McCain

To find a smoking gun in a government scandal is difficult. Back in the S&L scandal of the late 80's a meeting was held to determine if the government would keep backing failing S&L's by adding more cash to the fund that covered losses (FDIC). If they failed to increase the amount many S&L's which were in trouble would collapse. Senator John McCain was a big backer of S&L's because he like many other politicians were receiving large campaign contributions from the S&L's. Five senators were receiving large contributions from a man named Keating who owned several S&L's. These became known as the Keating Five. When the bureaucrats held the meeting to determine if the government should add money to the FDIC account so these businesses could continue to operate they were surprised when Senator McCain showed up at the meeting. He did not say a word but his presence told all that he wanted them to approve more money. The result was that this postponed the inevitable failing of these companies which increased the cost to bail them out by many billions. McCain would later comment on his involvement with Keating by stating his efforts to influence regulators was "the worst mistake of my life."