February 17, 2008

Dirt on Barack Obama: Exelon, Tony Rezko, William Ayers, Rashid Khalidi

The Queen's minions have been busy digging up dirt on the Man of Hope. First up is Larry Johnson with this warning about Barack Obama's links to three questionable figures: Tony Rezko, William Ayers, and Rashid Khalidi. The first will go on trial later this month, the second is a self-admitted terrorist, the third an alleged "PLO activist".

Earlier this month, the New York Times offered "Nuclear leaks, response tested Obama in Senate". Nuclear plants run by Exelon Corporation in Illinois leaked radioactive materials into the groundwater. Obama highlighted legislation he supported that required plants to notify authorities when even minor leaks occur, and he boasted about it in his infamous speeches:

A close look at the path his legislation took tells a very different story. While he initially fought to advance his bill, even holding up a presidential nomination to try to force a hearing on it, Mr. Obama eventually rewrote it to reflect changes sought by Senate Republicans, Exelon and nuclear regulators. The new bill removed language mandating prompt reporting and simply offered guidance to regulators, whom it charged with addressing the issue of unreported leaks... Those revisions propelled the bill through a crucial committee. But, contrary to Mr. Obama’s comments in Iowa, it ultimately died amid parliamentary wrangling in the full Senate.

As NBC's Lisa Myers reports here, employees of Exelon are Obama's fourth-largest contributor, having given him $269,000. Taylor Marsh has more here.

UPDATE: More dirt here:

In his books, Obama admits attending "socialist conferences" and coming into contact with Marxist literature. But he ridicules the charge of being a "hard-core academic Marxist," which was made by his colorful and outspoken 2004 U.S. Senate opponent, Republican Alan Keyes.

However, through [his childhood mentor] Frank Marshall Davis, Obama had an admitted relationship with someone who was publicly identified as a member of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). The record shows that Obama was in Hawaii from 1971-1979, where, at some point in time, he developed a close relationship, almost like a son, with Davis, listening to his "poetry" and getting advice on his career path. But Obama, in his book, Dreams From My Father, refers to him repeatedly as just "Frank."

The reason is apparent: Davis was a known communist who belonged to a party subservient to the Soviet Union. In fact, the 1951 report of the Commission on Subversive Activities to the Legislature of the Territory of Hawaii identified him as a CPUSA member. What’s more, anti-communist congressional committees, including the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), accused Davis of involvement in several communist-front organizations...

UPDATE 2: Here are even more Obama issues.

Posted to Politics at February 17, 2008 03:42 PM