Barack “I-didn’t-know” Obama
By MBolack and SusanUnPC on March 24, 2008 at 10:30 PM in Austan Goolsbee, Barack Obama, Crown family, David Axelrod, Emil Jones, Foreign affairs, Hillary Clinton, Iraq, Lobbyists, Maytag, Michelle Obama, NAFTA, NATO, New Black Panthers, Nuclear Power, Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., Tony Rezko
Vetting our two Democratic presidential candidates has definitely been a mixed bag. On one hand, Hillary Clinton’s life and political history has been in the news and reported online for many years. Barack Obama is another deal. He has essentially gotten a free ride in the national media, only being questioned seriously when the news was so shocking that the mainstream media had no choice but to report it.
So I went hunting, and was often surprised at what I found. It amounts to a pattern that I find dismaying. There are a lot of links here, documenting sources for my conclusions, and there is a lot to read.
Here is my list, in no particular order. See if you agree with me, and answer the questions for yourself… did he really not know, or is it just that he didn’t mind?
1. He joined and remained active in a church where racism and anti-American hate is routinely preached. He and his family attended, and heavily contributed for about 20 years. This has received worldwide attention, as show in the link below.
Ten Must-See Videos from The Times Online
Obama first claimed not to know about Wright’s inflammatory statements. He later admitted he did.
CBS News
Flip-Flip Video
CBS News
OOPS… didn’t notice. Or else he forgot.
Rev Wright, one of the ministers, even promoted Obama and denigrated Hillary Clinton from the pulpit spurring an IRS investigation as to the validity of their non-profit status. The Obama campaign is also reported to have campaigned on at least one occasion at church events, furthering the curiosity of the IRS.
WCBS TV
Obama Speech at General Synod of the United Church of Christ
But, OOPS… he didn’t know. Or didn’t mind.
2. Senator Obama bought stock in two companies whose investors included his 2004 campaign political donors. One, in fact, was developing medicine to treat avian flu — with the stock purchase coming right before Obama introduced legislation to increase funding to combat the virus.
The other company, SkyTerra, received government permission to build a national wireless network on the day Obama purchased his shares. Among the principal owners of this business were four people who had raised more than $150,000 for Obama. Attorney Obama claimed later that they were in a semi-blind trust, that just didn’t legally work out. When this became public, Obama sold the stock.
Chicago Sun-Times
New York Times
Oops… he didn’t know. Or didn’t he mind?
3. Senator Obama came into politics through the famously corrupt Chicago political machine, with the help of some of the slimiest characters imaginable. (Several major players who helped him are have been indicted for graft, fraud, etc. Obama now keeps a rep at Rezko’s trial every day to monitor testimony.) Obama has had to donate to charity much of the money they gave him to get his start, though the admitted dollar amount keeps increasing as time goes on. It’s now up over $250,000. Tony Rezko, currently at trial on federal charges of attempted extortion, money laundering, and fraud, was also involved in the purchase of Obama’s home at well below market value.
Huffington Post
Chicago Sun-Times
New York Times
Not so well publicized is the fact that Obama wrote letters to the Illinois Dept of Housing, recommending Rezco’s company, North Kenwood, LLC, for the housing projects that soon became slums, causing inhumane hardship for their residents.
Obama Letters
These slums, later repossessed, were in Obama’s district while he was an Illinois senator. In fact, some are about a mile from his home, and several are still boarded up. Obama professed to be unaware of any problems. During the Democratic debate on January 21, 2008, Obama, in fact, gave the impression that he had merely done about 5 hours of legal work for “this individual.”
The Rezko Foreclosed Properties
telegraph.co.uk
No Quarter
Rezko Watch
Chicago Tribune: Almost Believable
OOPS… he didn’t know. Or did he care?
4. According to the Sun-Times, Barack Obama, “allegedly decent guy and agent of change” in Washington, requested an earmark in 2006 for $1 million taxpayer dollars for the University of Chicago Hospitals, where is wife, Michelle Obama, was a vice president. Said hospital, by the way, gave Michelle Obama a huge raise (nearly $200,000, more than doubling her salary) in 2005 after Barack was elected to the United States Senate.
Michelle Obama
Chicago Sun-Times
According to The Chicago Tribune, “Obama had a special connection to Maytag: Lester Crown, one of the company’s directors and biggest investors whose family, records show, has raised tens of thousands of dollars for Obama’s campaigns since 2003.” Maytag closed its refrigerator plant in Galesburg, Ill during Obama’s 2004 Senate campaign, but Crown says Obama never raised the fate of the Galesburg plant with him. Obama’s campaign responded “that the senator did not know Crown sat on Maytag’s board until the Tribune noted it last September in a story about the closing of the Maytag headquarters in Newton, Iowa.”
