In Obama Revealed special, CNN's Malveaux baselessly suggested Obamas got special deal on house
SUMMARY: In a CNN special titled Obama Revealed, Suzanne Malveaux baselessly claimed that convicted Chicago businessman Antoin "Tony" Rezko "enable[d] Obama to buy his house at $300,000 below the asking price." According to Bloomberg News, "[t]he 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."
In an August 20 CNN special titled Obama Revealed, host Suzanne Malveaux baselessly claimed that Sen. Barack Obama had a "high number of present votes" in the Illinois state Senate and falsely claimed that convicted Chicago businessman Antoin "Tony" Rezko "enable[d] Obama to buy his house at $300,000 below the asking price." Malveaux offered no support for her claim that Obama's number of present votes was "high." As PolitiFact.com has noted, Christopher Mooney, a political scientist at the University of Illinois-Springfield, has said: "Everyone I've spoken to who's familiar with this, including lobbyists and people who are engaged in opposition research, say the number of times he voted present on a proportional basis was probably a little less than average." And contrary to Malveaux's claim that Rezko "enable[d] Obama to buy his house at $300,000 below the asking price," according to Bloomberg News, "[t]he 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."
Malveaux also stated that Obama's house purchase, in conjunction with Rezko's wife's purchase of the adjoining property, "had the appearance of influence-buying." However, in a March 16 editorial, the Chicago Tribune wrote 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:
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.
From the August 20 CNN special Obama Revealed:
MALVEAUX: Obama had a high number of present votes. It's a technique many legislators used on politically sensitive issues to indicate they were present for a vote without committing for or against. Obama did it 129 times in his eight years in the Senate. His critics charge he wouldn't commit on controversial votes.
STATE SEN. RICKEY HENDON (D-IL): Some people would also say that that's smart politics.
[...]
MALVEAUX: Developer Tony Rezko was Obama's friend and one of his top political contributors when Obama was an Illinois state senator.
MENDELL: He had gotten too close to this guy to see the problems that were swirling around him.
MALVEAUX: Obama wanted to buy a house in Chicago's exclusive Hyde Park neighborhood, but the seller was only willing to sell the house with the vacant lot next to it, and Obama couldn't afford to buy both. Rezko's wife bought the vacant lot, enabling Obama to buy his house at $300,000 below the asking price. It had the appearance of influence-buying. Rezko was later convicted of fraud, money laundering, and bribery -- charges unconnected to Obama.
OBAMA: But there's no allegations that I was involved with anything, that there was -- that any of his problems were related to me. I did show -- I did make a mistake in entering into a real estate with him that was completely separate from the topic of his trial, and I've said it was a mistake.
MENDELL: Obama's a guy who's generally a pretty good judge of character, I think, but in this instance, he was off.
MALVEAUX: Hoping to distance himself, Obama gave Rezko's political donations to charity.
Your forgot the Republican point of the day. It was Obama's half-brother.
You guys are scary.
I tuned in to 96.9 FM here in Boston today expecting to hear about McCain's number of houses comment. Across the liberal, MSM, drive-by, internet land, they were screaming Obama intends to make political hay out of this issue, forgetting the fact that McCain actually forgot how many homes he owns.
On the radio was a lady, McPhee, who claims to be a one time Democrat and now a McCain supporter because she likes his 'character' (I wondered how many men cheated on her). She played McCain's comment on the number of houses and immediately switched to Obama's half brother talking point.
I thought ok, if Obama had done anything about his half-brother, she would still be whining about that too and switched stations, 90.9 NPR. Ashbrook is talking about Olympics, I am not interested in olympics.
Press AM button. 1030 is talking about traffic on the threes and I am sitting at home. Bored now, I switch to WRKO 680 AM and there is Savage talking about Obama's half brother.
I now smoke a cigarette, take a deep breath and think it's been around 15 minutes so the McPhee lady would have moved on to something else. I switch back to 96.9, and lo and behold, it was the talking point of the day, Obama's half brother.
