Posted by seattle61 at 3/6/08 8:28 p.m.

Amazing.. and McCain goes on blabbering about how much he cares about Americans and our economy.

Enjoy your love-fest while it lasts Johnny. Maybe Airbus will give you a job after the election.

Pathetic.

Posted by LenC at 3/6/08 8:51 p.m.

In the midst of the savings and loan implosion of the 1980s, federal auditors begin investigating the practices of S&L magnate Charles Keating.

McCain, along with four other Senators, meets with Keating to discuss ways to DERAIL the investigation.

McCain and his colleagues meet with Ed Gray, the chairman of the regulatory board, and persuade him to delay seizing the S&L.

Two years later, regulators finally have to seize the S&L for a federal bailout, costing taxpayers $2.6 billion and 17,000 investors in Keating's S&L lose $190 million.

By 1987, McCain campaigns had received $112,000 from Keating, his relatives, and his employees–the most received by any of the Keating Five.

And in April 1986, one year before the meeting with the regulators, McCain's wife, Cindy, and her father invested $359,100 in a Keating strip mall.

Posted by unregistered user at 3/7/08 2:11 a.m.

The P-I has reported in the past that McCain has no love for Boeing, which he views as a corrupt company. (See the comments by Rep. Adam Smith.)

We don't know if he had it right. It was up to the judges. Fact is people got fired / jailed, Boeing launched a big ethics campaign and paid $600+ mil to the DoJ..

Inconvenient truths so to say..

I always wondered how Patty escaped the dance then, she was so deepy involved & proud of that scandalous process..

Patty 2003: "I'm proud to be able to bring this deal home not only for our workers, but for our tanker crews who truly are the backbone of America's air power capability and who deserve the best equipment.

I'm proud of the hard work of the Senate, and of so many in the Air Force and Department of Defense, who know that these Boeing planes will help our airmen and women to protect our nation. "

murray.senate.gov/news.cfm?id=204226

Was she involved our naive/blinded?

Posted by Seattle Original at 3/7/08 5:08 a.m.

In a nutshell, the following is what McCain is offering Americans:

A government of the lobbyists
A government by the lobbyists
A government for the lobbyists

His top campaign advisers are lobbyists and they are conducting their work from his Double Talk Exprss bus.

McCain-Lobbyists 2008!

Posted by unregistered user at 3/7/08 6:29 a.m.

Nice smear campaign against Senator McCain. Despite your allusions to McCain as someone who "hates Boeing", your own cited source (the first one) offers this as the close to the article: "(McCain's) spokesman, Paul Hickman, said McCain supports competition, but "doesn't hate Boeing. He wants the best deal for the American taxpayer."

As for the contributions from Airbus, they're all from INDIVIDUALS, not the company itself. Why don't you likewise show the campaign contributions from Boeing employees? You can list my donation around $250. Does this mean that Boeing is trying to buy him off?

If you want to publish something disparaging about McCain, don't resort to the same tactics the Obama crowd (usually fairly) complains about and use strings of non-sequitors to construct a false accusation: I don't believe that Obama is a Muslim, and I don't believe that McCain is in Airbus' hip pocket.

Posted by unregistered user at 3/7/08 6:59 a.m.

Boeing is a big employer in Arizona. I actually give McCain a lot of credit for speaking out against the company during its earlier misdeeds.

Posted by unregistered user at 3/7/08 7:04 a.m.

That's right: Boeing became a corrupt company even before the beginning of the tanker deal. That's the reason a woman officer at the Air Force went to jail: "You help us (Boeing) get the tanker deal and you come work for us".
Payback time for Boeing management: Have all of you forgotten when more than 50,000 Boeing people were "laid off" from 1968 to 1974? Remember?: "The last one to leave Seattle please turn the lights off"
Also, why did Boeing moved its headquarters to Chicago leaving Seattle hanging in the wind? Its double pay back time for you Boeing management croocks. Perhaps you could take a little course on Ethics, Honorability, Accountability, and Loyalty. At least Seattle deserves that from you. Should we count how many times have you Boeing hoodlums betrayed Puget Sound?
Herbert

Posted by unregistered user at 3/7/08 7:25 a.m.

In the interest of fairness, where are the numbers for Boeing executives/upper management who have contributed to McCains campaign?

Posted by unregistered user at 3/7/08 7:33 a.m.

