Barack Obama: Censorship We Can Believe In
Chicago’s WGN has obviously struck a nerve in the Obama campaign, judging from the extreme reaction it got to it’s 2 hour program on Obama’s ties to unrepentant Weatherman bomber, Bill Ayers.
To many questions in life, I like to apply what I call the “garden variety common sense test.” If something, after a thorough investigation, just flat out seems to defy common sense, then it is almost a lead pipe cinch that you aught to avoid it like the plague.
If I met someone at a party or some other gathering and started to get to know him by asking him questions about his family, where he went to school, where he worked and what interested him and in the course of the conversation he mentioned that he bombed several Federal buildings during his wild and crazy days as a Weatherman radical and that he only wishes he “could have done more”, the “garden variety common sense test” would tell me to look at my watch and say, “Look at the time, I’ve got to get up early tomorrow. It was good to meet you, enjoy the party.”
That would have been the first and last time I would have spoken to that “gentleman.”
The Obama campaign can moan and groan until the cows come home about how unfair all this criticism is, that it is “guilt by association.” But you know what, there are some people, who are not sorry about their past actions and indeed are proud of what they have done, you just have to walk away from, fast.
Obama did not do that. He sat on boards with this man. Ayers was an early benefactor of Obama’s political career. Obama did not walk away from this man Ayers and on that point alone, he needs to be defeated at the polls this November.
~~John Cronin~~
Chicago Tribune.Com
by John McCormick and Steve Schmadeke, updated
DENVER – Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign organized its supporters Wednesday night to confront Tribune-owned WGN-AM in Chicago for having a critic of the Illinois Democrat on its air.
“WGN radio is giving right-wing hatchet man Stanley Kurtz a forum to air his baseless, fear-mongering terrorist smears,” Obama’s campaign wrote in an e-mail to supporters. “He’s currently scheduled to spend a solid two-hour block from 9:00 to 11:00 p.m. pushing lies, distortions, and manipulations about Barack and University of Illinois professor William Ayers.”
Kurtz, a conservative writer, recently wrote an article for the National Review that looked at Obama’s ties to Ayers, a former 1960s radical who later emerged as a school reform advocate in Chicago.
The magazine had been blocked in its initial attempts to obtain records from the University of Illinois at Chicago regarding a school reform initiative called the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, which Obama chaired and Ayers co-founded.Obama critics were quick to suggest that political clout could be involved in seeking to protect Obama from embarrassment. The school later reserved its position and made the records available Tuesday.
On Wednesday evening, Obama’s campaign urged supporters to call the radio station to complain.“Tell WGN that by providing Kurtz with airtime, they are legitimizing baseless attacks from a smear-merchant and lowering the standards of political discourse,” the note said.
“It is absolutely unacceptable that WGN would give a slimy character assassin like Kurtz time for his divisive, destructive ranting on our public airwaves,” the note continued. “At the very least, they should offer sane, honest rebuttal to every one of Kurtz’s lies.”
Zack Christenson, executive producer of “Extension 720 with Milt Rosenburg,” said the response was strong.
August 28th, 2008 at 9:59 am
Very well said, John.
I would like to know more about the “Chicago Annenberg Challenge” co-founded by Ayers and Obama.
August 28th, 2008 at 10:08 am
Here’s the link to the MP3 of the show:
http://caster.wgnradio.com/podcasts/x720full-043-080827.mp3
August 28th, 2008 at 11:44 am
When you are a blank slate, it’s easy to “create” your own story (from thin air). But unfortunately for Barack, when you have a couple of skeletons in your closet, you don’t get to write every chapter from scratch, and your supporters find it increasingly difficult to project their customized vision of your reality into your visage.
Cognitive Dissonance defined.
August 28th, 2008 at 11:49 am
In case you missed it, you really need to see this:
http://www.mymanmitt.com/mitt-romney/2008/08/remote-control.asp
Close the VP countdown window, then watch the YouTube video. This is very good, and in Obama’s own words.
If you don’t already, make sure you subscribe to PlanetRomney.org (click on the Aggregate Feed on the right). It is a great aggregator of the better Pro Romney blogs.
August 28th, 2008 at 11:58 am
Frozone, the YouTube video on MyManMitt is a zinger. Excellent.
August 28th, 2008 at 11:58 am
My parents were over visiting and after some tense political talking, they left. They are voting for Obama (always a democrat I guess) and I tried to tell them about his associations with unrepentant terrorists and a few of the other bad things we know about him. My mom said she doesn’t believe it *SIG* How do you get these older people who are so stuck in their ways to see the light. They hate Bush and said with McCain, they will get 4 more years of Bush. I asked why they think that and all they could come up with was the war… they believe they need to send those troops home immediately and all that garbage. I used to think my parents were so smart LOL but they’re not.
