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Team Obama: Richardson misled us

posted at 5:06 pm on January 4, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
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It looks as if Barack Obama and his transition team know how badly Bill Richardson’s resignation reflects on them.  They have started leaking to the press that Richardson’s to blame for the embarrassing spectacle this afternoon of his withdrawal as a Cabinet nominee.  Jake Tapper has the details:

Sources tell ABC News that officials on the Obama Transition Team feel that before he was formally offered the job of commerce secretary, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson was not forthcoming with them about the federal investigation that is looking into whether the governor steered a state contract towards a major financial contributor.

Once the investigation became more widely known through national media reports last month, sources tell ABC News, the Obama Transition Team realized the FBI would not be able to give Richardson a clean political bill of health before the new administration is ready to send his nomination up to the Senate for confirmation.

Meanwhile, Richardson and his team has to defend themselves:

The Richardson camp says the governor was forthcoming, with sources close to the governor noting that there had been reports about the controversy in local media such as the Albuquerque Journal as far back as August 2008. The governor discussed the investigation with the Obama team, they say, and believes that he and his administration have done nothing wrong.

I’d guess that Richardson probably didn’t disclose the extent of the problem.  Richardson feels it necessary to resign now after the published reports from the last three weeks, but he had to know these issues when he accepted the position.  If all that has happened since December 15th is that the facts he disclosed to Team Obama were made public, it would hardly require a resignation now.

But beyond that, this is a pretty lame attempt to shift blame away from the incoming administration.  They should have done their own homework on Richardson once they heard about the investigation.  In the end, they have the responsibility to make acceptable appointments for Cabinet positions.  If the extent of the vetting Team Obama is doing is reading resumés and accepting explanations for federal investigations without question or further checking, then they’re pretty obviously incompetent at it.

They also seem to have no compunction about calling Richardson a liar in public.  I wonder how that will play politically with their base.


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kingsjester on January 4, 2009 at 10:05 PM

At least we won’t have a shortage of subjects to chew the fat over.
Corn is in the ground, first crop will be ready for Jan. 20 debacle.

HornetSting on January 4, 2009 at 10:08 PM

I wish,canopfor.A perfect world.

HornetSting on Jan 4,2009 at 10:02PM.

HornetSting:(Sigh!)Yup:) I took a little scoot over to
Manly’s Republic,er,Welcome to the
New Reagan Republic!

A Blog,I hope so!:)

canopfor on January 4, 2009 at 10:10 PM

HornetSting on January 4, 2009 at 10:08 PM

So, is your ex-Governor going to go into seclusion or make the talk show circuit defending himself?

kingsjester on January 4, 2009 at 10:10 PM

Richardson is out
Holder has major issues ,some linked to Blago
I can think of three more that have other issues they will have to do some dancing around to get confirmed.

Mostly Clinton retreads in the Cabinet but a palace guard that is almost all Chicago.

CommentGuy on January 4, 2009 at 10:11 PM

Somebody must know me from another place or two I post under another name which shall remain out of this thread please.

CommentGuy on January 4, 2009 at 9:58 PM

…………. without question.

Seven Percent Solution on January 4, 2009 at 10:12 PM

Most corrupt admin EVUH….kudos obamatrons.

ex-Democrat on January 4, 2009 at 10:12 PM

I was looking into moving to New Mexico a few years back. Then read up on it. Wasn’t impressed with their politics either. It is beautiful State though. Richardson is not a fair man. He got caught and like Blago, probably will never admit he was wrong. I am waiting for more stuff to surface as it will. This is going to be interesting. Does Doughnuts give a person a big booty? I am not much of a cookie woman.

sheebe on January 4, 2009 at 10:13 PM

Another issue turned up recently with an earmark done by Hillary to someone who then a couple of days later made about 100k donation to Bills foundation.

Also if you look on the inauguration committee list of donors you will find 5 members of the Soros family maxed out on their donations.

CommentGuy on January 4, 2009 at 10:20 PM

Memo to Granny Nan

When you are up to your a$$ in alligators it is hard to remember your initial intent was to drain the swamp.

CommentGuy on January 4, 2009 at 10:23 PM

Also if you look on the inauguration committee list of donors you will find 5 members of the Soros family maxed out on their donations.

CommentGuy on January 4, 2009 at 10:20 PM

Soros……………….. the true puppet master behind Obama, and much, much more.

………………. look forward to your report when you think it is time.

Seven Percent Solution on January 4, 2009 at 10:24 PM

Sources tell ABC News that officials on the Obama Transition Team feel that before he was formally offered the job of commerce secretary, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson was not forthcoming with them about the federal investigation that is looking into whether the governor steered a state contract towards a major financial contributor.

We have a president-elect who has not been forthcoming with the American people about his past. Why should a cabinet member be forthcoming with their informaton to Obama when Obama is not forthcoming himself? With liberals, it’s always ‘do as I say, not as I do’.

This is going to be a fun four years with Chicago Jesus at the helm of this already leaky ship of state.

RickZ on January 4, 2009 at 10:25 PM

RickZ

I find it interesting that rather than just bring out his vault birth certificate and make fools of all those hunting that trail the guy has already spent over 1 million in legal fees to keep that little distraction going.

CommentGuy on January 4, 2009 at 10:31 PM

How it’ll play with the base? If Obama does it, then they love it.

