WASHINGTON, Jan. 23, 2008
Obama Distances Self From Indicted Donor
Democratic Candidate Says He Had No Indication Of Wrongdoing By Real Estate Developer Tony Rezo
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Democratic presidential hopefuls from left, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., participate in a Democratic presidential debate in Myrtle Beach, S.C., Monday, Jan. 21, 2008. (AP)
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"My relationship is he was somebody who I knew and had been a supporter for many years, he was somebody who had supported a wide range of candidates all throughout Illinois," the Democratic presidential candidate said in an interview with CBS News' The Early Show. "Nobody had an inkling that he was involved in any problems. When those problems were discovered, we returned money from him that had been contributed."
Obama, an Illinois senator, also said it was a mistake for him to have purchased a strip of land from Rezko's wife. The land adjoins the Obamas' Chicago home. Rezko was widely reported to be under grand jury investigation at the time.
"Everything was above board and there's been no allegations that it wasn’t," Obama told Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith.
"In terms of appearances, and I've already said this, that I should not have entered into any kind of agreement with him," Obama added on ABC's "Good Morning America."
Obama also has given to charity about $37,000 in contributions to his Senate campaign and political action committee that were linked to Rezko. Rezko also raised tens of thousands of dollars for Obama's state legislative and Senate races.
Rezko faces a Feb. 25 trial, almost three weeks after the Super Tuesday primaries that could go a long way in settling the Democratic nomination. He is charged with fraud, attempted extortion and money laundering for allegedly plotting to get campaign money and payoffs from firms seeking to do business before two state boards.
Once that trial is behind him, the 53-year-old Rezko faces a separate federal charge of swindling the General Electric Capital Corp. out of $10 million in connection with the sale of pizza restaurants.
Obama's name has not come up in connection with any of the corruption charges swirling around Rezko. In fact, prosecutors indicate the source of Rezko's clout was somewhere within Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich's administration.
Presidential rival Hillary Rodham Clinton raised Obama's relationship with Rezko in a Democratic debate Monday night.
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Sam, you seriously fit the mold for Manford Mann''s ''BLINDED BY THE LIGHT''. Obama''s intentions and crooked ways are just as ''knee-deep'' as the Clintons. But your Blind Faith is 2 funny. Obama''s fifteen minutes of fame are Over.
Posted by cptdeuce
One incident in your mind equals getting impeached for lying under oath, Whitewater, Mark Rich, sexual harrassmnent suits, Norman Hsu, etc etc?
That puts all the reliability and reason of your claims dependant on 1 5+ . . . how''d you do with math in school? Yikes!
Obama is not a defendant in this trial, therefore there''s no evidence that he was involved in any wrongdoing. There are indications given that an unnamed politician could be named at trial but it''s not clear that is Obama or that the testimony will involve any wrongdoing. One would think if it did that person would either be indicted or named as an unindicted co-conspirator; that''s not the case.
The Clintons were sued by one of their own largest donors who claims that he was harassed and even thrown into jail in Brazil to keep him from testifying. The suit was originally brought by the Federal Elections Commission and constituted the largest case of federal campaign finance law fraud ever brought.
When you''re a Bush or Clinton or Kennedy these things get taken care of.
Obama having to return money to a domestic slumlord pales when compared to having to return money to criminally indicted agents of foreign governments.
Is it better to sell the Lincoln bedroom to foreign agents, to go into business with the ruler of Dubai who is now acquiring large interests in America''s largest financial institutions, selling missle technology to The People''s Liberation Army of XChina so they can be used against American troops?
I don''t excuse this and want to hear more, but I wonder why in the midst of an election CBS leads with this kind of headline but never examines any of the many more egregious crimes where the Clintons are actually parties to a suit!
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/01/04/politics/main3675603.shtml?source=search_story
"Arkansas suicide," became a household word...
Does anyone really think that the leading interests of General Dynamics would support an honest American?
Do you think the Crowns would support Obama because he''s some kind of peace-nik who is pro-Arab? ''Dumb as dirt'' would be the best phrase to describe this kind of Obama supporter...And Rezko? Really, what do you expect?
