Iraqi Reporter Throws not one, but both shoes at President Bush

On Saturday evening, Bush departed Washington D.C. for a surprise farewell love tour.  It appears that Bush approval rating is even less in Iraq than here at home.   He's loved even less there as an Iraqi reporter threw not one, but both shoes at the President today at a press conference in one of Saddam Hussein's former palaces.  Now that's what you call respect.   Muntadar al-Zeidi is a correspondent for Al-Baghdadia television which is an Iraqi-owned station based in Cairo, Egypt.  

Apparently, Bush - you are not as loved anywhere you go.  You have given us shame as a nation.

"We Have a Lot of Work to Do"

America. We did it.

As I reflect on this historic moment in American history, I recall one moment in my career when I was managing the preparation of our attendance to one of the largest trade shows in in the world called CeBit, held in Hanover, Germany.   This particular show took place just after the U.S. came to the aid of Kuwait and driving Iraq back in the first Gulf War.  Months earlier, we were warned by the State Department to take added precautions and to be alert.  We were all a little nervous about attending this show, but decided to go anyways.  A number of bigger companies pulled out and while at the show, we noticed those empty booth spaces.

When we got to the show, we got an invitation by American Embassy to a huge, onsite party thanking us for being there and to celebrate our victory in Iraq.  I can still hear the song "Born in the U.S.A." by Bruce Springstein pumping from the sound system.   The pride of being an American was overwhelming.  Germans and other Europeans from the same massive building joined in in the festivities.  It was truly a moving moment. 

When I left that fair, it felt good to be an American.  Our cause was a good one.  I also felt that people all around the world looked to America for inspiration.   Things changed not that long afterwards.   We were attached and politics became very divided.  I haven't felt the pride I felt in Hanover, Germany in a long time.   As time passed, I saw our constitutional rights as Americans slowly chiseled away.   I felt the world turn away from America.  I was hearing that America was arrogant, a nation taking on the world by itself, with absolutely no respect for what others felt or feared.  We cut ties with those who did not get in line.   I heard our leaders say, "You are either with us, or not". 

As a citizen, I felt that America had been hijacked from me.  I didn't feel part of this new world order, and wasn't proud of it either.  My flag, our nation, the spirit had all been taken away by the party in charge.  These American symbols somehow became the new symbol of the party in charge.  It felt horrible.  I can't tell you how isolated I felt as an American.   I can't tell you the shame I felt being an American to the rest of the world.

Things began to change however when the campaign began.  For the first time in 8 years, I felt hope again.  When Obama went on a European tour, I was so surprised to see the crowds that he drew at the Victory Column at Tiergarten Park in Berlin, where he drew a crowd of more than 200,000.  This was Germany giving their support to Obama - well before American was willing to support him fully.  Seeing this, I had hope - real hope for a change.  I saw the young become engaged and get involved.  It was exciting. 

I still wasn't fully sold on the Obama story - not until he spoke at the Democratic National Convention and excepted the nomination to be the Democratic presidential hopeful.  Throughout the entire campaign, Obama has been attached from every angle - even those in his own party.  Throughout it all, Obama has kept his head held high, remained cool, and held an election like no other that I have ever witnessed.  A friend told me this morning that Obama was "James Bond" cool.  I couldn't have said it better.

The entire world was watching last night.  Last night, changed everything.  America spoke with RECORD shattering results at the polls.  Never in Americas history has there been such huge turnouts.  NEVER.  Never before, has a black man ever made it to even being considered to run as President, but last night, for the first time, we have a black man as President of the United States, and yet, we voted for the man - not the color of his skin.  

There is a spirit here that has re-awoken - that being that anything is still possible in America.  I am again proud to be an American.  I live in Florida, which for ages, as been a Red Conservative state.  Last night, like so many other previously red states, voted as a Blue state.  

A historic milestone has been overcome.  I feel proud once again that I am an American.  I have hope - even in a time where we face many challenges.  I have hope - not only for America, but for the world.  

Phil 

McCain campaign worker LIES about mutilation claims

Last Wednesday evening, Ashley Todd, a 20-year-old white volunteer for John McCain’s presidential campaign, says she was mugged at an ATM machine in Pittsburgh (my hometown) by a big black man.  She further says he threw her down, then disfigured her by carving the letter “B” into her face with a sharp implement when he saw that she supported McCain, not Barack Obama.