Chicago Tribune
Obama Truth
Oops… he didn’t know? Or didn’t he care?
5. Obama took donations from federal lobbyists and political action committees for his House and Senate races and his own Hopefund political action committee. He only stopped taking this political money — and began speaking out against it — when he launched his presidential campaign in February 2007. However, he still takes hundreds of thousands of dollars from their high level employees.
Politifact
The Hill
Politifact
Oops… he didn’t know? Or doesn’t mind?
6. Opponents have asked Senator Obama to release the records from his term of state office in Illinois. Since he has little other experience in politics (he did, after all, declare his presidential candidacy barely 2 years after election to the US Senate), this doesn’t seem an unreasonable request. The records might also shed light on his relationship with Rezko and some of the other corrupt individuals he rubbed shoulders with during his climb up through Chicago politics. But lo and behold, the records all seem to have mysteriously disappeared.
Politico
The Pantagraph, a central Illinois newspaper
Questions have also been raised about Obama-sponsored legislation during the last year he was in office there. It is alleged that, in the interest of making Obama appear more prolific, then Illinois Senate Majority Leader Emil Jones appointed Obama as sponsor of many pieces of legislation, even though other senior senators had spent many years working on the bills.
“I took all the beatings and insults and endured all the racist comments over the years from nasty Republican committee chairmen,” State Senator Rickey Hendon, the original sponsor of landmark racial profiling and videotaped confession legislation yanked away by Jones and given to Obama, complained to me at the time. “Barack didn’t have to endure any of it, yet, in the end, he got all the credit.”
“I don’t consider it bill jacking,” Hendon told me. “But no one wants to carry the ball 99 yards all the way to the one-yard line, and then give it to the halfback who gets all the credit and the stats in the record book.”
As a result, Todd Spivak of the Houston Press noted, “During his seventh and final year in the state Senate, Obama’s stats soared. He sponsored a whopping 26 bills passed into law — including many he now cites in his presidential campaign when attacked as inexperienced.”
Houston Press
Oops… he didn’t know? Or did he mind?
7. Obama’s website sported a page for the New Black Panthers organization until it was discovered and reported by the media. It was quickly removed. Obama denounced their support, but the New Black Panthers’ Winter 2008 newsletter still carries a full page ad for his campaign on page 36. Though the origin of the ad is not stated, it contains logos, graphics and quotes from the Obama website, which Obama could have ordered removed as a copyright violation.
The NBP page, before its deletion.
NBP Winter 2008 Newsletter
OOPs… he didn’t know.
8. In addition to the controversy concerning his numerous “present” votes while in the Illinois legislature, Obama also maintains that he just pushed the wrong button on 5 or 6 other votes. (Let’s not even go there!)
According to the New York Times, however, an examination of Illinois records shows at least 36 times when Mr. Obama was either the only state senator to vote present or was part of a group of six or fewer to vote that way, causing many to question whether he was really just trying to avoid taking a stand.
LA Times on Obama votes
Real Clear Politics
New Your Times
Obama also has an exceptionally high no-show ration for votes since coming to the Senate.
Media Matters
OOPS… he didn’t know? Or didn’t he care?
9. On Wednesday, Feb 27, 2008, CTV reported that a senior member of Obama’s campaign, Austan Goolsbee, spoke directly with the Canadian Consulate General in Chicago to assure them that if Obama publicly spoke about opting out of NAFTA, they should not take it seriously. It would just be political posturing… campaign rhetoric. Obama flatly denied the report, attacking both Senator Clinton and Senator McCain for their comments on the issue.
On March 4, the New York Times, among other sources, revealed that the conversation had indeed taken place, and published the memo. The Canadian government announced that an investigation would begin to find out who was responsible for leaking the memorandum concerning the conversation.
CTV News
New York Times
New York Times published the memo
OOPS… he didn’t know.
10. Obama’s position on the war in Iraq, in spite of the October 2002 speech, has not been as unwavering as he would have us believe.
Commentary Magazine
Obama Gets the Facts Wrong
Clinton Takes on Obama
MSNBC
The Boston Globe
OOPS… did he forget?
11. Senator Obama is chair of of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Subcommittee on Europe, having been appointed in early 2007. According to Congressional Records, the subcommittee’s jurisdiction includes “all matters, policies and problems concerning the continent of Europe, including the European member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.” That means it has jurisdiction over NATO.
As Senator Clinton asserted in a recent debate, “NATO is critical to our mission in Afghanistan. He’s held not one substantive hearing to do oversight, to figure out what we can do to actually have a stronger presence with NATO in Afghanistan.”
