Frank Gaffney, Jr. had an interesting article on the Center for Security Policy's web site October 14. It was titled "The Jihadist vote," and sought to make the case that "...the Democratic candidate hopes to win the White House by relying, in part, on the Jihadist vote."
Gaffney writes that an NBC report last week stated Mouha Husaini, the Obama campaign's Muslim outreach coordinator, recently attended an event with her predecessor, Mazen Asbahi, and "two prominent Muslim Brotherhood operatives: Mahdi Bray of the Muslim American Society (MAS) and Nihad Awad of the Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR)."
The Muslim Brotherhood, Gaffney says, "...is an instrument the Islamists have been using to foster a Fifth Column in America. Its stated purpose in this country is to ‘destroy Western civilization from within.'" Citing the NBC report, Gaffney writes that "...even other attendees expressed concern that the Obama campaign was reaching out to such ‘politically radioactive' individuals as Bray and Awad."
But the problem according to Gaffney is that this is bigger than the one event. He cites others in the article, specifically the following:
"A Federal Election Commission (FEC) employee has reportedly been warning for months about evidence that the Obama campaign has received as much as $200 million almost half of his total donations, in amounts less than $200. That is below the threshold for donor information that Sen. Obama has chose to report to the FEC - unlike the Clinton and McCain campaigns which have reported all donor information. Of the $200 million, between $30 and $100 million is from the Mideast, Africa and other places Islamists are active. It is unclear whether - as seems likely - these funds are coming not only from Wahhabis, Muslim Brotherhood types and jihadists of other stripes but from non-U.S. citizens. That would make such contributions not only worrying but illegal."
And this one:
"Another question yet to be resolved is whether Senator Obama is a natural born citizen of the United States, a prerequisite pursuant to the U.S. Constitution. There is evidence that Obama was born in Kenya rather than, as he claims, Hawaii. There is also a registration document for a school in Indonesia where the would-be president studied for four years, on which he was identified not only as a Muslim but as an Indonesian. If correct, the latter could give rise to another potential problem with respect to his eligibility to be president. Curiously, Sen. Obama has, to date, failed to provide an authentic birth certificate which could clear up the matter."
I've seen this reported before, and I'm not sure there is any validity to it at all. But Senator Obama could certainly clear the matter up once and for all by simply providing his original birth certificate. Seems simple enough to me and I find it interesting that he has not done so if for no other reason than to silence the critics on this matter.
Gaffney goes on to criticize Obama's get-out-the-vote effort, specifically the "Arab-Americans for Obama" portion, and efforts in prisons and homeless shelters.
Lastly, Gaffney expresses his concern over "various well-known Islamists" with whom Obama has had some history. "These include," Gaffney writes, "a former Black Panther convert to radical Islam who calls himself Khalid al-Mansour; an aggressive promoter of Wahhabi influence operations, Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal; a virulently anti-Israel and pro-suicide bomber Palestinian professor named Rashid Khalidi; and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan...."
I am posting this for one reason and one reason only. It reinforces a concern I've had about Barack Obama for a very long time. That concern is driven by the people he has chosen to associate himself with during his adult life. Each may be able to be dismissed individually, but together they seem to represent a pattern of questionable relationships that deserves further examination.
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Comments: 67
Terrorists for Obama
Get a life.
On second thought the true answer is that I love my country and I will do everything in my power to make sure that we are not subjected to 4 more years of inept leadership. The past 8 years have brought this country to it's knees, and I say 'never again'.
Joe Vogler founder AIP and a former associate of Sarah and Todd Palin. .
Governor Palin ( “Keep up the good work,” “And God bless you.”) Palin told AIP members.
As a former fan of the Alaska Independence Party, which among its agenda is the seceding of Alaska from the U.S. in order for it to become its own country or even becoming part of Canada, it could be argued that Palin is anti American. Todd Palin was a member of this group for over seven years, until I believe it became a problem for his wife’s career. Govenor Palin has often praised this anti-America group.
Vogler, again an associate of the Palin’s, once appeared before the UN in order to denounce the U.S. and even received some support from the government of Iran.
And the McCain/Palin campaign is counting on all the bigots and racists to put them over the top.
http://fightthesmears.com/articles/5/birthcertificate
It's a laser imprint issued by the State of Hawaii, and not the original from 1961. That, I'm sure, will trigger another set of conspiracy theories from those with nothing better to do with their time. (Honestly, I'm sure I don't know where my "original" birth certificate is, or whether it has survived all these decades.)