"Daniel Lathrop is the Seattle P-I's specialist in computer-assisted reporting, using databases to investigate and find the news. He has covered politics in Seattle as well as Iowa, Florida and Washington, D.C"

You should probably consider taking a couple of journalist classes before posting any more articles.

Posted by seattle61 at 3/7/08 8:00 a.m.

Posted by unregistered user at 3/7/08 6:29 a.m.

"Nice smear campaign against Senator McCain."

— No smear campaign here, 2-faced Johnny's doing it just fine by himself.

"As for the contributions from Airbus, they're all from INDIVIDUALS,"

— Which INDIVIDUAL gave him the Airbus plane for his campaign?

Posted by unregistered user at 3/7/08 8:03 a.m.

What was given to Hillary and Obama, let be fair, you can bet they also got funds.

Posted by unregistered user at 3/7/08 8:15 a.m.

and look at all the ex- air force employees retired, now with EADS. yes, boeing did hire 1 woman, but, EADS has hired 7 former air force people. this will be brought out very soon. bottom line, mobile gains 2000 jobs or so. the other 7000 jobs went overseas. mccain does not stand a chance when all his skeletons come out. i for one, CANT WAIT!

Posted by unregistered user at 3/7/08 8:20 a.m.

Whether is is McCain, Clinton, Obama or someone else. SOMEONE should be holding business & government accountable. In this case, if Boeing acted corruptly, they should not be surprised by the outcome. What they should do is clean up their act and behave in an ethical manor.

Posted by paulfromportland at 3/7/08 8:39 a.m.

Common practice for a corporation to have employees and family members make contributions, instead of the corporation itself. Look no further than the giant restaurant food supplier from West Seattle, where the CEO's policy is to have all of management contribute to the Repug Party.

No friend of Boeing - Saw it stop high speed rail in Texas, in order to sell 737s to Southwest. Saw it use their lackey, Ron Crockett, in shutting down Longacres. And their constant whining about King County and the State of Washington not spending enough on infrastructure. Sort of a "Feed me, Washington", Seymour moment.

However, Double Talk is not in the hip pockets of EADs - Euros are kept in other pockets, where he thrives.

Posted by not fast or furious at 3/7/08 9:26 a.m.

To report contributions by "selected" EADS employees to McCain but totally ignore similar contributions by Boeing employees to McCain, or completly ignore EADS employee contributions to Clinton or Obama is biased, partisan "reporting" at its worse, but then thats par for the course for the PI.

Posted by bigCon at 3/7/08 9:30 a.m.

How much money has Hillery Rotten Clinton or Barack received from businesses. The left wing are already starting their false smear campaign.

Posted by me em at 3/7/08 10:18 a.m.

Look it up for yourselves: www.opensecrets.org.

I'm afraid it's not false. Clinton has received $304,408 from business PACs, and McCain has received $276,900.

Obama? Only $3,250.

Obama seems to be the only one NOT in the pocket of big businesses/PACs: Except for Ron Paul, of course (not that I think he'll have a chance against the neo-cons who are intent on self-destructing through their choice of McCain).

Look at where the candidates' money is coming from, and look at how they're spending it (i.e. how much in debt they are). It's a pretty good indicator of how they'll be spending your taxpayer dollars, and who "owns" them!

Posted by seattle61 at 3/7/08 12:06 p.m.

By LIBBY QUAID, AP
1 hour ago

ATLANTA — "Republican presidential candidate John McCain, who has said economics isn't his strong suit, said Friday tax cuts and job training are needed to lift an economy that is either in recession or is headed toward one.

McCain was responding to a report showing widespread job losses amid the housing and credit crisis. The Labor Department said employers cut jobs by 63,000 in February, the most in five years."

— What a complete dolt. Maybe a quick refresher course in economics, WTO, foreign trade, keeping jobs in America might help?

No, lets just cut more American jobs and subsidize foreign companies/countries.

What a tool.

Posted by Cozad at 3/12/08 3:00 a.m.

Northrop Grumman Sets the Record Straight Concerning the U.S. Air Force KC-45A Misinformation
LOS ANGELES -- March 10, 2008 -- Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) said today that since the Air Force's selection of the Northrop Grumman KC-45A, numerous erroneous comments continue to be repeated in the media and in Congress. Northrop Grumman wants to set the record straight on the following points:


Northrop Grumman, a Los Angeles-based company with over 120,000 employees, is the KC-45A tanker prime contractor

* A contract between the U.S. Air Force and Northrop Grumman
Corporation for the Northrop Grumman KC-45A was signed on Feb.
29, 2008.

