No matter how evasive Barack Obama and his campaign are over his ties to Ayers, Rezko and the like, the topic is not likely to go away. At least not until Obama provides credible answers or evidence explaining the risky choices he has made. And there was even a Fox News report with Brit Hume featured on this blog that connects these dots to Joe Biden as well. Maybe that connection played more into Obama’s VP choice than he let’s on. Certainly opponents of the Obama/Biden ticket want the answers but what does it say about his supporters if they do not? Can they simply ignore what is known and not want clarification?
By JOHN FUND
August 30, 2008; Page A11
Denver
Even as Barack Obama gave his soaring speech Thursday night, his campaign was playing hardball with its critics.
Team Obama has launched an offensive against WGN, the Chicago Tribune’s radio station, for interviewing Stanley Kurtz. Mr. Kurtz is a conservative writer who this week forced the University of Illinois to finally open its records on Sen. Obama’s association with William Ayers, the unrepentant 1970s Weather Underground terrorist.
An Obama campaign email to supporters called Mr. Kurtz a “slimy character assassin” whose “divisive, destructive ranting” should be confronted. WGN producer Zack Christenson says the outpouring of negative calls and emails is “unprecedented.” He also notes that it is curious — because “we wanted the Obama campaign’s take” on Mr. Kurtz’s findings, but the campaign declined to put anyone on air.
Separately, Mr. Obama’s lawyers have also demanded that the Justice Department prosecute an organization called the American Issues Project for running an ad about ties between their candidate and Mr. Ayers.
And below is an interesting commentary from The Edmonton Sun. The remainder of the commentary suggests this blog and others like it are not the only ones pointing out the serious flaws of Barack Obama and his campaign.
Middle America won’t buy his hype and leftist ideology
By SALIM MANSUR
The growth in alternative media certainly will make Middle America learn more before November’s vote about Obama’s friends and long time associates.
Here is a collection of unsavoury characters such as America-hating Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the bigoted priest Father Michael Pfleger, the convicted felon Tony Rezko, and the unrepentant Weather Underground terrorist-turned-university-professor Bill Ayers.
Middle America, patriotic and religious, will want to know how Obama reconciles words he cites from Matthew (25:40) - “the least of these my brethren” — with his vote as state senator opposing the Illinois version of the Born Alive Infants Protection Act that the U.S. Senate passed with support of ardent pro-choice senators.
Two paragraph excerpts from a representative of the main stream media, ABC, on this topic describe the connections between Obama, Ayers and Rezko but at the same time of course refer to them as allegations
Campaign Stepping Up Attacks on Obama
By RON CLAIBORNE
Aug. 27, 2008
Rezko is a longtime friend of and political donor to Obama. In 2005, Rezko’s wife purchased land next door to Obama’s on the same day the presumed Democratic nominee closed on his $1.6 million home. A few months later, Rezko’s wife sold the Obamas a 10-foot-wide strip of their land adjacent to the home. At the time, Rezko was already under investigation by federal authorities.
In the early 1990s, Obama attended a fundraiser for his state senate campaign at the couple’s home in the same Hyde Park neighborhood where he lives. Ayers once donated $200 to an Obama campaign for the state legislature. Obama and Ayers also served together on the board of the Woods Fund, a charity that develops community organizations to serve the poor. Ayers founded the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a school reform group, that Obama chaired from 1995 to 1999
As to the Obama campaign ad raising issue with the number of homes owned by the McCains the phrase instructing one not to throw stones if living in a glass house comes to mind. That glass house set Obama back over one million dollars with the aid of a convicted felon. The glass house problem is recounted in the form of other alliances of Mr Obama’s in the reference above from the Edmonton Sun commentary. Obama has a lot to answer for but prefers to rely on contrived oratory to paint himself as someone he is not.
You might also want to further investigate the Chicago Annenberg Challenge mentioned above. There was a massive amount of money involved and some reports suggest that the entire project was a big scam and guess who ‘allegedly’ profited?
Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com
This entry was posted on Monday, September 1st, 2008 at 12:59 pm and is filed under Public Affairs, wordpress, Politics, campaign, election, News Media, disclosure, ethics, obama, Opinion.
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September 1st, 2008 at 4:21 pm
Picked up your link at the ABC story thread about former DNC Chairman, Don Fowler and Rep. John Spratt (S-5th, SC) joking about the hurricane disaster because of the political effect it might have.
I have been following the emerging story about the Chicago Annenberg Challenge. The nasty over reaction from the Obama campaign tells me that this one goes very deep. It is already quite clear that Obama and Ayres had a long and ongoing professional relationship. Ayres was not just as Obama said, “a guy in my neighborhood!” That makes him out to be a dissembler.
Secondly, they ran through a ton of money with no known results. Suffice it to say that if this project had had any sort of meaningful results in the Chicago school system — reduced the drop-out rate, increased proficiency in math skills, produced better test results — anything! — Obama and the Democrats would be boasting about it to the rooftops.
But there were no meaningful results. What is emerging is that they were doing things like developing training for teachers in “social Justice.” This is a scandal that is about to drop right square on the head of The One.
September 1st, 2008 at 7:41 pm
While the MSM is largely ignoring another scandal in the making for Obama, this story may still have legs. A few mainstream Chicago papers as well as some others compliment the number of conservative sources following the story.
Thanks for stoppin\’ in. Well written comments are always welcome.