- Daily Photo: Obama Jokes Around at G-20
- Blackwater gets replaced in Iraq
- Daily Photo: U.S. Marines Look Out for Taliban in Afghanistan
- Hillary Clinton the Tomboy and Her "Ah-Ha" Moment
- Obama Administration Sudan Envoy Headed to Region
- Daily Photo: Potential Flashpoint in Iraq
- Clinton Says New Afghanistan-Pakistan Plan Depends on Diplomacy
- Exclusive: Three Israeli Airstrikes Against Sudan
- Additional 4,000 Troops to Be Ordered to Afghanistan
- Daily Photo: Navy Submarine Trains in the Arctic
- Alarm Over North Korea Missile Prep
- Anti-Terror Stimulus? US Offers Rewards for Top Terrorists
- Daily Photo: Pakistani Women in Refugee Camp
- Condoleezza Rice Appears on "The Tonight Show"
- Diplomat and Aid Group Sound the Alarm on Darfur Camp Situation
- auto industry rescue
- Ballotwatch
- Biden, Joe
- Bush, George W.
- Clinton, Bill
- Clinton, Hillary
- Dodd, Chris
- Edwards, John
- Giuliani, Rudy
- Gravel, Mike
- Huckabee, Mike
- Hunter, Duncan
- Inauguration
- Iraq
- Kucinich, Dennis
- McCain, John
- Obama, Barack
- Palin, Sarah
- Paul, Ron
- Romney, Mitt
- Tancredo, Tom
- Thompson, Fred
- Veepstakes
- Vote 2008: Democrats
- Vote 2008: Republicans
- Washington
- White House
« Previous | Main | Next »
Obama Camp: Ralph Reed Uninvited to McCain's Fundraiser
Email
ShareAugust 18, 2008 6:13 PM
ABC News' Ron Claiborne reports: The Obama campaign is continuing to hammer Republican Sen. John McCain for former Christian Coalition director Ralph Reed's involvement in a McCain fundraising event in Atlanta.
Reed -- who didn't show up to McCain's fundraiser tonight -- was implicated, but not charged, in lobbying deals involving Indian casinos with disgraced Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff. McCain participated in the congressional probe of Abramoff's lobbying. Abramoff is now serving time at a minimum security federal prison in Maryland.
Reed had e-mailed supporters and friends to urge them to give to the McCain campaign and instructed potential donors to send contributions directly to him, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper. Reed told the paper he sent the e-mail at the request of the campaign and was given boilerplate language to use.
The Obama campaign sent an e-mail to reporters Monday citing "rumors" that McCain uninvited Reed to tonight's fundraiser at the Marriott Marquis in downtown Atlanta.
"Faced with the embarrassing prospect of holding a fundraiser with one of Jack Abramoff’s closest associates, the McCain campaign scrambled today to scratch Ralph Reed from tonight’s program, but voters deserve to know the answers to the real questions raised by Reed’s involvement," said Obama campaign spokesman Tommy Vietor.
"Will Senator McCain keep the money Reed has raised for him, and is Reed is a member of the McCain Victory 2008 team? If the McCain campaign won’t return the money Reed has raised for them, then voters should rightly ask why it matters that Reed didn’t show up at tonight’s event. The real question isn’t why Reed isn’t showing up, but why a so-called reformer would invite him at all," Vietor said.
Reed said he had agreed to be on McCain's "Victory 2008 Team" in an e-mail that solicited donations on McCain's behalf and urged his fellow Georgia Republicans to attend the fundraiser.
However when asked about Reed, the McCain campaign says Reed is not part of the Victory 2008 group and is not on the host committee of tonight's fundraiser.
A McCain campaign aide tells ABC News that Reed sent out an email solicitation on his own encouraging people to support Senator McCain, but was not invited to the fundraiser.
Another McCain aide said Reed has nothing to do with the campaign, hadn't donated to it, and was not acting on the campaign's behalf in the solicitation e-mail.
Late Monday evening as the fundraiser was ending, a McCain campaign official told ABC News Reed would not be at the fundraiser. The McCain campaign wouldn't say whether he was dissuaded from doing so.
In an Internet ad last week called "Tainted," the Democrats alleged that McCain is turning to an Abramoff "crony" to raise campaign cash.
"While most people now see Ralph Reed as a tainted man raising tainted money, John McCain sees him as a source of campaign cash," the ad says.
August 18, 2008 in Hunter, Duncan, Kucinich, Dennis, Tancredo, Tom, Thompson, Fred | Permalink | User Comments (36)
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.
Reed is a wonderful man!!! At least he is no Edwards, Congressman 90,000 in the Freezer Jefferson or a killer like Teddy Kennedy!!! The real crook is Jon Conyers and his crazy wife .
Vote Mc Cain!!!