* Northrop Grumman KC-45A primary subcontractors include EADS-North
America, General Electric, Honeywell, AAR Cargo Systems, Sargent
Fletcher, Knight Aerospace Products, Parker and Telephonics.

Jobs

* The Northrop Grumman KC-45A U.S. supplier base includes 230
companies in 49 states.

* The Northrop Grumman KC-45A tanker will support more than 25,000
direct and indirect jobs in the United States -- a conservative
estimate based upon the U.S. Department of Commerce aerospace
industry jobs projection formula.

* Using more recent data from our suppliers and applying the Labor
Department's formula for projecting aerospace jobs at the state
and regional level, the KC-45A will employ approximately 48,000
direct and indirect jobs nationwide.

* Assembly and militarization of the Northrop Grumman KC-45A tanker
will take place in Mobile, Ala., resulting in the creation of
1,500 jobs in the United States.

* Job creation was not a part of the evaluation criteria, in
accordance with federal law.

* The Northrop Grumman KC-45A tanker program does not transfer any
jobs from the United States to France or any other foreign
country.

Repayable Loans / WTO Dispute Issue

* The U.S. Department of Defense ruled that the disputes involving
Boeing and Airbus currently being adjudicated by the World Trade
Organization were not relevant to the U.S. Air Force's KC-X
Tanker competition.

Acquisition Process

* The KC-45A competition underwent the most rigorous, fair and
transparent acquisition process in Defense Department history.

* Throughout the process, both competitors in the KC-45A
acquisition hailed the Air Force for conducting a fair and open
competition.

* The size of the proposed tanker aircraft was not dictated by the
Air Force nor was size an established criteria -- each contractor
was free to propose the best solution and platform to meet Air
Force warfighter requirements.

* Both contractors had ample opportunity in the protracted
acquisition and source selection process to propose the best
aerial refueling capability to meet the warfighter's
requirements.

Reduced Risk to the Government

* The first Northrop Grumman KC-45A tanker aircraft was built in
July 2007 and flown in September 2007.

* The Northrop Grumman KC-45A Aerial Refueling Boom System has
completed 73 test flights totaling more than 200 flight hours.
The boom completed the first in-flight fuel transfer on Feb. 29,
2008 passing 2,000 pounds of fuel to a Portuguese Air Force F-16
combat aircraft.

* The Northrop Grumman KC-45A is based upon the Royal Australian
Air Force KC-30B Multirole Tanker -- which has been built, flown,
and is undergoing flight tests. It will be delivered on schedule
to the Royal Australian Air Force in early 2009.

* Boeing's proposed KC-767AT tanker and refueling boom were never
built, flown or tested.

Industrial Base

* The Northrop Grumman KC-45A tanker program will create a new
aerospace manufacturing corridor in the southeastern United
States.

* The KC-45A program helps return competitiveness to the U.S.
aerospace industry.

Foreign Content

* All modern jetliners are built from a global supplier base, and
the two entrants in the KC-45A competition are no exception.

* Boeing's proposed tanker includes parts manufactured in Japan,
United Kingdom, Canada and Italy.

* Northrop Grumman tanker includes parts built in the United
Kingdom, Germany, Spain and France -- countries exempt under the
Buy America Law.

* The Northrop Grumman KC-45A will include approximately 60 percent
U.S. content. It is America's tanker.

Foreign Suppliers to U.S. Military Programs

* There are numerous examples of transatlantic cooperation on vital
U.S. military programs. Foreign suppliers currently play
essential roles in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the VH-71
Presidential Helicopter and the C-27J Joint Cargo Aircraft
program.

* No sensitive military technology will be exported to Europe. For
the KC-45A program, a commercial A330 jetliner will be assembled
by American workers in EADS's facility in Mobile. The aircraft
will then undergo military conversion in an adjacent Northrop
Grumman facility. All of the KC-45A's critical military
technology will be added by an American company, Northrop
Grumman, in America, in Mobile, Ala.

Northrop Grumman Corporation is a $32 billion global defense and technology company whose 120,000 employees provide innovative systems, products and solutions in information and services, electronics, aerospace and shipbuilding to government and commercial customers worldwide.