Comments on: Web War Waged For The White House

On The Internet, The Medium Is The Message - So How Do The Two Candidates Stack Up?

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Speaking to ABC News as Obama was preparing to join Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and the wife of Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., in addressing Planned Parenthood''s national conference in Washington, D.C., Sutherland said Obama approached her in the late 1990s and worked with her and others in crafting the strategy of voting "present." She remembers meeting with Obama outside of the Illinois Senate chambers on the Democratic side of the aisle. She and Obama finished their conversation in his office.

"He came to me and said: ''My members are being attacked. We need to figure out a way to protect members and to protect women,''" said Sutherland in recounting her conversation with Obama. "A ''present'' vote was hard to pigeonhole which is exactly what Obama wanted."

"What it did," she continued, "was give cover to moderate Democrats who wanted to vote with us but were afraid to do so" because of how their votes would be used against them electorally. "A ''present'' vote would protect them. Your senator voted ''present.'' Most of the electorate is not going to know what that means."

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"We at Planned Parenthood view those as leadership votes," Pam Sutherland, the president and CEO of the Illinois Planned Parenthood Council, told ABC News. "We worked with him specifically on his strategy. The Republicans were in control of the Illinois Senate at the time. They loved to hold votes on ''partial birth'' and ''born alive''. They put these bills out all the time because they wanted to pigeonhole Democrats."

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In fact, contrary to Corsi''s suggestion that no senators voted against the bill -- and therefore Obama voted "present" because he did not want to be the only one to vote against it -- the roll call for that vote was "34 voting aye, 6 voting Nay, 12 voting present," according to the transcript of the Senate''s proceeding, which Corsi himself cites. According to ABC News, Pam Sutherland, the president and CEO of the Illinois Planned Parenthood Council, stated that Obama voted "present" on the bill as part of a legislative strategy. From a July 17, 2007, post on the ABC News blog Political Radar:

When Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., voted "present," rather than "yes" or "no" on a handful of controversial abortion votes in the Illinois state senate, he did so with the explicit support of the president and CEO of Illinois Planned Parenthood Council.

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Bill Kristol''s march 17,new York Times column also cited Kessler''s March 16 Newmax.com column. Later in the day on March 17, Kristol issued a correction that read:

In this column, I cite a report that Sen. Obama had attended services at Trinity Church on July 22, 2007. The Obama campaign has provided information showing that Sen. Obama did not attend Trinity that day. I regret the error.

Abortion rights

Discussing a bill amending the Illinois Abortion Law of 1975 -- opponents of which said posed a threat to abortion rights -- Corsi writes:

Not wanting to be the only Illinois state senator to vote against the bill, a move that Obama realized would be politically unpopular with his constituency, he took the easy way out and voted "Present."5 In the Illinois Senate, voting "Present" is the equivalent of voting "No," because a bill must have a majority counting only "Yes" votes to pass [Page 238].

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Corsi wrote:

Obama''s denial spurred investigators to prove the contrary. On March 16, two days after Obama''s denial appeared on the Huffington Post, new evidence emerged. NewsMax''s Ronald Kessler reported that Obama had been in Trinity United Church of Christ on July 22, when Kessler was present.74 Kessler claimed he and Obama both heard Wright preach a sermon that day in which the preacher blamed the "white arrogance" of America''s Caucasian majority for the world''s suffering, especially the oppression of blacks. The Obama campaign promptly posted a new denial, claiming Obama did not attend church services in Chicago on July 22.75

While Corsi acknowledged that "[t]he Obama campaign promptly posted a new denial, claiming Obama did not attend church services in Chicago on July 22," he did not note that, as reported by several media outlets, Obama was in Miami on July 22, 2007, speaking at the National Council of La Raza''s (NCLR) annual convention. According to the NCLR''s schedule for the day, Obama spoke as part of a "special forum" between 1:30 and 3 p.m. ET.

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NewsMax, Obama, and Trinity Church

Corsi falsely claims that "NewsMax''s Ronald Kessler reported that Obama had been in Trinity United Church of Christ on July 22 [2007], when Kessler was present," during which Obama''s then-pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, gave a sermon in which he "blamed the ''white arrogance'' of America''s Caucasian majority for the world''s suffering, especially the oppression of blacks." In fact, Kessler did not report that he had been at Trinity United on that date. Kessler''s March 16 Newsmax report cited an August 9, 2007, Newsmax.com article by "freelance reporter" Jim Davis and stated: "On July 22nd [2007] he [Davis] sat next to Barack Obama as Barack Obama heard some of these same statements from that very preacher [Wright] and was nodding along."

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U.S. Sen. Barack Obama waited 16 months to attempt the exorcism. But when he finally sat down with the Tribune editorial board Friday, Obama offered a lengthy and, to us, plausible explanation for the presence of now-indicted businessman Tony Rezko in his personal and political lives.

The most remarkable facet of Obama''s 92-minute discussion was that, at the outset, he pledged to answer every question the three dozen Tribune journalists crammed into the room would put to him. And he did. []

Less protection, less control, would have meant less hassle for his campaign. That said, Barack Obama now has spoken about his ties to Tony Rezko in uncommon detail. That''s a standard for candor by which other presidential candidates facing serious inquiries now can be judged.

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Additionally, Corsi writes of Obama''s March 14 meeting with reporters from the Chicago Tribune to discuss his relationship with Rezko: "The transcript of the question-and-answer session clearly shows the Tribune staff had a hard time believing Obama. Yet Obama persisted, denying he coordinated the purchase with Rezko [Page 168]." But Corsi did not reconcile his assessment that "the Tribune staff had a hard time believing Obama" with the subsequent publication of an editorial in which the paper asserted that Obama had "offered a lengthy and, to us, plausible explanation for the presence of now-indicted businessman Tony Rezko in his personal and political lives." From the March 16 editorial:

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Corsi later writes: "The [Boston] Globe also reported real estate agent Schwan''s recollection that the Obamas may not have made the highest bid, but that the willingness of the Obamas and Rita Rezko to close in June was decisive." In fact, as Media Matters has repeatedly noted, the Obamas reportedly did not receive a "discount" on their purchase of the house, and the sellers have reportedly said that the Obamas gave the best offer. Documents available on the Obama campaign''s website indicate that the original asking price of the house was $1.95 million and that the Obamas paid $1.65 million. According to a February 18 Bloomberg News article, "The couple who sold Barack Obama his Chicago home said the Illinois senator''s $1.65 million bid ''was the best offer'' and they didn''t cut their asking price because a campaign donor bought their adjacent land, according to e-mails between Obama''s presidential campaign and the seller."

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Discussing the purchase of the house, Corsi also writes:

The problem was that the doctor who owned the property wanted to sell the vacant lot and the house at the same time, even though the two properties were separately listed. Also, while the sellers wanted to find a buyer as quickly as possible, they did not want to close the deal until June 2005. The list price just for the home was $1.95 million, outside the reach of the Obama family, even with Obama''s reissued autobiography, Dreams from My Father, hitting bestseller lists, his U.S. Senate salary of $157,082, and Michelle''s 2005 income of $317,000 at the University of Chicago Hospitals.34

Rezko came up with a solution. His wife, Rita, bought the vacant lot at full price, permitting Obama and Michelle to negotiate buying the house for $1.65 million, a discount of $300,000 from the asking price. [Page 165-166]