You know, Greg, I'm a "post whatever you want" advocate, and you're welcome to it. It seems, though, that the Greg Reeson "brand" that I have long admired has slipped a bit lately. Maybe after the election things will recover. Good luck to you.
Like I said, I doubted that there was anything to it and that it was simple enough to put the issue to rest. For die hard opponents, though, an image on a web site isn't going to do it. You know it and I know it.
As for your last comment, I'm sorry to hear that. I have done a bit more in the way of providing what some other folks are saying, whether I agree with them or not. But I am trying to stay as neutral as human nature will allow.
McCain would have said something during the presidential debates. Why not talk about it, and say something directly to Obama's face? Instead, McCain recently called Obama "a decent family man." Huh?
If true, Obama should have been removed a long time ago. He would have been censored. The American people wouldn't allow it.
You are being spoon-fed this BS propaganda by people who stand to benefit economically for another 4-year Bush presidential term. People don't realize how stupid it is to vote against your own economic interest.
"His peers would have had him removed from office." Like Roberty Byrd was removed from office for his ties to the KKK? And we're not talking direct ties here. I'm referring to a pattern of questionable relationships that are fair game for scrutiny.
"...McCain recently called Obama "a decent family man." What does his relationship with his wife and children have to with it?
"You are being spoon-fed this BS propaganda by people who stand to benefit economically for another 4-year Bush presidential term." First, Bush isn't on the ballot. Second, how do you know Gaffney stands to benefit economically? Are you making an assumption?
And regarding the birth certificate. I've got one!
The comment is directly related: McCain's comments we're in response to a woman at his rally who called Obama a terrorist and an Arab.
People on this thread --that's who-- should be reading into the Republican economic policies, and who stands to benefit from them. The only assumption I'm making is that the majority on this forum do not make more than $250K per year. The writer is only one vote. I doubt his readers stand to benefit from another 4 years of Republican policies.
I'm a middle class wage earner with 4 kids; McCain will cut my taxes (actually he will cut all tax brackets). I stand to benefit from that.
Most should be voting for the candidate who will benefit them the most during the next nine years--which is what some economists predict the current crisis will last.
Good for you on your choice. They say it's a recession when your friends are out of work. It's a depression when YOU'RE out of work ; )
Exactly the same was I feel about him.
I'm also concerned about his relation with Raila Odinga. The Washington Times has an article about Obama's Kenyan Ghosts.
http://www.washtimes.com/news/2008/oct/12/obamas-kenya-ghosts/
McCain has associated with all sorts of unsavory people in his congressional career. Phil Gramm was his campaign's economic advisor, for gosh sakes. Then there's McCain's begging Rev Hagee to endorse him. Of course there's the over one hundred lobbyists on his campaign staff.
I'd prefer to judge people on what they actually do. I've seen McCain do some things that make me question his competence and integrity. Obama is hardly a saint but in my book he's ahead on points in competence and integrity.
The guilt by association game is a pleasant pastime to divert people from the actual issues in the election. If I saw convincing proof that Obama belongs to a terrorist group I might change my mind. So far all I've seen and heard is innuendo.
You are certainly entitled to an opinion of McCain, but he does not in any way have the same pattern of "associations" as Obama. And nobody said Obama belonged to a terrorist group. He merely served on two boards with and had his political coming out party at the home of a former domestic terrorist.
