Cinco de Keating

After years of saying it was the biggest regret of his life, seems odd that today, in response to the Obama campaign reminding everyone of Keating Five, McCain would send in a lawyer to argue McCain did nothing wrong.

I mean, for years McCain has diffused the issue by stating his regrets and arguing that it's what led him to "reform the system" -- McCain/Feingold. But the new McCain can't admit mistake and he certainly can't have his mavericky credentials revoked because while he may have learned the dangers of campaign finance corruption, he never bothered himself with plain old financial corruption by the S&L industry.

But unlike admitting misjudgment, denial won't diffuse the issue. It will only lead the media to dig deeper into what McCain had hoped was his distant past. And worse, tying those distant events with today's financial meltdown.

Tough timing for McCain. While voters have been hearing -- ad nauseum -- names like Wright, Ayers, and Rezco, McCain's stint as a naval pilot and his work on behalf of Charles Keating are only now coming to many voters' attentions.