Jim-Rose on January 4, 2009 at 10:33 PM

I find it interesting that rather than just bring out his vault birth certificate and make fools of all those hunting that trail the guy has already spent over 1 million in legal fees to keep that little distraction going.

CommentGuy on January 4, 2009 at 10:31 PM

True. I often wonder why he is playing that game. A heck of a lot of money to spend. It could be easier for him to say fu*k it and fork it over. But, if one wonders such a thing, they get accused of being a kool-aid drinker. So he spends 1 million to keep it quiet. Logical? Not to me.

sheebe on January 4, 2009 at 10:36 PM

HornetSting on January 4, 2009 at 10:08 PM

So, is your ex-Governor going to go into seclusion or make the talk show circuit defending himself?

kingsjester on January 4, 2009 at 10:10 PM

Sorry, was sending a rant file about Ramos and Compean.
I believe our good governor will come home a hero. New Mexico is the land of retardment. I’m not here by choice. By force.

HornetSting on January 4, 2009 at 10:38 PM

Most corrupt admin EVUH….kudos obamatrons.

ex-Democrat on January 4, 2009 at 10:12 PM

So, does this mean, in 2012 when we have a conservative elected, we can jail the entire administration?

HornetSting on January 4, 2009 at 10:40 PM

I was living in Hawaii when he was born there and when he came back from Indonesia so I have a fairly good insight into what the whole frame of reference was back then.

That is something you can’t really pass to well in a storyline context.

From data available and stuff I have from personal sources and contacts I have a theory but it isn’t solid enough to make a statement of fact.

You have to remember back in that time frame interracial marriage was only allowed in a few states and few can relate to the context of the times unless you lived them.

CommentGuy on January 4, 2009 at 10:42 PM

Our Presidency of this nation has been reduced to worse than a local school board.

S on January 4, 2009 at 6:38 PM

Or brothel.

Johan Klaus on January 4, 2009 at 10:43 PM

There are a lot of our Government that should be in jail now. Bunch of Circus Clowns.

sheebe on January 4, 2009 at 10:44 PM

Or brothel.

Johan Klaus on January 4, 2009 at 10:43 PM

Most Madams or pimps hold themselves more accountable for poor performance than Chicago Jesus does, no offense.

sven10077 on January 4, 2009 at 10:45 PM

I was living in Hawaii when he was born there and when he came back from Indonesia so I have a fairly good insight into what the whole frame of reference was back then.

That is something you can’t really pass to well in a storyline context.

From data available and stuff I have from personal sources and contacts I have a theory but it isn’t solid enough to make a statement of fact.

You have to remember back in that time frame interracial marriage was only allowed in a few states and few can relate to the context of the times unless you lived them.

CommentGuy on January 4, 2009 at 10:42 PM

I was just wondering, If it is his father? It states that for one to run for POTUS, or be POTUS. The parents must be born citizens in the US. I don’t think his father was US citizen. I only how I feel.

sheebe on January 4, 2009 at 10:49 PM

LOL sorry about the jib jabber. I meant that is the only issue I wonder about.

sheebe on January 4, 2009 at 10:49 PM

The child must be a natural born citizen…there are only a few places debating the one or both parents issues.

What I lean toward is the potential that Barack Sr may not be his father.

You have to understand all the ways you can legally change a Certificate of Live Birth under Hawaiian law and have it differ from the information on the vault copy of the birth certificate.

I have reasons for that theory and the carefully parsed statement from the Vital Statistics place in Hawaii for no good reason just before the election only added to the doubt from it’s careful wording.

CommentGuy on January 4, 2009 at 10:53 PM

Doctor Zero on January 4, 2009 at 9:39 PM

ROTFLMAO!!!

That was really, really good!!

I hope you have a career in writing fiction!

Texas Gal on January 4, 2009 at 10:53 PM

Obviously Obama is the victim again!

How is he supposed to know that every single person who is a close friend and ally of his are criminals and absolutely corrupt?

SaintOlaf on January 4, 2009 at 10:57 PM

Obviously Obama is the victim again!

How is he supposed to know that every single person who is a close friend and ally of his are criminals and absolutely corrupt?

SaintOlaf on January 4, 2009 at 10:57 PM

the Obame$$iah is a good man trying to walk a straight path in a horribly crooked world…..

on a lighter note the purges of the “old Bolzheviks” will be entertaining.

sven10077 on January 4, 2009 at 11:01 PM

I also have doubts of his NYC stay.

Now what are the odds here.

For 4 years he is in NYC.

He lives 1/4 mile from Bill Ayers and they go to college only 4 blocks apart.

The two colleges share their college library.

Except for people who are on his campaign staff and one former Hawaii classmate nobody can be found who remembers him in NYC.

They both go to the same location for political lectures and presentations.

He is supposedly active in anti apartheid activities and Ayers has an affinity for Black activists.

Yet they never met from their accounts.

The only place other than that which knows of him is a handful of people at the business intelligence publication he worked for.

CommentGuy on January 4, 2009 at 11:04 PM

What I lean toward is the potential that Barack Sr may not be his father.

You have to understand all the ways you can legally change a Certificate of Live Birth under Hawaiian law and have it differ from the information on the vault copy of the birth certificate.

I have reasons for that theory and the carefully parsed statement from the Vital Statistics place in Hawaii for no good reason just before the election only added to the doubt from it’s careful wording.