Politifact
OOPS… he didn’t know… or did he forget?
12. Senator Obama told Tim Russert in January of 2006 that “I will serve out my full six-year term.”
From the official transcript of Meet the Press:
MR. RUSSERT: But there seems to be an evolution in your thinking. This is what you told the Chicago Tribune last month: “Have you ruled out running for another office before your term is up?” Obama answered, “It’s not something I anticipate doing.” But when we talked back in November of `04 after your election I said, “There’s been enormous speculation about your political future. Will you serve your six-year term as United States senator from Illinois?” Obama, “Absolutely.”
SEN. OBAMA: I will serve out my full six-year term. You know, Tim, if you get asked enough, sooner or later you’re going to get weary and you start looking for new ways of saying things. But my thinking has not changed.
MR. RUSSERT: So you will not run for president or vice-president in 2008?
SEN. OBAMA: I will not.
Obama formed an exploratory committee in January of 2007 and declared his candidacy two months later.
Meet The Press Transcript January 22, 2006
“Obama Takes the Russert Test” from The Swamp
Obama Learns the Washington Ways
OOPS… he forgot.
13. Senator Obama promised to use public financing for the general election if his Republican opponent would do the same. Now, apparently after he realized how much more money he could have at his disposal, he has reversed himself.
League of Women Voters
Mr Obama’s Waffle
OOPS… he forgot.
14. Obama bragged in the Iowa debate about the “nuclear legislation I’ve passed.” When he encountered resistance from the nuclear industry… including Illinois-based Excelon, the country’s largest nuclear plant operator and one of Mr. Obama’s largest sources of campaign money, he edited his bill several times, making it weaker each time. The bill, however, never passed. It died. But Mr Obama gained a chief political strategist… David Axelrod. In October 2007, Obama resubmitted the bill in its watered-down version.
Nuclear Leaks and Response Tested Obama in Senate
OOPS… he forgot.
15. Senator Obama purports to be in favor of “universal” health care, utilizing private insurance, on the campaign trail. In fact, he adamantly denied advocating single payor. But there was a time when he was in favor of the single payor system.
Video
The Swamp
OOPS… he forgot.
16. While campaigning, Obama told several hundred people in Iowa, “No lobbyists need apply to my White House.”
However, in contrast to his pledge to fight against the influence of special interests, his record on employing lobbyists isn’t quite so pristine. Several high level members of his campaign are registered lobbyists, including his New Hampshire campaign manager. Lately, he has softened his campaign line to, “They are not going to run my White House.”
The Boston Globe
The Wall Street Journal
Politico
The Washington Post
The Hill
Obama actually seems very comfortable working with lobbyists on legislation. To site just one example…
According to ABC, Obama “has quietly worked with corporate lobbyists to help pass breaks worth $12 million,” that gave two overseas companies tariff suspensions. Both companies also have facilities in Illinois.
One of these companies, Nufarm, told its shareholders it was making “more money than ever before in North America because it had increased its prices on its U.S. and Canadian customers, predominantly farmers.” This had the effect of profiting business interests in his state, while punishing its farmers.
According to ABC News, “With a dozen tariff suspension bills to his name, Obama stands out as the most prolific of any Democratic presidential hopeful on the topic.”
Despite Rhetoric, Obama Pushed Lobbyists’ Interests
OOPS… he forgot. Or didn’t he mind?
How many other things are we going to find that Senator Obama conveniently forgot? It is my hope that the political powers-that-be will lay off the talk about ending the primaries early, and that the media and the internet diggers will help us truly vet Senator Obama. Use a little old-fashioned, objective journalism… remember that?
If he has nothing more to hide, it can only help him.
But if we don’t know the whole story yet, it might just help us be certain that we can indeed put a Democrat in the White House in November.
That is, after all, what Democrats want, isn’t it?
Cross-posted at MyDD.com.
You should send this to every SD (and Fox news)
Rising political stars often find themselves standing at the intersection of business opportunities and friendship. Bill and Hillary Clinton were no exceptions.
When Bill Clinton was running for Arkansas governor in the late 1970s, they became partners with businessman Jim McDougal and his wife, Susan, in a planned vacation home development on the White River in the Ozarks.
The Clintons’ Whitewater investment never would have created a stir if not for reports of fraud at the McDougals’ savings and loan and a New York Times article about the Clintons and the McDougals during the 1992 presidential campaign.
That and the legal work Hillary Clinton did for the McDougals’ financial institution were enough to send federal regulators scurrying to Little Rock, Ark.
Investigators began taking another look at the warehoused records of the McDougals’ old S&L. Questions lingered:
_Had the McDougals taken money from their savings and loan to pay down the bank loans on Whitewater?