The shocking news and photos were instantly broadcast around the world.   Police however, weren't so sure after viewing the "B" was drawn backwards on her face, as if it was scratched in her face while in front of a mirror.  As it turns out, the entire story was a LIE and totally fabricated.

Wassup - Are you better off today than 8 years ago?

Its been eight long years since the boys said wassup to each other.  Even with the effects of a down economy and imminent change in the White House, the boys are still able to come together and stay true to what really matters.

This one is classic, and yet so true in so many ways...  Enjoy

Alaskan Senator Ted Steven's found guilty on seven criminal counts

Ted Stevens Guilty

Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), a giant of Senate politics and a legend in Alaska, has been guilty on seven criminal charges stemming from concealing more than $250,000 in gifts and renovations to his home in Alaska, primarily from wealthy friend Bill Allen, the former head of an Alaska oilfield services company - Veco.  Stevens' son Ben has also been swept up in a corruption scandal.  Each count carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.   

Stevens becomes the becomes the fifth U.S. senator ever to be convicted of a crime.  The 84-year old senator - the longest-serving Republican in Senate history, will continue to run re-election for his eighth term in Senate against Democratic challenger Mark Begich, which is virtually tied at this point.  Why Alaskan's would continue to vote for a convicted criminal is beyond me, or why a criminals are not immediately banned from running from public office.  I only hope that is benefits are stripped away.

Alaska Gov. and VP nominee Sarah Palin did not call on Steven's to resigns but added in a statement:  "I'm confident Sen. Steven's will do what's right for the people of Alaska."

Hmm !!!.   Not exactly sure what she's trying to say, but she has managed to make an important topic fuzzy as can be.  Sarah - what exactly do you think needs to happen to this convicted criminal, and why aren't you saying it clear as a bell.     

Stevens, the top-ranking Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, which determines where and how to dole out federal dollars, the Alaskan has used his position to pour money into his home state, take care of his friends, and punish his enemies.

Between 1995 and 2008, Stevens directed more than $3.3 billion in pet projects, or "earmarks,'' toward his state, according to Citizens Against Government Waste, a Washington-based nonprofit advocacy group.  The organization calculated that in 2006, the federal money amounted to almost $500 per person in Alaska, whose population is just 670,000.  

View 2008 federal earmarks per capita 

Source: U.S. Office of Management and Budget

Vote for a Change on Nov. 4. 

Palin's Video Blog

This is a classic clip showing the many faces of Sarah Palin.

Republicans and Conservatives Endorsing Barack

Elected Officials: 

William Weld, Former Governor of Massachusetts

"It's not often you get a guy with his combination of qualities, chief among which I would say is the deep sense of calm he displays, and I think that's a product of his equally deep intelligence."

Jim Leach, Former Congressman from Iowa

"For me, the national interest comes before party concerns, particularly internationally.  We do need a new direction in American policy, and Obama has a sense of that."

Lincoln Chafee, Former United States Senator from Rhode Island

"As I look at the candidates in order who to vote for, certainly my kind of conservatism was reflected with Senator Obama, and those points are that we're fiscally conservative, we care about revenues matching expenditures, we also care about the environment, I think it's a traditional conservative value to care about clean air and clean water."

Arne Carlson, Former Governor of Minnesota

"I think we have in Barack Obama the clear possibility of a truly great president.  I would contend that it's the most important election of my lifetime."  

Wayne Gilchrest, Congressman from Maryland

"We can't use four more years of the same kind of policy that's somewhat haphazard, which leads to recklessness."

Larry Pressler, Former Senator from South Dakota

"I just got the feeling that Obama will be able to handle this financial crisis better, and I like his financial team of [former Treasury Secretary Robert] Rubin and [former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul] Volcker better."

Richard Riordan, Former Mayor of Los Angeles

"I'm still a Republican, but I still will always vote for the person who I think will do the best job."

Lowell Weicker, Former Governor and Senator from Connecticut

"At issue is not the partisan politics of two parties, rather the image we have of ourselves as Americans.  Senator Obama brings wisdom, kindness, and common sense to what is both his and our quest for a better America."

Jim Whitaker, Fairbanks, Alaska Mayor

"If we are as a nation concerned with energy, then our consideration should be a national energy policy that is not predicated on crude oil 50 years into the future.  We need to get to it, and I think Barack Obama is very clear in that regard."

Linwood Holton, Former Governor of Virginia

"Obama has a brain, and he isn't afraid to use it."