CommentGuy on January 4, 2009 at 10:53 PM

I can see that also. I have wondered that myself. It is not that I don’t think he can prove he was born in Hawaii. I think it is for another reason. What makes me mad is, The DNC is allowing him to do this and the Media.

sheebe on January 4, 2009 at 11:06 PM

Or brothel.

Johan Klaus on January 4, 2009 at 10:43 PM

Most Madams or pimps hold themselves more accountable for poor performance than Chicago Jesus does, no offense.

sven10077 on January 4, 2009 at 10:45 PM

Not to mention that the screwee derives some benefit from the screwing!

conservnut on January 4, 2009 at 11:14 PM

Not to mention that the screwee derives some benefit from the screwing!

conservnut on January 4, 2009 at 11:14 PM

oh the argument can be made we will be getting 1,461 days(at a minimum) of good stand up from the incoming screwing.

sven10077 on January 4, 2009 at 11:24 PM

RickZ

I find it interesting that rather than just bring out his vault birth certificate and make fools of all those hunting that trail the guy has already spent over 1 million in legal fees to keep that little distraction going.

CommentGuy on January 4, 2009 at 10:31 PM

I think his college records hold more dirt that his birth certificate. I would not be surprised if Obama got into college as an affirmative-action foreign aid student (prove me wrong!). There are so many records Obama should release, but feels entitled not to release. Why, it’s the Chicago Jesus way.

RickZ on January 4, 2009 at 11:27 PM

At a minimum with all the accumulation under that bus since this all began, you would think even some who support him fully would be starting to have some doubts as to his staff management and judgment.

The body count is getting fairly high and he has not even taken an oath of office yet.

CommentGuy on January 4, 2009 at 11:27 PM

They also seem to have no compunction about calling Richardson a liar in public. I wonder how that will play politically with their base.

One of the downsides of coming into the presidency with a year or more of media genuflection and idolatry is you really do start to think your poop smells like lilacs, and you can be dismissive of not only Republicans, but of other Democrats within your party, which is basically what Jimmy Carter did in 1997 and (to a lesser extent) what Bill and Hillary did in 1993.

The party leaders will have to sit there, smile and take it … as long as Obama’s poll ratings hold up. But if you keep treating allies as if they have to show loyalty to you, but you don’t have to show it to them, the going could get a little rough if the poll numbers go down.

jon1979 on January 4, 2009 at 11:27 PM

Good night all.

HornetSting on January 4, 2009 at 11:33 PM

Is Obama Sergeant Schultz”

Sergeant Schultz, when confronted by evidence of the prisoners’ covert activities, will simply look the other way, repeating “I hear nothing, I see nothing, I know nothing!”

DSchoen on January 4, 2009 at 11:41 PM

You know what’s delicious about this?

Richardson was given a cabinet position to placate the Hispanic vote that helped in a very large way to put Obama in the WH and now the primo don has been thrown under the bus.

How do you translate shaudenfraude into Spanish?

Texas Gal on January 4, 2009 at 11:52 PM

How do you translate shaudenfraude into Spanish?

Texas Gal on January 4, 2009 at 11:52 PM

In Cuban or Puerto Rican – la gua-gua
Or in Mexican – El autobus

Laura in Maryland on January 4, 2009 at 11:58 PM

From all I have read for the last couple of years really in depth on this whole bunch, with the group they have put together and all the side linkages there is some possibility that it really might be possible that this whole thing can collapse like a house of cards.

CommentGuy on January 5, 2009 at 12:23 AM

Again ,dealing with time frames , you have to remember that Obama claims almost no awareness of the Weathermen.

But what makes that a very strange situation is that the ex Weatherman and others did the Brinks truck robbery while Obama was at Columbia.

With all the wall to wall coverage as the events unfolded and all the old tape that was played about every Weatherman story they had in the archives, Obama would have to have been living under a rock to have not seen some of the news coverage.

CommentGuy on January 5, 2009 at 12:35 AM

This is not the Obama I was lead to believe was going to save this country. Obama was an outsider, someone from outside of the beltway. He was suppose to be a “breath of fresh air.” So far, his transition sounds like the 3-4th year of the Clinton Administration. The media can only carry water for him for so long, I am seeing some of the Obamabots starting to question DEAR LEADER at my work now. It is rather a big transition to hear back in November “He is change, its time to take America back!” and to see these fools spouting in December “He had to deal with the Chicago slime because he had to get things done.” January 2nd I am hearing “Well…he isn’t as bad as Bush.” I wonder what I will be hearing in the first year of the Obama era?

I think Obama lost by winning. I would think this was funny, but America has lost by Barry winning as well.

portlandon on January 5, 2009 at 1:16 AM

I keep thinking of the movie the Candidate with Robert Redford, where his election team got him there and then he realized he had to govern.

CommentGuy on January 5, 2009 at 1:23 AM

CommentGuy on January 5, 2009 at 1:23 AM

Hey CommentGuy, if you ever get any juicy info or feel like sharing your theories on Obama’s origins, I’m all ears. I don’t care if some here ridicule me and the others as “birthers”. I’m dying to know what that weasel is hiding.

Also, I too think that it’s possible for the whole house of cards to come tumbling down. (oh please, oh please, oh please…)

mrsmwp on January 5, 2009 at 1:53 AM

Tragedy! The Team of Rivals Loses its Waterboy!

ktrush on January 5, 2009 at 2:09 AM

Geez, how many people is that under Obama’s bus now? And he still hasn’t even been sworn in. At this rate, it’ll be half the Democratic Caucus in a couple years. Hm, maybe on that note they should just keep it up then.