_In doing so, had they lightened the financial load on their partners, the Clintons?
A Hollywood producer would be hard-pressed to find a more colorful cast of characters than those mixing it up with the Clintons in the Whitewater deal.
Jim McDougal, in failing health and living in a trailer after regulators took away his S&L, remained the bombastic personality he had been in the days when he had money to burn. All he needed was an audience.
There always was one - the press, prosecutors, political pundits - during Whitewater. Not to mention Republicans feasting on the Clintons’ legal problems.
Whitewater investigators are “going to hang” the Clintons, McDougal proclaimed from prison in 1997.
Prosecutors never nailed the Clintons, but they tried, from late 1993 to 2000. First the Justice Department. Then a specially appointed outside prosecutor. Then court-appointed Independent Counsel Ken Starr.
An assortment of controversies were tacked on, one by one, to the initial probe by Starr, a prominent Washington lawyer and a conservative. His conservative credentials were seized on by Clinton loyalists who decried Starr’s inquiry as politically motivated.
Hillary Clinton’s role in firing employees in the White House travel office also came under scrutiny. So did the gathering by some low-level White House aides of FBI background files on prominent Republicans.
Bill Clinton’s alleged perjury and obstruction regarding his relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky was added to the list. The Clinton-Lewinsky sex scandal captured the nation’s attention for a year and led to his impeachment. The Senate acquitted him.
In the end, Jim McDougal died in prison. His ex-wife, imprisoned after refusing to testify against the Clintons, was pardoned by President Clinton on his last day in office in 2001.
don’t forget the $70 million of taxpayer dollars wasted on starr and his cronies.
And in the end, the most partisan of witch hunts in our history proved that Bill lied about a blow-job.
But that whole Whitewater thing? Turned out the Clinton’s were innocent, just as they claimed.
BTW - Susan McD was out of prison when she was pardoned. According to her, she refused to lie, not testify.
Clinton has been out of office for almost 8 years. You really need to let it go dickhead.
http://deepbackground.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/02/29/718285.aspx
Sen. Hillary Clinton has declined to return $170,000 in campaign contributions from individuals at a company accused of widespread sexual harassment, and whose CEO is a disbarred lawyer with a criminal record, federal campaign records show.
The federal government has accused the Illinois management consulting firm, International Profit Associates, or IPA, of a brazen pattern of sexual harassment including “sexual assaults,” “degrading anti-female language” and “obscene suggestions.”
In a 2001 lawsuit full of lurid details, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claims that 103 women employees at IPA were victimized for years. The civil case is ongoing, and IPA vigorously denies the allegations.
“This is by far, hands down, the worst case I’ve ever experienced,” said Diane Smason, one of the EEOC lawyers handling the lawsuit. “Every woman there experienced sex harassment, they were part of a hostile work environment of sex harassment. And this occurred from the top down.”
Are you telling us that if you were convicted of a crime you can’t contribute to a candidacy? If only certain crimes which ones? Or does the Presidential Candidate have to have had a relationship with the Candidate before it is inauspicious?
The Bell Toll
I can hear the faint sound of a bell as I come near
the sound gets louder and starts to pound with each
step I make its like it pulling me, What is this
sound that magnetise me, I think its raping a
tune,as I get closer it becomes clear the tune says
Let Freedom Ring, Good God Almighty Let Freedom Ring.
Herb Mathis
Good piece of work, there is more, plenty more, just too tired to add some of them tonight…..lol
Just add this one of Obama eliminating opponents deviously since the first time he ran for office!
Brought to you by the Obama campaign on the Environment, Recycling matters, even words!
Sponsored by Your Corner Book Store, this months promotion, “Dreams of my Father” and “The Audacity of Hope”! All profits go to the Obama Trust fund to promote Minority housing in Chicago (Obama’s own)!
what about William Ayre
You have got to be kidding. Please…You never heard of White Water? Ask those Clinton business partners what they think.
So tell me exactly what Whitewater is…facts, please.
I second the motion- send this to Fox and to all SD’s.
Oh wait- before sending this to the SD’s is there an anti-dote to the poison sponges???
WOW !!!!!! What an exhaustive list. And every single item referenced with factual information to back it up.
MBolak, this is an outstanding piece of work. THANK YOU so very much for all of the hard work and long hours that had to go into all the research and compiling this info into a seamless whole.
This will come in very handy.
This is a very important diary. Each component of it would help anyone to write a letter to the editor on any number of subjects. Excellent work. Especially all of your sourcing. Superb!
