McCain: Obama is Down With Rezko

McCain hits Obama Rezko again:

AP News

"Obama needs to come clean on this deal before the election so that the voters can judge whether Obama received monetary benefits," says an automated phone call by McCain's campaign about a financial transaction between Illinois Sen. Obama and Antoin "Tony" Rezko.

Mailers to voters in swing states make similar claims, and a conservative group filed an ethics complaint Thursday with the Senate.

McCain offers no evidence of wrongdoing and raises no new allegations. He and his supporters claim Obama hasn't been forthcoming about his involvement with Rezko.

Well, not exactly. It hasn't made a big splash in the media (no surprise there) but the appraiser for the bank on this deal claims he was fired as a result of NOT delivering an appraisal that would bless the Rezko/Obama deal, specifically the value of the land next door which was possibly inflated to cover up the gift aspect. We've covered this here. Also:

The American Conservative Union filed a complaint Thursday with the Senate ethics committee alleging that Obama accepted an improper gift from Rezko and his wife. The group claims the Rezkos' purchase of the adjoining lot amounted to a gift.

There's no question in my mind that this is exactly what happened. The lot was bought at the same time, the Rezko's had no need for such a lot, and the quid pro quo was years of pork from Obama's Illinois senate seat. The lot currently sits undeveloped and may be completely useless and unbuildable. Which means that the Obama's were able to purchase a 2.6 million (asking price) to 2.3 million (selling price) property for 1.5 million, which is indeed a nice little gift.