CP on January 5, 2009 at 2:20 AM

Our Presidency of this nation has been reduced to worse than a local school board.

S on January 4, 2009 at 6:38 PM

God made the Idiot for practice, and then He made the School Board.
- Mark Twain

MB4 on January 5, 2009 at 2:28 AM

Is Obama Sergeant Schultz”

Sergeant Schultz, when confronted by evidence of the prisoners’ covert activities, will simply look the other way, repeating “I hear nothing, I see nothing, I know nothing!”

DSchoen on January 4, 2009 at 11:41 PM

I see nothing. I was not here. I did not even get up this morning!

OberfeldwebelSchultz on January 5, 2009 at 2:39 AM

portlandon on January 5, 2009 at 1:16 AM

No he was never that, NEVER.

allrsn on January 5, 2009 at 2:40 AM

The only place other than that which knows of him is a handful of people at the business intelligence publication he worked for.
CommentGuy on January 4, 2009 at 11:04 PM

There’s an interesting connection between that company, Business International, and SDS. Carl Oglesby, president of SDS, ‘65-’69, used to meet regularly with Eldridge Haynes, chairman of BI. Dohrn was convinced Haynes was CIA, and used that and some other Ogelsby connections to star-chamber him and force his resignation from SDS.

Leftist Ogelsby was committed to peaceful change, while Dohrn was committed to violent revolution — no compromises. Ogelsby paints quite a picture of Dohrn — cold, ruthless and dominating, in his bio, “Ravens in the Storm,” searchable on Amazon.

Considering Dohrn’s antipathy, I wouldn’t think that BI is a link between Obama and Ayers, though — Haynes had died by ‘83, but I’ve read that BI held various roundtables in different US locales, attended by activists on the left, through at least the ’80’s. The company might simply have been a natural magnet for trans-national progressives spawned by Columbia U.

An interesting coincidence, though, and further evidence of the younger Obama’s total immersion in the leftist milieu.

Nichevo on January 5, 2009 at 6:24 AM

Part of what draws my attention is all the known records of him that are shut down and many with no real justification for doing so.

In fact many of those records if opened could have potentially bolstered his real thin resume.

The other things is the quantum leaps of presence and people we are told of. Like how he was friends with some very rich classmates from Pakistan and India.

The problem I have is those leaps can happen but for what is documented of him there are simply a very high number of those quantum leaps that they are above life averages for many people.

Also there are specific points that just don’t match up when you try to fit it all together.

CommentGuy on January 5, 2009 at 7:00 AM

http://spectator.org/archives/2009/01/05/beyond-bill-richardson

A post up at the Spectator with a lot more background on CDR.

Even how they tie in to Freddie Mae and Freddie Mac who many have come to know so fondly.

CommentGuy on January 5, 2009 at 7:24 AM

We have a president-elect who has not been forthcoming with the American people about his past. Why should a cabinet member be forthcoming with their informaton to Obama when Obama is not forthcoming himself? With liberals, it’s always ‘do as I say, not as I do’.

RickZ on January 4, 2009 at 10:25 PM

That’s an excellent point. Sort of a karma thing coming back to Obama.

Red State State of Mind on January 5, 2009 at 8:46 AM

More of that “Great Judgment” to go along with Rev.Wright,Ayers,and Acorn.

I am not even going to go through the many examples of the ineptitude of the liberal leader of the “smart ones”.

Besides being wrong about how to deal with terrorism in the 90’s,telling us the Iraq war could not be won,Sunni,Shia,and the kurds would never get along,voting against the surge,killing our economy protecting Fannie/Freddie,and Global warming being shown as the fraud it is every passing
day.
There is only one thing that I can say watching the “We’ve been tricked” line being used again by the “smart ones”:

HHHHAAAAAAA!!!!HHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!HHHHHHHAAAAAAA!!!
HHHHHAAAAAAAAAA!!!HHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!
….OH,hold on….let me catch my breath…..okay.
HHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!HHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!
HHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!HHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAA!!!!

HOPE AND CHANGE MY A$$!!!

Baxter Greene on January 5, 2009 at 9:14 AM

Here is some of the background that Obama refuses to disclose
and gets a total pass from the “total disclosure,we want the truth crowd.”

Ah… Sorry to bother you Mr. Obama, Sir
http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2008/09/ah-sorry-to-bother-you.html

Could you help me please find these things, sir?

1. OccidentalCollege records — Not released
2. ColumbiaCollege records — Not released
3. Columbia Thesis paper — ‘not available’
4. Harvard College records — Not released
5. Selective Service Registration — Not released
6. Medical records — Not released
7. Illinois State Senate schedule — ‘not available’
8. Law practice client list — Not released
9. Certified Copy of original Birth certificate — Not released
10. Embossed, signed paper Certification of Live Birth — Not released
11. Harvard Law Review articles published — None
12. University of Chicago scholarly articles — None
13.Your Record of baptism — Not released or ‘not available’
14. Your Illinois State Senate records — ‘not available’

I guess they are in the same place as Kerry’s military records he promised the public he would disclose to us.

Baxter Greene on January 5, 2009 at 9:21 AM

THE AMERICAN FREE ELECTION SYSTEM HAS BEEN COMPROMISED!
Will any media outlet investigate this?

