McCain campaign opens the door

You know I really hate political mud slinging. I admired that Obama didn't do that because it shows that he's confidence and has integrity. I think if he turns nasty about this race that I will be very disappointed.

If Barack Obama was so concerned about the Keating 5 Then he wouldn't have Senator John Glenn trying to rally votes for him. Its a double edge sword when they bring up Keating 5 because both have issues with the topic. Both parties are sending out misleading statments. Its just that Obama/Biden gets a bigger pass on his then McCain/Palin do.

I wish they would quit bashisng each other and just inform us their plans if elected. This makes me lose respect for both.

Here are two important things to know about John McCain and the Keating Five. 1. John McCain admitted to intentionally filing false income tax returns to defraud the IRS by not claiming thousands of dollars in gifts McCain and his family received from Charles Keating and Keating’s company. Years later, when the IRS noticed Keating’s company had written off the gifts to McCain as business expenses, McCain fessed up and admitted filing false returns and made a “donation” to the U.S. Treasury to cover the amount he defrauded American tax payers. McCain also leaked information about the Keating Five to the press multiple times in an effort to appear above the other Senators in the scandal. A 1989 Phoenix New Times article summed it up best with their title - McCain: The Most Reprehensible of the Keating Five. 2. John McCain’s wife, Cindy McCain, along with her father, made a $359,000 investment in retail property owned by Charles Keating in 1986, a year before John McCain first met with federal regulators on behalf of Keating. Keating was later convicted on 73 counts of fraud, conspiracy, and other crimes. Years later, Cindy McCain sold her investment for $15,000,000. For anyone not aware of the Keating Five, here’s a very simple summary: Charles Keating owned a savings and loan in California. He was illegally using the money of his bank’s customers to give loans to himself and friends that they didn’t have to repay, and to speculate on risky real estate investments, which was strictly forbidden by U.S. law (and was one cause of the Great Depression). When the feds found out what was going on and launched an investigation into Keating and his company, Keating called five U.S. Senators whom he had wined, dined, and lavished with hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations and personal gifts. Keating asked the five Senators to tell the feds to bug off, and the five Senators, later known as the Keating Five, obliged, meeting with federal investigators twice and pressuring them to stop investigating Keating’s crimes. They bought Keating some time, but the feds didn’t give up and eventually Keating was nailed. The reason the feds were so persistent was because Keating wasn’t playing with mere chump change. Keating blew $3.4 billion through illegal personal loans and bad investments, and the FDIC had to reimburse Keating’s customers who had been ripped off. John McCain's best bet is to stick to the issues facing the American people and stop the "Swift Boat" tactics. It's going to come back and bite his butt. Lloyd

I think that Palin is just desperate or maybe it shows what a pathetic person she is that she can label a protester from the 60's a terrorist. This is pathetic. Protesters are NOT terrorists. Everyone has the right to protest and object to anything they want, that does not make them terrorists. To me a terrorist is determined to take life, innocent or not, for their cause and will usually sacrifice their own life in the process. Protesters are people who demonstrate against things that they feel are unjust, like racism, sexism, homophobia. They may or may not do something to attract attention like blowing up a statue or making a lot of noise etc but they do not waste innocent lives. The man Ayers was a protester not a terrorist and to label the activists of the 60's as terrorists is obscene. As for saying that Obama is a terrorist because he had some contact with an EX protester is pathetic.

It's politics as usual I'm afraid only this year terrorism is involved.

Hmmmm..... While terrorism is a dangerous thing, we're not having regular attacks in the States the way we are already having problems with the ecconomy. Also, we just came from the Bush administration, and most people want to get rid of Bush. I have a feeling that painting McCain to look like Bush, how Bush looks today and what we are seeing, will be more dangerous than some speculation about Obama and possible terrorism. It's only possible, but this ecconomy thing is happening NOW!

Yes it probably will be a heated one. and this mud slinging always starts close to election time. I pay no attention to the mud slinging!

I'm not sure sure who or waht to believe anymore. I think they are all in it together when it comes to alot of things. They bash one another just to try to gain some attention and a few more votes. I think the debate is getting more heated because time is drawing near for the election.

I do think it will make for a more heated debate on Tuesday night. I like that people seem to be paying more attention to this election. In the past there would not have been as much effort to understand these two 'scandals'. Tuesday night should be interesting.... if I can bring myself to watch it. I'm getting kinda tired of it all.

I think that it is pretty much "normal" for the last few weeks of the campaign to get more intense. I would hope that this kind of thing would be left out of the debate and that both candidates would concentrate more on the issues facing our country.

We're headed towards the home stretch so I expect that things will get uglier before all is said and done. I don't think Palin has anything to say other than to attack Obama since she's not capable of talking about anything voters are concerned about in any specific manner. At this point I doubt any Independents will be swayed by any mud slinging from either side. As far as Tuesday night goes, I don't think either candidate wants things to get heated but the potential is there for just that to happen.

I think that it will depend on how far the campaigns go. If McCain goes to negative it will turn off undecided and if Obama plays the Keating Five to much it will do the same. I can't wait for the debate. I would like to say that it's going to be heated but, things are played up by the media a lot.