I am confident most talk radio listeners across this great country had similar experiences.
My4, so any comments about the Step Brother story, or have you not figured a way to cover for this blatent blunder...
Here is The One, God's gift to America and he can't help his Step Brother ?
How the hell is he gonna help solve America's issues ?
Who the hell ever said that Obama is obligated to 'help out' his stepbrother? You?
God, you and your ilk are SO pathetically STUPID! God and Jesus should be embarrassed.
Whats even funnier is that it doesn't matter - because none of them are even in John's name.(RemedialArts&Crafts)
Funnier than what? Your pitiful defense of Grampy? Because his houses are in his wife's name? What percentage of Americans do you think could come up with a precise number when asked how many pieces of real estate are owned by them or their spouses?
You guys are getting more and more ridiculous. Practically swooning at the old guy giving a two word answer to a question that has baffled philosophers, scientists and theologians for millennia (when does life begin?), then trying to ignore his inability to answer a question that all but a tiny group of elite aristocrats could answer (correctly, unlike his dopey "at conception" pander) without a beat.
Whats even funnier is that it doesn't matter - because none of them are even in John's name. All are in the names of Cindy, her kids, and the trust.
LOL
Since John doesn't know how many houses he owns and the homes are in Cindy and her kids names, does John know the name of the kids? Are Cindy's kids John's kids?
Even if Obama did get a special deal on a house, what the hell does this have to do with the inquiry as to whether he makes a better president than McCain?
It makes a big difference when someone from his campaign stepped down due to being involved with Countrywide...as well as when his fellow democrat Dodd, in charge of oversight of companies like Countrywide, took a sweetheart deal while millions of Americans are getting forceclosed on due to bad loans.
With the home foreclosure crisis going on, anything to do with politicians taking advantage of the situation is bad news.
With the home foreclosure crisis going on, anything to do with politicians taking advantage of the situation is bad news.
LOL
Foreclosure Phil Graham ring a bell?
democrat Dodd, in charge of oversight of companies like Countrywide, took a sweetheart deal while millions of Americans are getting forceclosed on due to bad loans.
Wrong. Dodd was given a sweetheart deal before millions of Americans were getting foreclosed upon due to bad loans.
Yeah - and millions of Americans received their loans before they were foreclosed on. whats your point?
The point is simple - you were wromg.
He received his deal at the same time they were making those bad loans.
Those people got sweetheart deals because there was no way for them to own a home without those loans even if they were bad.
The point is simple - you were wromg.
False. Dodd signed his loan on 6/10/2003. The exact time frame for 5 year ARM loans that are causing the foreclosure problems.
Those people got sweetheart deals because there was no way for them to own a home without those loans even if they were bad.
So you agree that these people had no reason owning a home in the first place, thus shouldnt be bailed out. The mortgage companies should be dealt with though.
False. Dodd signed his loan on 6/10/2003. The exact time frame for 5 year ARM loans that are causing the foreclosure problems.
Now you've morphed what you said earlier.
So you agree that these people had no reason owning a home in the first place, thus shouldnt be bailed out.
I still haven't decided if they should or should not be bailed out.
Even if Obama did get a special deal on a house, what the hell does this have to do with the inquiry as to whether he makes a better president than McCain?
So, first Obama makes a sweetheart deal with Rezko’s wife (wink, wink) and then he has to do the “backstroke” because he gets his hand caught in the cookie jar after everybody notices all the payola coming in and that doesn’t matter? It is a classic case of influence peddling…and it does matter.
§ But Obama acknowledged "it was stupid" of him to get involved in the purchase almost one year ago of a strip of property adjoining his $1.65 million home from Antoin "Tony" Rezko, who owned a vacant lot next door. Rezko, a political insider and fundraiser, was indicted in October on charges of trying to extort campaign donations and kickbacks from firms seeking state business. Rezko has pleaded not guilty.
