Obama pounces on McCain for not knowing how many houses he and ...

All this does not matter.

What does concern me however is McCain's depedence on pain killers.

He's been on an off them since his return from Vietnam and I'd read that he was back on them. If you look at the way he walks and reacts to questions you can tell that he's been doped up for the past few weeks.

But for a man in his mid 70s I don't know what people expect!

Cut the guy some slack. You'd be on pain killers too if you were that old and had criss-crossed the country like he's been doing.

I just hope that he gets off them in time for the debates because it'll be embarassing if he's wasted.

BARACK'S FAVORS FOR CORRUPT CRONY
By DAVID FREDDOSO
Rezko: Bam backing brought big bucks.Posted: 3:54 am
August 21, 2008

Barack Obama has ad mitted it was "boneheaded" to get involved in a land deal with Tony Rezko, his friend and fund-raiser. But the media's focus on that deal has distracted from the bigger question: Why would Obama become involved in any deal with a man like Rezko, who made his living sponging off taxpayers and corrupting public officials? Because, by the time of the deal, the two already had a long relationship of mutual benefit.

The deal's details are well-known: On June 15, 2005, Obama bought a gorgeous house in Hyde Park for $1.65 million -$300,000 below the list price. Rezko bought the empty but attractive lot next door from the same seller at the same time; Obama would later buy part of Rezko's lot, overpaying him.

The transaction was shady, but not obviously corrupt. The overall Obama-Rezko relationship looks worse.

After Rezko's 2006 indictment on unrelated federal corruption charges, Obama denied unequivocally that he'd ever helped the man: "I've never done any favors for him."

That's simply false. Rezko was a genius of corporate welfare who enriched himself at taxpayers' expense, both legally and illegally, via his multiple political connections. Yes, he went to others for the illegal deals that landed him in prison. But Rezko depended on Obama when he wanted legal access to the state treasury. The arrangement was a far cry from Obama's image of "change and hope."

It's impossible to know Obama's motives. But several of his official acts benefited Rezko, who in turn raised some $250,000 for Obama's campaigns.

In October 1998, Obama wrote city and state officials, urging them to give Rezko $14 million to build an apartment complex outside of Obama's state Senate district. The Chicago Sun-Times noted last year that Obama's request included $855,000 in "development fees" for Rezko and for another developer, Allison Davis, who happened to be Obama's old law-firm boss. Obama's spokesman said it was just a coincidence that the state senator wrote letters to obtain millions of dollars for his two longtime friends.

continued in next post...

BARACK'S FAVORS FOR CORRUPT CRONY
By DAVID FREDDOSO
Rezko: Bam backing brought big bucks.Posted: 3:54 am
August 21, 2008

con't from above

In fact, Obama was a dependable ally of subsidized developers in the Legislature, giving Rezko and others broader help as well. In "The Case Against Barack Obama," I identify and parse six housing bills with which Obama was closely involved. A few examples:

* In 2001, Obama cosponsored a bill allowing developers to sell state tax credits to others and pocket half of the proceeds.

* In 2002 and 2004, he was chief cosponsor of a bill to authorize a rent-subsidy fund giving "grants ... directly to developers" of low-income housing. Seventy percent of the money was earmarked for the Chicago area.

* Obama cosponsored the Illinois Housing Initiative Act of 2003, which required the governor to develop a plan for more low-income housing and "provide[d] for funding for housing construction and rehabilitation and supportive services."

* In 2003, Obama voted for the Affordable Housing Planning and Appeal Act, which required Illinois municipalities to make 10 percent of their housing units "affordable" (by definition, this included subsidized housing). This forced 46 communities just outside of Chicago to create more than 7,000 new "affordable" units - a huge boost in demand for area developers. The bill also provided loopholes for developers to circumvent local ordinances and regulations.

After voting for this measure (it passed narrowly), Obama then cosponsored a new bill that moved up its implementation by more than a year.

These and the other Obama-backed bills helped make millionaires of Rezko and other slum developers at taxpayers' expense. The developers - including his former law boss and an adviser to his current campaign - reciprocated, together giving and raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for Obama's campaigns.

