Hillary has been warning since Obama started winning that he hasn't been "vetted" like she has, and a story making some waves today is a Bloomberg piece that explores the Obama Chicago connections that may cause him problems.
One is Rezko. One is a banker Obama supported for state treasurer whose bank turned out to have loaned some money to criminals. One is the minister of Obama's church, who has been labelled an anti-Semite by some because a church magazine ran an article praising Louis Farrakhan.
The final one is Bill Ayers (left) -- a former, unrepentant leader of the 1960s radical Weather Underground who is now an education professor in Illinois. Ayers, the piece says, gave $200 to Obama in 2001 and served on the board of an anti-poverty group with him for three years.
If receiving $200 and serving on a poverty board with a formerly radical professor is perilous, what about being married to a guy who actually granted clemency to two 1960s radicals who had actually been convicted of federal crimes?
That would be Bill Clinton, who in 2001 commuted the sentences of Susan Rosenberg (right), a Weather Underground member who was convicted on explosives charges and had been linked to the Brinks truck robbery conspiracy, and also Linda Sue Evans, who had been serving a 40-year sentence for weapons violations and for her role in a conspiracy to bomb the US Capitol.
Of course, there would be questions about whether these were in the category of Clinton administration actions where Hillary was a big player (the booming economy, Macedonian and Irish peacemaking, children's health care) or the ones where she was secretly opposed or disengaged (NAFTA, not getting bin Laden). Maybe her amazing streak of being involved in only the good things in the Clinton WH would continue.
But still -- if this is what she means when she says Obama hasn't been vetted, it just doesn't seem like a big winner on the Clinton side.
Comments (3)
Here is John Riley being John Riley again. Objective as usual.
Funny how someone who works for a newspaper that lied about circulation and has seen many of their executives go to jail can cast a stone from his glass house.
Guess I know who John wants to win this race.
the Rosenberg link to the Brinks robbery is incredibly thin...probably not true or the FBI would have vetoed the pardon. she did more than her fair time and her release was merit based for sure
What was the so-called proof that Susan Rosenberg was involved in the Brinks robbery? A car that was actively used by teachers in the NY Women's School, anti-war movement activists and other progressive and nonprofit workers was stolen from its owner and used as a getaway car for Brinks. This car had fingerprints of dozens of people in and on it, including Susan Rosenberg's. These fingerprints have long been misused to "link" Susan to Brinks in lieu of any real proof. She has always denied any involvement in Brinks while admitting to other crimes. There were many eyewitnesses to Brinks and many people arrested and convicted on real evidence. Susan Rosenberg demanded the government give her a trial on the Brinks charges, they didn't because they had no proof and a trial would prove this. In America people are innocent until proven guilty -- esp. when a blow hard, vindictive, anti-activist prosecutor, Guiliani, is doing the accusing.