Obama's Long Lost Aunt*

Ahh I knew you would be the one to run with this JNS. Kudos.

From Rupert to Drudge to AP to TIME
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/11/the_anatomy_of_a_smear.php

And the name is spelled ObaMa

This is just another late Hail Mary by the desperate McCain campaign to try to tamp down the Obama votes and enthusiam...and it will not work any better then the rest of his pathetic distractions...

Why don't you write about something real for awhile Jay, instead of passing on these nasty stories from the Republican party?

There are some incredibly important subjects you could address, but I guess this kind of "truthiness news" is a lot easier to run with then actually being a real reporter.

Marc Ambinder:

"The Politics Of Auntie Zeituni
01 Nov 2008 12:57 pm

Barack Obama's long-lost aunt, who is living in poverty, might be deported for being in the country illegally...and this is supposed to make people not want to vote for Barack Obama?

Republicans think anti-immigrant forces are going to be rallied by attacking a middle aged woman in her fifties? This is what's going to swing independents back to McCain? Reminding people (a) of an actual human face on the receiving end of anti-immigration policies and (b) that the Democratic candidate is personally affected by a complicated issue facing many American families?

And assuming voters _are_ motivated by the connection, they're going to turn to McCain as their anti-immigrant savior?"

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/11/the_politics_of_auntie_zeituni.php

How did John McCain not know that his brother is a (potentially dangerous) kook, that his wife was embezzling money from her own charity to score pills, that his running mate is so astoundingly ignorant about the United States Constitution that she probably couldn't pass a citizenship test, that his running mate's husband is a secessionist, that the host of his fund-raiser was an unrepetant advocate of political murder and the assassination of federal law enforcement officials....?

And what PPNTO said.

JNS I have a brother whom I have heard or spoken to in over 15 years. I think he lives somewhere in the south. How could I possibly not know his whereabouts?

3 days before the election and JNS tells us that this story is "the top question journalists are asking" What do you think that says about the state of the media in this country?

It says a lot about you and your fellow trivia- and gossip-mongering campaign reporters that you are apparently far more interested in "why he didn't know" than HOW THIS STORY LEAKED OUT. Seems like a federal employee leaking this kind of stuff at this time might be interesting.

Is it a crime to leak this kind of information -- the immigration status of a PRUCOL -- Jay? Or is that kind of story beyond your capability? Where might this have come from, Jay? Homeland Security? The FBI? Department of Justice? Is the aunt appealing the ruling, or not? Are you sure she is living here "illegallly" or is that just a rumor? Where did you learn that, or did you and your fellow gossip-mongerers just copy and paste from the original story? Is she PRUCOL? or not?

I'm sure that this bit of newsworthiness will fire up the rac!st base of the Republican party.
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I'm really getting paranoid about this "moderator" thing...

JNS,
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Are you auditioning for FoxNews.com? If so you are doing a he!!uva job. Again when are you going to explain why you didnt include in your post from last night that Obama was with his daughter? I read your strawman excuse on the other thread but that doesnt answer this central question. Until you answer that question you will be defined as a hack in my eyes.

This is John McCain's penance for "Shamnesty." He will never defy his talk-radio overlords again.

This is the top question journalists are asking? Seriously? Are they actually "journalists", or did they sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night? I think an interesting question for "journalists" to ask is this: how did Rupert Murdoch's paper get this information in the first place? Is the Department of Justice trying to meddle in an election? That, to me, is an interesting question.

And Ms. Newton-Small? I think something else "journalists" should do between now and Tuesday is track down every single person Obama mentions in his book, and tally up the number of contacts he's since had with them and the length of those contacts as well. And please, in the interests of "journalistic" fairness, do the same for anything that McCain has "written".

This morning the top question journalists are asking the campaign is how did Obama not know that his aunt -- his father's half-sister from Kenya -- was living illegally in Boston in public housing
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You are terrible at your jobs. You should be ashamed.

She needs to be deported immediately. First of all, she is taking public assistance and is ineligible, and second she broke our campaign finance laws. We don't need alien lawbreakers here.

