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Charles Keating: Early life, education and the war
Keating served as a fighter pilot in World War II. Subsequently he attended the University of Cincinnati and received a law degree after 2 and a half years, in 1948. He became a founding partner of the Cincinnati law firm Keating, Muething & Klekamp. Together with his wife Marie Elaine, he has 5 daughters and a son.
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IssuesMedia Matters: The media's enduring pro-McCain double standard
It isn't surprising that the conventional
wisdom is that the news media have turned on Sen. John McCain. After all, decades of attacks from
conservatives have conditioned reporters to believe that they are biased
against Republicans --
even when there is scant evidence in the reporting to support such claims. And the McCain campaign has
launched an all-out assault on the media, complaining relentlessly about the
coverage its candidate
has gotten.
On top of all that, McCain historically has been the
recipient of the most favorable media coverage of any politician in modern
American history. Reporters
spent years all but offering to peel McCain a grape. So,
just as the media judge a candidate to have "won" a debate if s/he
"exceeds expectations," the fact that McCain's coverage
hasn't been as hagiographic as expected has led many to conclude that it
has actually been unfairly negative.
The truth is that when John McCain says "jump,"
the media still ask,
"How high?" Think about this: When was
the last time McCain or his campaign has wanted the news media to focus on
something, and they have refused? From
"lipstick on a pig" to Bill Ayers, the media have scampered after whatever mud McCain has
flung, like a puppy dog chasing a stick thrown by its master. Sure, sometimes they have pointed out that
McCain is lying -- and
that's tremendous progress for a profession that has spent a decade
flatly asserting McCain's honesty. But -- as I've explained in
the past -- even as they've debunked McCain's claims,
they've too often privileged the lie
by allowing those claims to drive their coverage.
And, increasingly, they uncritically quote McCain campaign attacks
on Sen. Barack Obama
for things McCain himself has done. When
a campaign does something like this, the media often point out the hypocrisy,
and the attack backfires. But
those rules don't apply to John McCain. So when John and Cindy McCain attack Barack
Obama for what they describe as a vote to "cut off the funds for the
troops," the news media dutifully repeat
the charge -- without
noting that, by the
same logic, McCain also voted to
cut off funds for the troops: Obama voted against a funding bill that did not
include a timeline for withdrawal; McCain voted against a bill that did include a timeline for withdrawal.
The funding vote has been the subject of some of
McCain's nastiest attacks recently. Cindy McCain, for example, claimed
Obama's "vote to not fund my son when he was serving sent a cold
chill through my body" and lectured: "I would suggest that Senator Obama change shoes with me for just one
day. ... I suggest
he take a day and go watch our fine
young men and women deploy." You would think, then, that media reporting
Cindy McCain's purported indignation would note that John McCain also
voted against funding. They haven't. Indeed, some have falsely stated the
opposite -- that McCain did not cast such a vote. You might even think reporters would ask the
McCain campaign if Cindy McCain got a "cold chill" when her husband
voted "to not
fund [her] son." But there is no indication that any
reporter has done so.
But the best indication that McCain has not yet truly
"lost his 'base,' "
as The Atlantic's Marc
Ambinder put
it this week, is the glaring media double standard in covering the two presidential
candidates' controversial relationships.
Let's start with Bill Ayers, since the news media have spent much of the week
obliging McCain's efforts to make him the focus of the campaign. As an activist in the 1960s -- when Barack Obama was a
young child -- Bill Ayers was a member of the Weathermen, a group of radical
activists who launched a series of violent demonstrations and bombings in protest of the Vietnam War. Ayers is now a professor at the University of Illinois
in Chicago and a school reform advocate. During Obama's first
campaign, Ayers hosted a coffee for him, and the two men have served together
on the board of a school reform effort funded by a foundation chaired by Leonore Annenberg, who has endorsed John McCain. The New York Times concluded
that Obama and Ayers "do not appear to have been close," and Obama
has denounced Ayers'
actions as a member of the Weathermen.
A search*
of the Nexis database found
that more than 4,500 news reports so far this year have mentioned Obama and
Ayers -- more than
1,800 this week alone.
Now: G. Gordon Liddy. Liddy served four and a half
years in prison for his role in the break-ins at the Watergate and at Daniel
Ellsberg's psychologist's office. He has acknowledged preparing to kill someone
during the Ellsberg break-in "if
necessary." He
plotted to kill journalist Jack Anderson. He plotted with a "gangland
figure" to murder Howard Hunt in order to thwart an investigation. He plotted to firebomb the
Brookings Institution. He
used Nazi terminology to outline a plan to kidnap "leftist
guerillas" at the 1972 GOP convention. And Liddy's bad acts were not confined
to the early 1970s. In
the 1990s, he instructed
his radio audience on how to shoot Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms
agents ("Go for a head shot; they're going to be wearing bulletproof
vests." In case
anyone missed the subtlety of his point, Liddy also insisted: "Kill the sons of bitches.") During Bill Clinton's
presidency, Liddy boasted that he named his shooting targets after the Clintons.