Until now, Minnesota was always famous for its clean elections. Indeed, Democratic consultant Bob Beckel recently attested to the honesty of Minnesota’s elections, joking: “Believe me. I’ve tried. I’ve tried every way around the system out there, and it doesn’t work.”

But that was before Minnesota encountered the pushiest, most aggressive, most unscrupulous person who has ever sought public office, Al Franken.

On Election Day, Franken lost the U.S. Senate race in Minnesota to the Republican incumbent Sen. Norm Coleman by 725 votes. But over the next week, Democratic counties kept discovering new votes for Franken and subtracting votes from Coleman, claiming to be correcting “typos.”

In all, Franken picked up 459 votes and Coleman lost 60 votes from these alleged “corrections.”

As the inestimable economist John Lott pointed out, the “corrections” in the Senate race generated more new votes for Franken than all the votes added by corrections in every race in the entire state — presidential, congressional, state house, sanitation commissioner and dogcatcher — combined.

And yet the left-wing, George Soros-backed Secretary of State, Mark Ritchie, stoutly defended the statistically impossible “corrected” votes. There’s something fishy going on in Minnesota besides the annual bigmouth bass tournament.

Fortunately, the very outrageousness of the “corrections” scam brought national attention to the Minnesota recount, at which point it became more difficult to keep “finding” votes for Franken. Under the glare of the national media, the steady accretion of post-election ballots for Franken came to a screeching halt, rather like a child who, after being caught red-handed, tactfully removes his hand from the cookie jar.

As Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis said, sunlight is the best disinfectant. (Although, having met Franken, I would add that actual disinfectant might not be a bad idea either.)

Since then, the state has been conducting a meticulous hand recount and, despite a suspicious delay from liberal Hennepin County and a suspicious late-vote discovery from liberal Ramsey County, Coleman has consistently held a lead of 200 to 300 votes. (That’s not including the 519 votes that were stolen — or “corrected” — from Coleman immediately after the election when no one was paying attention.)

As of Wednesday, with 93 percent of the votes recounted, Coleman holds a 295-vote lead. At no point since the first count after the election has Franken been ahead.

The famously honest people of Minnesota probably think this means the recount is almost over. But like a bad Al Franken sketch on “Saturday Night Live,” I predict this recount will keep going on and on and on for no apparent reason.

To understand what is happening in Minnesota, one must turn to the Washington state gubernatorial election of 2004.

As in Minnesota this year, the Republican candidate kept winning and winning, but the Democrats refused to concede, instead demanding endless recounts. Meanwhile, Democratic precincts kept “discovering” new ballots for the Democrat, Chris Gregoire.

Six days after the election on Nov. 10, 2004, Republican Dino Rossi was ahead by 3,492 votes. But five days later, heavily Democratic King County election officials actually claimed to “find” 10,000 uncounted ballots! And they favored Gregoire!

Nonetheless, after a full recount, Rossi was still ahead, but this time by only 42 votes.

So the Democrats demanded a third recount — and King County continued its miraculous ballot-”finding” trick, which continued to favor Gregoire.

It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that Democrat election officials were “finding” new votes as much as they needed to find new votes. Here are 10,000 new votes. You need more? OK, back to work!

Eventually, King County found enough provisional and absentee ballots to put Democrat Gregoire in the lead — and this result was immediately certified by the weenie Republican secretary of state.

Republicans are always accused of being sharks; I wish they’d rise to the level of minnows.

According to Michael Barone, an examination of King County records showed that nearly 2,000 more mail-in ballots had been “cast” in King County than had been requested.

But Gregoire got to be governor — having done unusually well among the imaginary voters of King County.

The head of the Washington State Democratic Party orchestrating this ballot theft was Paul Berendt. Guess who is advising Al Franken on the Minnesota recount right now? That’s right: Paul Berendt.

Get ready, good people of Minnesota: You have no idea what is about to hit you. And, per usual, the Republicans clearly haven’t the vaguest notion what is about to hit them.

Just this week, liberal Ramsey County “discovered” 171 new votes from a single voting machine in a single precinct. An analysis by John Lott shows that these newly “discovered” votes represent yet another statistical improbability that favors Franken: Despite the fact that Maplewood precinct No. 6 gave Franken only 45.4 percent of the original, untampered-with vote, the newly “discovered” votes gave Franken 53.2 percent of the vote.

Also, you will notice that Franken is obsessively fixated on the absentee ballots, a specialty of the vote fraud experts at ACORN. Inasmuch as only 5 percent of absentee ballots were rejected in Minnesota, Franken already has fraud baked into the cake. But he needs more.

He is demanding to be given the names of voters whose absentee ballots were rejected. Why would he need the names of the voters? Unless … he plans to track them down, determine how they voted and then ferociously fight to qualify the absentee ballots only of known Franken voters.

Franken can pretend to be generous — by not demanding that all rejected absentee ballots be counted — while in fact being manipulative — by requesting that only the ballots with votes for him be counted. That’s exactly what the Democrats — led by Franken adviser Berendt — did to steal the 2004 election in Washington state.

But first, Franken will need the names. Then he can check voter registration lists, ask around or, in a really aggressive move, call the rejected voters directly and bully them into admitting who they voted for. If they say “Coleman,” I promise you they won’t get a call back to ensure that “every vote is counted.”

