now is the time to start talking about this -- constantly. john mccain was part of the last huge financial disaster our country went through, the savings & loan scandal of the late 1980s. he was rooting for the big banks and investment firms then, and he's doing it again now. he wanted more deregulation then, and he wants it now (how some republicans still want it, even after what has happened, blows my mind!). if you don't know much about S&L look it up... and start talking about it. if voters connect mccain with the financial pirates, and with bush on the war, we win.

UPDATE:

From wikipedia:

The Keating Five scandal was prompted by the activities of one particular savings and loan: Lincoln Savings and Loan Association of Irvine, California. Lincoln's chairman was Charles Keating, who ultimately served five years in prison for his corrupt mismanagement of Lincoln.[3] In the four years since Keating's American Continental Corporation (ACC) had purchased Lincoln in 1984, Lincoln's assets had increased from $1.1 billion to $5.5 billion.[4] Such savings and loan associations had been deregulated in the early 1980s, allowing them to make highly risky investments with their depositors' money, a change of which Keating and other savings and loan operators took advantage.[4][5] Savings and loans established connections to many members of Congress, by supplying them with needed funds for campaigns through legal donations.[5] Lincoln's particular investments took the form of buying land, taking equity positions in real estate development projects, and buying high-yield junk bonds.[6]

Corruption allegations

The core allegation of the Keating Five affair is that Keating had made contributions of about $1.3 million to various U.S. Senators, and he called on those Senators to help him resist regulators. The regulators backed off, to later disastrous consequences.

the REST of the story:

the story goes on, and basically lincoln went under and was seized by the government. many people lost their life savings in the process. keating was charged with $1.1 billion in fraud, and the senators were then investigated. john mccain and one other senator (astronaut john glenn) were found not guilty in the investigation. even though mccain had backed out before the sh*t hit the fan, here's what wikipedia says he got out of it:

"McCain and Keating had become personal friends following their initial contacts in 1981,[11] and McCain was the closest socially to Keating of the five senators.[23] Like DeConcini, McCain considered Keating a constituent as he lived in Arizona.[20] Between 1982 and 1987, McCain had received $112,000 in political contributions from Keating and his associates.[24] In addition, McCain's wife Cindy McCain and her father Jim Hensley had invested $359,100 in a Keating shopping center in April 1986, a year before McCain met with the regulators. McCain, his family, and their baby-sitter had made nine trips at Keating's expense, sometimes aboard Keating's jet. Three of the trips were made during vacations to Keating's opulent Bahamas retreat at Cat Cay. McCain did not pay Keating (in the amount of $13,433) for some of the trips until years after they were taken, when he learned that Keating was in trouble over Lincoln.[7][25]"

basically, john mccain was keating's buddy, did what he could to help him - even though he was clearly breaking regulatory laws and risking the money of his investors. when things got sticky, mccain backed out, just in time to avoid being found at fault. THIS is a man with good judgement? who can't see the writing on the wall... and only comes to his senses when he fears that his own ass will be on the line? NO!