Did Barack Obama ever do any favors for Tony Rezko?

[boston bean]

Obama says No. The New York Times says Yes.

"In one instance, when he was running for the Senate, Mr. Obama stopped by to shake hands while Mr. Rezko, an immigrant from Syria, was entertaining Middle Eastern bankers considering an investment in one of his projects," the Times has reported.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/14/us/politics/14rezko.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

"Former Rezko associates said that Governor Blagojevich attended one of the dinners, and that at Mr. Rezko's request, Mr. Obama dropped in at one for Middle Eastern bankers in early 2004, just as he was starting to pull ahead in the Senate primary. The visits, Mr. Rezko's partners said, helped impress foreign guests.


"'I remember that he had been on the campaign trail, and he was completely wiped out and exhausted,' said Anthony Licata, a lawyer who represented Mr. Rezko on real estate deals. 'My recollection is that he drank ice tea, and he talked about how he was really making progress, and we were all excited to see him.'"

Obama refused to talk to the Times for the story.

http://www.beachwoodreporter.com/column/the_tuesday_papers_92.php

[sandnsea]

ruh roh... he shook Rezko's hand

but not Hillary's.

Bad Obama. Bad Bad.

:spank:

Meeting people is not "a favor". :crazy:

[jackson_dem]

6. He helped funnel a cool $43 mill of tax money to Rezko

[blm]

11. Did it cause 9-11? BCCI thugs did. Who is Jackson Stephens and what is his role

in bringing BCCI to the United States? You know BCCI, don't you, the biggest terrorist banking network in history.

You know Jackson Stephens was a longtime friend and benefactor of Poppy Bush's, right? Can you think of any Democrat whose political career was helped by Stephens....or in some cases, BANKROLLED and underwritten by Jackson Stephens of Arkansas?

[Atman]

1. With all the boatloads of scandal shit the GOP is prepared to bring up on the Clintons

you really think this is something, huh? You really want to go down this road? Good fucking lord. Have you stopped to THINK for even half a second?

.

[Fredda Weinberg]

5. It's in your imagination. The GOP tried it in NY to stop her ... they got bubkus

So YOU think for half a second ... she was re-elected in a conservative state. NY made sure she was electable when we invited her.

[Atman]

9. NY is a "conservative" state?

Is this the same New York that's up here next to Vermont and Massachusetts? That NY? CONSERVATIVE?

:rofl:

.

[MonkeyFunk]

25. Upstate NY is

and she won big all over the state. She had the second-largest margin of victory in the history of New York State.

[DLnyc]

26. NY is not conservative, up down or sideways:

.......................NYC Suburbs Upstate
approve Bush 19.....26......28
disapprove 79.....70......72
(Dec. 2006)
http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReport.aspx?g=28df23ff-f0cf-4c42-b868-12f5bdf4fb9c

True, Upstate is less liberal than New York City, but New York City is WAY left, leaving Upstate pretty liberal, compared to, say, Texas:

Texas appr/disappr the chimp:
approve 38
dis 59
(Dec. 2006)
http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReport.aspx?g=1d4ca61d-6533-4309-9e60-bd7804c5e228

Some of us feel both our senators act a little too conservative, but I wouldn't say our state is.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

28. upstate is almost totally red with a sprinkling of blue...their are 20 Dems in my 380 squre miles

[blm]

15. Hard to swallow, Fredda.

.

[Little Star]

18. Rezko Watch is a great place to find a lot of info regarding

the Obama's,the Rezko's and their circle of friends. I would consider voting for Tony Soprano before I'd vote for the Chicago wanna bees.

[blm]

23. The National Security Archives is a great place to find that Jackson Stephens and

Marc Rich were named figures in BCCI.

You know BCCI, don't you? The bank that funded the global terrorist networks who were being funded by drugrunning, armsdealing and nuclear proliferation networks THROUGH BCCI - and done KNOWINGLY.

But gee - that would have no impact on this country or the 9-11 families or the war on terror we all have to live with....does it?

Try a little PERSPECTIVE in your life.

[Gman]

2. Ultimately there may be nothing there but

it's sure starting to stink like a barrel of dead fish.

[blm]

3. Did Bill Clinton do any favors for BCCI criminal Jackson Stephens?

And IranContra-BCCI figure Marc Rich?