If you would be so kind as to supply this dumb Obama supporter with info desribing what Crowns support you are talking about I''ll look into.
I always seek the opportunity to be educated by superior intellects.
Nobody had an inkling that he was involved in any problems. When those problems were discovered, we returned money from him that had been contributed."
YEAH everyone but Senator Obama right sure
To think that a gentleman coming out of one of the most corrupt political states in the union is somehow different than the rest is actually kinda funny.
Obama supporters please take off the rose colored glasses and see him for what he is just another politician.
What crappola payola baloney, the guy has been his main supporter one of his highest bundlers all through his career a sponsor if you will, for 16 17 years., Rezkos wife co bought the listing for Obamas house in 2005 and she paid full price for the empty lot while the Senator got a 300,000 K price cut for his share on the same day, and the Sun Times is reporting that Senator Obama is the unnamed pol who received a political donation of what10,000K from one of the kickback schemes involving tax payer funds at this point unknowingly.....and everyone but Senator Obama it seems knew about the shady alleged corrupt Rezko but not the Senator Obama who would be to much of an Hope man to ever deal with someone so suspicious as Rezko and oh goody the trial will play out during the campaign. Check out his other story last month in hte Wapo archives where he did know Rezko was under federal investigation when they co bought the property in 2005. And the prosecutor is Patrick Fitzgerald Oh my%u2026%u2026%u2026%u2026%u2026%u2026.
Wha wha but I did not know the press is being mean to me..just like Bill Clinton .....and all I wnat to do is HOPE you move on
Just another example of Obama''''s lack of experience. Any seasoned public figure would have stayed away from such dealings. What other poor choices would he make if he became president?!
Go back to the Senate, actually vote on some key issues, sponser some bills, get on a few committees and THEN run for president.
Of course he''s a politician. So what? Hillary takes plenty of money from shady characters. Remember Marc Rich and Bill''s pardon of him for tax evasion?
So do all the Repug candidates.
Obama''s different--the man is brilliant, was editor of Harvard Law Review, not an incoherent loser like George Bushit. And haven''t the Clinton''s had a long enough rule? Hillary is so greedy for the power she''ll stop at nothing to get elected.
%u2026%u2026%u2026%u2026%u2026..seems this fellow is disappearing before the Dems eyes just what they would have needed a corruption scandal playing out in the back drop as their heirs run%u2026%u2026%u2026 and oh boy how mad this coming out now must make the repot attack machine bursting their wet dream of Dem corruption as a theme in 08 as an offset for the actual FBI raids on Repugs like Stevens,, Doolittle, Lewis et al republican politicians SEE THEY ARE ALL THE SAME LESS OF TWO EVILS%u2026%u2026%u2026and with Fitzgerald in charge and no leaks so total rampant speculation run amok aka Swifties%u2026%u2026
This must be one of those Dem shoot in the foot times, how could they not have vetted Senator Obama and if they did how could they have ever thought this would play well in the country %u2026%u2026%u2026%u2026%u2026.
Rough and tumble indeed and what does this association say about the man
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Posted by gkc99
Ever gone to law school? Editor of the Law Review looks good on a resume, but it doesn''t mean anything about how smart you are.
It is proven that just because someone gets good grades, that doesn''t prove they have any common sense or that they are any smarter than the person that didn''t score well on the exams.
HA! HA! HA!
Its funny that Obama praised Reagan and so do the Republicans. Everybody who don''t remember or was to young or wasn''t born yet need to go to.. www.youtube.com and watch "Land of confusion-Genesis. This video was played on MTV back in 1986 and just shows you what people thought of Reagan. Also, Eddie Murphy in "Delirious" speaks about Reagonomics and as you watch the crowd in Washington is booing. Look back at the facts, they can say alot about what society thought during a certain point in time. "Oh superman where are you now, when everythings gone wrong somehow" Genesis.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hale-stewart/ronald-reagan-fiscal-dis_b_82370.html
guy for president? Give me a break.
lol........... lordy if this is not politics as usual what is parse spin vomit
and years after Rezko befriended Obama in the early 1990s, and had helped bankroll the politician''s campaigns. in 2005 Rezko engaged him in private financial deals to improve their adjoining South Side properties that had been bought on the same day from the same seller Rezkos wife paying full price and the Obamas got a 300, 000K price reduction %u2026%u2026%u2026.