What does Liddy have to do with the presidential election? As Media Matters has noted:
Liddy has donated
$5,000 to McCain's campaigns since 1998, including $1,000 in February
2008. In addition, McCain has appeared on Liddy's radio show during the
presidential campaign, including as recently as May.
An online video labeled, "John McCain On The G. Gordon
Liddy Show 11/8/07," includes a discussion between Liddy and McCain, whom
Liddy described as an "old friend." During the segment, McCain
praised Liddy's "adherence to the principles and philosophies that keep
our nation great," said he was "proud" of Liddy, and said that
"it's always a pleasure for me to come on your program."
McCain even backed Liddy's
son's congressional
bid in 2000 -- a
campaign that relied
heavily on the elder Liddy's history.
To sum up: John McCain is "proud" of his
"old friend" Gordon Liddy --
an old friend who plotted to kill one of the most respected journalists in
American history, and who urged listeners to kill federal agents and advised
them on how to do so. McCain
campaigned for Liddy's son, and Liddy has even hosted a fundraiser for
McCain at his home.
So McCain's relationship with Liddy is pretty much a
direct parallel to Obama's relationship with Ayers. Except that McCain and Liddy have apparently
spent time together more recently than Obama and Ayers. And Liddy's extremist activities
continued well into the 1990s, at least. And Liddy says he and McCain are "old
friends," while The New York Times says Obama and Ayers aren't
close. And Obama has
never said Ayers
adheres to "the principles and philosophies that keep our nation
great." Other
than all that, it's a direct parallel.
Yet even as they obsess over Barack Obama and Bill Ayers -- just as the McCain
campaign tells them to --
the news media have all
but ignored John McCain's close ties to Gordon Liddy. A Nexis search** finds fewer than 100 news reports that have
mentioned McCain and Liddy this year.
As Chicago Tribune
columnist Steve Chapman --
who has criticized Obama's relationship with Ayers -- has noted:
Liddy, now a conservative radio
host, has never expressed regret for this attempt to subvert the Constitution.
Nor has he developed any respect for the law. ... Yet none of this bothers McCain. Liddy has
contributed thousands of dollars to his campaigns, held a fundraiser for McCain
at his home and hosted the senator on his radio show, where McCain said,
"I'm proud of you." Exactly which part of Liddy's record is McCain
proud of?
While Obama has gotten lots of scrutiny
for his connection to Ayers, McCain has never had to explain his association
with Liddy. If he can't defend it, he should admit as much. And if he thinks he
can defend it, let him.
To repeat:
2008 news reports that mention
Obama and Ayers: more than 4,500.
2008 news reports that mention
McCain and Liddy: fewer than 100.
Incredibly, The Atlantic's
Ambinder today suggests
that the media have not covered Ayers: "To truly drive Ayers into the
public conversation, to trick what they consider an irredeemably biased press
corps into biting, McCain has three vehicles gassed up and ready to go. ...
So far, McCain has done none of those things." There are 1,800 Nexis hits for Barack Obama
and Bill Ayers in the past week,
and yet Marc Ambinder thinks the media have not bitten on the Ayers "story"
-- and that McCain, who
is running ads about Ayers, isn't "really serious" about
pushing it, anyway. Even
Steve Schmidt would likely be too embarrassed to try to claim that the media
have not covered Bill Ayers.
Incidentally, Ambinder doesn't seem to have ever
mentioned McCain's relationship to Liddy.
Not only have the media avoided stand-alone reports on McCain and Liddy, they
consistently fail to bring up the connection when reporting on McCain's
attacks on Obama's ties to Ayers, or in interviews with McCain staff who
bring up Ayers. The
McCain/Liddy relationship is such an obvious parallel -- except arguably much worse -- that it's hard to
imagine how any evenhanded journalist could possibly justify ignoring it. Yet it happens again and again. And, needless to say, McCain
aides do not get badgered about Liddy the way Time's Mark Halperin badgered Obama
aide Robert Gibbs about Ayers.
Just this morning, NBC's Chuck Todd said he is
"sure" Ayers will come up during the final presidential debate next
week, adding that moderator Bob Schieffer "may feel no choice but to
bring it up" in light of the "TV ads" the McCain campaign and
Republican National Committee are running. Setting aside the absurdity of the
suggestion that a debate moderator is compelled to bring up a topic simply
because John McCain is running ads about it, if Schieffer does ask about Ayers,
basic fairness demands that he ask McCain about Liddy as well.
