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I don't hold keating 5 against McCain.
Two things I can say about McCain:
1) He comes from a long line of military in his family, including himself. He's not a chickenhawk and actually believes that military might can make right.
I don't agree with him philosophically, but I can respect his position as genuine.
2) It's fairly clear that he was deeply affected by the Keating 5 situation. Regardless of how much involvement you want to put on his shoulders, he either learned his lesson or was simply caught up as a young senator by political forces outside his control.
Either way, his record demonstrates to me that he would prefer a system that doesn't allow political corruption and has made moves to limit corruption of public officials.
Now, what the incident does show us is this fundamental belief he holds about deregulation of markets which is a position I do not agree with on a fundamental level. It doesn't speak anything of his character to me, however. People can believe that war can solve certain issues and also that free markets are more beneficial to our economy and our disgreements over those two issues shouldn't say anything about either of our moral character.
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"The theory of a free press is that truth will emerge from free discussion, not that it will be presented perfectly and instantly in any one account." -- Walter Lippmann
"You measure democracy by the freedom it gives its dissidents, not the freedom it gives its assimilated conformists." -- Abbie Hoffman
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