Oh really bad judgment, some may call that selective beneficial bad judgment ....there is a different rendition in the Wapo interview then the CBS one....
..Rezko''s federal corruption trial is scheduled to begin Feb. 25
...........race your engines dems your going to need all the juice you have to be heard on any issue when the swifties begin the drum role...............it was not mistake that Bush Rove targeted the justice department for political corruption and fired USAs you have to admit the timing seems well is bad for Dems
How dumb do you really belive voters are??????
The major problem in American politics is the gullibility of the American voter...as long as he buys the mainstream media monkey fodder and like a trained chimp steps and fetches for the Oligarchy and votes their Demopublican Party line, there will never be real change.
The outsider candidates...the Pauls, the Kucinichs, the Gravels...on the right and the left are of the people...that''s why YOU look at them and say they can''t win...because they lack the veneer that you are accustomed to...You are so used to falsehood--like the 935 lies tallied up and noted...that, like the beaten dogs of a cruel master, you trail along behind them...not even requiring a leash.
megaduck75 ... it would be nice to actually see some intelligent comments from you. Your BOLDED, one-liners lack substance and appear to be the rantings of a very angry, low class, white, racist (a.k.a. hillbilly).
lol, I like the kumbaya thing! lmao
The Rezco trial may or may not involve Obama in any significant way-I don''t know if it will and neither do you, so you might as well cool your engines until we actually see what''s there.
By the way, the Norman Hsu trial already occurred and he was convicted.
If Obama was more involved with rezco than he says, how do you wait that aginst the Clinton''s extensive financial involvement with FOREIGN crooked money bags? Or McCain''s involvement with Charles Keating?
I could go on and include every politician running but I''d go over 1500 characters.
He is not some kind of savior of the world. Nor is any of the candidates.
These are the candidates we''ve got. We can stick our heads in the sand and opt out of it all, or we can study and find one that supports what you would like to see happen in this country.
The fact is that unless you are quite wealthy and powerful, you don''t have a hope''s chance in hell of getting in a position to engage in efforts to push our leadership into doing what we believe is right.
How do you distance your self from your politicla god father.............huh is this another Chicago thingy
If a seasone dpolitical figure would stay away from such dealings how''s come none of the "seasoned veterans" like the Clintons do?
I''m not supporting obama because he''s a 100% clean boy scout but he did work on campaign finance reform legislation in the Senate which Hillary did not and he raised more money from small donors than any candidate in history.
On the other hand, Hillary has taken more money from corporate lobbyists than any candidate in history.
Her Senate campaign was subject to the largest campaign finance fraud case ever brought by the federal Elections Commission, she''s being investigated
for filing false financial disclosure forms with the Senate, sold the lincoln bedroom to foreign interests,etc.
Her experience is not the kind of experience we need.
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Posted by hopetrumps at 02:19 PM : Jan 23, 2008
ding ding ding ding give hopetrumps the Prize can you imagine if this were Senator Clinton had this history.................no one could escape the on slaughter
If you not aware of how this sells papers and drive TV ratings check the 2006 false political indictments and the USA firings the corruption of the DOJ for political partisan reasons, remember GONZO, to give yourselves the facts of what is in the wind,
Yeah right, the parsing there is the title corporate lobbyist versus criminal enterprise operatives aka Obama bundlers.
The Clintons are hard at work and when are done Obama will have to resign from his senate seat in shame and disgrace.
Get your facts straight!!! If you are going to quote "facts", make sure they are accurate. Are you seriously blaming a man for the actions of his father? It is not a childs fault if a father chooses to abandon his family.
...the story of the family into which he was born, about a father from Kenya whom he barely knew and about his young American mother who along with his father were college students in Hawaii.
By age 6 young Barack was living in Jakarta with his mother and his Indonesian step father before abruptly moving back to Hawaii at age 10 to be raised by his maternal grandparents when his mother and her second husband divorced.