- Susan Crown, president of the Arie and Ida Crown Memorial; vice president of Henry Crown & Company; daughter of Lester Crown
- Patricia Albjerg Graham, president of the Spencer Foundation in Chicago (1991-2000); currently (2008) Charles Warren Professor of the History of American Education, Emerita at Harvard Graduate School of Education
- Stanley O. Ikenberry, president of the University of Illinois (1979–1995); member of the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago (1983–1995); former professor of education (1965–1971) and senior vice president (1971–1979) of Pennsylvania State University
- Handy Lindsey, Jr., executive director (1988–1997) then president (1997–2003) of the Field Foundation of Illinois; former associate director of the Chicago Community Trust (1986–1988)
- Ray Romero, vice president and general counsel of Ameritech; Chicago School Finance Authority board member (appointed in 1992 by Governor Jim Edgar); candidate in the 1996 Democratic primary for the 5th Congressional District of Illinois; winner, Crain's Chicago Business 40 Under 40 award, 1991; former Illinois Commerce Commission commissioner (appointed in 1985 by Governor Jim Thompson); former civil rights attorney
- Arnold R. Weber, president of the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago (1995–1999); member of the board of directors of the Arie and Ida Crown Memorial and the Tribune Company; former president of Northwestern University (1985–1994) and the University of Colorado (1980–1985); professor of labor economics and friend and colleague of George P. Shultz at MIT, the University of Chicago, and in the Nixon administration
- Wanda White, executive director of the Community Workshop on Economic Development; former policy director of the Women's Self-Employment Project; former deputy commissioner of economic development under Chicago Mayors Washington, Sawyer and Daley
I've seen your list of folks with Annenberg before. My issue with Obama, more than anything else, is that he seems to be hiding something. He first said Ayers was a guy who lived in his neighborhood. Then when pressed he said they served on a board together. Then it turns out it was two. Then it comes up that Obama's political coming out party was at Ayers' home.
Can you see why I don't necessarily trust what Obama is saying about this issue? Getting information from him on this topic is like chinese water torture.
What it really boils down to is this: after Ayers made his 2001 and 2003 comments about being unrepentent and wishing he had done more, did Obama continue to associate with him or make contact with him? If so, there's a problem. If not, come clean about the relationship in the 1990s instead of making people pressure him for answers and then move on to the next topic.
By the way, I may have said this before, but it's good to see you back on Gather.
What is making the news right now is his role as Saddam Hussein's handmaiden in Washington in the 1990's. It was a great job while it lasted--write up proposals, have them signed off by Tariq Aziz or Nizar Hamdoon, two of Saddam's henchmen in Baghdad, and then try to pressure the US government to ease the sanctions against Saddam's murderous regime. The real sweetener was that Timmons stood to earn his (multi-million) share of $45 million in oil revenues if his lobbying efforts were successful.
Associations...not decades ago, but right now.
The judgement of one who would be president in choosing his top advisors and administrators--perhaps that's something Obama should bring up in the debate tonight. So many questions and so little time, right, Lera?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/14/mccain-transition-chief-a_n_134595.html
Are you asking that with a straight face. He's as un-American as they come.
That's true. McCain associates with people much worse than anyone that's been tied to Obama.
Were you were to give it a peek, you'd see that this article is by Murray Waas, a Pulitzer finalist, and is well-researched. Most of the information is available from public sources, including official investigations into this mess (which resulted in the conviction of Tongsun Park, one of Timmons' pals and co-workers).
From the article:
As to Timmons' claims that he kept his distance from Vincent and Park and did not know much about what they and the Iraqis were up to, this exchange between a federal prosecutor and Vincent once again suggests otherwise:
Q: And when you returned to the United States, did you tell anyone about your visit with Saddam Hussein?
A: I told Bill Timmons and Tongsun Park.
Q: Why did you tell Bill Timmons about your visit with Saddam?
A: To let him know that we were talking to the leader of Iraq, and in essence we have access and assure him that any messages we were relaying between Iraqi and Tariq Aziz and anyone else, it was being transmitted to the president, Saddam Hussein, in Iraq.
Gramm: "This is a mental recession. We have sort of become a nation of whiners. You just hear this constant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness, America in decline... We've never been more dominant; we've never had more natural advantages than we have today."
"Are you asking that with a straight face. He's as un-American as they come." Yes, I'm asking with a straight face. Generic statements don't cut it. How is he unsavory?
"McCain associates with people much worse than anyone that's been tied to Obama." Like who?
"Nippy, I agree with your characterization of Phil Gramm, top economic advisor to the current McCain campaign, and someone who they have to keep under wraps." What do you base this characterization on? His economic philosophy? Since when does that make you unsavory?
"Gramm: "This is a mental recession...." Which McCain quickly denounced. You can't be responsible for everything that comes out of someone else's mouth. Just ask Obama.
Is that a lie or can you document two associations whose boards the two served on? Sorry to follow up but you ignored my previous comment on this. Inquiring minds want to know and all that rot.
They must have a lot of closets on the "Straight Talk Express." Ms. No-Questions-Please Ethics-Violator Palin, Mr. No-Seeum Dereg-Guy Gramm, Mr. Saddam-Employee Timmons, jeez, who else they hidin' on that bus, Greg?
