What a choice we have coming up in a couple of weeks, eh?
Barack Obama or John McCain.
OK, can I be frank here? If you think either of these guys are gonna make good on any of the blather they've been spewing during the campaign, you're a certifiable lunatic.You think we're gonna get health care, education programs, infrastructure improvements, tuition credits, a balanced budget by 2012, a balance in trade and whopping tax cuts all at the same time?
Are you nuts?
But that's OK. That's what politicians do. They tell us a bunch of stuff that we want to hear, and then after they're elected they may or may not follow up.
They know that the vast majority of Americans aren't paying attention anyway. Politicians are rarely held accountable for broken promises.
The one glaring exception was George H.W. Bush's "Read my lips: No new taxes" pledge. That will pretty much dog him to the grave.
So knowing that what they tell us during the campaign is virtually meaningless, let's look away from issues for a time and look to character and integrity.
John McCain:
McCain fashions himself as hating the corrupt politicians in Washington who cozy up with lobbyists.
Then there's his campaign manager Rick Davis. Newsweek reported this month that "Freddie Mac, the troubled mortgage giant that was recently placed under federal conservatorship, paid Davis' firm $15,000 a month between 2006 and August 2008."
The newsmag goes on to note that the payments were "especially problematic" because Davis requested the consulting retainer in 2006 and did "barely any work for the fees."
Freddie Mac was payin' for something, now weren't they?
"Freddie Mac also had no dealings with the lobbying firm beyond paying monthly invoices, but it agreed to the arrangement because of Davis's close relationship with McCain."
McCain campaign aids say the fees are irrelevant because Davis "separated from his consulting firm in 2006."
What really happened is that when Davis joined the campaign in January 2007, he asked that his $20,000-a-month salary be paid directly to Davis' consulting firm.
Oh, well then, that tidies it up.
So, essentially, McCain is whacking on Obama for taking money from Freddie Mac while his own campaign manager is taking lots more.
Rick Renzi was the co-chair of McCain's campaign in his home state of Arizona.
Renzi was indicted in February for extortion, wire fraud, money laundering and other charges related to a land deal in Arizona. He's on trial now, accused of conspiring to promote the sale of land that buyers could swap for property owned by the federal government. The sale netted one of Renzi's former partners $4.5 million.
He was the target of an ongoing corruption probe by the Feds long before the indictment.
The Washington Post reported on McCain's meeting with Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska, who had his visa revoked by the U.S. government because of "suspected links to anti-democratic and organized-crime figures." Davis pulled that meeting together.
I don't need to rehash that whole Keating Five thing do I? The Senate Ethics Committee formally reprimanded McCain for his role in aiding Charles Keating's Lincoln Savings and Loan, which eventually collapsed, costing the taxpayers $3.5 billion.
McCain is the only major party presidential nominee in U.S. history to have been rebuked, censured or otherwise admonished after a Congressional ethics investigation.
Barack Obama:
In 2005 Obama bought a house from Chicago developer Tony Rezko. Rezko was indicted in 2006 on federal corruption charges. After the indictment, Obama characterized Rezko as a mere acquaintance and said, "I've never done any favors for him."
Well, not so much.
According to published reports, Obama urged city and state officials to give Rezko $14 million to build an apartment complex outside of Obama's state Senate district.
The Chicago Sun-Times reported last year that Obama's written request included $855,000 in "development fees" for Rezko and for another developer, Allison Davis, who happened to be Obama's old law-firm boss.
Just a coincidence, I'm sure.
Then there were at least six housing bills in the Illinois legislature that Obama worked on that benefited guys like Rezko.
These bills helped make millionaires out of slum developers like Rezko.
Obama got them subsidies. He secured them a steady income of government rent subsidies. He arranged special tax credits and abatements for them. He backed measures that increased demand for their businesses, and helped them legally circumvent local laws.
Rezko, depending on what you read, gave and helped raise somewhere between $250,000 and $600,000 for Obama's political campaigns.
For his part, Obama says that he only had the best interests of poor people in mind. OK.
Then there's ACORN.
Suffice it to say it may be the most shady community organizing group in the history of mankind.
Just this week, The Buckeye Institute - check out this outfit online, it's legit - filed a RICO action against ACORN - the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. Obama is mentioned in the 14-page.
The action has not been filed against him, but the filing makes his connections with the organization clear.
The action filed in Warren County Court of Common Pleas alleges ACORN has engaged in a pattern of corrupt activity that amounts to organized crime. It seeks ACORN's dissolution as a legal entity, the revocation of any licenses in Ohio, and an injunction against fraudulent voter registration and other illegal activities.
The suit also alleges that ACORN's actions deprive voters of the participate in an honest and effective elections process. They allege fraudulent voter registrations submitted by ACORN dilute the votes of legally registered voters.
"ACORN appears to be recklessly disregarding Ohio laws and adding thousands of fraudulent voters to the state's roles in the process," Maurice Thompson, director of the Buckeye Institute's 1851 Center for Constitutional Law said. "Such voter fraud erodes the value of legally cast votes."
That stuff's happening all over the country.
The filing states, in part:
"Defendant is engaged in massive voter registration drives and political canvassing throughout the state of Ohio and the United States of America; some of this work is performed on behalf of current United States of America presidential candidate Barack Obama.
"ACORN's political wing has endorsed Barack Obama for president, and during the primary season, the Obama camp paid Citizen Service Inc. $832,598 for various political services, according to Federal Elections Commission filings. Citizen Services Inc. and ACORN share the same board of directors.
"In Texas, where ACORN's affiliate, Citizens Services Inc., has provided contract work on behalf of Senator Barack Obama's presidential campaign, the Houston Chronicle reported on Aug. 17, 2008, that 'About 40 percent of the 27,000 registration cards gathered by ACORN from January through July have been rejected or placed in limbo pending the gathering of more information, according to the county' while 'about 6,600 were filled out by people already registered, and many others contained insufficient information.'"
No room for Bill Avers, Jeremy Wright or Bobby Rush, Penny Pritzker, Alexi Giannoulias or Mike Klonsky this time. Google those names with Obama if you want some fun reading material.
So tell me, which one of these guys am I supposed to vote for?
