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Obama campaign to release Keating Five video

A thirteen minute video? Something tells me this was already planned and not "in response".
 
A thirteen minute video? Something tells me this was already planned and not "in response".


I think they had it in the wings, in case. I doubt they would've used it if not for Palin's comments yesterday. The McCain campaign seems to be telegraphing all its moves lately.
 
A thirteen minute video? Something tells me this was already planned and not "in response".
Before I saw it, I was ready to argue that you could put together the website and a 13 minute video pretty rapidly out of stock footage and a voice over. That video had too much post-production to be easily done on the fly. They had that one ready and probably only tweaked it, if that.

eta: I have to agree with Ben, in part. I do think it was "in response". It was just a response the Obama campaign was prepared for. It wouldn't surprise me if they have several other arrows still in the quiver.
 
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Oh, well, one always prepares for a battle in ADVANCE.
If only Kerry had understood that...

edit: Obama has demonstrated over and over in this campaign that his team is always thinking ahead, preparing contingency plans for all forseeable events. He's also demonstrated deft flexibility, executed with patience and calm, when the unforeseen occurs (like the Palin pick.) If campaigns are a demonstration of the candidates' leadership, Obama is a shining example.
 
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A thirteen minute video? Something tells me this was already planned and not "in response".

What a refreshing change that would be. Having someone in the White house that plans ahead for reasonably expected contingencies. Looks like Obama and his team aren't sitting around expecting McCain's team to great him as a liberator.

Would have been nice to see that level of planning pre-Iraq occupation...

Daredelvis
 
I see it as an attack on McCain's weakest point, which is his lack of understanding of ecconomics. That it also ties him to sleaze balls like Keating is just gravy. He may have also seen the campaign going negative in the last stages. That is SOP. When you can't argue policies, you go for the character of the opposition. Obama probably had this ready in case McCain/Palin got nasty.

McCain wanted to make this election about personalities, so he had this coming. I don't see this as slime at all.

If it does not neccessarily point out poor character on McCain's part, it does demonstrate what his ignorance could get him into down the road. If it does not bring his character into question, it does bring his judgement into serious question.
 
I think they had it in the wings, in case. I doubt they would've used it if not for Palin's comments yesterday. The McCain campaign seems to be telegraphing all its moves lately.
Almost certainly. Everybody knows that the last month of the campaign is when the gloves come off. As a general rule, though, the battle in the trenches gets muddier the closer the race is. If a candidate is comfortably ahead, he may not pull out his big guns. What this says to me is that Obama does not consider this race "in the bag" by any means. If the corpse is still twitching, he's going to empty his magazine.

As to the production values, I'd have to say I'm consistantly amazed by the kind of quality that a good team can turn out on the spur of the minute. Look at all the night-time talk shows, especially Colbert and The Daily Show. They have twenty-four hours to turn news into comedy. They usually do a great job of it too. So while I wouldn't be surprised if Obama's team had this one in the can, I also wouldn't be surprised if it was created fairly recently.
 
As to the production values, I'd have to say I'm consistantly amazed by the kind of quality that a good team can turn out on the spur of the minute. Look at all the night-time talk shows, especially Colbert and The Daily Show. They have twenty-four hours to turn news into comedy. They usually do a great job of it too. So while I wouldn't be surprised if Obama's team had this one in the can, I also wouldn't be surprised if it was created fairly recently.


I thought the video was very compelling. While it doesn't accuse him of breaking any laws, it leaves the viewer to do just that. But no matter, it put a huge spotlight on McCain's judgment. Depending on how the press runs with this, it could be the death of McCain's chances.
 
It's totally fair game. McCain is as corrupt as the next guy in Washington. It starts to get real funny though when Obama is positioned as being as pure as the driven snow. If Obama wants to make this race about character, he has lots of poor judgment to cover up explain. Saddle up!

I suspect that Obama won't go down this road. It makes as much sense as when he tried to explain how a community organizer has more executive responsibility than a state governor. Not.
 
It's totally fair game. McCain is as corrupt as the next guy in Washington. It starts to get real funny though when Obama is positioned as being as pure as the driven snow. If Obama wants to make this race about character, he has lots of poor judgment to cover up explain. Saddle up!

I suspect that Obama won't go down this road. It makes as much sense as when he tried to explain how a community organizer has more executive responsibility than a state governor. Not.
You know, it's strange. The only people I see positioning Obama that way are filled with straw. Or hippies.
 
Glenn and McCain: cleared of impropriety but criticized for poor judgment

The Senate Ethics Committee ruled that the involvement of Glenn in the scheme was minimal, and the charges against him were dropped.[45] He was only criticized by the Committee for "poor judgment."[48]

The Ethics Committee ruled that the involvement of McCain in the scheme was also minimal, and he too was cleared of all charges against him.[46][45] McCain was criticized by the Committee for exercising "poor judgment" when he met with the federal regulators on Keating's behalf.[7]

The report also said that McCain's "actions were not improper nor attended with gross negligence and did not reach the level of requiring institutional action against him....Senator McCain has violated no law of the United States or specific Rule of the United States Senate."[49] On his Keating Five experience, McCain has said: "The appearance of it was wrong. It's a wrong appearance when a group of senators appear in a meeting with a group of regulators, because it conveys the impression of undue and improper influence. And it was the wrong thing to do."[7]

Regardless of the level of their involvement, both senators were greatly affected by it. McCain would write in 2002 that attending the two April 1987 meetings was "the worst mistake of my life".[50] Glenn has described the Senate Ethics Committee investigation as the low point of his life.[8]

The Senate Ethics Committee did not pursue, for lack of jurisdiction, any possible ethics breaches in McCain's delayed reimbursements to Keating for trips at the latter's expense, because they occurred while McCain was in the House.[47] The House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct said that it too lacked jurisdiction, because McCain was no longer in the House.[51] It said it did not require that McCain amend his existing financial disclosure forms for his House years, on the grounds that McCain had now fully reimbursed Keating's company.[51]

It appears that McCain and Glenn were exonerated. Say it ain't so Joe!!


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keating_Five
 
About damn time.

The mistake Kerry made during the Swiftboat attack was attempting to rise above it. It's good to see the Democrats finally fighting dirty. It's still not as dirty as the Republicans, but it's a start.

OTOH, maybe it's just me but I thought that the Ayers attack would not get much traction and would, if anything, make McCain-Palin look worse.

At least with the swift-boaters, Bush had some plausible deniablity, because they were'nt part of his campaign. Here the mud is being slung by Sarah Palin, which is probably going to hurt her image with independents.



Personally, any shred of warm feelings I had for Palin evaporated after watching that video. YMMV.
 
Having watched the 13-minute video, it seems pretty good to me, as far as attacks go.

The point is not that McCain committed a crime (although he may have) but that he was very cozy with a person who undoubtedly did commit crimes, accepting lavish gifts and giving political favors in return.
 
The point is not that McCain committed a crime (although he may have) but that he was very cozy with a person who undoubtedly did commit crimes, accepting lavish gifts and giving political favors in return.
Correct, or as The Painter points out:
The Painter said:
Glenn and McCain: cleared of impropriety but criticized for poor judgment.

It appears that McCain and Glenn were exonerated. Say it ain't so Joe!!


[URL]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keating_Five[/URL]
McCain exercised poor judgment. While it sounds innocuous, that is a very important consideration in choosing a president. It is not in any way dirty politics to point out that McCain was officially chastised for showing poor judgment. Indeed it is quite relevant. Admittedly, this was many years ago, but recent decisions by McCain have not demonstrated to me that he has overcome his problem of showing bad judgment.
 

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