Obama calls McCain mortgage plan ill-advised

On Wolf Blitzer's CNN Late Edition- one of McCain's surrogates claims that we don't understand McCain's New Tax On Our HealthCare Bebefits From our Employers -well,

if we don't then why put a tax on any kind of health-care at all? This move would be the First Time Prescription Medicines would have ever been taxed in the History of Our Nation! 

McCain is forgetting he has a long history. He cannot win the battle of dirty politics. Voters need solutions and a vision for a turnaround of America's Economy. Americans are feeling the pain of bad economic times. McCain and Palin are proving to be agents of the worst type of politics. If they do not address the Issues affecting Americans, they will stand no chance.

It's amazing that Americans haven't yet been reminded about John McCains ties to the last major financial disaster, and it's architect, none other than Moral Majority member Charles Keating. It's about time.

They also need to point out that McCain's proposed $5000 tax credit, does not equal a $5000 check. It is a credit that reduces the amount of taxable income, that translates to far less than $5000. And for most, the premiums for decent health insurance, far inferior to that McCain has, will cost a hell of a lot more than $5000. 

McCain is BAD MEDICINE!

This is the best final take down strategy...to expose the real John McCain

 
The Keating Five Scandal was the product of the failure of Lincoln Savings and Loan Association. Over 21,000 mostly elderly investors lost their lives' savings, totalling about $285mil... The federal government took over LSLA and covered about $3bil of losses to many creditors, one of the many hits hung on taxpayers during the S&L crisis...

Charles Keating was the principal at LSLA and inflated the banks assets from about $1bil to about $5bil by 1988. When the Federal Home Loan Bank Board tried to go after Keating the head of FHLBB was discouraged from pursuing an investigation by pressure from five senators on the senate ethics committee, of whom john mccain was one.

It turns out that the 'Keating Five', as they came to be known, had accepted past donations from Charles Keating totalling $1.3mil between the five of them. All senators involved were reprimanded to varying degrees and Charles Keating ended up spending over four years in prison.

This story needs to get plastered all over. The parallels between the S&L crisis and the leveraged subprime debt crisis need to be highlighted big time...mccain needs to be attacked on his ethics.

i think it would be great, especially in states hit hard by the housing crisis like FL, OH and CA...

Creating a slim-jim format attacking McCain on public record points regarding Keating and drawing parallels between the S&L scandal and the current subprime/economy crisis (which mccain has done nothing to stop despite his positions of power on committees) would go a long way to dispelling the notion that McCain is some sort of ethical superstar and hang keating on him all over again...

SIC EM...

I am from Cincinnati originally and this was huge news back in the day in cincy.

Charles Keating was a right wing Catholic, an altar boy I bet, who based on his fanaticism for banning pron in the Queen City, probably had a very interesting relationship with his Pastor.

In the late 1950s, Keating founded the Cincinnati-based, self-described anti-pornography organization Citizens for Decent Literature, later Citizens for Decency through Law. In 1960 he testified about pornography before .

In 1964 – 1965, he produced the movie . It was a survey of then-available pornography, and presented an assertion that linked pornography to an alleged decline of culture and to what it claimed was the depravity of youth.

In 1969, . Failing in that effort, he filed a dissenting report, stating "One can consult all the experts he chooses, can write reports, make studies, etc., but the fact that obscenity corrupts lies within the common sense, the reason, and the logic of every man."

In 1971, Keating tried to prevent the showing in Cincinnati of the film .

He also appears in the 2005 documentary .

In 1972, Charles Keating began to work for in the early 1980s, allowing them the opportunity to make highly risky investments with their depositors’ money, an opportunity of which Keating took advantage.

In 1985, Keating hired as an economic consultant, in an unsuccessful effort to convince an oversight agency to exempt Lincoln Savings from certain regulations. Greenspan delivered a favorable report, writing that Lincoln Savings was “a financially strong institution that presents no foreseeable risk to depositors or the government.” (Greenspan produced similar favorable reports on numerous other banks that also failed soon after.)

On .

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In the late 1950s, Keating founded the Cincinnati-based, self-described anti-pornography organization Citizens for Decent Literature, later Citizens for Decency through Law. In 1960 he testified about pornography before Congress.
In 1964 – 1965, he produced the movie Perversion for Profit featuring announcer George Putnam. It was a survey of then-available pornography, and presented an assertion that linked pornography to an alleged decline of culture and to what it claimed was the depravity of youth.
In 1969, President Richard Nixon appointed Keating to the President's Commission on Obscenity and Pornography, which had been begun under his predecessor, Lyndon B. Johnson. Keating unsuccessfully attempted to stop publication of the commission's recommendations with a restraining order. Failing in that effort, he filed a dissenting report, stating "One can consult all the experts he chooses, can write reports, make studies, etc., but the fact that obscenity corrupts lies within the common sense, the reason, and the logic of every man."
In 1971, Keating tried to prevent the showing in Cincinnati of the film Vixen!, produced by film-maker Russ Meyer claiming that it was pornographic. Keating's assertion was rejected and his attempt to ban the film failed. Keating was also instrumental in the ineffective obscenity prosecution of pornographer Larry Flynt in 1976 in Cincinnati. In the 1996 Flynt biopic The People vs. Larry Flynt, he was portrayed by actor James Cromwell.
He also appears in the 2005 documentary Inside Deep Throat.
In 1972, Charles Keating began to work for American Financial Corporation, a company involved in insurance and banking. Four years later he moved to Phoenix, Arizona to run the real estate firm American Continental Corporation, a spin-off of American Financial Corp. In 1984, American Continental Corporation bought Lincoln Savings. Such savings and loan associations had been deregulated in the early 1980s, allowing them the opportunity to make highly risky investments with their depositors' money, an opportunity of which Keating took advantage.
Some regulators noted the danger posed by these deregulations and pushed for more oversight, but Congress refused. This may be due, in part, to the Keating Five, five Senators — Dennis DeConcini, Alan Cranston, John Glenn, Don Riegle and John McCain — who had received, for both themselves and for groups they supported, well over $1 million from Keating in the 1980s as favors and political contributions.[1] They later met twice with regulators who were investigating American Continental Corporation, in an attempt to end the investigation. (In 1991, they would be rebuked to various degrees by the Senate Ethics Committee.)[2]
In 1985, Keating hired Alan Greenspan as an economic consultant, in an unsuccessful effort to convince an oversight agency to exempt Lincoln Savings from certain regulations. Greenspan delivered a favorable report, writing that Lincoln Savings was "a financially strong institution that presents no foreseeable risk to depositors or the government." (Greenspan produced similar favorable reports on numerous other banks that also failed soon after.) [3]
In 1989, American Continental Corporation, the parent of Lincoln Savings, went bankrupt. More than 21,000 investors, most of them elderly, lost their life savings (in total about $285 million.) This occurred largely because they held securities backed by the parent company rather than deposits in the federally-insured institution — a distinction apparently lost on many if not most depositors until it was too late. The federal government covered almost $3 billion of Lincoln's losses when it seized the institution. Many creditors were made whole, and the government then attempted to liquidate the seized assets through its Resolution Trust Corporation, often at pennies on the dollar compared to what the property had allegedly been worth and the valuation at which loans against it had been made.
In 1989, Keating was subpoenaed to testify before the House Banking Committee, but refused to answer questions, invoking his right against self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.[4][5]
Keating blamed government regulators for the failure of Lincoln Savings and filed suit in order to regain control over the bank. The suit was dismissed in August 1990, with the judge calling the seizure fully justified because of the looting of the institution by Keating and his associates.
Real estate properties to be liquidated by Congressional mandate through the Resolution Trust Corporation from the thrift and savings & loan failures were seized and sold in 1989 at a loss incurred by the U.S. government and ultimately borne by American taxpayers. However, Charles Keatings' daughter Mary and his then 18-year old grandson Gary Jr. purchased luxury real estate properties located within a 24-hour guarded and gated golf course development from properties seized by the Resolution Trust Corporation. Two Arizona Biltmore Estates Village Association luxury condominiums were purchased by the Hall family at depressed market prices for 50 cents on the dollar. Keating's daughter and grandson sold the real estate at a return ratio of over $1.38 for each dollar invested.