Obama and the RNC on Rezko

Well, well, well. Nice timing. So I wonder what favors Rezko gave Obama to help him purchase that mansion in south side Chicago.

It also amazes me that all of Obama's associations are "not the person he knew." Nice judgment.

Can a man with such poor judgment and convenient loyalty really be a good president?

I THINK SOME OF THE REPORTERS SHOULD BE PUT UNDER THE MAGNIFYING GLASS TO ALONG WITH THEIR BOSSES.

ONE TO HEAR A GOOD ONE. WHAT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A LOAN SHARK AND A CREDIT CO. ANSWER NOTHING

REMEMBER KENT STATE SHOOTING? WHERE A STUDENT WAS SHOT TO DEATH. I HAVE IT FROM A RELIABLE CONFIDENT A REPORTER APPROACH THE STUDENTS THERE SETTING DOWN; TOLD THEM I CAME HERE TO GET A STORY. SO HE OFFERED THEM MONEY TO START SOME TROUBLE. THE REPORTER GOT HIS STORY IN BLOOD.

"This isn't the man I knew". We have heard this so many times from Obama as he has dropped his pastor and mentor , Jeremiah Wright, his advisor, Louis Farrakhan, his fundraiser, Tony Rezko, Father Pfleger. When will he drop Larry Sinclair, banker Alexi Giannoullas, and Michael Giorango? Maybe he should drop Michelle Obama, too. Then there were the people in his campaign who spoke secretly with the Canadian govt about NAFTA. This guy is toast. Get used to saying, "President McCain".

Rezko Found Guilty in Corruption Case
By MIKE ROBINSON,AP
Posted: 2008-06-04 18:54:02
Filed Under: Crime News, Politics News
CHICAGO (June 4) - A prominent fundraiser for Sen. Barack Obama and Gov. Rod Blagojevich was convicted Wednesday of fraud and money laundering after a high-profile federal trial provided an unusually detailed glimpse of the pay-to-play politics that has made Illinois infamous.

Antoin "Tony" Rezko, 52, showed no emotion as the jury delivered a mixed verdict that found him guilty of scheming with the government's star witness to get kickbacks out of money management firms wanting state business, but acquitted him of charges that included attempted extortion.




Paul Beaty, AP
Antoin "Tony" Rezko, a real estate developer and entrepreneur, advised Barack Obama on the purchase of a Chicago home in 2005.


The jury delivered its guilty verdict on 16 of 24 counts after a nine-week trial.

Rezko has known Obama since he entered politics and was involved in a 2005 real estate deal with the Democratic presidential candidate, although testimony barely touched on their relationship. Most of the focus was on shakedowns prosecutors said Rezko arranged when he was a top adviser to Blagojevich.

Neither Blagojevich nor Obama has been accused of wrongdoing.

Rezko's defense attorneys maintained that the government had little evidence tying him to corruption and that the star witness, admitted political fixer Stuart P. Levine, was not credible because years of drug use had damaged his memory.


What's Your Take?

Levine was a member of a state board that decided which hospitals got built and was on a panel that decided which investment firms got allocations from a $40 billion fund that pays the pensions of retired teachers.

Levine testified that Rezko, drawing on the political clout he developed as a Blagojevich fundraiser, stacked both boards with members who could be relied upon to follow orders when big-money decisions came up. Prosecutors said he used that clout to shake down companies and individuals hoping for state business for $7 million in kickbacks.

While Obama's name rarely surfaced during testimony, the case drew attention to Obama's relationship with Rezko, a man Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton derided in one televised debate as a "slum landlord."

Rezko, a real estate developer and fast-food entrepreneur, had been friendly with Obama for years, even offering him a job after Obama finished law school. Obama turned down the offer, but a political friendship developed.

Rezko donated more than $21,000 to Obama and raised far more for his campaigns in Illinois, though not his presidential bid.

He also advised Obama on the purchase of a new Chicago home and, in his wife's name, purchased a vacant lot next to the new Obama home at the same time from a couple who insisted on selling both pieces of property simultaneously. The purchase raised questions about the extent of his help.

The charges against Rezko had nothing to do with Obama, who has donated $150,000 in Rezko-related contributions to charity.

Rezko, 52, was charged with scheming with Levine to split a $1.5 million kickback from a contractor who wanted to build a hospital in northern Illinois and to shake down money management firms wanting to invest in the teacher pension fund.

Rezko denied he had anything to do with such a scheme.

Rezko attorneys claimed that once FBI wiretaps picked up Levine talking about payoffs and other corruption he needed to provide federal prosecutors with a "big fish" like Rezko in order to get a deal and avoid a possible life sentence.