Keemo on January 5, 2009 at 9:23 AM

Keemo on January 5, 2009 at 9:23 AM

But it gets down to this…how could he be so close as to get a recount?
The fact that maybe one of the most ill prepared, worst candidates in recent history can still be so close as to force a recount shows that the people of Minnesota, or at least 50% of them want Franken.

right2bright on January 5, 2009 at 10:05 AM

Baxter Greene on January 5, 2009 at 9:21 AM

Everything but 6 and 10 is correct…

right2bright on January 5, 2009 at 10:43 AM

They accepted Richardson because he was such a strong supporter of Hillary, and they wanted the press.
Defection from her campaign was worth it. They knew he was a snake, and they probably knew he was expendable…who would defend him?
Richardson was worth a few votes and headlines…then the weasel is dumped. A fitting end to his disloyalty. I am no fan of Hillary, but even less of a fan of someone who jumps off the sinking ship, and leaves his fellow behind to drown.
Richardson is damaged goods, and will never have any “power” or “respect” again, whatever respect there is left in the democrat party.

right2bright on January 5, 2009 at 10:48 AM

With apologies to the late Freddie Mercury and Queeen:

“Another one under the bus, yeah yeah.
Another one under the bus.”

riverrat10k on January 5, 2009 at 10:55 AM

Answer —

“Prez Obama reprises Prez Grant’, Or….

“Which of the 64 questions did Richardson not fill out?”

Question –

“Which of these two titles are best for our Obama expose’?” asks the CNN producer.

Dr. Dog on January 5, 2009 at 11:00 AM

These Obama people sure are easy to mislead. Rezko misled him, Richardson misled him and Wright misled him for 20yrs. Is this guy really our leader?

Dollayo on January 5, 2009 at 11:05 AM

With no time to go through 4 pages of posts re this subject, can someone bring me up to date on the SS (Shipley Spin) that explains Richardson/Obama/Bus in a progressive way?

Yoop on January 5, 2009 at 11:11 AM

I wonder how that will play politically with their base.

We just had a fella quit the job so he could be a the crowning ceremony. He didn’t have the vacation time to take off but he isn’t going to “miss history”!

There is the base. Obama could skin baby seals on the White House lawn for all they care.

Limerick on January 5, 2009 at 11:14 AM

Limerick on January 5, 2009 at 11:14 AM

Absolutely correct. It’s a “Style Over Substance” epidemic.

kingsjester on January 5, 2009 at 11:29 AM

Thugs of a feather flop together.

Skipper50 on January 5, 2009 at 11:32 AM

So, is your ex-Governor going to go into seclusion or make the talk show circuit defending himself?

kingsjester on January 4, 2009 at 10:10 PM

No, he’ll be spending more quality time with his family, healing, et ceterah, et ceterah. you know the standard political buzz words when a corrupt politician gets caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

abcurtis on January 5, 2009 at 11:33 AM

If Bill Richards can mislead you, Blago can too, along with a whole host that go unmentioned… I mean… just how GULLABLE is your team OBAMA? It makes me think that if they can do it, TERRORIST NATIONS can too!

CynicalOptimist on January 5, 2009 at 11:39 AM

They also seem to have no compunction about calling Richardson a liar in public. I wonder how that will play politically with their base.

There is no “their” base. It’s all His base. There’s a reason they call Obama The One, you know.

There shall be no (other) pretenders to the throne, and there shall be no favorites. There is only The One – and that’s all there’s ever going to be.

People always assume that American Socialists are completely different from all the other Socialists. Nonsense, they’re all alike. Self-governance is complicated and scary; collectivists want things as simple as possible and that means ONE guy on top. They cheered every time Stalin and every other “strong man” threw somebody under a bus. The only distinction is that – for now – it’s just figurative.

logis on January 5, 2009 at 11:44 AM

abcurtis on January 5, 2009 at 11:33 AM

In other words, he’ll be “laying low”. Most ethical “Office of the POTUS-Elect” EVAH!

kingsjester on January 5, 2009 at 11:45 AM

Richardson, who looks like a ghoul from a late night horror movie, is being called a liar by the Obama Team? Hoo-ha!
The more we look, the more we find…

Christine on January 5, 2009 at 12:00 PM

You know, if the Obama administration can’t trust its own allies and appointees or determine that they’ve been deceived, then how can we expect them to deal with hostile foreign governments who will say or do anything to achieve their ends? This is already starting to look like a bumbling circus, staffed by a bunch of whiners who never accept responsibility.

ToddonCapeCod on January 5, 2009 at 12:10 PM

“…they’re pretty obviously incompetent at it.”

Obvious to whom? Us, yes, but we don’t count. Until it becomes notably obvious to the fawning MSM, I don’t expect much to come of it. We will continue to cry out in the wilderness and be laughed at by the “elite”.

SKYFOX on January 5, 2009 at 12:58 PM

Part of what draws my attention is all the known records of him that are shut down and many with no real justification for doing so.

In fact many of those records if opened could have potentially bolstered his real thin resume.

The other things is the quantum leaps of presence and people we are told of. Like how he was friends with some very rich classmates from Pakistan and India.

The problem I have is those leaps can happen but for what is documented of him there are simply a very high number of those quantum leaps that they are above life averages for many people.

Also there are specific points that just don’t match up when you try to fit it all together.

CommentGuy on January 5, 2009 at 7:00 AM

This whole thing with Obama is creepy.. I agree with the previous comment that he just seems to be way outside of 5 standard deviations as far as ‘jumping ahead’. Something is weird.