"I am the first one to acknowledge that it was a boneheaded move for me to purchase this 10-foot strip from Rezko, given that he was already under a cloud of concern," Obama said. "I will also acknowledge that from his perspective, he no doubt believed that by buying the piece of property next to me that he would, if not be doing me a favor, it would help strengthen our relationship."
December 28, 2006:
June 1, 2007
June 7, 2007
June 18, 2007
June 25, 2007
December 14, 2007
January 19, 2008
January 29, 2008
The whole deal stinks! From a guy who is making “change” the center piece of his campaign it sure sounds like the SOS to me. That’s why it is important to note. He’s not “The One”…He’s a fake!
I'd like to remind you that any politician on the national stage will have associations and contributions from people who are either shady or in other ways compromised. There was a lot of criticism of Truman because of his association with a corrupt guy before he became prez. Didn't affect his governance in the slightest. And Obama is much less associated with Rezco.
If this is all that you can criticise, you haven't got much.
Sounds like he is honest enough to return money that has a connection to Rezco.
Hand, meet cookie jar.
Here, you can see the McCain "hit job" in one minute.
Oh, now that Bush has agreed to a withdrawl timetable with Iraq (2009) I wonder if Innocuous John is gonna flip flop again?
Remember, unless you have an (R) at the end of your name you can't do anything right.
Imagine hearing this coming from your AM radio speakers: "So here we have a huge financial crisis in this country and we're supposed to turn things over to a guy who payed the asking price for a house? I don't see any of this so-called strength in negotiation on display here."
It's not that far fetched.
Speaking of speeches, I just got the short list of speakers at the republican convention. Not many surprises...
August 21, 2008Satan to Speak at Republican Convention
Ian Gurvitz | Bio
On the heels of announcing its preliminary list of speakers, including such Republican notables as Rudy Giuliani, Dick Cheney and Joe Lieberman, the RNC issued a press release stating that Satan will deliver a major address at the upcoming convention. Furthering its stated goal of having the list of speakers "showcase the diversity of the Republican Party," the latest addition of the Antichrist will add that final dimension of pure evil.
The horned one's speech will lay out the Republican Party platform, which includes: continuing the Iraq war for 100 years, bombing Iran, re-igniting a Cold War fear of Russia, plunging the nation further into debt, buggering the Earth until it bleeds oil into the oceans, not fixing McCain's teeth so that his smile frightens newborn infants back into their mothers' wombs, screwing the poor and middle class until they're jobless, homeless, and hopeless, passing a Constitutional amendment defining marriage as something that may only occur between a man and a woman, or a woman and a closeted gay Republican, renaming Gitmo "Motel 666" and generally continuing the Bush administration's march toward Armageddon, at which point the righteous will be spirited up to Heaven on a golden chariot, and Hell will be overrun with Jews buying up all the good real estate and forming their own country clubs. The conclusion of his speech will be marked by the ceremonial red, white, and blue balloons carried in by the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, with Laura Bush riding side saddle.
The announcement has fueled rumors that the Prince of Darkness is on McCain's short list of VP contenders. However, when reached for comment, a satanic spokesman put those rumors to rest, stating "the unholy one has no aspirations for the position. Besides, who could top Cheney?" He then added, "The devil has no desire to relocate. Living in hell is scary enough. He's not ready to move to D.C. "
But that platform of his does sound like the prince of darkness' works.
Satan... should look a bit less like a health food salesman.
Quit it , Mary.Do Birkenstocks fit over hooves?
I think the only thing missing from the platform was maybe too obvious. Those aborted fetuses don't have a chance to sin, nor to become Republicans. Satan's helping out his own recruiting numbers by making sure the unborn get a chance at Damnation.
It could have something to do with her brother being a Republican official...
http://www.richmond-gop.org/images/members/Malveaux.jpg
Tonight on the MSNBC talk shows, they covered the different ads that both campaigns released, and again they compared apples to oranges.
The Obama ad attacked McCain based upon the facts - the fact that he said the economy is doing well (while his ads say that it needs help) while the evidence clearly demonstrates that the economy is struggling and if we didn't have a recession begin 2 quarters ago, we came damn close, for example.
The McCain ad was based upon lies - that Rezko's intervention, for example, is known to have helped Obama buy his house.
They're not equivalent, and Media Matters needs to cover those kinds of false equivalencies.
I'm flagging your post for maligning vampires.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/522/
Malveaux lies revealed.
Obama didn't buy the house from Rezko. This is the false meme that has been around for a long time now that he did buy it from Rezko. He bought the house from a couple. He bought some land from Rezko, and last time I checked, even if he did get a good deal on the land (he didn't, he paid market value for it at the time), what is to stop someone from selling him their land for whatever they want to sell it to them for? It might be foolish, but I know that there are sometimes things that I have that I sell to the people that I know for cheaper than I would sell them to anyone else off of the street.
Anyway, if the republicans are going to try and tie Obama to Rezko, then I think it would be fair game to tie McCain to Keating and the S and L scandal he was part of. I seem to remember a lot of his close friends going to jail over that one. And we could also tie him to another felon, his wife. Who stole drugs from her own non profit to help out her habit.
I'm sure MMA is about to begin calling Vanity Fair Mag a radical right wing rag, just wait... But until them BHO and you fanatics that support every single thing he does and says are goona have an issue this time... The mole hill is turning into a mountain slowly...
You can wipe away Wright, Farakhan, Flagger and at first Ayers, he'sssss back. You can toss away as garbage the aborsion discussions, the Resco mess, but soon the juck stacks up and folks start really wondering who is this guy?
Then let's now top it off with BHO's comments today where he said that China was a better place then America to do bussiness, had better infrastructure... Wow, first puts down America in Berlin and now Chian is better?
Add to it:
So any comments about the Step Brother story, or have you not figured a way to cover for this blatent blunder... How you gonna cover this one up or the new China comments putting down America?
Here is The One, God's gift to America and he can't help his Step Brother ?
How the hell is he gonna help solve America's issues ?
Wow, Stuppy? What are you, twelve years old?
Try searching on Yahoo for Cindy McCain Sister. You'll find stories about the two sisters Cindy McCain refuses to even acknowledge. Cindy claims to be an "only child", but has two half-sisters she used to see at family events. They are not overseas living in another country. They also know Cindy, unlike Obama and his half brother.
What is 'juck'???
Interesting that Snooper did a "strawman" changing the topic off of a EXTREAMLY poor young man in a hut living on $1 a month and his Step Brother is in a Church saying bible verses about helping the poor... rofl'
Hypocrite is an understatment, and this is gonna be HUGE news because Vanity Fair is NOT nor has it ever been a Rebublican nor Right Wing rag, just the opposit is true...
Ha, too funny. You are the one putting strawmen out there. Where does it say Obama has to help out a stepbrother living a lifestyle he chose when Cindy the adulterer disavows any claim that she has sisters? But go right on ahead making up strawmen, that's all you got.
What's really funny though is you don't post on the current topics, you wait until a day or two later so you can come in, make some blatantly charged rant, and then walk away thinking you won the debate because no one responded. All your arguments are morally bankrupt and patently dishonest which is why you have to cower in the past. You'd be chewed up whole and spit out in a mark spitz second if you ever dared show your screed on the current day's thread. Coward is too good a word for you.
Do you know what their relationship is like, MG? Pretty tough talk coming from the party that sends other people's children to fight in their wars and from a party whose candidate has proferred his reason for being President: its not to help the country, its not to change, its personal ambition:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eKwTL8SwbI
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-nickolas/mccain-in-his-memoirs-it_b_119886.html
Are you really going to attack Obama's character after your candidate decided his wife wasn't being married to any more after she had a car accident?