Barack Obama Elected President!

[Roman]

And now, the ENTIRE article:

"Obama has no background in economics. Who advises him? The Post says it's Franklin Raines, for "advice on mortgage and housing policy." Shocking. Under Raines, Fannie Mae committed "extensive financial fraud." Raines made millions. Fannie Mae collapsed. Taxpayers? Stuck with the bill."

--McCain video release, September 18, 2008.

An already nasty presidential election campaign is getting nastier. The meltdown on Wall Street has touched off frantic attempts by both the McCain and Obama camps to secure political advantage and indulge in guilt by association. Over the last 24 hours, both campaigns have issued video press releases (let's not call them ads until they actually air somewhere) attempting to show that the other side's "advisers" are somehow responsible for the crisis. The latest McCain attack is particularly dubious.

The Facts

The McCain video attempts to link Obama to Franklin Raines, the former CEO of the bankrupt mortgage giant, Fannie Mae, who also happens to be African-American. It then shows a photograph of an elderly white woman taxpayer who has supposedly been "stuck with the bill" as a result of the "extensive financial fraud" at Fannie Mae.

The Obama campaign last night issued a statement by Raines insisting, "I am not an advisor to Barack Obama, nor have I provided his campaign with advice on housing or economic matters." Obama spokesman Bill Burton went a little further, telling me in an e-mail that the campaign had "neither sought nor received" advice from Raines "on any matter."

So what evidence does the McCain campaign have for the supposed Obama-Raines connection? It is pretty flimsy, but it is not made up completely out of whole cloth. McCain spokesman Brian Rogers points to three items in the Washington Post in July and August. It turns out that the three items (including an editorial) all rely on the same single conversation, between Raines and a Washington Post reporter, Anita Huslin, who wrote a Style section profile of the discredited Fannie Mae boss that appeared on July 16. The profile reported that Raines, who retired from Fannie Mae four years ago, had "taken calls from Barack Obama's presidential campaign seeking his advice on mortgage and housing policy matters."

Since this has now become a campaign issue, I asked Huslin to provide the exact circumstances of the quote. She explained that she was chatting with Raines during the photo shoot, and asked "if he was engaged at all with the Democrats' quest for the White House. He said that he had gotten a couple of calls from the Obama campaign. I asked him about what, and he said 'oh, general housing, economy issues.' ('Not mortgage/foreclosure meltdown or Fannie-specific,' I asked, and he said 'no.')"

By Raines's own account, he took a couple of calls from someone on the Obama campaign, and they had some general discussions about economic issues. I have asked both Raines and the Obama people for more details on these calls, and will let you know if I receive a reply.

The Pinocchio Test

The McCain campaign is clearly exaggerating wildly in attempting to depict Franklin Raines as a close adviser to Obama on "housing and mortgage policy." If we are to believe Raines, he did have a couple of telephone conversations with someone in the Obama campaign. But that hardly makes him an adviser to the candidate himself--and certainly not in the way depicted in the McCain video release.

[ReddFoxx]

Obama holds a B.A. in political science with specialization on international relations from Columbia, plus while in the Senate he's been on the Foreign Relations Committee and chaired the subcommittee on Europe, while John McCain has made several gaffes on the issue of foreign affairs, including one about Spain and another about the status of Czechoslovakia.

[Wales2004]

Exactly. This has been refuted but apparently the truth takes a very long time to travel back to the Republican Information Tank.....or maybe their whole system has been overloaded with lies to the point that false = true.

And then there is this gem.....which I give a million stars today!!!

Now that we put to bed Obama's qualifications (he's a banking expert because he's been in the bank and can see them all across the country ). Is McCain irrelevant becoming irrelevant on his own ticket?

[George008]

So did Raines not provide advise to the Obama camp? I think that makes him an advisor...

How many more people are going to be thrown under the bus by Obama?

I hardly talked to Raines...I didn't know Jeremiah Wright had those views...I am not friends with Bill Ayers...

And some say John McCain sold his sole to win the election by selecting Palin..

I guess it's okay for Obama to throw out his friendships and advisements when it's politically expediant.

[Roman]

:lol: :lol:

I had to stop laughing before I posted.

[Roman]

So, Obama is giving a speech at a woman's rally, when a group of Black americans stand up and start heckling his rally.

"Black People Against Obama".

[George008]

Obama has a piece of paper and a couple of years on a commitee, while John McCain has hands on experience. He served as a Naval Officer for 20+ years in several international posts, not to mention a combat post in Vietnam. McCain has also served on several committees, if that is an important qualification for you.

Fact of the matter is, Obama is the least qualified Presidential candidate in the last 100 years.

But if you feel he is worth the gamble, then by all means, take it.

I'm going with a proven leader, that has actually done what he says he will do.

[Wales2004]

And let's just throw in Keating Five which isn't one of those Obama like guilt by associations but a case of actual guilt on the part of McCain.

The one area in which I have definite respect for Obama supporters is in their ability to see the fault in their own candidate. I fail to see through the same vision of those McCain supporters who keep up this facade of perfection when it comes to McCain. It's difficult to face up to his faults and if that ever happens it will come with and this is what Obama did to try to negate it.

I'd rather have a discussion with people in which we may disagree on things but there is mutual respect than to have a pseudo debate with anyone who always has to be right, looks down upon my attempts tp keep up with his/her superior intelligence, has to play tit for tat (even with the wrong tat), and who is content to defend lies.

I commend all of you who have the patience to do what I cannot and I want to throw in how great it is that Barack Obama didn't change his name to fit into some mold that may have shielded him from it being used as an instrument of fear. Courage comes in many different forms.

[ReddFoxx]

That was so ridiculous, they were holding up signs saying Obama was endorsed by the KKK, which makes absolutely no sense at all.

[George008]

Good for them.

[Roman]

A piece of paper.

So I guess Sarah Palin has the same "piece of paper" that she went to 6 different colleges to get.

That was very dismissive of people who worked their asses off to get degrees in anything. Sarah Palin and Barack Obama included.

Just my opinion.

[George008]

When has anyone ever, in this thread, as an Obama supporter said anything close to negative about the man?

[Wales2004]

I can't say what I was going but I can say that this disproves the notion that black people share a universal brain and that one can speak for all.

[Roman]

You saw that bullshit too, Redd?

I just shook my head. McCain voted against MLK's holiday, but Obama is the turncoat.

And what is the proof that Obama is endorsedby the Klan? What [!@#$%^&*] sense does that make? These folks sound like they hit that African Gungee '65 weed before they walked into the autotorium.

But, it's their constitutional right to protest, whether we agree or not.

[George008]

Sarah Palin is not a Presidential nominee...I am tired of comparing her to Obama..Let's compare Biden to Palin and Obama to McCain...

I know its easier to compare the Democratic presidential nominee to the Republican vice-presidential nominee, but that's not as it should be.

I have a degree in Political Science too...no lie...Should I be president?

Who has put up that notion??