Levine did make a deal with prosecutors under which instead of life he will probably get a 5½-year prison sentence and forfeit $5 million. He admitted on the stand that for 30 years he attended twice-a-month marathon drug parties, where he shared drugs including cocaine and crystal methamphetamine with male companions.

Rezko attorneys said Levine's brain had been so badly damaged that he couldn't recall what Rezko had said and done years ago

This article sounds like it was written by a disgruntled republican.

NOTHING LIKE A POISON PEN AND IMPLIED SPECULATION TO SLANDER SOME ONE WITH OUT ALL THE FACTS AND POLITICAL ASSIGNATION WITH WORDS OF HALF TRUTHS PAID BY BIG MONEY.

A picture of Bill Ayers and a short stocky man in a light tan colored jacket (a long with several others) was on TV and then on another station a picure of Obama with the I believe the same man at a rally. Anyone know who he is????? Also what about the supposed tape mentioned this week of Michelle Obama????

The more perfect one is, the more obvious the flaws.
A pile of rotting garbage in a dump is never noticed, a cigarette burn in a white rug stands out...Sad how life is sometimes...

Why is Obama's memory so poor regarding his friends?
He doesn't seem to know who they are or what they stand for. If these are his friends, I'd hate to meet his enemies.

I have never been so ashamed of being an American. Some of you people on here just reek of prejudice and hate. As an African American woman, I know the struggl es of the "poor" working class. I am educated, have worked since I was 15 years old, have a family and still.....have nothing. As Obama says, it IS TIME FOR A CHANGE. Wake up people there is no room for racially motivated bigotry in this world like I have read on here tonight. God Bless us ALL...we sure in the hell need it.

A lot of superdelegates are elected officials. If your superdelegates, like Ted Kennedy and John Kerry, endorsed Obama when Hillary won the state vote, you might want to let them know you're unhappy when they stand for reelection. After all, they don't care what you want so they don't really represent you. Here's a link to ALL the superdelegate endorsements.

http://demconwatch.blogspot.com/2008/01/superdelegate-list.html

Hillary or McCain 08

Senator Obama said, "I've known him for a long time. I assumed I would have seen a pattern [of corrupt behavior] over the past 15 years."

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Obama has known Rev Wright and Father Pfleger even longer than he's known Rezco. And he didn't know about their racist, hate filled anti-American rhetoric. How can he select a VP or a cabinet? If it takes him this long to realize these folks aren't "the people he knew", than who does he know well enough to trust with the business of running our country. This is indee a scary man.

Hillary or McCain 08

Welcome to the wonderful world of Chicago politics where Barack Hussein Obama's political career was birthed. Look at all the Wonderful teachers he has had there. If he gives up anymore of his associates he will be friendless. This is not a person to be trusted, and do you really want Chicago running things?

Tony Rezko.
Rev Wright.
Father Pfleger.
Trinity United.

They all "are not the same ______ Obama once knew".

That's alot of "Change" in a short period of time.

OKAY MIZZ WASHINGTON- You said, "Some of you people on here just reek of prejudice and hate."

You sound like you're referring to Jeremiah Wright- or have you forgotten his bigoted, hate-filled, Anti-American racist tirades?

You speak of the"poor working class." People who are considered "poor" in this country own houses, cars, T.V.'s, DVD players, cell phones, cable TV, etc. In fact , the so-called "poor" in this country have a better standard of living than the majority of people living in Europe (which is socialist- the type of government we will have to endure if Obama is President). You want to see some poor people , go visit Mexico City. I went there years ago, and saw poverty at it's worst.

You say there is no room for racially motivated bigotry in this world. I guess Barack doesn't have to comply with your standards of racism and bigotry, otherwise you would be condemning statements he made in his books-

"I ceased to advertise my mother's race at the age of twelve or thirteen, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites."

"The hate hadn't gone away- blaming white people, some cruel, some ignorant, sometimes a single face, sometimes just a faceless image of a system claiming power over our lives."

You say you have worked since you were fifteen,and you have a family, but you have nothing. I guess it's the duty of the taxpayers in this country to cover your poor choices in life that has led to your presumed poverty. I have a feeling that, if you had paid attention in class, learned marketable skills, worked hard and taken pride in yourself and your abilities, you would now be very critical of the government forcibly taking your hard-earned pay to take care of the underachievers in this country.

You are an unpatriotic bigoted hypocrite. You need to knock that entitlement chip off your shoulder and try to be part of the solution, instead of the problem.

I don't feel hatred towards anyone, but people like you literally make me sick.

So what? Rezco won't have any effect on Obama fans. They're way too pixillated to bother with such minor things as repeated lack of sound judgment by their savior. It's charisma that counts, and appealing buzzwords like "hope" and "change", and unfulfillable promises. Sad and disgusting.