NP: The Hush Sound, Goodbye Blues

So far I've read two pieces on why Obama bringing up the Keating Five scandal matters, but neither Steve Benen at Political Animal nor Chris Cilizza at The Fix arrive at what I think is the key strategic value of raising this issue at this particular time.

While it does continue on the theme articulated by Joe Biden in the VP debate the other night that McCain is not, in fact, a maverick (drink!) when it matters, and tying McCain to poor judgment on the economy certainly has its advantages right now, the most important thing here is that it backs McCain into a corner with his current strategy. The McCain campaign can't wish away the Keating issue simply by saying "that was a long time ago" without entirely discounting a big chunk of their current strategy, which is the guilt-by-association charges about William Ayers. If Keating was a million years ago and shouldn't matter, Ayers is also a non-issue.

Theoretically, they shouldn't be able to have it both ways. I'm curious to see if the media let them get away with it, since the free passes for McCain seem to have dried up, especially now that the media narrative is becoming "Obama is pulling away in lots of swing states."

As an aside on Keating, it dawns on me that Lincoln Savings & Loan was my family's bank when I was growing up. I don't recall how this may or may not have affected us at the time, although most of my dad's finances were through his credit union at work, so I'm guessing not much if at all.