LIE: “The year 1995 was a banner one for Obama. He had just married Michelle and the couple bought a Hyde Park condo, the first home Obama ever owned.”[p 145]
REALITY: OBAMAS MARRIED IN 1992 AND BOUGHT A CONDO IN 1993
10/3/92 Obama And Michelle Robinson Were Married.
[Chicago Sun-Times, 10/3/07]1993 Obama Bought a Condo for $277,550.
[Chicago Sun-Times, 1/22/06]LIE: “Instead of stepping aside in deference to Palmer, Obama decided to fight her for the nomination.” [p 146]
REALITY: PALMER PULLED HER OWN PLUG
Barbara Flynn Currie: Alice Palmer “Pulled Her Own Plug.” “‘I thought the world of Alice Palmer,’ said state Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie (D-Chicago), now the House majority leader. But ‘at that point she had pulled her own plug.’”
[Chicago Tribune, 4/3/07]Preckwinkle: Obama Did The Right Thing. “Toni Preckwinkle (D), a 4th Ward alderman, believes Obama did the right thing, although his maneuver left some hard feelings.”
[Washington Post, 11/13/07]Obama Said He Was “Abiding By The Rules That Had Been Set Up” In Challenging Alice Palmer’s Petitions. “In a recent interview, Obama granted that ‘there’s a legitimate argument to be made that you shouldn’t create barriers to people getting on the ballot.’ But the unsparing legal tactics were justified, he said, by obvious flaws in his opponents’ signature sheets. ‘To my mind, we were just abiding by the rules that had been set up,’ Obama recalled. ‘I gave some thought to … should people be on the ballot even if they didn’t meet the requirements,’ he said. ‘My conclusion was that if you couldn’t run a successful petition drive, then that raised questions in terms of how effective a representative you were going to be.’ Asked whether the district’s primary voters were well-served by having only one candidate, Obama smiled and said: ‘I think they ended up with a very good state senator.’”
[Chicago Tribune, 4/3/07]LIE: “Besides, Obama had to know who Ayers is and what he stands for, especially with Ayers making this splash on 9/11.” [p 147]
REALITY: AYERS COMMENTS WERE PUBLISHED ON SEPTEMBER 11; THE INTERVIEW OCCURRED PRIOR TO PUBLICATION
On September 11, 2001, A Story About William Ayers’ Memoir Was Published In The New York Times; The Interview Occurred Prior To Publication. “‘I don’t regret setting bombs,’ Bill Ayers said. ‘I feel we didn’t do enough.’ Mr. Ayers, who spent the 1970’s as a fugitive in the Weather Underground, was sitting in the kitchen of his big turn-of-the-19th-century stone house in the Hyde Park district of Chicago.”
[New York Times, 9/11/01]LIE: “But when Chicago Sun-Times reporters finally confronted Obama on Friday, March 14, 2008, for an extended interview in the newspaper offices, the senator changed his tune.” [p 154]
REALITY: BEFORE OBAMA SAT DOWN FOR THREE TOTAL HOURS WITH THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE AND THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, HE HAD REPEATEDLY ADDRESSED QUESTIONS RELATED TO REZKO
Chicago Tribune: Obama “Pledged To Answer Every Question” The Reporters Posed About Rezko “And He Did.” The Chicago Tribune wrote in an editorial, “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.”
[Chicago Tribune, 3/16/08]• 11/06: Obama said, “My working assumption was that as long as I operated in an open, up-front fashion, and all the T’s were crossed and I’s were dotted, that it wouldn’t be an issue…If it was a neighbor I didn’t know at all, would I have behaved any differently? I felt like the answer was no.”
[Chicago Tribune, 11/1/06]• 11/06: Sweet wrote, “Obama, in a session with local reporters said ‘I’m human like everybody else and I’m going to make mistakes.’”
[Chicago Sun-Times, 11/7/06]• 11/06: Obama said, “I think it created an appearance that he was potentially doing me a favor. And that’s something that, you know, I’ve always tried to stay very far away from that line, which is why I don’t even let lobbyists buy me lunch.” [
National Public Radio, 11/16/06]• 12/06: The Chicago Tribune reported, “Obama further told Tribune editors and reporters Dec. 14: ‘In retrospect, it was stupid. So I’m happy to own up to that. And, 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, that it would help strengthen our relationship.’”