And notice how dangerous Obama’s forgetfulness is: residents in Will County, Illinois, must live with radioactive waste in their groundwater as a result of Obama’s dereliction. We cannot elect someone so reckless and venal to the White House.
Excellent work!
Yep, this definitely needs to get out to the MSM.
You have a whole new group of fans, M. Thank you so very much for allowing us to post this superbly researched work here.
I am bookmarking this specific story for future reference.
NOTE: IF OTHER BLOGGERS WISH TO CROSS-POST THIS, PLEASE E-MAIL ME and I will ask M. I bet she will agree. susanunpc at gmail dot com
Hi Susan-
I have been blogging on Huffington Post for the past few weeks
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/users/profile/athy
and
http://www.topix.net/forum/news/2008-presidential-election
and cross-posting at
http://www.stop-obama.org/?page_id=8
I try to ALWAYS include source link when possible-like you guys did here. This source linking is VERY
valuable.
Bloggers, authors, voters, feel free to crosspost whatever information that I have posted . Please pardon my gross spelling errors- I have a day job and spent most of my nights blogging after avg of 2 to 3 hours sleep. That’s how concerned I have been about what has been happening in this campaign with regrds to lack of information for the voters.
The facts need to get out there.
We need public discourse in this campaign.
We need our fourth estate(media-esp independent media) to help inform the citizens. Sad to say, our corporate owned consolidated mass media has been grossly lacking in providing useful information that is necessary to inform the citizens so that we can elect the best candidate and be self governing.
Thanks again…
Fantastic work. I agree forward this on to whomever will print it. I cannot quite pinpoint which one is my favorite. I think the acutal lies are the best hits. It takes great arrogance to lie one day and the very next say the exact opposite with absolute no emotion. We’ve already had 8 years of that. Enough.
but but but Hilliary is a liar because 12 years ago she flew into Tuzla under the threat of sniper fire and over a decade later she said she flew in under sniper fire. She is the first First Lady since Roosevelt to be on the front lines while Senator Elmer Gantry was doing what? Can we get his schedule during her trip?
Get on message, will you!
Sen. Clinton is not a moron. She knows good and well the image people take from the phrase “I remember landing under sniper fire.”
She didn’t say “there was a known threat of potential sniper fire”–she said “I remember landing under sniper fire.”
Everyone takes that to mean there were bullets being fired in her direction, by snipers. That’s really obvious.
Too bad, it simply was not true.
While Hillary bit the bullet and admitted her misstatement during last night’s debate, Obama continues to spin like a top, and offer his “W.O.R.M.” (what Obama really meant) remarks to just about every allegation of misstatement. I also notice how you have not addressed any of the topics in the post above, but come at us with….but, but, but, Hillary said this or that. Actually, I’m unable to understand why Hillary made such a misstaement because, as you have said, she is a smart woman, and I don’t believe that she thought that “being under sniper fire” would garner any more votes than “being under threat of sniper fire”. Since there was no up-side to lying, and there would be a potential down side to lying, and she is, as you have said, a smart woman (who would certainly understand the risks), I am more convinced than ever that she misspoke, and did not intend to deceive. She has admitted the misstatements, what more are you asking for, waterboarding ?
I adore the snark.
Then there is this in defense:
http://www.talkleft.com/comments/2008/3/23/14293/1085/131
VERY IMPORTANT to read.
About 30 minutes ago CNN (Cooper & Crowley) was announcing a “Breaking Story,” telling viewers that Mrs. Clinton said she “mis-spoke” about her trip to Bosnia.
This is the link from the CNN “Breaking News” Site: http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/25/campaign.wrap/index.html
Clinton said:”Now let me tell you what I can remember, OK — because what I was told was that we had to land a certain way and move quickly because of the threat of sniper fire. So I misspoke — I didn’t say that in my book or other times but if I said something that made it seem as though there was actual fire — that’s not what I was told,” she told the newspaper.
“I was told we had to land a certain way, we had to have our bulletproof stuff on because of the threat of sniper fire. I was also told that the greeting ceremony had been moved away from the tarmac but that there was this 8-year-old girl and, I can’t, I can’t rush by her, I’ve got to at least greet her — so I greeted her, I took her stuff and then I left. Now that’s my memory of it.”
How this stacks up against Senator Obama’s deliberate misrepresentations (until he got caught) about NAFTA, Rezko, Rev. Wright, His positions on Iraq, etc. is not even close. If this is the best that the MSM and the cult of preciousness can come up with, then they are unbelievably desperate and delusional.
Wow, what a heroine. Under heavy sniper fire, Hillary couldn’t break that little girl’s heart and just “rush by her”, now could she? Did she tackle her to the ground and shield her from the bullets, too?
get your flak jacket and land in the green zone.
Bosnia is where the archduke was assassinated, triggering ww1…it was dangerous enough in my mind.
landing under the threat of sniper fire would be more accurate though.
“Bosnia is where the archduke was assassinated, triggering ww1…it was dangerous enough in my mind.”
That was over 90 years ago…is Hillary claiming that the threat was from leftover detachments from WWI?!
So was the Civil War igit…the confederate still flies in cetian locations DOESN’t IT? Hate and bigotry live for centuries.
THESE ARE TWO SEPERATE NEWS REPORTS. PLEASE SEE MARCH 26, 1996. OBAMA’S CAMPAIGN RELEASED THE VIDEO. OBAMA’S CAMPAIGN ALSO REFERRED HER BOSNIA RECOLLECTION TO THE INITIAL LANDING. AS YOU CAN SEE FOR YOURSELF..MRS CLINTON WAS REFERRING TO HER FLIGHT WITHIN BOSNIA TO ANOTHER OUTPOST TO BOOST MORAL FOR OUR SOLDIERS. IF YOU GO TO THE ORIGINAL REPORT, YOU WILL SEE A PHOTO ALSO.
But the highlight of her trip were visits to two fortified posts outside the U.S. base in Tuzla. Even President Clinton, restricted to the base by bad weather in January, did not see as much of this war-wracked region as Mrs. Clinton did Monday.
…
Riflemen rushed to the brush line as the helicopter landed and surrounded her as she walked into the post. Located in a “separation zone,” the U.S. outpost nestles between two tree lines. Just months ago, one was Serbian territory, the other Bosnian.
Security was tight - fighter jets accompanied her C-17 cargo plane to Tuzla - but officials said the first lady took no extraordinary risks on the trip.
Lexis - By RON FOURNIER, Associated Press, March 25, 1996
=
First Lady of the United States, Hillary Clinton, visited her country’s troops at their fortified outposts in north-eastern Bosnia today and said their peacekeeping work was “extraordinary to behold”.
Mrs Clinton’s helicopter flight to Camp Alicia, home of a mechanised infantry outfit and a combat engineer batallion 15 miles east of Tuzla, took her over burned out villages and farm houses whose roofs had been blown off in the fierce fighting before last December’s Paris peace agreement ended the 43 -month-old war in Bosnia.
A machine gun emplacement guarded the entrance of the outposts and marked Bosnian minefields were visible outside its perimeter.
…
After lunch with the troops in a makeshift dining hall surrounded by sandbags, she flew on to Camp Bedrock south of Tuzla to visit an army field hospital.
Mrs Clinton, who later returned to Tuzla for a show starring singer Sheryl Crow and comedian Sinbad, said she was “amazed at how much has been accomplished in such a short period of time” by US troops in Bosnia.
Source - Lexis - The Herald (Glasgow), March 26, 1996
By LISSA MUSCATINE and MELANNE VERVEER
Published: April 1, 2008
Washington
AS staff members who traveled with the first lady, Hillary Rodham
Clinton, to Bosnia in March 1996, we have followed with more than
passing interest the extensive news coverage of her landing in Tuzla.
Video footage clearly shows that Mrs. Clinton?s assertions that she
landed ?under fire? and that the arrival ceremony was canceled were
wrong. She said so herself last week.
Yet even since she acknowledged her mistake, the commentary has
continued unabated. Reports are now being embellished (to borrow the
term du jour) to suggest that Bosnia was not really a danger zone. Her
visiting American troops on a peacekeeping mission in a hostile
environment is now being treated as if it were a trip to the beach.
During a week of nonstop coverage, few journalists went beyond the
irresistible video footage to ask what else happened on this trip and
how Mrs. Clinton might have erred in the details about the landing in
Tuzla. So here are some facts that provide context:
We flew in a C-17 cargo plane from Germany to Bosnia precisely because
it was capable of steep descents and ascents into and out of areas of
conflict. We were issued flak jackets on the plane before landing in
Tuzla and were told the tarmac ceremony might be canceled or curtailed
due to sniper fire from the surrounding hillsides. The first lady and
Chelsea Clinton were moved to the armored cockpit for the landing.
Armored vehicles were placed around the tarmac, and Apache helicopters
hovered overhead.
In a recent e-mail message to a British blogger, Ejup Ganic, who was the
acting president of Bosnia during Mrs. Clinton?s visit, wrote: ?I
remember that visit quite well. Although the NATO troops were in Tuzla,
we still believed that some positions on the hills were occupied by
radical Serbs, so I was worried about the overall safety.? The planned
welcoming ceremony was shortened, he said, but it still lasted a bit
longer than expected because a nongovernment group brought along a
little girl to sing to the first lady.
