : to clear from accusation or blame.

The Senate Ethics comm. ruled tht Mccain's involvement was so minimal that he was cleared of all charges against him. That fits squarely within the definition of exonerate.

See: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/in...y.htmlSee also:Salinger, Lawrence. “Encyclopedia of Corporate Crime” Sage Publications 2004.
Modified by hsckris at 5:50 PM 10/7/2008

[Bubba1]

All prior to anything untoward coming to light....

Yes and no. He was already championing deregulation. It just happened to benefit a sleazy S&L owner (but would just as easily have benefitted the 'good guys').

Umm, no. No "plea deal".

To my knowledge, this was done voluntarily and independently of any court order.

Even if he was, gimme a white-collar criminal over a counterculture drug-using terrorlst sympathizer anyday.

And that's one of the big problems I have with Obama. . I really don't care for either candidate.

But I think "voluntary" can be subject to interpretation. I don't think McCain had much choice but to reimburse. Allow me to put it another way. had he not given back the donations and not paid for the private plane usage,, do you think he would have received just a rebuke?

hschris, the link did not work, but my point is that rebuke was not a pat on the back for a job well done. The ethics committee simply decided not to pursue charges. Doesn't mean he was innocent. I personally think he caught a huge break for some very poor decision making.

[audtatious]

CNN video going over Obama and Ayers relationship in a bit more detail

http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=190343