It was the Woods Foundation. CNN says they served together. May not have been a board, but served together on second project.
As sort of a Palin "shout out," I have to head to choir practice so I'll have to check back for your Ayers stuff. Anyway, be well for now.
Of course some people might think that those are admirable credentials. Serial killers have groupies too.
"Phil Gramm is unsavory because he's, among other things, the source of a major cause of the economic collapse, the bill that gutted Glass-Steagall." First, you and I obviously have different definitions of unsavory. I consider Ayers and Rezko unsavory. I don't like Obama's economic plan, but that doesn't make him unsavory in my book.
"Gramm is also said to have invested in some soft core porn movies produced by his brother in law, George Caton." Is also said to have.... Please.
Isn't he a signer of the Project for the New American Century statements about the need for Global Domination by the US to be accomplished by capturing world resources so they wouldn't be available to other countries emerging to challenge our lone superpower status?
Why yes, he is. Has this group been disgraced over their intellectual overreaching of foreign policy and geopolitics regarding Iraq? Why yes it has, as evidenced by reluctant statements by other PNAC signers Richard Perle and Kenneth Adelman.
Do these guys have a history of stretching the truth with absurd abstract ideas that inspire fear? Yes they have. Should that make Gaffney's article suspect as propaganda? Yes, it should.
The piece is written by someone with a history of propaganda exploitation (Iraq war) who is using inflammatory words like “Jihadist” when characterizing a couple of people he calls “operatives” who attended an event with Obama’s Muslim outreach coordinator. Apparently this is supposed to make the reader think that President Obama will be making his Muslim outreach coordinator his Chief of Staff, and stacking his Cabinet with al-Qaeda terrorists, so we should all be afraid and not vote for him. Is that not the idea?
I’d be fascinated to hear some substance tying the words “Jihadist” and “operatives” to these individuals. And the wording makes one wonder if “attended” with these guys means that they were merely at the same function, where many other people were present, or if it means that they had dinner together, attended the function, and then spent the rest of the evening in the hot tub drinking non-alcoholic beverages.
"The piece is written by someone with a history of propaganda exploitation (Iraq war) who is using inflammatory words like “Jihadist” when characterizing a couple of people he calls “operatives” who attended an event with Obama’s Muslim outreach coordinator."
These are known Muslim Brotherhood Islamists. The author's identity doesn't change that basic fact.
"Apparently this is supposed to make the reader think that President Obama will be making his Muslim outreach coordinator his Chief of Staff, and stacking his Cabinet with al-Qaeda terrorists, so we should all be afraid and not vote for him. Is that not the idea?"
No, it's not the idea. It is one more element in a pattern of questionable folks associated with Obama and his campaign. That's it.
b) What does "operatives" mean regarding these guys?
Taking out the trash:
1. The Center for Security Policy is a far right-wing group consisting largely of employees of defense contractors and their pals in current and previous Republican administrations, notably including Dick Cheney. Gaffney's hatchet job here is so over the top as to be laughable. In his xenophobic rant, Gaffney sees a "jihadist" in anyone who looks different than himself--at least if they attempt to register to vote--horrors! Prison systems become Islamist recruiting centers; the attitude of the homeless towards the "Islamist agenda" is suspect. And an "association" with someone occurs if they've even said something about you.
2. The homeless do have the right to vote. Homeless advocacy groups, such as the National Alliance to End Homelessness, National Center on Homelessness and Poverty and the National Low Income Housing Coalition, are registering homeless voters across the country. In states such as Ohio, homeless voters can bypass restrictive ID laws by voting early.
3. Phil Gramm did invest in his brother-in-law's racy movie. The story has been reported and commented on since at least 1995, by the New Republic, Time, the Washington Post, and ABC News. Phil Gramm has admitted "losing $7,500" on the venture. The brother-in-law claims that the film wasn't hard porn, but just a titillating frontal-nudity romp.
I don't find it over the top in the sense that it fits in a pattern for Obama. I disregarded the bit about the homeless, taking it for what it was.
But the pattern for Obama is there nonetheless. All of his "associations" may be trivial and meaningless. But he has been less than forthcoming about them, which then raises eyebrows.
We all know that Chicago is the world headquarters of corruption, violence, cronyism, "Islamist" terrorism, and PhDs in education. A place to be feared. Have you shuddered today, America?
Like John Mitchell said in a different context, "Don't watch what I say. Watch what I do."