Dirt begins to fly at Obama

[BeatleBoot]

Talk about material for the Swiftboaters...


Dirt begins to fly at Obama
War opens with hints about ‘suspect’ backers

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article3177684.ece


<snip>

The unorthodox pastor of Trinity church is the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, who is refusing all interviews. He married Barack and Michelle Obama and baptised their two daughters. He is already attracting attention on right-wing websites for describing the September 11 attacks as a “wake-up call” to America for ignoring the concerns of “people of colour”, and for claiming that Americans “believe in white supremacy and black inferiority . . . more than we believe in God”.

Wright travelled to meet Muammar Gadaffi, the Libyan leader, in the 1980s with Louis Farrakhan, the black supremacist leader of the Nation of Islam, and subscribes to the “Black Values System”, which preaches self-reliance but claims “middle-classness” is ensnaring blacks.

“When enemies find out that in 1984 I went to Tripoli to visit Colonel Gadaffi with Farrakhan, a lot of his Jewish support will dry up quicker than a snowball in hell,” Wright once said.

The other potential threat to Obama comes from the indictment of one of his leading donors, Antoin “Tony” Rezko, a Syrian-born property developer in Chicago, who is accused of extortion.

Rezko has been indicted by Patrick Fitzgerald - the prosecutor who brought down the White House official Lewis “Scooter” Libby and the press magnate Conrad Black - for seeking millions of dollars in kickbacks from companies bidding for state business in Illinois. He is due to appear in court on February 24.

On the day the Obamas bought a new home in Chicago for $1.6m in 2005, Rezko’s wife purchased an adjoining piece of land, giving the senator’s family more privacy and a larger expanse of green than they had paid for. Obama later paid $104,000 for a strip of the land, even though it was known that Rezko was under investigation.

Obama has admitted that the deal was “bone-headed” and has given $37,000 of political donations by Rezko to charity.

<more at link above>

[cali]

1. A proud member of the Murdoch group

and who has Rupert supported in the past?

That said, it's absolutely true that the information about Rev Wright will be used, and is indeed a cause for concern.

[sunonmars]

2. Its a real piece of work that article

As I said before and i'll say it again.

My dear old mother always said to me "Once a rumour spreads, the truth is just a thing of the past". She was right.

Regardless of how many times people try to counter this, its going to run and run. If Obama wins the nomination, you can be assured, the byline by the republicans will be something along the lines of :

Drugged out, corrupt black politican who takes bribes, lines his pockets, gets involved in dodgy land deals and is also a radical muslim infiltrating the US with his associations to militant islam and has friends with rogue nation contacts.

Shitty but thats how the bastards are gonna play it and like Kerry, its gonna stick.

[avrdream]

11. You said it better than I could.

For Barack, it may be better if it all comes out right now so that he can figure out a way for it NOT to stick. If he is our eventual nominee, I want him to have figured out responses well before then because the shit is definitely going to be thrown.

[thunder rising]

3. thank you Hillary Clinton

Shiiiite, is that all you can gather, go away!

All the previous debunked smears wrapped in to one ... thank you Hillary Clinton

[sufrommich]

4. I think you're confused..it's an article

from The Times online.

[rox63]

5. Which is owned by Murdoch n/t

[terisan]

8. Read original stories on Rezko-Obama ties in Chicago Sun-Times

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/353829,CST-NWS-rez23.article

For more than five weeks during the brutal winter of 1997, tenants shivered without heat in a government-subsidized apartment building on Chicago's South Side.

It was just four years after the landlords -- Antoin "Tony'' Rezko and his partner Daniel Mahru -- had rehabbed the 31-unit building in Englewood with a loan from Chicago taxpayers.

Rezko and Mahru couldn't find money to get the heat back on.


» Click to enlarge image

"Senator Obama does not remember having conversations with Tony Rezko (inset) about properties that he owned" — Obama’s campaign staff on Sunday.
(Sun-Times/AP)

RELATED STORIES
Sun-Times' questions: Obama campaign's answersMap: Rezmar Corp.'s low-income projectsTop recipients of campaign cashObama's ex-boss a Rezko partnerTroutman dad got rehab dealRezmar deals involving Davis Miner law firmSweet blog: Obama's donor courtshipObama: Election chance for change
ABOUT THIS SERIES
Staff reporter Tim Novak examines previously unreported government-funded, low-income housing deals involving Antoin "Tony" Rezko, the indicted political fund-raiser.
TODAY | Rezmar kept getting city and state funding, even as earlier projects fell into disrepair and financial troubles.

But their company, Rezmar Corp., did come up with $1,000 to give to the political campaign fund of Barack Obama, the newly elected state senator whose district included the unheated building.
Obama has been friends with Rezko for 17 years. Rezko has been a political patron to Obama and many others, helping to raise millions of dollars for them through his own contributions and by hosting fund-raisers in his home.

[rox63]

10. You act like Obama is responsible for Rezko's actions - he is not

And I'm sure Obama isn't going around telling his pastor how to run his life either.

[terisan]

13. The real estate deal was a deal they entered into together in 2005. The beneficiary was Obama.

The seller of the property required that the house which Obama wanted to purchase and the adjoining lot be purchased at the same time. Rezko's wife purchased the lot. The properties were purchased on the same day. Obama got a $300,000 discount on the house;
Rezko's wife paid full asking for the lot and later sold Obama 1/6 of the lot for 1/6 of the price she paid.

Rezko and Obama have known each other for well over a decade. Rezko was a client of Obama's law form for many years.

Obama is characterizing the deal as a "bone-headed mistake" on his part. Do you think it bodes well that a man who is running for president made this kind of "mistake" just over 2 years ago?

I would like a better explanation from Obama. He is a Harvad law graduate; he is not "boneheaded."

[Proud2BAmurkin]

12. who is owned by Hillary? BWAAA

nt

[LeFleur1]

7. I'm Confused

Maybe the thing to do would be to look at this article, then find out if it is true.

Hillary has been investigated for everything she ever did. I think Obama can stand a bit of investigation.

If these are not facts, but lies, that will come out. If they are facts they should be considered.

[CyberPieHole]

6. Obama's ties to Jeremiah Wright will be investigated and will be used to the repubs...

advantage. Wright's trip to Tripoli in the 80's to see Qadaffi with Louis Farrakhan by his side is NOT something that reflects well on Obama.

[indimuse]

9. hmmm...

So much for "JUDGEMENT" ...:eyes: