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Rezko-a-rama

January 24, 2008 10:20 AM

When the Los Angeles Times' tenacious and gentlemanly Peter Wallsten (whom you may recall from President Bush's clueless joke about Wallsten's legal blindness) wrote about Sen. Barack Obama's voting snafus in the Illinois legislature -- at least five times he accidentally pressed the wrong button when voting -- the Republican National Committee e-mailed it to us only seconds before the Clinton campaign did.

This morning the Clinton campaign steps up to the plate by providing a veritable smorgasbord of newspaper stories and op-eds about Obama's relationship with indicted real estate magnate Tony Rezko.

There's the Seattle Times, the AP, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Sun-Times, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and the Chicago Tribune.

Perhaps most damaging is this Chicago Sun-Times op-ed ("Time for Obama to Come Clean"), which quotes Obama telling CBS this week of Rezko that "My relationship is he was somebody who I knew and had been a supporter for many year ...He was somebody who had supported a wide range of candidates all throughout Illinois. Nobody had an inkling that he was involved in any problems."

"Somebody who I knew?" the Sun-Times columnist, Mark Brown, writes.

"Wow.

"That's such an understatement that it borders on a falsehood….This is somebody who spotted Obama's raw talent and offered him a job while he was still in law school, somebody who gave him one of his very first campaign donations for his first political race. This is somebody for whom Obama and his law firm performed legal work, not a great deal of it by Obama personally perhaps, but enough to know how the man made his money and that he was one of the major developers of low-income housing in his state legislative district.

"Somebody who was a big fund-raiser.

"This is somebody who was one of the key fund-raisers for Obama's U.S. Senate campaign, somebody who came through with big money at a crucial juncture in a difficult primary contest.

"And let's not forget this is somebody who bought the piece of real estate adjoining Obama's home, then sold the senator part of it, in a strange transaction about which key details have never been disclosed -- owing in part to the curious refusal of the real estate agents and prior owners to discuss it.

"Beyond that, Obama and Rezko had a personal friendship that was still going strong two years ago, the extent of which has been difficult to explore with Rezko under indictment and Obama trying to run from him as far and fast as he can.

"It's way past time for Obama to come completely and entirely clean about his Rezko dealings ...I write this as somebody who has always expected to be voting for Obama this year."

Not the kinds of headlines and op-eds a candidate wants two days before the South Carolina primary, and days before Super-Duper Tuesday.

I assume there exists a document listing all the shady characters the Clintons have been pals with over the years?

Man this thing is getting ugly. How long before it devolves into the weeds of the Starr Report footnotes?

-- jpt

January 24, 2008 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (27)

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For Hilary Clinton-- I have never been satisfied with the explanation of events surrounding Vincent Foster's death and the disappearance of his files.

Posted by: Barbara | Jan 24, 2008 11:09:09 AM

I believe that the Obama camp should also deserve a bit of your eloquent writing by your summarizing the well-documented shady dealings and associations of the Clintons. Wasn't dear Hillary the 1st Lady who was almost indicted? Come on, you should give Obama a break for his being an African-American and view him for his many qualifications and great leadership potential. Although I am not African-American or democrat, I'm prepared to vote for Obama, otherwise, I am thinking about voting for one of my dogs before voting for that Hillary creature.

Posted by: Office Parrot | Jan 24, 2008 11:05:24 AM

At least Obama calls him someone I knew. Ex-Cons, foreign despots, etc donate millions to the Clintons' stash and all we get is, "we told them we would not release their names".

And how exactly does HRC describe Norman Hsu while he does not pass go and heads directly to jail? How about Marc Rich? What about Gupta raiding a public company to line big Bill's pockets?

Rezko is one man. You could bring equal or worse in by the planeload for the Clintons.

Posted by: CG, NYC | Jan 24, 2008 11:01:15 AM

What change will he bring about when he is no different from others. He is using his oratorial skills to create the hype of a change. That's it.

Posted by: PS | Jan 24, 2008 11:00:08 AM

Obama himself, and every politician in Illinois knew about his friend Rezko the well known fixer; but they didn't care back then. Thats' the way the politics in Illinois are "what happens in Illinois stays in Illinois." As a resident of Illinois I have long been disgusted with the "under the table" corruption that runs RAMPANT here. What disgusts me even more is that when blatant evidence is exposed, the accused individual always finds a way to "make it go away". Chicago Mayor Daley is the chief source of most of the corruption in the state ("Operation Silver Shovel", etc.), but somehow he's always able to walk away with his hands clean. Oh, by the way, he's a big Obama supporter. Also, Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan (and current Illinois Democratic Party Chairman) was under investigation by the Feds. No problem. He and the Illinois Democratic Machine got Madigan's daughter elected Attorney General of Illinois. Gee, what ever happened to that investigation...........As far as the Rezko case, Obama is not the only one having a connection to Rezko but Obama was very close to him he wasn't "someone I know" lightly like Obama is saying now, Rezko was his friend and Obama as his lawyer and long time affiliation should have known the kind of individual he was and the type of business he was running, and more so Obama like everybody in Illinois knew that Rezko was investigated by the Feds!. Rezko was also a fund raiser and close friend of the current governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich - a governor who is also being investigated by the Feds for his own corrupt practices. (Ironically, Blagojevich came to power by vowing to clean up the corruption created by Republican Governor George Ryan.)Those of you who still aren't convinced that Barack Obama is yet another cog in the Illinois corruption machine should look up the Todd Stroger Cook County Board election scandal. Barack Obama unabashedly threw his full support to Todd Stroger despite the dubious way Stroger even got to become a cadidate. Why would Obama even endorse such shennanigans? I don't have enough time to go into this one, but trust me, it's a beauty. Look it up!Whether Obama himself is corrupt is yet to be determined, but his associations do cause alarm. Are these the same associations that would follow him to the White House? Obama is not "squeaky clean". We in Illinois know better.I will close by saying that I am not a Republican. I am not a Democrat. I have been forced into cynical independence from Illinois politicians that continue to disappoint

Posted by: Ritch_Illinois | Jan 24, 2008 10:58:17 AM

The MSM is returning to plan B-McCain

Posted by: geevill | Jan 24, 2008 10:38:52 AM

I don't see this as "contrast and compare". If we are talking about questionable connections, what about HU? I heard one of Hillarys fundraisers was doing a year in jail?...don't think the Repubs won't remind ALL of us of the Clintons laundry list of questionable donors and connections. Fair is fair. Many Folks who are voting NOW don't remember the FACTS on the Clintons. Remind them.

Posted by: Cathy | Jan 24, 2008 10:35:42 AM

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