Later, Mrs. Clinton flew from Tuzla to two military outposts by
helicopter, escorted by Apache gunships.
As has been reported, Mrs. Clinton?s trip to Bosnia included a U.S.O.
component with the comedian Sinbad and the singer Sheryl Crow. The
helicopters that carried them to performances at American base camps
zigzagged just above the trees to avoid potential ground fire, according
to Carey Cavanaugh, who was then a State Department official traveling
with Sinbad, and helicopters flew alongside to deal with the threat of
anti-aircraft fire or snipers. These facts explain why many of us,
including the first lady, believed that the conditions on the ground
were precarious. We were worried about sniper fire and were prepared to
rush off the tarmac when we landed.
In their single-minded focus on the landing in Tuzla, reporters and
commentators have omitted any discussion of what Mrs. Clinton
accomplished on her trip. In addition to showing support for our troops
and for the peace accords in Bosnia, Mrs. Clinton met with Bosnian
religious leaders, women and community activists and, when she returned
to Washington, was able to give administration officials her firsthand
assessment of the nascent reconstruction effort.
After leaving Bosnia, she met with leaders of Turkey and Greece and in
those countries promoted efforts on behalf of international development
and democracy. In Istanbul, five years before 9/11, Mrs. Clinton
presciently convened representatives of some of the world?s major
religions to advance a dialogue about religious reconciliation and ways
to counter religious extremism.
The video of her arrival on the tarmac in Bosnia may be great theater
and easy fodder for commentators, but it shouldn?t be allowed to obscure
what else was happening on this important trip when the cameras weren?t
rolling.
What does this post have to do with the Obama information?
Nothing, but we were distracted by a troll, sorry.
Wow what a great compilation of what appears to be great facts.
Granted I’ve not checked out each link (yet) but WOW again GREAT thanks I’ll be emailing THIS one out!!
Peace and Gnite!
Great job! I think my blood pressure just spiked while reading it because it made me so angry. But I appreciate you writing this. Everyone needs to read this. It makes me angry, because I cannot comprehend how anyone can vote for Obama, especially anyone who has researched what Obama as really done and just as important, what he hasn’t done. It’s questionable if he’s qualified to be a U.S. Senator, but he is most certainly not qualified to be in the White House. Bush promised changed 8 years ago and look where that got us. We need solutions. We don’t need a president who has not backed up a single world that comes out of his mouth. His past record doesn’t warrant becoming president so why should anyone believe what he says. Open your eyes people before it is too late. We can’t afford to have a president who needs on the job training. We need Hillary who will get to work on day one!
Well, in all fairness I think he succeeded in bringing us lots of change. We changed from a prosperous country with relative security and peace to one that is addled with debt, the economy is tanking and we are constantly at war. Maybe not the kind of change you had in mind?
Fantastic!
Oh, on #8, I read somewhere (Sun-Times maybe?) that one of the “pushed the wrong button” votes enabled passage of the legislation by only two votes. The legislation was regarding a casino on Lake Michigan (possible Rezko tie-in there). Worth looking for. Obviously you have the google-touch.
solid piece of research you did here. excellent work!
If Obama’s record was subject to the same scrutiny as the other Democrats (and even a few republicans), he would be road-kill.
LOL! I love your road-kill analogy. It’s so true. He might be the most empty suit politician in the Senate.
Hillary needs our support financially now. Obama will still be able to outspend her three to four times in each state, but we can help her. Every $5-25 helps. More is better if you’re able. Spread the word. We can do this.
Thanks for this. The coincidental stock investments really are interesting. How come we haven’t heard more about them from the enterprising MSM journalists? I wonder if Bill Frist taught him how to set up that “semi-blind” trust?
Something else Obama forgot: His 2002 anti-war speech!!! There is no record of it in its entirety, just a 23 second snippet, but the rest of the speech is mysteriously MISSING. In December, Obama then decided to reenact the speech with crowd cheering in the background, and released it as an ad, thereby duping millions of people into thinking they were listening to the actual event instead of a reenactment! (confirms David Alexrod to the Chicago Sun-Time in December 2007.)
Makes you wonder if he actually did say the things he claimed to have said in his speech, the magical disappearing speech that he bases his entire campaign on? Contrary to his false assertion in the last debate, he was running for his state senate seat in Illinois when he delivered the speech, NOT when he was running for U.S. Senate “when the stakes were high” as he claimed at the debate. Did he misspeak or did he know that the media wouldn’t call him out on his faulty recollection, thereby making himself out to look like he was more involved in the national political scene than he really was?