To sum up: Obama got them subsidies to build. He secured them a steady income of government rent subsidies. He arranged special tax credits and abatements for them. He backed measures that increased demand for their services, and helped them legally circumvent local laws.

Perhaps Obama acted with only the poor in mind. Yet some of his developer friends weren't so conscientious - especially Rezko.

Notably, Rezko's company claimed that it lacked the funds to heat one of its 11 buildings in Obama's state Senate district from December 1996 to February 1997. But Rezko still managed to write a $1,000 check to Obama's campaign fund on Jan. 14. That month, his tenants shivered as 19 inches of snow fell on northern Illinois.

With his early and large investments in Obama, Rezko helped the Democratic nominee get to where he is today. Obama, meanwhile, helped Rezko with his legislative work and his letter-writing. Given this close working relationship, the Obama-Rezko land deal is far less surprising.

David Freddoso, a political reporter for National Review, is the author of "The Case Against Barack Obama: The Unlikely Rise and Unexamined Agenda of the Media's Favorite Candidate."

NY Post Article

Jim wrote:

All this does not matter.
What does concern me however is McCain's depedence on pain killers.
He's been on an off them since his return from Vietnam and I'd read that he was back on them. If you look at the way he walks and reacts to questions you can tell that he's been doped up for the past few weeks.
But for a man in his mid 70s I don't know what people expect!
Cut the guy some slack. You'd be on pain killers too if you were that old and had criss-crossed the country like he's been doing.
I just hope that he gets off them in time for the debates because it'll be embarassing if he's wasted.

Obama is an admitted user of cocaine an illegal drug and you dare bring up a war hero needed prescription medication.

Have you people no shame.

Go back up and read all about the Obama and Resko dealings when he was getting all that "experience" in the Illinois State Senate he claims he will bring to Washington.

Obama's got experience all right.

Bottom line Obama is a crooked Chicago politician backed by the black Muslims and the Rev. Wright.

HOW MANY HOUSES DO YOU OWN?

I love how the media is running with this thing about McCain owning 7 properties. It is now clear CNN and MSNBC are part of the Obama campaign.

First, who cares?

Second, Obama didnt remember how many states there are in the union(57?) and it was never covered.

Third, I dont remember the MSM ever reporting about Kerrys 10 properties and vast wealth in 2004?

Or what about John Edwards 40,000 sq ft mansion, the largest in the county (They didnt even cover his lovechild story until recently)?

Or what about Al Gores newly found vast wealth. He left office in 2000 worth $2.5 million and is now worth over $120 million???

Same for the Clintons.

TOP 5 RICHEST U.S. SENATORS:
ALL DEMOCRATS:
Kerry Dem
Kohl Dem
Rockefeller Dem
Feinstein Dem
Kennedy Dem

ITS TIME TO HIT OBAMA WITH REZKO AND CO.

alex wrote:

HOW MANY HOUSES DO YOU OWN?
I love how the media is running with this thing about McCain owning 7 properties…It’s now clear CNN and MSNBC are part of the Obama campaign….
First, who cares?
Second, Obama didn’t remember how many states there are in the union,(57?), and it was never covered….
Third, I don’t remember the MSM ever reporting about Kerry’s 10 properties and vast wealth in 2004?
Or what about John Edwards’ 40,000 sq ft mansion, the largest in the county,(They didn’t even cover his love-child story until recently)?
Or what about Al Gores newly found vast wealth….he left office in 2000 worth $2.5 million and is now worth over $120 million.???
Same for the Clintons….
TOP 5 RICHEST U.S. SENATORS:
Kerry —Dem
Kohl —Dem
Rockefeller — Dem
Feinstein —Dem
Kennedy —Dem

Right on the party of the stupid poor.

