In the wake of the $85 BILLION bailout of AIG by the Fed, House leaders have announced efforts to investigate the causes and explore the solutions for the whole corrupt mess.

It was only 21 years ago, in the wake of the Savings and Loan scandal, that we caught our first glimpse of the superhero known as the Republican Reformer…

That was then.

In early 1995, after Republicans had taken control of Congress, Mr. McCain promoted a moratorium on federal regulations of all kinds. He was quoted as saying that excessive regulations were “destroying the American family, the American dream” and voters “want these regulations stopped.” The moratorium measure was unsuccessful.

And what did he state in March of this year?

“I’m always for less regulation,” he told The Wall Street Journal last March, “but I am aware of the view that there is a need for government oversight” in situations like the subprime lending crisis, the problem that has cascaded through Wall Street this year. He concluded, “but I am fundamentally a deregulator.”

Six months later, this is now.

WASHINGTON, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate John McCain said on Monday that the crisis sweeping Lehman Brothers (LEH.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and other financial firms was a sign that regulations governing the industry needed to be revamped.

McCain also said he was pleased that the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department did not step in to rescue U.S. investment bank Lehman, which filed for bankruptcy protection as concerns grew about the the fate of other financial firms.

“The McCain-Palin administration will replace the outdated and ineffective patchwork quilt of regulatory oversight in Washington and bring transparency and accountability to Wall Street,” McCain said in a statement. Sarah Palin is McCain’s running mate.

Lehman’s bankruptcy “is the latest reminder of ineffective regulation and management.”

From 1995 till last March, he was the champion of deregulation. Now, he’s suddenly the champ of greater regulation. Okay, so how did he ever carry the claim of being a reformer all that time when he fought against business oversight?

I mean, this is not the first time McCain has been injured by his anti-regulation crusade:

Charlie Keating always took care of his friends, especially those in politics. McCain was no exception.

In 1982, during McCain’s first run for the House, Keating held a fund-raiser for him, collecting more than $11,000 from 40 employees of American Continental Corp. McCain would spend more than $550,000 to win the primary and the general election.

In 1983, as McCain contemplated his House re-election, Keating hosted a $1,000-a-plate dinner for him, even though McCain had no serious competition. When McCain pushed for the Senate in 1986, Keating was there with more than $50,000.

By 1987, McCain had received about $112,000 in political contributions from Keating and his associates.

McCain also had carried a little water for Keating in Washington. While in the House, McCain, along with a majority of representatives, co-sponsored a resolution to delay new regulations designed to curb risky investments by thrifts such as Lincoln.

That’s right, his very first scandal was the Keating Five centerpiece of the S&L Crisis that threw us into recession 21 years ago. And what did McCain have to say about his shady performance back then? His initial reaction:

Keating was no ordinary constituent to McCain.

On Oct. 8, 1989, The Arizona Republic revealed that McCain’s wife and her father had invested $359,100 in a Keating shopping center in April 1986, a year before McCain met with the regulators.

The paper also reported that the McCains, sometimes accompanied by their daughter and baby-sitter, had made at least nine trips at Keating’s expense, sometimes aboard the American Continental jet. Three of the trips were made during vacations to Keating’s opulent Bahamas retreat at Cat Cay.

McCain also did not pay Keating for some of the trips until years after they were taken, after he learned that Keating was in trouble over Lincoln. Total cost: $13,433.

When the story broke, McCain did nothing to help himself.

“You’re a liar,” McCain said when a Republic reporter asked him about the business relationship between his wife and Keating.

“That’s the spouse’s involvement, you idiot,” McCain said later in the same conversation. “You do understand English, don’t you?”

He also belittled reporters when they asked about his wife’s ties to Keating.

“It’s up to you to find that out, kids.”

The paper ran the story.

In his 2002 book, McCain confesses to “ridiculously immature behavior” during that particular interview and adds that The Republic reporters’ “persistence in questioning me about the matter provoked me to rage.”

“I don’t know how (The Republic journalists) would have reported the story had I been more civil and understanding or just more of a professional during the interview,” McCain wrote.