Through it all he developed a keen ability to understand and to resonate with people of various ethnic backgrounds.
Barack Obama worked his way through the racial complexities into which he was born to graduate Magna *** Laude from Harvard Law School and become president of the Harvard Law Review. He served in the Illinois State Senate for 8 years and in 2004 won a 70% landslide election to become a Senator.
Barack Obama has had 46 years of personal experience in understanding how perceptions of ethnicity and judgments about race can divide people and he is uniquely qualified to bring a sense of unity and common purpose to all Americans.
Written by Robert Westafer, Long Beach
It is proven that just because someone gets good grades, that doesn''t prove they have any common sense or that they are any smarter than the person that didn''t score well on the exams."
Posted by beckajw
Have YOU ever gone to law school? Because you DO need common sense to get good grades in law school. B students think the law is about IRAC and legal research into the past. A students predict and shape the law into the future shaped on policy. B lawyers and B judges craft opinions that ultimately get overruled when they don''t stand the test of time. A lawyers and A judges have opinions which affect peoples lives for the better.
And maybe Law Review in the 4th tier takes students on a volunteer basis. Apparently at Harvard there were 17 other over-achievers vieing for the position of Editor. That too might not be a reflection of intelligence because everybody''s probably smart, everybody''s probably ambitious, and everybody''s no doubt a hard worker. That give the tie-breaker to somebody who''s able to work well with others.
Did Hillary make law review?
I guess that''s why A students probably vote for Barack; while B students who are left ''gaming'' their transcript by bulking up on seminars with higher bell curves vote for Hillary . . .
I would guess the Clintons thought they had the impeachment thing in the bag, not counting on Monica to have saved that blue dress. Bush clearly had much more street-savvy B-grade legal advice to not get caught outing Valerie Plame with the only patsy to take a fall getting sentence commuted (soon to become a full pardon).
I would guess B-level students probably make more money as a whole than A-level students because they''re a lot less idealistic, but still smarter than the people they seek to exploit and have that street-punk legal finagling experience that comes from the rough and tumble of the B-grade level.
Just looking at Barack, Hillary, and Edwards, that does ring true. I think Bubba probably used to be like Barack, but too many years in Washington and around Hillary sullied his idealism . . .
Walk towards the light Sam. LOL
Homosexuality, gay parties, his long time gay partner
Tricks
Crack cocaine
Binges, and more binges.
The achilles heel power brokers exploit is fear. During vulnerable times they can successfully tell lies unchecked because scared people want to believe the picture the power brokers are painting can come true. Iraq was supposed to be about democratization and prosperity of the Middle East - a proposal so tempting in the wake of 9/11 that savvy people became deaf to the warnings of power vacuums, civil war, and the uprising of Iran. Billary is supposed to be about prosperity at home - also a tempting proposal in the wake of rising oil prices and weak international job competitiveness. People THINK they''re being savvy but they''re still turning a deaf ear to the warnings of the damage of one-time payouts, an increasing debt load, and unaddressed weak international job competitiveness.
I think if Hillary''s the presumed incumbent, the media really need to start taking a harder look at the likely outcomes of her proposals rather than what she would like is all to be looking at . . .
Walk towards the light Sam. LOL"
Posted by cptdeuce
Musings of a dropout who can''t find his way out of his mom''s basement . . .
The United States - and the world - have suffered greatly from having a president who has, essentially, been brain from drugs and booze for most of his adult life and who totally lacked the knowledge and experience to handle such an important job. The running of the country and the setting of national policy has consequently reverted to a megalomaniac vice president, who never has been challenged by the "official" president, for obvious reasons.
One would think that Americans have had enough of this type of government. Apparently not - given the misguided interest by some in O-BOMBA.
The supporters of this low-IQ type, who is brain-impaired from extensive drug use and is equally lacking in knowledge and experience, should realize that they are repeating history. They should ask themselves one very important question: If O-BOMBA were, god-forbid, elected president, who would actually run the country? Who would be O-BOMBA''s Cheney? Oprah?
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