McCain's "Character"

Even while not listening to talk radio, I get Media Matters newsletters and some right-wing trash in my inbox. And while the right wing continues to pummel Obama on imagined hyperbole, they all flaunt the Character of McCain with a capital C.

Let's remember the Keating Five for a minute, a Savings and Loan scandal that cost millions in tax and investment dollars:

Keating's relationship with McCain came under particularly intense press scrutiny. McCain and Keating had become personal friends following their initial contacts in 1981. Between 1982 and 1987, McCain had received $112,000 in lawful political contributions from Keating and his associates. 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.

And while we're at it, how about a mention of John's first wife. A car accident "left her 4 inches shorter and on crutches, and she had gained a good deal of weight." Extra-marital affairs ensued. Then, while still married, he met Cindy:

McCain described their first meeting, "She was lovely, intelligent and charming, 17 years my junior but poised and confident. I monopolized her attention the entire time, taking care to prevent anyone else from intruding on our conversation. When it came time to leave the party, I persuaded her to join me for drinks at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. By the evening's end, I was in love."

While still married to Carol, McCain began an adulterous relationship with Cindy. He married Cindy in May 1980 -- just a month after dumping Carol and securing a divorce. The newlyweds honeymooned in Hawaii.

This is all apparently okay with a Republican base and colleagues who went batshit crazy over a blowjob.