Government Officials: 

Colin Powell, Secretary of State under Bush 43 

"...he has met the standard of being a sucessful president, being an exceptional president.  I think he is a transformational figure.  He is a new generation coming into the world-- onto the world state, onto the American stage, and for that reason I'll be voting for Senator Barack Obama."

Douglas Kmiec, Head of the Office of Legal Counsel under Reagan & Bush 41 

"I was first attracted to government by Ronald Reagan, who lives in our national memory as a great leader and an inspiring communicator.  Senator Obama has these gifts as well, but of course, more rhetorical flourish without substance would be worth little.  Is there more to Senator Obama?  I believe there is."

Charles Fried, Solicitor General of the United States under Reagan

"I admire Senator McCain and was glad to help in his campaign, and to be listed as doing so; but when I concluded that I must vote for Obama for the reason states in my letter, I felt it wrong to appear to be recommending to others a vote that I was not prepared to cast myself."  

Jackson M. Andrews, Republican Counsel to the U.S. Senate

"Barack Obama is a thoughtful visionary leader who as President will end the decline of American law, liberty, and fiscal responsibility that are the hallmarks of the extremist policies of the current Administration, now adopted by John McCain."  

Susan Eisenhower, Granddaughter of President Eisenhower & President of the Eisenhower Group

"Given Obama's support among young people, I believe that he will be most invested in defending the interests of these rising generations and, therefore, the long-term interests of this nation as a whole."

Francis Fukuyama, Advisor to President Reagan

"...Obama probably has the greatest promise of delivering a different kind of politics."

Rita Hauser, Former White House intelligence advisor under George W. Bush 

"McCain will continue the wrong-headed foreign policy decisions of Bush, while Obama will take us in a new direction."

Larry Hunter, Former President Reagan Policy Advisor

"I suspect Obama is more free-market friendly than he lets on.  He taught at the University of Chicago, a hotbed of right-of-center thought.  His economic advisers, notably Austan Goolsbee, recognize that ordinary citizens stand to gain more from open markets than from government meddling."

Scott McClellan, Former Press Secretary to President George W. Bush

"From the beginning I have said I am going to support the candidate that has the best chance for changing the way Washington works and getting things done and I will be voting for Barack Obama and clapping."

Bill Ruckelshaus, served in the Nixon and Reagan administrations

"I'm not against McCain, I'm for Obama."

Ken Adelman, served in the Ford administration

"The most important decision John McCain made in his long campaign was deciding on a running mate.  That decision showed appalling lack of judgment... that selection contradicted McCain's main two, and best two, themes for his campaign-- Country First, and experience counts.  Neither can he credibly claim, post-Palin pick."

Lilibet Hagel, Wife of Republican Senator Chuck Hagel

"This election is not about fighting phantom issues churned out by a top-notch slander machine.  Most important, it is not about distracting the public-- you and me-- with whatever slurs someone thinks will stick."

Columnists and Academics:

Jeffrey Hart, National Review Senior Editor  

"It turns out that these political parties are not always either liberal or conservative, Democratic or Republican.  The Democrat, under certain conditions, can be the conservative."

Andrew Bacevich, Professor of International Relations at Boston University

"For conservatives, Obama represents a sliver of hope.  McCain represents none at all.  The choice turns out to be an easy one."

David Friedman, Economist and son of Milton and Rose Friedman

"I hope Obama wins.  President Bush has clearly been a disaster from the standpoint of libertarians and conservatives because he has presided over an astonishing rise in government spending."

Christopher Buckley, Son of National Review founder William F. Buckley & former NR columnist

"Obama has in him-- I think, despite his sometimes airy-fairy 'We are the people we have been waiting for' silly rehtoric-- the potential to be a good, perhaps even great leader.  He is, it seems clear enough, what the historical moment seems to be calling for."

Andrew Sullivan, Columnist for the Atlantic Monthly

"Obama's legislative record, speeches, and the way he has run his campaign reveal, I think, a very even temperament, a very sound judgment, and an intelligent pragmatism.  Prudence is a word that is not inappropriate to him."

Wick Alison, Former publisher of the National Review

"I made the maximum donation to John McCain during the primaries, when there was still hope he might come to his senses.  But I now see that Obama is almost the ideal candidate for this moment in American history."

Michael Smerconish, Columnist for the Philadelphia Enquirer

"...an Obama presidency holds the greatest chance for unifying us here at home and restoring our prestige around the globe."

