[HummerHippy]

It's politics baby! Spin it anyway you want. I love hearing about the dirty tactics that Nixon's campaign used to get him elected.


Anyway, here's one man's research into the 50 claims of lying...

Part 1

1. Selma Got Me Born. Senator Obama meant that the civil rights movement helped foster greater understanding between people of different races, which made it possible for his mother and father to have a relationship. He didn?t mean that the events in Selma literally led to his being conceived. Here is a section from that speech: http://www.barackobama.com/2007/03/0...march_comm.php

2. Father Was A Goat Herder. Barack Obama Sr. did grow up herding sheep in a village in Kenya, and only got to go to America because he earned a scholarship to study abroad at the age of 23. ?Due to a program offering Western educational opportunities to outstanding Kenyan students that was organized by nationalist leader Tom Mboya, Obama Sr. was awarded a scholarship in economics, and at the age of 23 he enrolled at the University of Hawaii.?

3. Father Was A Proud Freedom Fighter. Senator Obama never claimed that his father was a ?proud freedom fighter.? He has spoken frankly about how his father went back to Kenya and served as a government bureaucrat, until political problems led him to become a disillusioned alcoholic in his later years.

4. My Family Has Strong Ties To African Freedom. Kenyan politician Raila Odinga has claimed that he and Obama are related, though there does not seem to be much evidence. In any case, Obama is actually related to Dick Cheney, and I wouldn?t hold that against him. See the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7176683.stm

5. My Grandmother Has Always Been A Christian. Obama?s grandmother IS a Christian ? he was referring to his grandmother in Kansas. As most people understand, a person has TWO grandmothers. The author confuses Obama?s U.S. and African-born grandmothers.

6. My Name is African Swahili. His first name, ?Barack,? is a word in both Swahili and Arabic. See this page from the University of Pennsylvania:
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/langu...es/004187.html

7. I Never Practiced Islam. Senator Obama?s mother did not raise him with any religion. He attended both public and Catholic schools in Indonesia. He never attended a ?madrassah.? See Time Magazine: http://time-blog.com/swampland/2007/01/disgusting.html. and See CNN.COM: http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/01/22/obama.madrassa/

8. My School In Indonesia Was Christian. He attended a Catholic school in Indonesia for two years. The other two years were spent in public schools.

9. I Was Fluent In Indonesian. Sen. Obama never claimed to be able to speak Indonesian fluently. See Time Magazine: http://www.time.com/time/politics/ar...695803,00.html

10. Because I Lived In Indonesia , I Have More Foreign Experience. The smear emails don?t make much sense: they claim that Sen. Obama?s time in Indonesia was enough to turn him into a Muslim fanatic, but not enough for him to have experience in foreign countries. Obama said that his view of the world is different because of his childhood. Anyone with a similar experience, as well as psychologists and sociologists, can confirm this statement too (TPM).

See Time Magazine: http://www.time.com/time/politics/ar...695803,00.html

11. I Am Stronger On Foreign Affairs - LIAR, except for Africa (surprise) and the Middle East (bigger surprise), you have never been anywhere else on the planet and thus have NO experience with our closest allies. If Obama?s travels in Africa, Asia and the Middle East don?t have any relevance to foreign affairs, what would? A visit to Antarctica?

12. I Blame My Early Drug Use On Ethnic Confusion. The smear email suggests that Sen. Obama had no problems growing up as a biracial kid in the 1960s and 1970s. The anonymous people who put out these emails must know him better than he does.

13. An Ebony Article Moved Me To Run For Office. This may be an incorrect memory from childhood. The article may have appeared in another magazine.

14. A Life Magazine Article Changed My Outlook On Life. The book recites a memory from his childhood. Several advertisements depicting the whitening creams that Obama described did appear in magazines at that time (and still do today.)

15. I Won?t Run On A National Ticket In ?08. The quotation is false: Obama said he had ?no plans? to run, which is the standard cover used by politicians. In fact, out of all candidates in the primaries, every single one had stated this at one point?including Sen. Clinton and McCain.

16. Present Votes Are Common In Illinois. Present votes ARE common in Illinois, as has been explained by Illinois legislators, newspapers and researchers. Present votes are made strategically to help weaker representatives in your party?for example Planned Parenthood ASKED Obama to vote ?present? instead of ?no? on some abortion bills so that other Democratic State Senators would have cover.

17. Oops, I Misvoted. No idea what this one is even referring to. Here is a complete list of Obama?s voting record: http://projects.washingtonpost.com/c...mbers/o000167/

18. I Was A Professor Of Law. Sen. Obama taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago; according to UC, he was a professor of law. It does not get any simpler than this, even if the academic titles seem confusing. Obama was also NOT on leave when he was teaching? he has been on leave since his election to U.S. Senate. Here is the U of Chicago School of Law statement on this very issue: http://www.law.uchicago.edu/media/index.html

19. I Was A Constitutional Lawyer. Sen. Obama worked as a civil rights lawyer in Chicago from 1993 to 2002. See Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_l...f_Barack_Obama. Also here is the website of the law firm he worked for: http://www.lawmbg.com/index.cfm/PageID/2674

20. Without Me, There Would Be No Ethics Bill. Sen. Obama did propose and pass the toughest ethics legislation in Congress yet, banning many different ways that lobbyists got legislators to do favors for them. Find the text of the Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act at http://obama.senate.gov/issues/ethic...bbying_reform/

21. The Ethics Bill Was Hard To Pass. Just because a bill passed in two weeks does not mean it was not difficult to pass. The full process actually took more than 14 days. However, if your opponent accuses you of getting bills passed TOO fast, you obviously do not have many vulnerabilities.

22. I Wrote A Tough Nuclear Bill. Sen. Obama?s original bill was much tougher but the Republicans required it toned down before it was allowed to pass (this was prior to 2006 takeover) in its final form?which still established new regulations which no-one else did. Obama also worked with Republican Senator Dick Lugar to pass a bill to keep nukes out of the hands of terrorists. See coverage at http://www.democraticunderground.com...dress=388?3353

23. I Have Released My State Records. All IL Senate records are available through Illinois State. Read What Media Matters Had to Say: ?The Associated Press reported that Sen. Barack Obama ?says he can?t step up and produce his own records from his days in the Illinois state Senate. He says he hasn?t got any.? But Obama did not claim that the documents do not exist. In fact, the article quoted Obama saying: ?I don?t have ? I don?t maintain ? a file of eight years of work in the state Senate because I didn?t have the resources available to maintain those kinds of records.?

24. I Took On The Asbestos Altgeld Gardens Mess. Sen. Obama can legitimately take credit for this but other people were involved also.

From: http://www.dispatchpolitics.com/live...bamaearly.html
?Key players who worked with Obama at Altgeld Gardens said he deserves credit for pulling together a team of hundreds of residents who rallied for improvements at their housing projects. Obama helped secure grants for a jobs program and pushed for asbestos removal. His biggest accomplishment may have been to leave in place a group of activist mothers, some of whom continue to work or live at Altgeld Gardens.?

25. My Economics Bill Will Help America. It is unclear what Senate bill contained Sen. Obama?s ?111 economic policies.? In any case, Sen. Obama?s economic program has many positive features, including cutting loopholes exploited by corporations and wealthy Americans, cutting taxes on the middle class, and shoring up Social Security by ensuring that the rich pay as much of the rest of the us into the system.