Jeff,
That's a pretty shady source for the charge that Rezko paid for Obama's to go to law school.
Can't you find anything better?
If you can't, I think you should delete that charge---you know that what you say here will get spread far and wide, because TLC is such a prominent blog.
Wow. This is stunning to behold in real time. Team Clinton is trying to throw any dirt they can manage to throw at Obama, now, aren't they? This seems like a self-directing thing, though, yes? The approach seems scattershot. Jesse Jr's playing the race card. Donna Brazille is playing the race card. Obama was acquainted with a white collar criminal, which by the way, won't stick to Obama. He's clean as a whistle. It'll be interesting to see if Hillary's team actually starts coordinating this kind of crazy talk, I assume they won't, though.
Posted by Brian Bell at January 10, 2008 09:35 AMEven if true, so what. Next to the GOP scandals, this is nothing. I wonder if Rudy is clean when it comes to contributions?
Posted by Judith at January 10, 2008 09:40 AMagreed on the law school source.
i don't know much about this story, but it does seem to raise some legit questions. i tend to believe that all big time politicians have a shady connection or two, so this, to me, is mostly just more proof that the obamabots need some big reality checks about their saint's purity; but unless there's a respectable source on the law school funding, i'd rather not see it posted.
Posted by Turkana at January 10, 2008 09:41 AMjudith,
nothing about rudy is clean. he gives sleaze a bad name!
Posted by Turkana at January 10, 2008 09:42 AMIs this post really necessary?
Posted by snark at January 10, 2008 10:14 AMIt's quite interesting that this dubious post was made by the designated "Hillary Campaign" blogger for TLC.
Who came up with this idea, Jeff?
Posted by euzoius at January 10, 2008 10:21 AMThis doesn't really compare to Hillary's murder of Vince Foster now does it?
Posted by nerdoff at January 10, 2008 10:33 AMnothing about rudy is clean. he gives sleaze a bad name!
Sorta like this post.
But wouldn't he be giving sleave a good name?
I dunno. Confusing.
Posted by snark at January 10, 2008 10:34 AMJeff's a local to Chicago, he sees this on the local news...wondering if Obama has any ties to the City Truck scandal?
Posted by peter at January 10, 2008 10:40 AMMaybe he knows where Jimmy Hoffa is?
Posted by snark at January 10, 2008 10:43 AMSomeone ask Fitzie, stat!
Posted by iamcoyote at January 10, 2008 10:45 AMRezko is Syrian born. That proves Obama is a Muslim and a terrorist. That will be the important point of this story if the wingnuts run with it.
Posted by CG at January 10, 2008 10:53 AMEven if true, so what. Next to the GOP scandals, this is nothing. I wonder if Rudy is clean when it comes to contributions?
True, but it shows what Obama will be facing, and somehow scandals roll off Republicans (people don't expect anything better?) and stick to Dems.
Posted by CG at January 10, 2008 10:55 AMTo my mind, it doesn't matter what Obama does at this point. Those in control of the e-voting process have telegraphed their intention to install Hillary as the nominee. Any Obama hit pieces in the media only give justification for his failure to turn his popularity into counted votes.
Will he demand a recount or will he get in line and wait for his turn ala McCain?
See the Princeton Study on the reliability and security of the Diebold Accu-vote TS machine that was used to record 80% of the votes in the NH primary. http://itpolicy.princeton.edu/voting/
Second story down.
Turkana: Is it a conspiracy theory to recognize the continued use of an insecure, easily hackable voting system with no random audits to check for accuracy? Wake up.
Posted by brisa at January 10, 2008 11:09 AM
look, all- abc is running this, today. rezko's trial will be in the news, in march. he and obama have a history. it's a story.
what's important is that we focus on the facts. i haven't seen any indication that obama did anything illegal. on the other hand, he does seem to use the types of connections most rising politicians use. let the story play out, as it will.
Posted by Turkana at January 10, 2008 11:11 AMTurkana,
Obama's in trouble, even given what we know, because he said the land deal with Rezko was a mistake.