CC Goldwater, Granddaughter of Barry Goldwater

"Nothing about the Republican tickets offers the hope America needs to regain its standing in the world, that's why we're going to support Barack Obama."

Jack Cafferty Tells Us How He Really Feels About Sarah Palin

Matt Damon Rips Sarah Palin

Palin's 'going rogue,' McCain aide says

The rats are starting to devour one another.

From Dana Bash, Peter Hamby and John King CNN

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (CNN) -- With 10 days until Election Day, long-brewing tensions between GOP vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin and key aides to Sen. John McCain have become so intense, they are spilling out in public, sources say.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin speaks at a rally in Sioux City, Iowa, on Saturday.

Several McCain advisers have suggested to CNN that they have become increasingly frustrated with what one aide described as Palin "going rogue."

A Palin associate, however, said the candidate is simply trying to "bust free" of what she believes was a damaging and mismanaged roll-out.

McCain sources say Palin has gone off-message several times, and they privately wonder whether the incidents were deliberate. They cited an instance in which she labeled robocalls -- recorded messages often used to attack a candidate's opponent -- "irritating" even as the campaign defended their use. Also, they pointed to her telling reporters she disagreed with the campaign's decision to pull out of Michigan.

A second McCain source says she appears to be looking out for herself more than the McCain campaign.

"She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone," said this McCain adviser. "She does not have any relationships of trust with any of us, her family or anyone else.

"Also, she is playing for her own future and sees herself as the next leader of the party. Remember: Divas trust only unto themselves, as they see themselves as the beginning and end of all wisdom."

A Palin associate defended her, saying that she is "not good at process questions" and that her comments on Michigan and the robocalls were answers to process questions.

But this Palin source acknowledged that Palin is trying to take more control of her message, pointing to last week's impromptu news conference on a Colorado tarmac.

Tracey Schmitt, Palin's press secretary, was urgently called over after Palin wandered over to the press and started talking. Schmitt tried several times to end the unscheduled session.

"We acknowledge that perhaps she should have been out there doing more," a different Palin adviser recently said, arguing that "it's not fair to judge her off one or two sound bites" from the network interviews.

The Politico reported Saturday on Palin's frustration, specifically with McCain advisers Nicolle Wallace and Steve Schmidt. They helped decide to limit Palin's initial press contact to high-profile interviews with Charlie Gibson of ABC and Katie Couric of CBS, which all McCain sources admit were highly damaging.

In response, Wallace e-mailed CNN the same quote she gave the Politico: "If people want to throw me under the bus, my personal belief is that the most honorable thing to do is to lie there."

But two sources, one Palin associate and one McCain adviser, defended the decision to keep her press interaction limited after she was picked, both saying flatly that she was not ready and that the missteps could have been a lot worse.

They insisted that she needed time to be briefed on national and international issues and on McCain's record.

"Her lack of fundamental understanding of some key issues was dramatic," said another McCain source with direct knowledge of the process to prepare Palin after she was picked. The source said it was probably the "hardest" to get her "up to speed than any candidate in history."

Schmitt came to the back of the plane Saturday to deliver a statement to traveling reporters: "Unnamed sources with their own agenda will say what they want, but from Gov. Palin down, we have one agenda, and that's to win on Election Day."

Yet another senior McCain adviser lamented the public recriminations.

"This is what happens with a campaign that's behind; it brings out the worst in people, finger-pointing and scapegoating," this senior adviser said.

This adviser also decried the double standard, noting that Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama's running mate, Sen. Joe Biden, has gone off the reservation as well, most recently by telling donors at a fundraiser that America's enemies will try to "test" Obama.

Tensions like those within the McCain-Palin campaign are not unusual; vice presidential candidates also have a history of butting heads with the top of the ticket.

John Edwards and his inner circle repeatedly questioned Sen. John Kerry's strategy in 2004, and Kerry loyalists repeatedly aired in public their view that Edwards would not play the traditional attack dog role with relish because he wanted to protect his future political interests.

Even in a winning campaign like Bill Clinton's, some of Al Gore's aides in 1992 and again in 1996 questioned how Gore was being scheduled for campaign events.

Jack Kemp's aides distrusted the Bob Dole camp and vice versa, and Dan Quayle loyalists had a list of gripes remarkably similar to those now being aired by Gov. Palin's aides.

With the presidential race in its final days and polls suggesting that McCain's chances of pulling out a win are growing slim, Palin may be looking after her own future.