I don't think this is relevant. I'm happy he married a wealthy woman and lives comfortably. I want all Americans to attain all the success and happiness that they desire. I do think this discussion brings to light a significant discrepency in how liberals view wealth. While it is ok for John Edwards to chase ambulances, Joe Kennedy to run rum, John Kerry to marry TWO wealthy women and Barbara Streisand to make millions singing, if you are a Republican you are evil and out of touch if your rich. This sounds like Katie Couric at work, whose $11 million annual salary cost dozens of people their jobs at CBS.

I think he fired back pretty good

AP) Sen. John McCain's ethics entanglement with a wealthy banker ultimately convicted of swindling investors was such a disturbing, formative experience in his political career that he compares the scandal in some ways to the five years he was tortured as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.

"I faced in Vietnam, at times, very real threats to life and limb," McCain told The Associated Press. "But while my sense of honor was tested in prison, it was not questioned. During the Keating inquiry, it was, and I regretted that very much."

In his early days as a freshman senator, McCain was known for accepting contributions from Charles Keating Jr., flying to the banker's home in the Bahamas on company planes and taking up Keating's cause with U.S. financial regulators as they investigated him.

The Keating Five was the derisive name given McCain and four Democratic senators, including then-Sen. John Glenn of Ohio, who were defendants in a congressional ethics investigation of their connections to Keating. McCain is the only one still in the Senate. They were accused of trying to intimidate regulators on behalf of Keating, a real estate developer in Arizona and owner of Lincoln Savings and Loan based in Irvine, Calif.

Keating and his associates raised $1.3 million combined for the campaigns and political causes of all five. McCain's campaigns received $112,000.

The investigation ended in early 1991 with a rebuke that McCain "exercised poor judgment in intervening with the regulators." But the Senate ethics committee also determined McCain's actions "were not improper nor attended with gross negligence."

McCain has claimed the Keating scandal sensitized him even to the appearance of potential conflicts of interest. But in recent weeks, McCain has defended himself anew over another instance in which he intervened with federal regulators on behalf of a prominent campaign contributor - years ago but after the Keating rebuke. Again, McCain denies acting improperly.

McCain wrote two letters in late 1999 to the Federal Communications Commission on behalf of Florida-based Paxson Communications. He urged quick consideration of a proposal to buy a television station license in Pittsburgh, although he did not ask the FCC commissioners to approve the proposal. At the time, one FCC commissioner's formal nomination was pending before McCain's Senate committee, and the FCC chairman complained that McCain's letters were improper.

McCain wrote the letters after receiving more than $20,000 in contributions from the company's executives and lobbyists. Chief executive Lowell W. "Bud" Paxson also lent McCain his company's jet at least four times during 1999 for campaign travel.

In the Keating investigation, the committee said more than one year had passed - a "decent interval" - between the last contributions Keating raised for McCain and the two 1987 meetings he attended with banking regulators. McCain later paid $112,000 - the amount Keating raised for him - to the U.S. Treasury.

None of the five senators was punished by the Senate. The harshest rebuke went to Alan Cranston, D-Calif., who accepted $1 million in contributions tied to Keating. The ethics committee said Cranston "engaged in an impermissible pattern of conduct in which fundraising and official activities were substantially linked." Cranston died in December 2000.

The ethics committee said McCain took no further action on Keating's behalf after regulators dropped a bombshell during a meeting with the senators: They intended to recommend a criminal investigation of Keating and his savings and loan.

"The appearance of wrongdoing, fair or unfair, can be potentially as injurious as actual wrongdoing," McCain told the AP, reflecting on what he said were his lessons from the scandal. "Also, when questions are raised about your integrity or for that matter anything involving your public career, even, for example, a controversial position on the issues, it is best not to hide from the media or public."

Now famously accessible to reporters as a presidential candidate, McCain conducted a poisonous newspaper interview nearly 20 years ago with his hometown Arizona Republic. Flashing his quick temper, he insulted, cursed and hung up on reporters questioning him about his ties to Keating. He said he now recognizes it was the worst way to respond.

"Taking all the questions and making your arguments is the only way you can prevent an unfair or injurious public perception becoming fixed," McCain said.

