playing ducks and drakes

not really news: John McCain is a scumbag.

if you’re not familiar with this, you must read about the savings and loan crisis and the keating five.

about the savings and loan crisis:

“U.S. Savings and Loan crisis of the 1980s and 1990s was the failure of several savings and loan associations in the United States. The ultimate cost of the crisis is estimated to have totaled around USD$160.1 billion, about $124.6 billion of which was directly paid for by the U.S. government — that is, the U.S. taxpayer, either directly or through charges on their savings and loan accounts— [1], which contributed to the large budget deficits of the early 1990s. The resulting taxpayer bailout ended up being even larger than it would have been because moral hazard and adverse-selection incentives compounded the system’s losses. [2]

The concomitant slowdown in the finance industry and the real estate market may have been a contributing cause of the 1990-1991 economic recession. Between 1986 and 1991, the number of new homes constructed per year dropped from 1.8 million to 1 million, the lowest rate since World War II. [3]”

you know who aided this?

george h.w. bush’s son, neil:

“Silverado Savings and Loan collapsed in 1988, costing taxpayers $1.6 billion. Neil Bush, son of then Vice President of the United States George H. W. Bush, was Director of Silverado at the time. Neil Bush was accused of giving himself a loan from Silverado, but he denied all wrongdoing. [2]

The US Office of Thrift Supervision investigated Silverado’s failure and determined that Neil Bush had engaged in numerous “breaches of his fiduciary duties involving multiple conflicts of interest.”

we barbara bush may be a perfectly nice woman, she sure did give birth to some grade a fuck-ups.

…and john mccain, presidential candidate!


“During Mr. McCain’s four years in the House, Mr. Keating, his family and his business associates contributed heavily to his political campaigns. The banker gave Mr. McCain free rides on his private jet, a violation of Congressional ethics rules (he later said it was an oversight and paid for the trips). They vacationed together in the Bahamas. And in 1986, the year Mr. McCain was elected to the Senate, his wife joined Mr. Keating in investing in an Arizona shopping mall.

Mr. Keating had taken over the Lincoln Savings and Loan Association and used its federally insured deposits to gamble on risky real estate and other investments. He pressed Mr. McCain and other lawmakers to help hold back federal banking regulators.

For years, Mr. McCain complied. At Mr. Keating’s request, he wrote several letters to regulators, introduced legislation and helped secure the nomination of a Keating associate to a banking regulatory board.

By early 1987, though, the thrift was careering toward disaster. Mr. McCain agreed to join several senators, eventually known as the Keating Five, for two private meetings with regulators to urge them to ease up.”

and now he’s trying to get a moral leg up:

“Mr. McCain helped found a nonprofit group to promote his personal battle for tighter campaign finance rules. But he later resigned as its chairman after news reports disclosed that the group was tapping the same kinds of unlimited corporate contributions he opposed, including those from companies seeking his favor. He has criticized the cozy ties between lawmakers and lobbyists, but is relying on corporate lobbyists to donate their time running his presidential race and recently hired a lobbyist to run his Senate office.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/21/us/politics/21mccain.html?hp=&pagewanted=all

the media needs to readdress this.

can we really trust this guy with our economy or anything else? i wouldn’t trust this man to water the house plants when i’m on vacation.