"She's no longer playing for 2008; she's playing 2012," Democratic pollster Peter Hart said. "And the difficulty is, when she went on 'Saturday Night Live,' she became a reinforcement of her caricature. She never allowed herself to be vetted, and at the end of the day, voters turned against her both in terms of qualifications and personally." 

Obama's Election Day Loss Traced To Phil Parker

• Obama looses by one vote

• Phil Parker put into protective custody

• Courts seek harsh punishment for Parker

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"Some people say" is not a good source for news

There is a growing number of news sources that are using the phrase "Some people say" as their way of authenticating the story being covered.   When you hear this, you should question the source, which is almost every case, doesn't exist.  How can this be good journalism?

"Some people say" isn't a good source for news - period. 

McCain camp to donate Palin's $150k wardrobe after elections

I have good news for Palin supporters.  

It appears that the McCain campaign intends to donate Sarah Palin's $150,000 wardrobe to charity after the campaign.  I can't believe how thoughtful those guys are considering tens of thousands are loosing their homes and jobs.  

The items that might make their way to charity include $75,062 spent at Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis and $41,850 in St. Louis in early September. The committee also reported spending $4,100 for makeup and hair consulting.  They sure are generation with it comes to helping those who are less fortunate.

You see, Palin is just like what she says she is, the average, run of the mill Soccer Mom. 

They're putting a new spin on "Share the wealth" I guess.   Good for them.   God bless America !!!

Full story at Germany's Welt Online

McCain - what did he just say?

Talk about a brain fart.  

Obama to meeting with rouge states

How many times have we heard McCain tell the American public that Obama would meet with rouge heads of states without "pre-conditions" and how dangerous and foolish that would be for America.   

Now hear the facts, and more importantly, listen to the experts.

The Great Schlep

This clip is very popular down here in Southern Florida.   It's a great piece by Sarah Silverman called the Great Schlep.  It aims to have Jewish grandchildren visit their grandparents in Florida, educate them about Obama, and therefore swing the crucial Florida vote in his favor. Don’t have grandparents in Florida? Not Jewish? No problem! You can still become a schlepper and make change happen in 2008, simply by talking to your relatives about Obama.

Who counts the vote

Colin Powell endorses Obama.

Colin Powell admits to being good friends with Senator John McCain, but for the past two weeks, he has leaned toward Obama. The following clip is Colin Powell announcing to the press core why he made this choice. The most powerful moment (3:36) of his official endorsement describes how Powell viewed McCain's negative attacks on Obama on so many various fronts, and how he saw that these attacks were being watched by the entire world and was continuing to harm our reputation around the globe. He noted that while McCain would be a good leader, he felt that we could do better with Obama and why. It's a really informative and intellectual conversation with this former statesman.

McCain support for Bush strong - very strong

"Senator Obama, I'm not President, so if you wanted to run against him, you should have run against him in 2004."   

Oh yeah Mr. McCain?  You did everything you could to get him elected, and then elected again.  Now, considering that you voted with him 90% of the time, I'd say you were 90% of what Bush stands for - a total failure.

Who really is Joe the Plumber?

So who the heck is this "Joe the Plumber" guy and why did we hear this name so many times during the last and final presidential debates?

Joe the Plumber's name was mentioned almost 2 dozen times by McCain, and as McCain sees it, Joe the Plumber is just what he needed to continue bashing Obama with distorted facts.   

If you listened to McCain during this last debate, he made numerous references to how Obama would increase taxes for small businesses and Joe the Plumber is proof.  It was a blanket statement - Obama will increase small business taxes - no ifs and buts about it.

Obama Proposed Tax Plan:  No tax increase to 98% of small businesses.

Before we go any future, let's be really clear about this.  Ninety-eight percent of small businesses make less then $250K per year.  Obama's proposed tax plan will NOT increase taxes for those companies that make less than $250K - PERIOD.

McCain's secret weapon

Well, as it turns out, Joe the Plumber is actually Mr. Wurzelback, 34, who has emerged as McCain's secret weapon.  He has become the new pin-up boy for every tax-loathing, card-holding Republican in the land.   

With camera's rolling and Obama shaking hands amount the rally attendees near Toledo, Ohio, Joe speaks up and says boldly, "I'm getting ready to buy a (plumbing) business that makes $250 ahhh, roughly $270 - $280K per year, and your tax plan is going to tax me more -  isn't it?"  Obama calmly responds to clarify his plan, but is interrupted again when he says, "I'm being taxed more and more for trying to fulfill the American dream."   Yet another tasty sound bite if taken out of context.