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88988093
Obama Still Stumps on 2002 Anti-War Declaration
by Don Gonyea
Morning Edition, March 25, 2008
Article is very interesting however it raises many questions that need follow up.
http://www.lessig.org/blog/2008/01/barack_obamas_2002_speech.html
http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/03/obamas_big_2002_antiwar_speech.html no speech?????
The same goes for these 2 articles…
Excellent piece and I hope MSM and our Super Delegate friends get to see it!
I am appalled at his stock handling…..buy stock and then vote for funding… ummm…..if Martha Stewart had jail time… I am thinking this is at least worth a slap on the hand. I am sure this is common practice ….yet he is the Messiah above all of this kinda stuff!
What is a semi-blind trust?
You get to keep one eye open… or “wink”.
Like Frist
Was this like he could not call his broker directly, but he could use his “phone a friend”?(of the broker)
In this instance, just like a “blind trust” with the “blind” part removed.
This is excellent! Thanks so much!
Please keep this on the front page where we can find it.
Another item: In his first foreign policy excursion, he got involved with Odinga his cousin in Kenya resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths. Dick Morris was sent over there, gave bad advice as usual, and the resulting disputed election led to bloodshed.
A 16 count indictment. Very well organized and documented. Great read>
“Obama now keeps a rep at Rezko’s trial every day to monitor testimony.”
A criminal attorney? or? what is it that he worried about? Same guy or from a firm?
With a dozen tariff suspension bills to his name, Obama stands out as the most prolific of any Democratic presidential hopeful on the topic.”
Which companies got suspensions and which lobbying firms were involved? Axelrod won’t be far away. And what is up Obama and trusts? How many trusts has he gone through in the last 10 years?
Roger that Teakwood..
This is well put together and reasearched..
Teakwood..Did you ever read an article called “OBAMA and ME..by Todd Spivak..” Google it..You find some answers there…
Thanks MBolack……..Good Job..
Yea I thought that Todd Spivak was a real down to earth guy. We need more of ‘em.
Make that” Barack Obama and Me..”
If Obama is elected…keep him away from buttons, for God’s sake! With his inability to tell red from green and “go” from “no”, there’s not telling who he might accidentally launch a nuclear strike against.
On the other hand, considering the complexity of that multi-line telephone in the Oval Office, perhaps he’ll conference White and Zawahiri together and they can have find some common ground in who they hate.
If that wasn’t so sad..it would be funny..
Reminds me of the Saturday Night Live Skit..
Well..We are ALL Finding Common Ground..Eh..
Excellent work!
The picture it paints of Obama is that of a chameleon like man(who is seemingly for everyone and yet no one) who has no principles or morals who say anything and make alliances with anyone to get ahead.
Not to mention being good friends with a racist and bigot of the first order.
And endorsed by Farrahkan.
Hardly a unifier more like a wolf in sheep’s clothing
Not to mention being a serious security risk with all those “friends” and “mentors” of his.
Nixon looks honest compared to him.
I hate to ask this becasue you all are so busy. But several folks brought up a couple of items that merit further research.
On this thread: Karen Anderson mentioned that Obama’s anti-war speech is missing. Is this true? And is what we hear and see on TV ads a recreation? If so, that could be damaging.
Also from this thread: Barb mentioned Obama’s visit to Kenya and problems that arose with a speech he made. I had heard something about that about four or five months ago. I heard he supported a relative’s tribe against the standing Kenyan governemnt, which we officially support. I understand State was not happy.
If this created diplomatic problems for the U.S. then this incident could give more weight and credence to Hillary regarding her foreign expereince.
Then on the Shape of Things to Come thread there is a link provided by Nobama about Wall Street funding Obama’s campaign (The Obama Bubble) in order to get a tax payer buy out of their housing bubble and other scandals plus no legal action taken against them. Obama is bought by Wall Street and is theirs. If nothing else, exposing all the corporate and lobbyist money driving his campaign would be good to have.
Again, thanks for all you do.
If Michelle Obama was vice-president of Community Affairs and got a raise from $121,910.00 to $316,962.00 ($195,052.00 increase),can anybody find out what the University of Chicago Hospital paid the President of Community Affairs? And, what did she do to justify that much of a salary?, or was it a form of a kick-back?
was it a form of a kick-back?
Yes. It quacks like a duck…doesn’t? University salaries are public information. It was not the only influence peddling scam MO was involved with.
This is excellent! Thanks so much for your hard work. I am sending this to everyone I know. We should all send this to the SD’s and the MSM too . . . if for nothing else than to at least let them know that there are many of us who know what is going on and won’t be “bamboozled” by obama and the failure of the MSM to do their jobs. The more people that send this to them the more attention it will get!