Who’s Your Friend? The Keating Five and Bill Ayers

October 7th, 2008 | By Sonnie Johnson

The campaign is really beginning to heat up. With Barack Obama leading in the national polls, it’s time for the gloves to come off. The heat up started after the outstanding performance by Governor Sarah Palin at the V.P. debates. And neither campaign in stepping down.

McCain’s campaign began to bring up Barack Obama’s ties to Bill Ayers. And in response, Barack Obama brought up McCain’s ties to the Keating Five. Now comes the comparison of Character. Should we take a look?

The People Involved

McCain and the Keating Five- Charles H. Keating Jr. was the owner of American Continental Corp. One of it’s subsidaries was Lincoln Savings and Loans. The shit hit the fan in 1987. The federal government had Keating under investigation for defrauding bond holders. 23,000 people lost most of their life savings, including many elderly. The Keating Five consisted of Four Democrats, Alan Cranston (CA), Dennis DeConcini (AZ), John Glen (OH) and Donald Riegle (MI), and one Republican John McCain (AZ).

Obama and Bill Ayers- Bill Ayers was a member of the Radical Group, the Weather Underground, in the 1960’s. They were made famous when they bombed the Pentagon. Then Ayers went on to found the CAC, The Chicago Annenberg Challenge, were Barack Obama held affiliation from 1995-2001. A group that lobbies for more liberal teaching in Public Schools. To this day, Bill Ayers holds no remorse for bombing the country he calls home.

Were They Really Involved

McCain was friends with Keatings. That was never in dispute. Before the S&L debacle, Keating was a major contributor to the McCain Campaign. McCain even vacationed at Keating’s place in the Bahamas on Keatings’ dime. When Keating called on Senators to help him with the probe of Lincoln Savings and Loans, McCain showed up. McCain stated that he wanted to make sure one of his constituents was not being treating unfairly by over regulation.

Bill Ayers founded the Group CAC, and Barack Obama was it’s leader. Is that enough to link Ayers to Obama? Just think about this. If you founded a company that handed Millions of Dollars to organizations in your state, would you play a role in picking the leader of your company? There are CAC Archives in the Richard J. Daley Library at the University of Illinois at Chicago that would point at Obama and Ayers being partners in the growth of the CAC.

The Outcome

John McCain refused to speak to regulators on Keatings’ behalf. Leading Keating to call McCain a wimp. Keating came to McCain with a laundry list of demands and McCain told Keating he was only there to make sure Keating was being treated fairly and nothing else. The Senate Ethics committee found no wrong doing for McCain. He was tacked with “poor judgement”. McCain later wrote a book that called the debacle the asterisk on his career.

It’s hard to write these things about Barack Obama. The media has made the story a none issue and it’s hard to find information about the subject. All I can say. The CAC is still giving money to Acorn and Barack Obama uses Acorn to maximise minority voter registration. So there are still ties between Obama and Ayers, even if you put another company in the middle.

The Character

McCain never once said, “I don’t know Keating.” He never said, “I played no part in this scandal.” He even wrote a book detailing his role in the whole debacle. He even notes, “That’s what made we work so hard towards reforming our government.” It also struck me that McCain was the lone Republican in this matter. Even when he was young and stupid, he went across party lines. That has to say something for the man’s character.

Obama said, “Ayers is just some guy from my neighborhood.” Obama has written two books with no mention on Ayers or his time at the CAC. Most of the work he did there is left up to interpretation. We know he handled the money. And when educational groups came to this educational reform body asking for money to help with Math and Science programs they were turned down. The cause wasn’t liberal enough. So math and science isn’t as important as teaching minorities to continue to protest against the government. So for 6 years Obama sat on a Board with Ayers and claims he doesn’t know him.

The Point

Sarah Palin is ushering in a new type of Politician. In the past you had to be connected to established members of a Party to be considered eligible to run for office. You had to have the backing of certain money men and the influence of present and former Politicians. So you can’t actually blame Obama or McCain for some of their acquaintances. You have to play the game to get into the action.

Having said that, your connection to the acquaintances are fair game. I thinks it’s reprehensible that when trying to bring up the matter of character, race is thrown into the equation. If you want to question Barack Obama’s affiliations, then you are a racist. If you want to question his decision making, then you are a racist. If you want to know anything about Barack Obama that he hasn’t said himself, then you are a racist.

Well the truth of the matter. If Barack Obama had came out and said, “Yes, Ayers was once a terrorist but now he has mended his ways. Since serving with him, I’ve learned alot. Whether I agree with his tactics or not.” He knew the American People would roast him alive. See, it doesn’t matter if Ayers bombed the Pentagon 20 years ago. He still bombed the Pentagon and the American People are not that forgiving. So instead of taking the bumps that go with the decisions you’ve made, you deny there ever was a connection. And the media follows suit.

Another Point

When McCain brings up Reverend Wright, what will Obama’s response be? To link McCain to Pat Robinson or John Hagee? The truth again will get distorted. McCain was never a member of either Pastor’s church. Not like Obama who spent 20 years, a marriage and two baptismals in Trinity United Church of Christ. Not to mention the fact that Obama said he never heard anything hateful from his Pastor. Does this hit on character?

Or does it mean the Rev. Wright waited until Barack Obama started to run for President before beginning to spout all his non sense. I don’t think so. Rev. Wright was one of Barack Obama’s most avid supporters. Wright even said, Obama is playing politics when it comes to denouncing Trinity. And I wonder why Obama didn’t leave when Oprah left. I mean she’s one of his biggest supporters today, why is there no questioning of why she left. It couldn’t be she didn’t like sitting in a church where the Pastor damned the country that made her a Billionaire, could it? So if Oprah heard the hate speech and left, why didn’t Barack Obama hear it. I’m just saying.

For more info on Keating Five

For more info on Bill Ayers