Before days end, Joe the Plumber is all over the conservative talk shows and is interviewed by  Fox News.  Each of these conservative shows portrays Joe the Plumber as the symbol for America's small business, challenging Obama for raising taxes for all small businesses.  What they all left out was Obama clearly stating how he would not raise taxes for 98% of all small businesses and they are those companies that make up to $250K / year.   There's that $250K number that Joe the Plumber first pipes up, and then increased to $270-280K range.  The timing is perfect.  Too perfect if you ask me.  Days before the final debate.  How amusingly coincidental.  Hmmmm !!! 

The day after the debate, Joe the Plumber is everywhere calling Obama a socialist.  How fitting.  The unregulated banking policies of this administration, backed by McCain all the while, have all failed and the tax payers are told that they have to be bailed out with tax payer funds to the tune of $700 billion.  McCain asked for and got more deregulation, which resulted in all of these bank failures, while Obama has asked for stronger regulations.   Who was right and who paid for these bankers greedy failures.     

Obama, seeking to rebut what has become a familiar allegation by the McCain camp in all the debates, said that both he and McCain wanted to cut taxes: “the difference is, who for”.   To camera, Obama repeated the now-familiar: “If you make less than $250 000 a year, you will pay less tax”.   Joe the Plumber would benefit, he said.  So would others, and in any case, 98 per cent of small businesses in the US made less than $250 000..

So, back to the question.  Who really is Joe the Plumber?

Joe said on camera that he has been a plumber for 15 years.  Joe later stated that he works under Al Newell's license, but according to Ohio building regulations, he must maintain his own license to do plumbing work.  Since he is not a registered to operate as a plumber in Ohio, it means that he is not a plumber - period.

As for his plan to buy the business, in interviews later, there is no plan to buy the business - just a desire to at some point.  How?  Who knows.  He certainly doesn't make enough.  

All of this smells fishy is you ask me, and more than that, his facts appear to be very questionable.  

Obama describing his tax plan to Joe the Plumber (unedited)

Additional facts about Joe the Plumber

Mr. Wurzelbacher said he was hired by Mr. Newell six years ago and that the possibility of him eventually buying the company was discussed during his job interview.

Mr. Wurzelbacher said he is working on taking the Ohio plumbing contractors’ license test.

Mr. Wurzelbacher’s notoriety has raised the ire of Tom Joseph, business manager for Local 50 of the United Association of Plumbers, Steamfitters, and Service Mechanics, who claimed that Mr. Wurzelbacher didn’t undergo any apprenticeship training.

"When you have guys going out there with no training whatsoever, it’s a little disreputable to start with," Mr. Joseph said. 

"This individual has got no schooling, no licenses, he’s never been to a training program, union or non-union, in the United States of America," Mr. Joseph said.

Questions were raised Thursday morning whether Mr. Wurzelbacher is a registered voter.

Linda Howe, executive director of the Lucas County Board of Elections, said a Samuel Joseph Worzelbacher, whose address and age match Joe the Plumber’s, registered in Lucas County on Sept. 10, 1992. He voted in his first primary on March 4 of this year, registering as a Republican.

Mr. Wurzelbacher said he objects to Mr. Obama’s plans to raise income taxes on incomes above $250,000. He said he makes no where near that much money but he would not say how much he makes or if he ever expects to make $250,000. Court records from a divorce show Mr. Wurzelbacher made $40,000 in 2006.

The man behind the whispers about Obama

Andy Martin helped spread false rumors about Dem that spread across Web

By Jim Rutenberg

updated 4:17 a.m. ET, Mon., Oct. 13, 2008

The most persistent falsehood about Senator Barack Obama’s background first hit in 2004 just two weeks after the Democratic convention speech that helped set him on the path to his presidential candidacy: “Obama is a Muslim who has concealed his religion.”

That statement, contained in a press release, spun a complex tale about the ancestry of Mr. Obama, who is Christian.

The press release was picked up by a conservative Web site, FreeRepublic.com, and spread steadily as others elaborated on its claims over the years in e-mail messages, Web sites and books.   It continues to drive other false rumors about Mr. Obama’s background.

Just last Friday, a woman told Senator John McCain at a town-hall-style meeting, “I have read about him,” and “he’s an Arab.” Mr. McCain corrected her.  Click to view

Until this month, the man who is widely credited with starting the cyberwhisper campaign that still dogs Mr. Obama was a secondary character in news reports, with deep explorations of his background largely confined to liberal blogs.

