"They go Rezko, we go Keating"

Brian Rogers, McCain spokesman:

"Does a guy who made more than $4 million last year, just got back from vacation on a private beach in Hawaii and bought his own million-dollar mansion with the help of a convicted felon really want to get into a debate about houses?"

Let's git it on, you little bitch.

"They go Rezko, we go Keating," said a Democratic strategist, speaking on the condition of anonymity to divulge potential campaign strategy. "If they want to escalate, bring it on."

This is how you win a mothereffin' election in the RoveWorld.

The Keating Five is an old story, so many reporters have shied away from saying much about it because it isn't new -- there aren't a whole lot of new developments in the story. But with McCain talking about allegedly shady relationships, the opportunity is there to go back over McCain's ties to Keating -- whose nefarious activities, which were at least in part aided by his relationship with McCain, ended up costing the American taxpayer $3.4 billion (a whole lot more than the $14 million Rezko was alleged to have received).

Just how close was McCain to Keating? Take a look at this rundown I posted back in January:

Though McCain might try to downplay his involvement, his campaigns received $124,000 from Keating and his associates during the 1980s (AP, 3/2/91), and McCain was described as being personally closer to Keating than any of the other members of the Keating Five (Roll Call, 1/20/92). What's more, McCain accepted more than $15,000 in free trips from Keating, including vacations to Keating's resort in the Bahamas -- trips that McCain failed to disclose at the time (New York Times, 2/28/91; San Francisco Chronicle, 12/3/90).

In the end, the crash of Keating's savings and loan -- which had been shielded by some of his best friends in the United States Senate -- cost billions to the American taxpayer, as mentioned above, and all told the federal government ended up on the hook for close to $125 billion in the fallout of the crisis that befell the underregulated industry in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Does McCain really want to have to talk about all of this? About the Bahaman vacations he took paid for by Keating? Probably not. But he may soon have to as a result of the shortsightedness of his campaign advisors.

Like Brian Rogers.

Attacks will keep working for the Republicans until we beat them at their game. That, and only that, will force them to think up a new game in 2012. In a post-Rove environment.

John McMansions

It's easy now to see how the senior senator from Arizona got confused on his domiciles. He only owns what his wife owns, after all. But here's an inventory:

-- In California, McGrumpy owns three condominium properties. Two are in Coronado, both are on the beach, offering breathtaking views of the ocean, particularly at sunset, and are each valued in excess of $2 million (one at 2.1, one at 2.7). The other is in La Jolla, the tony suburb of San Diego, and is worth a paltry $1.1 mil.

-- In Arizona, McLame has three residences: a $4.67 million condo in the prestigious Camelback, a smaller unit in the Phoenix Biltmore, apparently lived in by one of his daughters and worth just $700,000; and the stunning Sedona compound, which only counts as one home but actually has five houses on the property. It was featured in the July 2005 edition of Architectural Digest and comes in at a fabulously reasonable $1.65 million.

-- And in Arlington, VA, a Crystal City condo valued at $847,000 for when he is performing his duties as United States Senator. Which hasn't been often this year.

McSenile also has a $10 million Cessna Citation to travel around to his various houses in.

Very confusing. I understand now.

Update: Why do the McCains own two condos in Coronado, you may be asking? Because their children crowded them out of the first one. And Mrs. McCain purchased the second condo about the same time her husband was commiserating with Americans who "were working at second jobs" and "skipping a vacation" in order to make their own mortgage payments.

Terribly, terribly confusing.

It's seven, John. Worth thirteen million bucks.

At least we know now he wasn't lying or even flip-flopping when he said he didn't understand economics. Oh well, Phil Gramm has rejoined the campaign; it can be his job to remind him. A couple of times a week:

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said in an interview Wednesday that he was uncertain how many houses he and his wife, Cindy, own.

"I think — I'll have my staff get to you," McCain told Politico in Las Cruces, N.M. "It's condominiums where — I'll have them get to you."

Can't remember how many houses he owns, can't tell a Sunni from a Shia, thinks Pakistan shares a border with Iraq, has both supported and opposed offshore drilling, the Bush tax cuts ...

... and Obama is losing ground to this guy?