I am pretty sure he said he used poor "judgment".
That's damaging, in and of itself.
brisa,
it's one thing to say the system is flawed- which it is; it's another to say it's being hacked to help hillary. the latter needs proof.
Posted by Turkana at January 10, 2008 11:20 AMBrian Bell: Wow. This is stunning to behold in real time. Team Clinton is trying to throw any dirt they can manage to throw at Obama, now, aren't they?
snark: Is this post really necessary?
well god knows the ReThugs would NEVER use this info against Obamba in the general election. Welcome to the big leagues boys and girls. Obama was able to beat Alan Keyes, but I think the competition now is a little stiffer.
Posted by Gay Veteran at January 10, 2008 11:34 AMa little story:
in 1992 I had an Israeli friend who had been a journalist---he had been the front page editor from Ma'ariv sometime in the 80's.
Anyway, when the very first Whitewater story appeared in the NYtimes, around June 1992, my friend saw this and said "This will be big".
I argued that we didnt' know if there was any wrongdoing, but he said it didn't matter.
Tragically he committed suicide in 2000. I
would love to see his take on Rezko/Obama.
"Rezko is Syrian born. This proves Obama is a Muslim and a terrorist".
NOW you're thinkin' like a wingnut, by jove, CG! This will be flashed to all the rightwing email chains within 6 hours....
Posted by at January 10, 2008 11:38 AMTurkana:
It is my understanding that in Germany, all of the ballots are hand counted at the local level. Because of this, it takes several days to declare an official winner in an election. There is little suspense, however, because the exit polling has never (that's not once failed) to accurately predict the winner.
It is only since the 2000 election in Georgia that saw Max Cleland handed his walking papers that there has been such a divergence between professionally done exit polling (Zogby) and reported results. Georgia was the first to use e-voting in that election. These descrepencies have increased in every election since, directly corresponding the the increased use of e-voting machines with proprietary software.
Non-transparency in the process is not something we should accept as an electorate. I sent a fax to Obama after the Ohio shenanagins in '04 asking him to publicize the numerous problems encountered there relative to e-vote insecurity (I live in Illinois)and demand redress. These pleas fell on deaf ears. Perhaps he's paying attention now.
Posted by brisa at January 10, 2008 11:39 AMthat;s me, sorry.
Posted by euzoius at January 10, 2008 11:39 AMHey, I got this picture of John Wayne Gacy standing next to Roslynn Carter. Really.
Look, everybody's got a favorite candidate, and it's clear that this site has a lot of Clinton supporters, but when you feel obligated to use a slime bucket please note that others see what dribbles on you.
And so it goes.
Posted by Bob In Pacifica at January 10, 2008 11:45 AMbrisa,
i agree that we need serious elections reform; but it's still pure speculation to jump from that to charges that elections are being stolen for hillary.
Posted by Turkana at January 10, 2008 11:47 AMHere: Rosalynn Carter and John Wayne Gacy. Do you think she helped bury the bodies under her house?
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2267/1603765701_7d4d42f819_o.jpg
Posted by Bob In Pacifica at January 10, 2008 11:47 AMMaybe he knows where Jimmy Hoffa is?
LOL! Er... Jeff or Obama?
Posted by Seven of Six at January 10, 2008 11:52 AMOK, personally this story does not sway my opinion of Obama one way or another, but I'm having a really hard time understanding why its considered out of bounds. ?! Why isn't this something that voters should know about? Obama supporters call "foul" way too often.
It's like the cocaine thing. Personally I don't give a shit, but ALL candidates are asked about their past drug use! We all remember Clinton's infamous blunder on this and also Gore's admittance that he smoked weed in college (a fair amount, I'd guess). I'm sure they asked Kerry, too (although I don't recall it). Why shouldn't Obama's drug use be made public to voters who haven't read his autobiography? Again, it doesn't matter to me but it seems perfectly legit -and FAIR- as a topic of interest.
the Whitewater investigation took YEARS and wasted enormous amounts of money. Obama people need to brace themselves and get used to a little scrutiny.