No offense meant by the following to the transgendered folks but this reminds me of a friend who was dating someone. After the relationship intensified, it suddenly dawned on him that he had never seen pictures of his girlfriend from high school or earlier.. Guess what, turns out there weren’t any pics of ‘her’ as a ‘her’ but there were pics of ‘her’ as a ‘him’. I am NOT saying barryO was a girl at one time. What I am saying is that people have been known to hide whole chunks of their past.. ie things like the old nazi concentration camp guards surfacing in suburban america.

There are a lot of people getting thrown under the bus. I wonder if sooner or later someone will do some digging and have a “Mutually assured destruction” package prepared.

Deceit Deceit Deceit… Isn’t that the realm of the guy with the horns, pointy tail and pitchfork???

/ramble

bullseye on January 5, 2009 at 1:17 PM

The irony — crooks and liars find crooks and liars in their midsts and say we were lied to.

tarpon on January 5, 2009 at 1:37 PM

My, my, my, I thought everyone knew Richardson had issues.

He must have pulled some big deals for team Omerica during the election for them to pretend to nominate him anyway.

They dumped him before Obama could even sign a Presidential order to appoint him. Surprise, ho, hum. Hee Hee.

Richardson was a chump. He had issues. They used him. He thought he used them. The devil kept his word. Richardson got a pre-Presidential ‘nomination’. Then the devil kept his groove and pulled uut the briefcase of what everyone already knew and acted shocked, shocked that Richardson had issues

Play with the devil your hands get burned.

entagor on January 5, 2009 at 1:40 PM

You know, if the Obama administration can’t trust its own allies and appointees or determine that they’ve been deceived, then how can we expect them to deal with hostile foreign governments who will say or do anything to achieve their ends?
ToddonCapeCod on January 5, 2009 at 12:10 PM

When it comes to Obama, I firmly believe that what we’ve seen is precisely what we’ll get: an empty suit.

When (not ‘if’ but when) foreign terrorists and dictators end up being as duplicitous as Richardson, Reverend Wright, Bill Ayers, and a host of Obama’s other close personal associates he is going to do exactly the same thing he’s always done: blame it on them.

Barak Obama has never taken responsibility for anything in his entire life, and there’s no way in Hell that’s going to change now that he’s received what he sees as the ultimate entitlement.

logis on January 5, 2009 at 1:42 PM

Right Now I’m humming Cher’s “Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves”.

CynicalOptimist on January 5, 2009 at 1:48 PM

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2009/1/5/81357/21088

Yeah it is a left side blog but they just surfaced another issue about Richardson

There’s also a second area of inquiry Republicans were likely to focus on during Richardson’s confirmation hearings.

In addition, Senate Republicans told Politico ahead of Richardson’s confirmation hearing that they were looking into questions about Richardson’s connection to a San Diego-based software company that came under investigation from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

More…

From February 2001 to June 2002, Richardson served on the board of directors of Peregrine Systems Inc. Richardson departed the firm as a federal investigation of the company’s practices was getting under way. Investigators were focusing on the question of whether the firm’s top leadership intentionally inflated revenue numbers in an attempt to mislead company shareholders.

….Peregrine made headlines in December when Stephen Parker Gardner, the organization’s former chief executive, was sentenced to eight years in federal prison for taking part in an effort to defraud investors over a span that stretched from 1999 to 2002.

CommentGuy on January 5, 2009 at 1:49 PM

CommentGuy on January 5, 2009 at 1:49 PM

Thank you for your diligent research. As a former Radio News Director in College, I appreciate the skill it takes to bring the truth to light. It is a skill sorely lacking in today’s so-called “broadcast journalists”.

So, the question remains, was Obama serious about Richardson? Or was he just stringing him along?

kingsjester on January 5, 2009 at 1:53 PM

Baxter Greene on January 5, 2009 at 9:21 AM

Actually there is one issue in the Doug Ross list that is out of date.

A FOIA request went through for the Selective Service registration for Obama ….and it looks like someone may have ‘manufactured’ one.

http://www.debbieschlussel.com/archives/2008/11/exclusive_did_n.html

CommentGuy on January 5, 2009 at 1:56 PM

They also seem to have no compunction about calling Richardson a liar in public. I wonder how that will play politically with their base.

Meh, nothing at all. If anything, Richardson comes out worse for being an enemy of The One.

Grafted on January 5, 2009 at 2:02 PM

That’s the evil Richardson, the one with the goatee, right?

Vashta.Nerada on January 5, 2009 at 2:11 PM

kingsjester on January 5, 2009 at 1:53 PM

What I do is not magic.

I do research for other purposes in my personal life for investments.

I have many software tools that I use that many don’t even know exist.

Some originate for use with police departments and intelligence agencies and other are for statistical data mining and other purposes.

The problem to be dealt with is filtering down all the available information to distill it into a comprehensible format.

I have done the research and have the best state of the art and best of breed software to do the job at hand. Also my staff has modified some open source stuff to do specific functions.

I work with massive flows of data each day from around the world 24/7,which is the reason I have all the computer hardware at my disposal.

I have software that can take a pure text input and learn what it means in a near artificial intelligence sense but not quite.

It does it by translation of the base language if necessary to English and then doing sentence structure and grammatical analysis to determine the content of the text.

I do a lot of ‘text mining’ as well as ‘data mining’.

The software I use can read a 400 page document and summarize it into bullet points and an executive summary almost as well as a team of 20 or so researchers on a team.