And if you happen to be in Chicago this week JNS, stop by Studs Terkel's grave and weep for what you do to the reputation of "journalists"

I agree with Axelrod--non-issue.

And if you happen to be in Chicago this week JNS, stop by Studs Terkel's grave and weep for what you do to the reputation of "journalists"

Won't happen. Too busy wondering why Obama gets so snippy when the press essentially disrupts his Halloween with his seven year old daughter. 'Course, had Obama NOT spent part of Halloween with his family, all we'd hear today would be questions about whether Obama truly is a family man...

"No less than three members of the man's family including one by sworn affidavit have claimed that Sarah Palin engaged in an extramarital affair with hus­band Todd's former business partner, Brad Hanson."
http://www.nationalenquirer.com/celebrity/65481

Quick, you all need to get to the root of this essential issue facing America! Why won't you tell the readers the TRUTH!

Gosh, good thing you had a few spare minutes before leaving to Colorado to report on this *important* story.

You are terrible at your jobs. You should be ashamed.

Elvis it goes so far beyond being terible.

I have one simple question -- why imply that the campaign is hiding something. Common sense tells me that if the campaign knew she was here they would have either helped her get legal status (the guys got considerable clout don't you think) or they would have sent her packing with a promise to bring her back later (the guy will have even more considerable clout later don't you think).

JNS is way behind in the arc of this story. Jay, here is the update to your story. This story first curiously came to light through the Rupert Murdoch backed newspaper,The Times of London, then to Drudge and finally to the DHS and the immigration desk reporters at AP, who seemed not very happy at what they strongly hint, but can't quite confirm, is their suspicion that this information was leaked by Bush Administration officials in an attempt to help the McCain campaign at the eleventh hour, as noted by this passage in the third graf of the story:

Information about the deportation case was disclosed and confirmed by two separate sources, one of them a federal law enforcement official. The information they made available is known to officials in the federal government, but the AP could not establish whether anyone at a political level in the Bush administration or in the McCain campaign had been involved in its release.

To further update your slow arc to reporting this story Jay, here is Congressman John Conyers letter to DHS Chief, Michael Chertoff:

Dear Mr. Chertoff:
I was startled to read in today's Associated Press that a "federal law enforcement official" has leaked information about an immigration case involving a relative of Senator Obama. Even more troubling, the AP reports that it could not "could not establish whether anyone at a political level in the Bush administration or in the McCain campaign had been involved," a very disturbing suggesting indeed. This leak is deplorable and I urge you to take immediate action to investigate and discipline those responsible.

I note that this is not the first leak of law enforcement information apparently designed to influence the coming Presidential election -- in recent weeks law enforcement sources leaked information about an alleged investigation of a community services organization, a leak that the Department of Justice informs me is now under investigation by the Department's Office of the Inspector General and Professional Responsibility.

Such leaks are deeply harmful to the political process, and the American people expect and deserve better from their government and its law enforcement agencies.

Sincerely,

John Conyers, Jr.

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Josh Marshall and some actual reporters are doing some actual reporting over at Talking Points Memo, while, remarkably, still managing to cover the election as well, so feel free to sleep in for the rest of the campaign, Jay.

Since we know that Cheney is also distantly related to Obama, I wondered if you might comment on the fact that Cheney hasn't done anything about this before now. Surely he knew, right?

The funny thing is how stupid of an article this is. Obama isnt accused of
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1. giving her a visa illegally
2. helping her attain citizenship illegally
3. propping her up with a job illegally
4. providing her a place to stay illegally
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He is accused of what??? Not personally deporting her?!
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Whenever JNS gets the guts to come back on this thread I would LOVE to hear how this affects Obama in the slightest of ways. Better yet JNS explain what YOU would do if you had a relative in the country illegally. Even better than THAT JNS tell us what you think OBAMA should have done if he knew she was here illegally.
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In light of your lack of ethical standards exhibited in your post last night I of course won't be holding my breath.

What I've learned from the last 4 Swampland posts.
BHO is beginning to crack under the strain.
McCain's supporters think BHO is Un-American
BHO's birth certificate is almost for sure legit
BHO's aunt is undocumented and he "says" he is unaware.
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3 days out and this is TIME magazine's offerings.