They just have basic television so they only get the liberal MSM channels (abc, nbc, and cbs) so they only hear the left-leaning news. Many other Americans are like my parents I believe. The stuff we hear on FOX News and on Conservative radio and on the internet, these average people do not see and therefore, they don’t know. It’s very frustrating!
August 28th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Carl Cameron (FOX) just reporting from Dayton, Ohio that Camp McCain is getting ready to take off from AZ to head to Dayton. McCain still hasn’t picked a VP - but that decision is IMMINENT.
Discussion on Pawlenty freeing up his schedule for tomorrow; Romney’s schedule for tomorrow is free, and for a brief moment Colin Powell’s name surfaced again. Cameron confirmed that Powell has NOT been vetted.
IF McCain has NOT yet chosen his Veep, maybe he’ll get some inspiration when he’s “wheels up” floating in the clouds towards Ohio.
August 28th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Tami, that’s got to be a frustrating. When inaccurate information is all people gete, that’s all they know. Their generation grew up trusting completely in ABC, CBS, and NBC.
Well, it ain’t over ’til it’s over. Maybe something will happen to change their minds.
August 28th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Gustav has potential to be a MAJOR hurricane. I’m praying this storm doesn’t develop the way it is forecasted.
If Romney is the VP nominee, we know he’ll want to help his fellow Americans. We also know Mitt is no stranger to a shovel, tractor, and manual labor. He doesn’t exploit his quiet service in any way. But, what a way to show America who he really is if he gave his acceptance speech from the Gulf Coast doing what he has done before - cleaning up! The photo: wearing knee-high rubber boots, mud-caked work gloves, and carrying a shovel.
Thinking ahead, it would be great if BOTH McCain and Romney conducted most of their convention business from the affected areas - helping! Then, show up in St. Paul the last day of convention. Cindy and Ann are both tremendously charitable -show their true colors - working with Red Cross, victims, etc.
Any other ideas on how to handle the convention in light of this potentially huge natural disaster?
August 28th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
According to a Newsmax “McCain has indeed decided on his running mate, two Republican strategists in contact with McCain’s campaign said Wednesday. His decision has been revealed only to his small inner circle of three or four people — who have refused all public inquiry on the matter.”
Let’s see who it is.
August 28th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Thanks 2thepoint and yes it is very frustrating. You’re so right… that generation grew up watching and trusting those networks completely.. why shouldn’t they have. It’s news right? Little do many people know just how liberal bias those stations are.
August 28th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
SlickBarry.com Update
Barack “Barry” Obama has been called post-partisan, a new kind of politician. His record, though, looks just like that of an old Chicago insider. From backroom deals to kickbacks for friends and family, his career seems to fit right in with the mix of organized crime, big labor unions, and politics in Chicago. It’s an old Chicago adage that, whether you’re applying for a job, government contract, or to join a political campaign, you’ll be told “We don’t want nobody that nobody sent.”
Cronyism We Can Believe In By David Catron Published 8/26/2008 12:08:03 AM
It is by now well known that Michelle Obama is employed by the University of Chicago Medical Center (UCMC) and that, shortly after her husband was elected to the U.S. Senate, she was promoted to the newly created position of “Vice President for Community and External Affairs” and given a $200,000 raise. That promotion and its accompanying pay increase have been the subject of much commentary…
It would appear, however, that there may have been a far more serious ethical lapse associated with Mrs. Obama’s elevation in the UCMC organization. Last week, the Washington Post grudgingly ran a story on page A4 — under a title that curiously neglects to mention her or her husband’s name — suggesting that a political crony of Barack Obama may have received preferential treatment in a UCMC contract bidding process.
Immediately following the creation of the new position for Senator Obama’s wife, according to the Post, the medical center altered its normal bidding process for the specific purpose of inviting businessman Robert Blackwell Sr. “to join a competition to upgrade the center’s intranet, the in-house equivalent of a Web site.” Blackwell Consulting subsequently submitted a proposal and was awarded the contract for which it was paid in excess of $600,000.
THIS STORY WOULDN’T be any more scandalous than Michelle Obama’s sudden promotion were it not for Mr. Blackwell’s close connection to the man who is about to become the Democratic Presidential nominee. As the Post puts it, “Blackwell and his family…have been longtime donors to the political campaigns of Michelle Obama’s husband, Barack.” Not coincidentally, Mr. Blackwell’s son, Robert Blackwell, Jr., is a high-profile fundraiser for the Illinois Senator’s presidential campaign.
It doesn’t help appearances that the going rate for intranet upgrades rarely exceeds 10 percent of what Blackwell Consulting was evidently paid for the project in question, or that Robert Blackwell was the recipient of a state grant which he received in 2000 at the behest of a then-obscure Illinois state senator named Barack Obama. According to the Los Angeles Times, “Obama sent a request on state Senate letterhead urging Illinois officials to provide a $50,000 tourism promotion grant to another Blackwell company,” after Blackwell helped him through a difficult financial patch.