It puts it into a narrative format that you would swear was a draft written by those researchers on the team but it is totally untouched by human interaction.

The software actually builds a neural network heuristic model and ‘learns’ from the more material it gets fed to analyze.

It can pick up name collisions and such but with just a couple of quick mouse clicks feedback it then makes an exception rule for future usage.

Some software packages already do this but mine also has a mash up arrangement that while doing this will build full social network diagrams, time frame stuff much more advanced than the old project Gantt Charts to show temporal relationships.

Degrees of separation and linkages become very important to draw conclusions from the data.

One you need the software assist to filter out the overload and duplication.

Two you need to know or know how to learn what data sources are available for access.

As my favorite early years school teacher so well said.

My job is not to teach you,but to teach you how to learn.

CommentGuy on January 5, 2009 at 2:17 PM

Obvious to whom? Us, yes, but we don’t count. Until it becomes notably obvious to the fawning MSM, I don’t expect much to come of it. We will continue to cry out in the wilderness and be laughed at by the “elite”.

SKYFOX on January 5, 2009 at 12:58 PM

Ironically, the popular attitude that all politicians are crooks works to the benefit of the actual crooks. An apathetic public is not going to get worked up about any particular politician’s misdeeds until the media gets them riled up.

Besides the banal media bias in favor of Democrats we all take for granted these days, there’s also the media’s disposition in favor of Exciting Big-Government candidates who offer Hope and Change. The attitude toward someone like Obama will always be “ease up and give him a chance.” The media will never be equally excited about a limited-government candidate, even setting aside their personal dislike for most Republicans. That’s why you don’t hear a lot of hosannas to “change” and “bold new directions” when a Republican takes over from a Democrat. The media action line, and the attitude of the average Obama voter, is that we should set nasty little distractions like Richardson or Franken aside, and give The One a chance to lead the country. Such courtesy would never be extended to a Republican, who would be described as taking office in a “cloud of controversy”, or struggling under the “shadow hanging over his new administration.”

Because the Democrats promise to do exciting (and hideously expensive) new things with government, they will always be judged on their potential. On the other hand, conservative philosophy is seen by the media as “rolling back the clock” or standing in the way of progress, so they will always be judged by their biography, usually the worst parts. If no sufficiently bad biographical details are available, the media will invent them as needed, as Sarah Palin could readily testify.

Doctor Zero on January 5, 2009 at 2:33 PM

As they say in politics , perception is reality.

If you have an objective and little or no ethical constraints you can move to your objective until the backlash counters your momentum.

CommentGuy on January 5, 2009 at 2:44 PM

And there goes Horatio Sanz job at SNL for the next four years..

DaveC on January 5, 2009 at 4:25 PM

Not really. Remember REDACTED and the “REDACTED”?

Attila (Pillage Idiot) on January 4, 2009 at 5:17 PM

No. We don’t.

And neither should you.

[do i really need the sarc tag?]

soundingboard on January 5, 2009 at 5:05 PM

Bill Richardson. There’s more to this than meets the eye, and I want to remind that you we told you first about this scandal back in December. The Prowler at the American Spectator has some incredible information. “The Obama transition team was aware of … Bill Richardson’s relationship with the firm currently being investigated, CDR Financial Products, because Richardson had introduced the firm’s founder, David Rubin, to Obama fundraisers during the Democrat convention in Denver last August. Richardson withdrew his name from nomination for Commerce Secretary due to a grand jury investigation into possible financial dealings between his New Mexico administration and Rubin’s firm, CDR Financial. But it isn’t just Obama and Richardson that Rubin has ties to.

“According to federal law enforcement officials familiar with the investigation, federal officials are also looking into CDR’s political and financial ties to ["Fast Eddie" Rendell of Pennsylvania], as well as to Democrat state and local officials in Illinois, California, Florida, and Pennsylvania.” By the way, this outfit also was involved in — I remember the original December story. This outfit was involved in some chicanery in Alabama, I think, as well. Now, Fast Eddie “Rendell placed Rubin on a political patronage commission in Pennsylvania, and Rubin was also given a seat on a Los Angeles City commission back in 2002… Rubin has also been a financial supporter of Rev. Al Sharpton.” Now, Rubin is David Rubin, who is heads of the CDR Financial Products company, which is at the center of the grand jury investigation of Bill Richardson.

“CDR also had close business ties to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, marketing and selling financial instruments created through low-income housing ‘lease to own’ programs across the country.” Folks, this is one giant cesspool, and it’s not just in Chicago. It is throughout the Democrat Party. The corruption is incredible. However, it is a mistake to bring this up. It will persuade nobody. The truth does not matter right now. This is an unfortunate distraction, and I am simply a small-minded partisan seeking to upset the most historically important presidential inauguration and administration in our nation’s history. None of this (ripping up paper), none of this is relevant, especially now that Richardson has taken himself out. He’s no longer up for commerce secretary.

This doesn’t matter. It never happened, it never existed. Obama is too big to fail. “[A]fter a number of embarrassing investigations into alleged IRS investigations into back-door deals related to municipal bond financing in Atlanta and other localities in the late 1990s, the firm’s name was changed …” This bunch has been manipulating the muni bond market doing a bunch of things raising money for these governors in some of these states, cities; you know, mayors and to, and it’s Democrat all the way down to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But, truth right now doesn’t matter especially if it gets in the way. (EIB)

Keemo on January 5, 2009 at 6:23 PM

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