False claims

But an appearance in a documentary-style program on the Fox News Channel watched by three million people last week thrust the man, Andy Martin, and his past into the foreground. The program allowed Mr. Martin to assert falsely and without challenge that Mr. Obama had once trained to overthrow the government.

An examination of legal documsents and election filings, along with interviews with his acquaintances, revealed Mr. Martin, 62, to be a man with a history of scintillating if not always factual claims. He has left a trail of animosity — some of it provoked by anti-Jewish comments — among political leaders, lawyers and judges in three states over more than 30 years.

He is a law school graduate, but his admission to the Illinois bar was blocked in the 1970s after a psychiatric finding of “moderately severe character defect manifested by well-documented ideation with a paranoid flavor and a grandiose character.”

Though he is not a lawyer, Mr. Martin went on to become a prodigious filer of lawsuits, and he made unsuccessful attempts to win public office for both parties in three states, as well as for president at least twice, in 1988 and 2000. Based in Chicago, he now identifies himself as a writer who focuses on his anti-Obama Web site and press releases.

'I’m a colorful person'
Mr. Martin, in a series of interviews, did not dispute his influence in Obama rumors.

“Everybody uses my research as a takeoff point,” Mr. Martin said, adding, however, that some take his writings “and exaggerate them to suit their own fantasies.”

As for his background, he said: “I’m a colorful person. There’s always somebody who has a legitimate cause in their mind to be angry with me.”

When questions were raised last week about Mr. Martin’s appearance and claims on “Hannity’s America” on Fox News, the program’s producer said Mr. Martin was clearly expressing his opinion and not necessarily fact.

It was not Mr. Martin’s first turn on national television.  The CBS News program “48 Hours” in 1993 devoted an hourlong program to what it called his prolific filing of frivolous lawsuits.  He has filed so many lawsuits that a judge barred him from doing so in any federal court without preliminary approval.

He prepared to run as a Democrat for Congress in Connecticut, where paperwork for one of his campaign committees listed as one purpose “to exterminate Jew power.”   He ran as a Republican for the Florida State Senate and the United States Senate in Illinois. When running for president in 1999, he aired a television advertisement in New Hampshire that accused George W. Bush of using cocaine.

In the 1990s, Mr. Martin was jailed in a case in Florida involving a physical altercation.

Those from his past amazed
His newfound prominence, and the persistence of his line of political attack — updated regularly on his Web site and through press releases — amazes those from his past.

“Well, that’s just a bookend for me,” said Tom Slade, a former chairman of the Florida Republican Party, whom Mr. Martin sued for refusing to support him.   Mr. Slade said Mr. Martin was driven like “a run-over dog, but he’s fearless.”

Given Mr. Obama’s unusual background, which was the focus of his first book, it was perhaps bound to become fodder for some opposed to his candidacy.

Mr. Obama was raised mostly by his white mother, an atheist, and his grandparents, who were Protestant, in Hawaii.  He hardly knew his father, a Kenyan from a Muslim family who variously considered himself atheist or agnostic, Mr. Obama wrote.   For a few childhood years, Mr. Obama lived in Indonesia with a stepfather he described as loosely following a liberal Islam.

Theories about Mr. Obama’s background have taken on a life of their own.  But independent analysts seeking the origins of the cyberspace attacks wind up at Mr. Martin’s first press release, posted on the Free Republic Web site in August 2004.

Its general outlines have turned up in a host of works that have expounded falsely on Mr. Obama’s heritage or supposed attempts to conceal it, including “Obama Nation,” the widely discredited best seller about Mr. Obama by Jerome R. Corsi. Mr. Corsi opens the book with a quote from Mr. Martin.

“What he’s generating gets picked up in other places,” said Danielle Allen, a professor at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University who has investigated the e-mail campaign’s circulation and origins, “and it’s an example of how the Internet has given power to sources we would have never taken seriously at another point in time.”

Ms. Allen said Mr. Martin’s original work found amplification in 2006, when a man named Ted Sampley wrote an article painting Mr. Obama as a secret practitioner of Islam.   Quoting liberally from Mr. Martin, the article circulated on the Internet, and its contents eventually found their way into various e-mail messages, particularly an added claim that Mr. Obama had attended “Jakarta’s Muslim Wahhabi schools. Wahhabism is the radical teaching that created the Muslim terrorists who are now waging jihad on the rest of the world.”