Gay Vet, and this applies to you, too, Lima Beans, you're absolutely right, this is the big leagues. I was just commenting that the dirt throwing was coming on now, but that it didn't feel centrally directed by the Clintons or their campaign, necessarily. Please, note, NOWHERE did I actually complain about it on Obama's behalf. I never said it was wrong or unfair. I also said, and this has already been born out, this:
-- "...won't stick to Obama. He's clean as a whistle...."
I could care less about the Rezko story. It won't affect Obama's candidate one bit. He's not a child, he'll handle this fine. He already has, in fact.
Posted by Brian Bell at January 10, 2008 01:05 PMWorth noting: Obama has only said that the SECOND land deal (purchasing the strip) was a mistake, and not the deal which allowed him to purchase his home.
Worth keeping in mind.
MarkL, why is that a problem? The deal for the little strip of property was the one that people had questions about, not the buying of the house.
Obama's come out clean on this, completely. This won't hurt him.
Posted by Brian Bell at January 10, 2008 01:44 PMHe's going to be fine. This won't hurt him. It's perfectly okay. It won't stick. It's just like the parking tickets. Or the smoking. Or the cocaine. Harmless. Completely harmless I tell you! Christ, you're starting to sound hysterical, BB. And that's so unbecoming.
Sigh. It's so hard when you finally have to see your One True Love as a flawed human being.
lol.
Posted by xht at January 10, 2008 06:30 PMI'm not hysterical, Xht. My candidates is ahead in the South Carolina polls and catching up to Clinton in Nevada, where Obama just received 2 crucial union endorsements, and he's raised millions in the last week. Yeah, New Hampshire was such a devastating loss to him and his supporters. LOL!
Posted by Brian Bell at January 10, 2008 09:41 PMFor all the Obama supporters whining about how irrelevant this is, let's just remember that Madison Guaranty - and by extension, Bill Clinton - had been officially cleared by the Republican run Resolution Trust before he was elected.
Obama hasn't even beeen investigated on this. This is going to be a big scandal, and unlike Bill - who had nothing like Rezko's purchase of land for Obama - Obama is NOT squeaky clean on this.
I can't imagine Obama could ever hope to get elected - there is literally no reason to vote for him - but, God help us, if he does, this will end his presidency and turn the White House right back over to the GOP.
And why the hell is a guy who congratulates the anti-choice ranks for their organizing against women's constitional right to privacy running on the Democratic ticket anyway? What does Obama have against the constitution? I can't believe we're even considering hiring this joker.
Posted by lorelynn at January 10, 2008 11:07 PMRezco was also a slum landlord, with eleven of his buildings in Obama's district. Those buildings had NO HEAT because, Rezco claimed, he didn't have the money for it. Yet, he still contributed to Obama and Obama stayed his friend enough to do that land deal.
Posted by Oleta at January 11, 2008 07:47 AMSo Obama is getting a little scrutiny (obviously the Clintons control all the media in Chicago because it is Obama's hometown) and everyone screams "fowl." But we still have posters here stating that the Clintons had Vince Foster murdered. No proof of that just like there was no proof of any of the shit people like to post about the Clintons. The Whitewater investigation didn't prove anything other than Bill Clinton cheated on his wife - just like a lot of other Democrats and Republicans. Oh and he lied about it under oath. So do a lot of other people - lie under oath that is.
Just suck it up Obama, it is part of the world that you decided to enter. If you thought people weren't going to look at your past ties, you really are arrogant. As a presidential contender there is no stone too tiny, no story too irrelevant to dig into. It's just the way the game is played - on both sides of the fence. And if Obama thinks it's terrible that this is coming out now, does he really believe that his new best friend Karl Rove doesn't have the script already written?
Posted by Grandmother at January 11, 2008 08:52 AM
actually, they'd be stupid if they didnt investigate barak's ties to a criminal, syrian national.
how do you think business is done?
Posted by simon at January 12, 2008 07:55 AM