Posted by: Sandra Binder | Aug 18, 2008 9:25:29 PM
Hope and change huh? Ayres, Wright, Rekzo, Muhammed, et.al.
Posted by: geevill | Aug 18, 2008 9:33:02 PM
Ok. Obama haters you can't have it both ways. Your response is to bring up bits the media has convinced you over Obama to try and level the playing field. Ok. But in doing so you are actually saying none of those associations are a problem, because they are equivalent to Reed and many more.
You know McCain like you would have known Jessica Lynch had Bush gotten away with it. McCain POW isn't as inspirational as he makes it seem. But you bought into it because he was the son of a high ranking admiral. Do you honestly believe they would tell the bad part? lol
McCain will tell you what you want to hear. This is why he prefers the smaller forums. This way he can tell one small group one thing and change it up somewhere else. That is his plan.
Don't try to ignore McCain faults because there are plenty and will be revealed very soon.
Posted by: Greg | Aug 18, 2008 10:05:56 PM
Anyone remember when McCain had the guy who said women should be rapped and should stay in the kitchen fundraise for him? McCain said he canceled that fundraisor but he actually lied and did it. McCain has a long history of lies, examples include:
Anyone catch how McCain was attacking Obama for NASA policies that McCain also supported? Can McCain get anymore dishonest? All his tax adds are lies, independent sources have proven it.
Then McCain lies about his letters to the FCC after McCain broke campaign finance laws. A few months ago McCain lied to women about supporting equal pay for them. McCain has consistently voted against equal pay legislation. I guess all the many McCain lies coincide with his hundreds of flip-flops.
But I guess McCain has to flip-flop because he supports Bush 95% of the time and has almost all the same policies as Bush.
Posted by: Sam | Aug 18, 2008 10:06:52 PM
Reed was invited so that Charles Keating would not be in solitary confinement.
Posted by: Ronnn | Aug 18, 2008 10:24:28 PM
obama is an Arrogant, Radical FRAUD!!!
His entire campaign is like a staged show. His gang style Chicago group is a Disgrace - always trying to Trick the American People - we are much smarter and know a Fraud - this guy will NEVER be elected.
Posted by: Abby | Aug 18, 2008 11:03:12 PM
Change, and hope, and now is our time, is not the words of Hussein Obama.It is from his terrorist cousin Odinga in Kenya.
Posted by: Jack | Aug 19, 2008 12:16:46 AM
so let's see...
he disinvites one friend of Jack Abramoff who's a lobbyist from a fundraiser...
only to use another Jack Abramoff friend and lobbyist (Oliver Swindle) to corroborate a story that didn't happen to him about a cross in the dirt...
man, jack abramoff gets around don't he?
Posted by: kravitz | Aug 19, 2008 12:31:28 AM
Barry Soetoro is just an author- he has 3 books- Me, Me and More about Me.
Hill Yeah! Take it Back!
Posted by: priscilla | Aug 19, 2008 2:18:58 AM
Wow, what a bunch of Obamanation whiners. Do you think you can denigrate McCain any better than the Bush/Rove-machine in 2000? In fact, you are sounding like the B/R machine. As time goes on it seems like that Obama is more and more like Bush.
Posted by: Nickyle | Aug 19, 2008 2:39:38 AM
I likes MCain in 2000, but them more and more i see of McCain 2008, i am getting quite discouraged.
He has brought in the Bush-Rove team to run his campaign. He has brought in the Abramoff-Reed findraisers and all he is doing is swinging further and further right.
Obama meanwhile seems more centrist.
Too bad i would have loved to vote for McCain circa 2000
Posted by: Nadeem | Aug 19, 2008 11:06:21 AM
John will still take his money and then rail against him. But what do you expect from a freakin' Democrat!!! Name a pro choice canidate, hell why not LIEberman, Romney or any other DEMOCRAT John! Remember when we had TWO parties to choose from, and the Republicans had ONE!
Posted by: ick! | Aug 19, 2008 5:27:11 PM
McBush will keep the cash and avoid the photo op. That's the way he plays the game, taking cash and advice from the Bush team and then trying to disown them in his public speeches. What a loser.
Posted by: Sue H | Aug 19, 2008 6:36:00 PM
To paraphrase Lyndon Johnson "Bush has McCain's d*&K in his pocket".
Posted by: Fetus and Me | Aug 19, 2008 6:41:42 PM
Ralph Reed, was and is a devil in sheeps clothing. Christian SCAMMER, SCUMBAG.
Posted by: evangalical christian???? | Aug 20, 2008 3:36:52 PM
Barack Obama's new ad is a good Ad. John McCain CANNOT afford to be "Jack Abramoff"ed! OsiSpeaks.com
Posted by: KYJurisDoctor | Aug 20, 2008 7:59:29 PM
Post a comment
