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Celebi Unfit Club

March 09, 2008 2:23 PM

Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign has dropped one of its big fundraisers, or "HillRaisers" -- Mehmet Celebi.

Celebi, a Turkish-American businessmen and co-owner of BMH Worldwide, was a financier of the most expensive Turkish movie ever made, "Valley of the Wolves Iraq," a 2006 release that features Gary Busey as a Jewish American Army doctor who harvests organs from injured Iraqis at Abu Ghraib to sell to rich transplant patients in Tel Aviv, London, and New York.

The film's main villain is Billy Zane as a psychotic Christian fundamentalist. The film has been widely characterized as anti-American.

"We were unaware of Mr. Celebi's involvement in this film and we obviously do not agree with it," said Clinton campaign senior adviser Ann Lewis on Friday to JTA. "He is no longer raising money for this campaign."

Some Clinton critics note that Clinton campaign has known about this issue since at least about a month ago when the New York Post called to ask about the Celebi connection and asked how Lewis could have only learned about it Friday from JTA.

Asked this morning for clarification, the Clinton campaign told me that they were unaware of Celebri's involvement with the film until around the time of the New York Post item, when Celebri's involvement with the campaign ceased.

It will be interesting to see if Sen. Obama's campaign suggests that Clinton return the $100,000 or so that Celebi  bundled for her.

(Incidentally, Busey's attorney defended his appearance in the film to the Jerusalem Post by saying "there is something in this country called the First Amendment that protects freedom of expression," she said, "I hope we are not returning to the McCarthy era." She said, "If Gary played a rapist in a movie, would anyone believe him to be an actual rapist? He is an actor, not a politician." The Post reports that "When asked about the moral and ethical implications of portraying an anti-Semitic stereotype in a foreign movie, Roberts declined to comment.")

- jpt

March 9, 2008 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (38)

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Dogsoldier asks:
Kitty what is Obama's policy on Islamic terrorists? What is Obama's policy on the Iranian nuclear weapons program?

Well, I am not Kitty, but I venture to guess that he is against them....

Posted by: Chip | Mar 9, 2008 6:03:18 PM

Kitty what is Obam's policy on Islamic terrorists? What is Obama's policy on the Iranian nuclear weapons program? Do you know or do you just play hate politics?

Posted by: Dogsoldier | Mar 9, 2008 5:42:07 PM

Whether or not this was the right thing to do, the Clintons made the determination that it was and so they took this action. That said, it is typically Clinton do wait for such a long time to take the action, but it seems there is a double standard at work, because if they had caught wind of the Obama campaign waiting so long they would have struck out at him forcefully and with the venom she consistently shows--but always with a smile and that voice of reason.

Posted by: Kitty | Mar 9, 2008 5:09:33 PM

I'm not Amber, but I can answer at least a portion of this one. As far back as May 2007, Obama was stepping out on the Iran Nuke Issue

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama told Haaretz in an exclusive interview that the current level of pressure on Iran over its nuclear program is "is not enough."

"Iran continues to be a major threat to the U.S. and its allies," said the Illinois senator.

Obama reiterated his position that the U.S. should engage Iran in direct talks, but explained that these should be "low level talks" until there's "some sense of progress" such as voluntary freezing on the enrichment of uranium.

A new bill, sponsored by Obama in the Senate, will require the federal government to publish a list of companies that have an investment of more than $20 million in the Iranian energy sector.

It will also authorize local governments to divest their pension funds from companies on the list and protect managers from lawsuits directed at them by investors who are unhappy with the decision to divest.


Posted by: Deb | Mar 9, 2008 5:01:34 PM

There is no reason to return money because someone made a film some people dont like.

That's about as unAmerican as you can get.

Posted by: s.b. | Mar 9, 2008 4:41:56 PM

Um unless this film is hate speech or promotes hate, I dont get it??

Why is this a problem?

What about Syriana? What about any other number of films that could be construed as "anti-american"

This is absurd and just a little like McCarthyism. WHo cares. Its a FICTIONAL film.

Posted by: s.b. | Mar 9, 2008 4:39:40 PM

Wow, that's all I can say to the Hillary supporters.

She gets caught doing something not so good and instead of simply accepting the fact that she is doing what the Clintons do--and its usually pretty indefensible--you attack Obama for doing the right thing.

Yes, I can see that Hillary has taught her troops well. When caught with a hand in the cookie jar, attack the baker.

Posted by: Kitty | Mar 9, 2008 4:28:32 PM

Obama needs to release who he sent all the money to, his pet charity. of the dirty money from Rezko. Why didn't he give it to the courts, to return to the right full owner

Posted by: seah | Mar 9, 2008 4:23:32 PM

Re Rezko vs this guy: I believe it is media bias showing its ugly head again. For whatever reason, the media has taken some sort of solemn vow to promote Hillary ever since she threw her hissy fit a few weeks ago and charged (unsubstantiated) favoritism toward Obama. Since then, she can do no wrong and if Obama breathes wrong the press is all over it.

This story should be front page but instead it is buried in a blog. How fair is that?

Posted by: Kitty | Mar 9, 2008 4:23:10 PM

She said she said she has been vetted...what an irony...show us the tax returns.

Posted by: sr | Mar 9, 2008 3:50:22 PM

Hmmm, Clinton caught once again in the same old politics.

Posted by: vanchav | Mar 9, 2008 3:40:37 PM

If he reports on Obama, he;s biased toward Clinton. If he reports on Clinton, he's biased toward Obama. When will the madness end!! Oh wait, he hardly ever reports on McCain. Eureka! Thats where his biased leans..McCain! Give me a break this whole nana-nana-boo-boo is ridiculous. Everybody needs to grow up!

Posted by: pinky112 | Mar 9, 2008 3:39:26 PM

Oooops, can I say blacklisted? I wouldn't want to offend the Obama campaign with such a monstrous word.

Posted by: jj | Mar 9, 2008 3:13:03 PM

returning to the McCarthy-ism Era"?

we're already there, you can't say Obama's middle name without being blacklisted. And with so many donations coming in from God knows where, it's difficult to keep track of who's been naughty and who's been nice. Sound familiar?

Posted by: JJ | Mar 9, 2008 3:10:46 PM

Daily Kos: March 9, 200

Clintons got money from Rezko co-defendants Chicago:

Since the name of Chicago defendant Antoin ‘Tony’ Rezko has come up in national debate, it seems fair to look at donations from other defendants in Chicago’s "Operation Board Games."

Of the other five defendants, three have donated to the Clintons or to Clinton supporters, three have donated mostly to Republicans, and at least two have donated to Obama’s political opponents. None have donated to Obama.

Posted by: Amber | Mar 9, 2008 3:08:16 PM

I for one applaud Hillary Clinton on rejecting this fellow's involvement in future fundraising. She has a rock solid relationship with both Arab-Americans and Jewish-Americans and does not sanction the promotion of hatred between any parties. She's not telling Gary Busey not to do films, she's just saying that this is not something that she sanctions.

Posted by: WestCoastMessenger | Mar 9, 2008 3:04:03 PM

obama--yikes!!!!

"We WOULD be "returning to the McCarthy-ism Era" if obama were elected President"

-------
although all your posts are uniformed and mean - you now have added irrational to that list

Posted by: Amber | Mar 9, 2008 2:57:49 PM

The Hillaries will take the money and once the well is dried up they will gladly denounce and reject the source. People don't change.

Posted by: Daniel Georgiev | Mar 9, 2008 2:48:40 PM

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