Jim wrote:

All this does not matter.
What does concern me however is McCain's depedence on pain killers.
He's been on an off them since his return from Vietnam and I'd read that he was back on them. If you look at the way he walks and reacts to questions you can tell that he's been doped up for the past few weeks.
But for a man in his mid 70s I don't know what people expect!
Cut the guy some slack. You'd be on pain killers too if you were that old and had criss-crossed the country like he's been doing.
I just hope that he gets off them in time for the debates because it'll be embarassing if he's wasted.

My mother-in-law is 75 and criss crosses the globe several times a year on vacation and she is on NO medication. The guy can't remember how many houses he owns?? YEAH, we need HIM as our next president!

Be An Informed Voter wrote:

<quoted text>
Obama is an admitted user of cocaine an illegal drug and you dare bring up a war hero needed prescription medication.
Have you people no shame.
Go back up and read all about the Obama and Resko dealings when he was getting all that "experience" in the Illinois State Senate he claims he will bring to Washington.
Obama's got experience all right.

At some point in time there will probably be no one running that hasn't tried SOME kind of drug. Not everyone will have been in the military. GET OVER IT! Georgie never served a day (please STOP with the National Guard BS) We are going from a "never served a day" (which evidently was good enough for you Repuglicans) and now you are all over the WAR HERO. Obviously you feel either way is just fine. It's not whether you ever TRIED a drug....I am more concerned about who is STILL on them.

alex wrote:

HOW MANY HOUSES DO YOU OWN?
I love how the media is running with this thing about McCain owning 7 properties. It is now clear CNN and MSNBC are part of the Obama campaign.
First, who cares?
Second, Obama didnt remember how many states there are in the union(57?) and it was never covered.
Third, I dont remember the MSM ever reporting about Kerrys 10 properties and vast wealth in 2004?
Or what about John Edwards 40,000 sq ft mansion, the largest in the county (They didnt even cover his lovechild story until recently)?
Or what about Al Gores newly found vast wealth. He left office in 2000 worth $2.5 million and is now worth over $120 million???
Same for the Clintons.
TOP 5 RICHEST U.S. SENATORS:
ALL DEMOCRATS:
Kerry Dem
Kohl Dem
Rockefeller Dem
Feinstein Dem
Kennedy Dem
ITS TIME TO HIT OBAMA WITH REZKO AND CO.

Who CARES how many houses anyone owns?? That is their business. If you're running for president, and you are asked how many you own and you CAN'T REMEMBER... then that becomes ALL of our concern. The guy is too old to be president, he needs to give it a rest. If he wins and something happens to him, God help all of us!

The only reasn jm is not a bigot is because after disgracing MLK he thought" So we can have the Super Bowl right here in Arizona" jm is a great American. Don't get fooled again.

"Hi! I'm running for President and I'm so rich and so old I forgot how many houses I own. But vote for me anyway, cause the wealthy and pathetically out of touch NEED a voice in Washington!" Isn't EIGHT YEARS of ego, arrogance, greed, and deceit ENOUGH? Apparently not for the RepubliCONS, since GOP lap dog McClone became heir apparent to the Bush Reich.

Be An Informed Voter wrote:

<quoted text>
Obama is an admitted user of cocaine an illegal drug and you dare bring up a war hero needed prescription medication.
Have you people no shame.
Go back up and read all about the Obama and Resko dealings when he was getting all that "experience" in the Illinois State Senate he claims he will bring to Washington.
Obama's got experience all right.

War Hero? When I was up river cuttin off dead dinks ears. jm was gettin shot down waisting taxpayers money. You know what cost the plane he was shot down in? The Army basicly gave me a gun and said go kill. jm had years of officer school and years of training to avoid the situation he got himsef into and it happened anyway. Me I came home and couldn't get any help. jm he just cheated on his wife and married a heiress. Hero yea thats right hero we need more to follow his lead.

Obama is a piece of garbage compared to McCain.

McCain wins this election by 30 points.

Is there anyone who would actually vote for McCain even if he DID know how many houses he had?? Save our world -- VOTE OBAMA.