What DID happen to that Dec 1992 BCCI report handed to Bill once he took office anyway?

[KittyWampus]

7. Gee, and Denise Rich donated millions to the Clinton Library Slush Fund, too!

how nice after Clinton pardoned her NeoCon husband.

[blm]

13. Bill didn't pardon Rich for money. Rich was pardoned for Poppy Bush's IranContra-BCCI

protection. The money was a great media smokescreen though.

[AndyA]

4. Yes, Barack did favors for Rezko

http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/425305,CST-NWS-obama13.article

[sandnsea]

8. He supported the project, separate of Rezko

And it's successful, "They had a wellness clinic and adult day-care services, as well as a series of social services for residents. It's a successful project. It's meant a lot to the community, and he's proud to have supported it.''

There's no there there. This has been beat to death in Chicago for years and there's nothing there.

[AndyA]

12. He supported the project, BECAUSE of Rezko.

Only a fool would believe there's nothing there. And the GOP machine will spin the hell out of this and make short work out of stomping Obama.

[blm]

14. I doubt it. Jackson Stephens and Marc Rich's roles in BCCI led to 9-11 and you don't

hear much about that, do you?

So why would corpmedia focus on Rezko, a smalltime LOCAL corruption character who spread thousands of dollars around when Stephens spread money by the MILLIONS and got both Poppy Bush and a governor of Arkansas into the WH for his efforts?

[cd3dem]

10. No, no, no, no! didn't you hear the debate... he only did 5 hours of paper work

[zulchzulu]

16. NYT article: There is no sign that Mr. Obama...did did anything improper

In the very article you posted from the NYT:

There is no sign that Mr. Obama, who declined to be interviewed for this article, did anything improper.

The Rezko case has been vetted in the very tough Chicago media market FOR YEARS and even Fitzgerald has stated that Obama has done nothing improper.

But if you wanna make shit up like the Clintons do all the time, be my guest.

[Little Star]

17. How about reading the second one the op posted also.

Plus many of us have tried to wake Obamites up by posting tons of articles. Just admit it you don't want to know the truth about his & Michelle's 18 year relationship with Rezko and wife Rita.

Try reading all the Rezko articles at this link and you might get a clue: http://rezkowatch.blogspot.com/

Or just take a look around DU because there are tons of links to newspapers reporting on both of the Obama's relationship with Rezko and just how questionable it is. Educate yourself on your guy and his wife, then you may be able to defend them or not.

[caligirl]

19. Wow your one heavy weight investigative reporter. how about you leave the real investigative

reporting to the pros over at TPM, or folks like SusanG over at dailykos. You look like the inside of a a paper sack, empty.

[realFedUp]

20. Letters of support

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-obama-rezko-clinton-080122,0,4284280,full.story?coll=chi_tab01_layout

-As a state senator in 1998, Obama wrote two letters to city and state officials to support a Rezko/Davis senior housing project in his district that received more than $14 million in taxpayer money and netted $885,000 in fees for the two developers.

snip

Since 1995, at least $74,500 was donated to Obama campaigns by Rezko, Rezko companies and people who listed themselves as Rezko company employees when they made the donations, the Tribune found. Public records do not quantify how much money Rezko raised from others on Obama's behalf.
(Barack got more than a photo op...Rezko and his wife helped the Obamas
buy their house and the lot next door)

[Jed Dilligan]

21. Hillary thinks this scandal will make black people vote for her

Hillary is wrong.

[blm]

27. Hey - it's not like they helped Poppy Bush get away with dumping TONS of cheap

IranContra cocaine into black communities throughout the 80s - hey, they weren't even in office then. And just because the report came OUT in 1996 and was denied, well, they had no choice - they were being......um....bi-partisan...yeah.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

22. Did Hillary Clinton ever help Walmart out?

Didn't Walmart drive a bunch of people out of business?

[blm]

24. BCCI figure Jackson Stephens bankrolled WalMart, too. What ever happened to that BCCI

report that was released in Dec 1992, anyway?

[izzybeans]

29. This isn't Obama's problem so much as it is Governor Blagojevich's.

There isn't a democrat in Illinois who didn't know that guy.