McCaine .... Keating five. What happened

Here are the truths and falsehoods regarding Sen. John McCain's role in the Keating Five savings and loan scandal:

1) John McCain was "exonerated" of any role in the scandal.

False.

The Senate Ethics committee censured McCain, saying he "exercised poor judgment in intervening with the regulators."

Bob Bennett, the high-powered Democratic attorney who headed the investigation, said he recommended McCain and Democratic Sen. John Glenn be dropped from the inquiry because he found them far less culpable than the other three senators. But the Senate's Democratic majority refused his recommendation because it would have taken the only Republican out of the inquiry.

2) McCain's actions in meeting with federal regulators cost Americans $2 billion.

Partially True

After McCain and the other senators met twice with regulators, they backed off their plans to close Keating's savings and loan. Former regulator William Black, one of the people in on that meeting, said the cost to taxpayers of that biggest-ever failure of a savings-and-loan grew from $1 billion to $3.4 billion during those two years. Bennett said the other senators were more culpable than McCain and kept up the pressure on regulators even after that second meeting, while McCain dropped the effort.

3) McCain paid back the $13,433 to Keating for nine corporate and charter jet flights McCain and his family took to Keating's home in the Bahamas, among other places, from 1984 to 1986 but which McCain initially failed to disclose as required.

True.

4) McCain was the only one of the five senators to "throw Keating out of his office."

True, but that was before the two meetings.

5) Keating and friends donated $112,000 to McCain's campaigns over the years.

True.

6) McCain's wife and father's company invested $359,000 in a Keating shopping center

True. In a conference call Monday, McCain's attorney John Dowd said McCain was not aware of his wife's investment. But the Washington Post reported that McCain admitted knowing about the investment during Senate hearings on the issue.

6) When told federal regulators were preparing to recommend criminal charges against Lincoln Savings and Loan, McCain backed off his pressuring of regulators. McCain expressed contrition about his role and became an advocate for campaign finance reform.

True.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/mccain/1205087,CST-NWS-fact07web.article

Not really comparable to the nation having to pay 700,000,000,000 usd or more to repair the damage from demoKKKrat racist policies, is it?

Agree, but this is something that McCain will need to address. He needs to remind everyone, that while his role was somewhat "limited". he learned from his mistakes and became a better Senator.

This is a character issue that McCain possess, the ability to recognize his errors, admit them and learn from them.

Obama does not demonstrate this character trait. He is a fraud.

It's not clear to me from what I read that McCain was even guilty of anything at all in the case of Keating scandals. Charles Keating, if memory serves, was a demmy gov. of Oklahoma who had defeated Jack Mildren for that post (apparently wishbone quarterback was a sort of a springboard into high level state politics in Oklahoma) and for a senator from a neighboring state to never have said hello to the guy would have violated some sort of a law of averages.

You got that all wrong.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Keating

We will have to see whether McCain's socalled impropriety matches that of Obama's best LIBERAL friend on the Banking Committee, Barney Frank.

AS said, Woiyo9--2 Billion is chicken feed when compared to 700 Billion,isit not?

Gungasnake--Pay not attention to BumbleBeeBoogie. She is 1005 LIBERAL who hates this country. Check out her Anti American posts!

BBB"s posts are not Anti-American. She is deeply concerned about the immoral actions taken by the government, the kind of government supported by immoral people, the same type of people who provide support for their Mafia families, why, well because they're family.

You may be right, JTT, but with BBB,it is hard to tell. She never gives her opinion but posts only the most extreme left wing Socialist types.

I would love to hear her voice for once to see if I am correct.