Mr. Obama for two years attended a Catholic school in Indonesia, where he was taught about the Bible, he wrote in “Dreams From My Father,” and for two years went to an Indonesian public school open to all religions, where he was taught about the Koran.

Mr. Sampley, coincidentally, is a Vietnam veteran and longtime opponent of Mr. McCain and Senator John Kerry, both of whom he accused of ignoring his claims that American prisoners were left behind in Vietnam.  He previously portrayed Mr. McCain as a “Manchurian candidate.”  Speaking of Mr. Martin’s influence on his Obama writings, Mr. Sampley said, “I keyed off of his work.”

'Secret' Muslim allegations
Mr. Martin’s depictions of Mr. Obama as a secret Muslim have found resonance among some Jewish voters who have received e-mail messages containing various versions of his initial theory, often by new authors and with new twists.

In his original press release, Mr. Martin wrote that he was personally “a strong supporter of the Muslim community.” But, he wrote of Mr. Obama, “it may well be that his concealment is meant to endanger Israel.”   He added, “His Muslim religion would obviously raise serious questions in many Jewish circles.”

Yet in various court papers, Mr. Martin had impugned Jews.

A motion he filed in a 1983 bankruptcy case called the judge “a crooked, slimy Jew who has a history of lying and thieving common to members of his race.”

In another motion, filed in 1983, Mr. Martin wrote, “I am able to understand how the Holocaust took place, and with every passing day feel less and less sorry that it did.”

In an interview, Mr. Martin denied some statements against Jews attributed to him in court papers, blaming malicious judges for inserting them.

But in his “48 Hours” interview in 1993, he affirmed a different anti-Semitic part of the affidavit that included the line about the Holocaust, saying, “The record speaks for itself.”

When asked Friday about an assertion in his court papers that “Jews, historically and in daily living, act through clans and in wolf pack syndrome,” he said, “That one sort of rings a bell.”

He said he was not anti-Semitic. “I was trying to show that everybody in the bankruptcy court was Jewish and I was not Jewish,” he said, “and I was being victimized by religious bias.”

'Moderately severe personality defect'
In discussing the denial of his admission to the Illinois bar, Mr. Martin said the psychiatric exam listing him as having a “moderately severe personality defect” was spitefully written by an evaluator he had clashed with.

Mr. Martin, who says he is from a well-off banking and farming family, is clearly pleased with his newfound attention.  But, he said, others have added to his work in “scary” ways.

“They Google ‘Islam’ and ‘Obama’ and my stuff comes up and they take that and kind of use that — like a Christmas tree, and they decorate it,” he said.  For instance, he said, he did not necessarily ascribe to a widely circulated e-mail message from the Israeli right-wing activist Ruth Matar, which includes the false assertion, “If Obama were elected, he would be the first Arab-American president.”

He said he had at least come to “accept” Mr. Obama’s word that he had found Jesus Christ.   His intent, he said, was only to educate.

This article, "The Man Behind the Whispers About Obama," first appeared in The New York Times.

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Martin focus of Fox One-Hour Special - Lies Propagated

Martin's hate rhetoric and distorted lies earns him national coverage Fox's Sean Hannity's one hour special entitled, "Obama and Friends - A history of radicalism" which is viewed by more then 3 million viewers.   It has been my own personal observation that if you tell lies that people want to believe, you begin will believe them unquestionably and then, they themselves will spread those lies.  This is a dangerous receipt for hate - and it has occurred many times throughout history.  It's based on fear and ignorance.  

"Obama Is An Arab"-Says McCain Volunteer In Letters

From vicious racist lies, to fact on a Fox Hannity special, to a campaign that is now whipped into a frenzy, these lies slowly become fact that can no longer be dispelled.  Take the John McCain campaign volunteer Gayle Quinnel, when at a Oct 10, 2008 McCain rally, she made the now famous quote that "Obama is an Arab".  She was finally corrected by John McCain when he took the microphone away from her, but does she think differently once corrected.  No.  In the clip below, we find out that she has taken it upon herself to mail out 400 letters spreading the same vicious lies.    

Where is this headed?  This is not good.   These ill-informed people want to believe that because Obama had a father who was for a part of his life, a muslim - a liberal one at that, that it's in his blood, and somehow, having Arab ancestry in your blood, your are conspiring to blow up something here on our shores.  It's insane, and it's dangerous.   

Reporter asks Gayle Quinnel about claim "Obama is an Arab".