Keating Economics: McCain's worst is coming home to roost

From the L.A. Times:

At one time, John McCain said the worst thing that ever happened to him, Vietnam included, was the so-called Keating 5 scandal. "The Vietnamese," he would say, "didn't question my honor."

John McCain got off easy for his part in the Keating 5 scandal, receiving little more than a slap on the hand. He showed, apparently, sufficient remorse at the time to dissuade fellow Senators from coming down more harshly on him. And with the passage of times — 17 years since he was "punished" — too many people have forgotten that he was one of Keating's Five — hand-picked Senators given donations and gifts and expected to deliver regulatory special favors. Of which John McCain was undeniably guilty.

Charles Keating went to prison. His Lincoln Savings and Loan, like so many s&l's, required a tax-payer financed bailout. Regulations had to be reinstated after being stripped out under the Reagan and Bush I administrations. And as the new website from the Obama campaign states it:

The Keating scandal is eerily similar to today's credit crisis, where a lack of regulation and cozy relationships between the financial industry and Congress has allowed banks to make risky loans and profit by bending the rules. And in both cases, John McCain's judgment and values have placed him on the wrong side of history.

At 9am today, the campaign releases a 13-minutes documentary on the Keating 5, the savings-and-loans debacle, and McCain's role — and the lessons he has not learned. Coming a month from Election Day, and as his campaign tries to smear Obama with meaningless ties to William Ayers and Tony Rezko, this is an important part of recent history that needs to be considered. Yes, it will serve as, so to speak, a "hit job," but this is hardly something to blame the Obama campaign for.

John McCain brought it on himself by being greedy, corrupt and just plain stupid about the role of government and regulation. Imagine the harm he could do as president.

"Keating Economics." Watch and share.