[Chicago Tribune, 12/24/06]• 12/06: “There’s no doubt that this was a mistake on my part. ‘Boneheaded’ would be accurate,’ Obama said in a telephone interview Friday.”
[Washington Post, 12/17/06]• 4/07: There was also a hastily arranged April, 23, 2007, session where Obama talked to some Chicago reporters.
[Politico, 4/24/07; Chicago Sun-Times, 3/3/08]• 5/07: Stephanopoulos said, “This exact same day several months later you bought part of the plot back from him. All at that time it was known that he was being investigated for corruption and kickbacks. What were you thinking?” Obama said, “Well, obviously I wasn’t thinking enough. You know, I’m very proud of my ethics record. I mean, I was famous in Springfield for not letting lobbyists even buy me lunch. And so, you know, this is one time where I didn’t see the appearance of impropriety because I paid full price for the land. There has been no allegations of anything other than that. But it raised the possibility that here was somebody who was a friend of mine who was doing me a favor and I said it was a bone-headed mistake.” [This Week, 5/13/07]
• 11/07: Russert asked, “Is he still your friend?” Obama said, “You know, I have not talked to him since he got into trouble with the law.” Russert confirmed, “Period.” Obama said, “Never had a conversation with
him.”
[Meet The Press, 11/11/07]• 1/08: I’m happy to respond. Here’s what happened. I was a associate at a law firm that represented a church group that had partnered with this individual to do a project, and I did about five hours worth of work on this joint project. That’s what she’s referring to. Now, it’s fine for her to throw that out, but the larger reason that I think this debate is important is because we do have to trust our leaders and what they say.
[Debate, 1/21/08]• 1/08: Obama said, “My relationship is he was somebody who I knew and had been a supporter for many years. He was somebody who had supported the wide-range of candidates all throughout Illinois. Nobody had an inkling that he was involved in any problems. When those problems were discovered we returned money from him that had been contributed. And, what is true is is that I also purchased a piece of land from him. Everything was above board and there’s been no allegations that there wasn’t.”
[CBS Early Show, 1/23/08]• 1/08: Obama said, “Well, we have returned any money that we know was associated to Mr. Rezko and that is something that if there’s additional information we don’t know about. We would be happy to return the money.”
[Good Morning America, 1/23/08]• 1/08: Obama said, “I mean, I think what’s striking is this is the best folks can dig up on me – is something that where it’s undisputed and all the Chicago papers have acknowledged, I did absolutely nothing wrong other than make a bone-headed decision to buy a 10 foot piece of land from the guy that created the appearance of potentially an impropriety. But that was done completely in a market price. Other than that, there have been no real allegations, you know, even from my worst opponents, of how I was involved in something untoward. So, you know, if this is the worst that the Republicans can come up with, then my suspicion is I’m doing pretty well.”
[St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Editorial Board Interview, 1/25/08]• 1/08: George Stephanopoulos said, “One more time, Senator, you need to divulge all there is to know about [your relationship with Tony Rezko.] Take that opportunity here.” Obama said, “Well, George, this is a
story that has been out there for a year, and has been thoroughly gnawed on by the press, both in Chicago and nationally. Tony Rezko was a friend of mine, a supporter, who I’ve known for 20 years. He was a contributor not just myself but Democrats, as well as some Republicans, throughout Illinois. Everybody perceived him as a businessman and developer. He got into trouble that was completely unrelated to me. And nobody has suggested that I have been involved in any of those problems. I did make a mistake by purchasing a small strip of property from him, at a time where, at that point, he was under the cloud of a potential investigation. And I’ve acknowledged that that was a mistake. But again, nobody has suggested any wrongdoing. And you know, I think, at this point, it’s important for people to recognize that I have actually provided all the information that’s out there about it.”
[This Week, 1/27/08]• 3/08: “He got into trouble that was completely unrelated to me and the trouble that he’s in right now is completely unrelated to anything that I have done.”
[ABC News, 3/2/08]• 3/08: He took some questions on Rezko, breaking no real new ground.
[Politico, 3/3/08]
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