At a news conference after the story ran, McCain was a changed man. He stood calmly for 90 minutes and answered every question.

On the shopping center, his defense was simple. The deal did not involve him. The shares in the shopping center had been bought by a partnership set up between McCain’s wife and her father. (The couple also had a prenuptial agreement that separated Cindy McCain’s finances and dealings from his.)

But McCain also had to explain his trips with Keating and why he didn’t pay Keating back right away.

On that score, McCain admitted he had fouled up. He said he should have reimbursed Keating immediately, not waited several years. His staff said it was an oversight, but it looked bad, McCain jetting around with Keating, then going to bat for him with the federal regulators.

“I was in a hell of a mess,” McCain later would write.

And from the memoirs of a fellow Senator caught in that deal, here’s McCain’s summation of his own performance:

In his memoir Senator Dennis DeConcini: From the Center of the Aisle, he praises the decision to keep McCain on the hook.

“It became clear to me, and it was later confirmed by Ethics Committee members, that Bennett was attempting to dismiss the charges against McCain, and in order to appear nonpartisan, he included Glenn in this effort,” DeConcini wrote with co-author Jack August. “Thanks to the three Democrats on the committee and perhaps with the help of Senator (Jesse) Helms (R-N.C.), however, the charges remained in place for all the senators under investigation. So all of us had to attend the 23-day public hearing, which was indeed a trial, before the six-member Senate Ethics Committee.”

In the book, DeConcini reiterates his allegation that McCain leaked to the media “sensitive information” about certain closed proceedings in order to hurt DeConcini, Riegle and Cranston. It’s a fairly serious charge. The Boston Globe revisited the Keating Five leaks in 2000. The story paraphrased a congressional investigator, Clark B. Hall, as personally concluding that “McCain was one of the principal leakers.” The newspaper also reported that McCain, under oath, had denied involvement with the leaks.

McCain owns up to his mistake this way:

“I was judged eventually, after three years, of using, quote, poor judgment, and I agree with that assessment.”

Twenty one years after admitting to his poor judgment working against regulatory oversight of corrupt businesses, after leaking hearings results to the press and lying under oath about it, John McCain has reformed himself once again.

With the stockmarket in full meltdown mode, after the Dow Jones Industrial Average had its second worst one-day drop since the Great Depression, and as the Federal Reserve announces the biggest bailout in US financial history, suddenly, a lightbulb is lit above Saint John’s suddenly wise old head.

“Trust me” is his new mantra that accompanies his new superhero costume. The Super Regulator! has arrived to save the day just after others have saved it.

“The McCain-Palin administration will replace the outdated and ineffective patchwork quilt of regulatory oversight in Washington and bring transparency and accountability to Wall Street,” says he. Without blushing.

Just like he championed campaign finance reform before he began breaking campaign finance laws this year, it seems like a fulltime job to keep reforming himself so well.

But maybe he’ll turn out different this time. Maybe, behind the scenes, he’s being coached by a greater, tremendously experienced superhero, the Republican Reformer of Rape Relief, or others in the Legion of Supers.

There, there, Worried Voter, there’s nothing to fear. When it happens to you, just relax, and enjoy it.

Update: Both the NYTimes and the Washington Post describe McCain’s sudden change from everything he stood for through most of his Senate career. From the Post:

In a speech in Golden, Colo., Obama blamed the economic crisis on an “economic philosophy” that he said McCain and President Bush supported blindly.

“John McCain has spent decades in Washington supporting financial institutions instead of their customers,” he told a crowd of about 2,100 at the Colorado School of Mines. “So let’s be clear: What we’ve seen the last few days is nothing less than the final verdict on an economic philosophy that has completely failed.”

Obama released a TV ad that mocks McCain for saying on Monday that “the fundamentals of our economy are strong” and asks: “How can John McCain fix our economy if he doesn’t understand it’s broken?”

He also poked fun at McCain for proposing a commission to examine the crisis, calling that “the oldest Washington stunt in the book.”

“This isn’t 9/11. We know how we got into this mess,” Obama said. “What we need now is leadership that gets us out. I’ll provide it, John McCain won’t, and that’s the choice for the American people in this election.