OK
... moving on. How
about controversial religious figures?
Earlier this year, Media
Matters showed
that The
New York Times and The Washington Post had published a total of 161 articles,
editorials, and opinion pieces that mentioned Barack Obama and Jeremiah Wright -- and only 12 that mentioned
John McCain and John Hagee. That
disparity wasn't unique to the Times
and the Post -- and it hasn't evened out over time.
161 to 12.
Land deals? Barack
Obama once bought a parcel of land from a controversial donor named Tony Rezko. Obama paid more than the land's assessed value -- but that hasn't
stopped the news media from suggesting Obama had an improper relationship with
Rezko.
Comparatively little attention has been paid to John
McCain's relationship with real estate developer Donald Diamond. Diamond, a co-chair of
McCain's campaign finance committee, has raised more than $250,000 for
McCain's presidential bid and is a "close personal friend"
and longtime political patron. For
his part, McCain has sponsored two bills sought by Diamond that helped the
developer gain what The New York Times described
as "millions of dollars and thousands of acres" of land. And McCain helped Diamond
buy another parcel of land from the U.S. Army -- a deal that helped Diamond turn a $20
million profit. The Washington
Post and USA Today
have identified other land deals McCain has facilitated as senator that have benefited some of his
biggest donors and fundraisers.
Yet a Media Matters
review last
month found that five national newspapers had run a total of 39 articles, editorials,
and opinion pieces that mentioned Obama and Rezko -- but only seven that mentioned McCain and his
donors' land deals:
[S]ince The New York Times' initial
April 22 article [about McCain and Diamond], the land deals have been mentioned
in only six additional news articles, editorials, or opinion pieces in the Los Angeles Times,
The New York Times,
USA Today,
The Wall Street Journal,
or The Washington Post,
and have yet to be mentioned on any evening network news program. By contrast,
during the same time period, 39 news articles, editorials, or opinion pieces in
those papers have collectively mentioned Obama and Rezko; and the evening news
broadcasts have collectively mentioned Obama and Rezko in five reports.
39 to 7.
And, of course, there's always Charles Keating. The news media have done
their best to ignore
McCain's involvement in the Keating Five -- and, when they have mentioned it,
they've done so by parroting the McCain-friendly storyline that the
scandal turned the Arizona
senator into the World's Greatest Reformer. Even this week, after the Obama campaign drew
attention to McCain's involvement in the Keating Five with a Web page and a 13-minute
documentary featuring one of the regulators McCain pressured on behalf of his
political benefactor, the media have
paid far more attention to Obama's relationship with Bill Ayers than to
McCain's relationship with
Keating. And when they have mentioned Keating, they have often questioned
the propriety of the Obama campaign's decision to bring up the subject.
Remember: Barack Obama didn't have anything to do with
Bill Ayers' wrongdoing. He
was a young child at the time. McCain
did have something to do with
Keating's wrongdoing --
without McCain, the scandal would have been called the Keating Four, not the
Keating Five.
And yet the media are quick to dismiss the Keating matter. When the topic came up on
MSNBC earlier this week, Andrea Mitchell dismissed it as having occurred 20 years ago. Well, sure. But McCain was involved in it 20
years ago, unlike Bill
Ayers' controversial activities, which occurred closer to 40 years ago, and which
Barack Obama didn't have anything to do with.
The American people have made clear that they think the most
important consideration in deciding who to vote for is the economy. An
astounding 52 percent of Americans call "the economy and jobs" the
"most important" issue to them in this election, according to the
latest CBS/New York Times poll.
Terrorism and national security came in a distant second, with only 11 percent.
John McCain and his campaign have made clear that they do
not want the last few weeks of this campaign to be about the economy, the war in Iraq,
Afghanistan, health care,
the housing crisis, or
the Constitution. They
want it to be about personal associations.
Incredibly, much of the news media have sided with John McCain in treating Bill
Ayers and ACORN as the most important topic facing the nation. Even worse, they
are scrutinizing only Obama's relationships, not McCain's.
It's bad enough that they're letting McCain, rather than the
American people, set the parameters of the debate. The fact that they
aren't applying those parameters to both candidates equally is an
inexcusable double-standard.
And it's evidence that John McCain retains the support
of his "base" -- the media.
* Conducted 10/9/08 using
the search terms Barack Obama and ((Bill or William) w/2 Ayers
** Conducted
10/9/08 using the search terms John McCain
and Gordon Liddy
Published: Fri, 10 Oct 2008 22:43:36 GMT - Source: Mediamatters.Org - Read the article
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