McCain's False Accusations About Raines/Obama

[Joanne98]

They're lying again...

Debunked by the Washington Post:

An already nasty presidential election campaign is getting nastier. The meltdown on Wall Street has touched off frantic attempts by both the McCain and Obama camps to secure political advantage and indulge in guilt by association. Over the last 24 hours, both campaigns have issued video press releases (let's not call them ads until they actually air somewhere) attempting to show that the other side's "advisers" are somehow responsible for the crisis. The latest McCain attack is particularly dubious.
The Facts

The McCain video attempts to link Obama to Franklin Raines, the former CEO of the bankrupt mortgage giant, Fannie Mae, who also happens to be African-American. It then shows a photograph of an elderly white woman taxpayer who has supposedly been "stuck with the bill" as a result of the "extensive financial fraud" at Fannie Mae.

The Obama campaign last night issued a statement by Raines insisting, "I am not an advisor to Barack Obama, nor have I provided his campaign with advice on housing or economic matters." Obama spokesman Bill Burton went a little further, telling me in an e-mail that the campaign had "neither sought nor received" advice from Raines "on any matter."

So what evidence does the McCain campaign have for the supposed Obama-Raines connection? It is pretty flimsy, but it is not made up completely out of whole cloth. McCain spokesman Brian Rogers points to three items in the Washington Post in July and August. It turns out that the three items (including an editorial) all rely on the same single conversation, between Raines and a Washington Post reporter, Anita Huslin, who wrote a Style section profile of the discredited Fannie Mae boss that appeared on July 16. The profile reported that Raines, who retired from Fannie Mae four years ago, had "taken calls from Barack Obama's presidential campaign seeking his advice on mortgage and housing policy matters."

Since this has now become a campaign issue, I asked Huslin to provide the exact circumstances of the quote. She explained that she was chatting with Raines during the photo shoot, and asked "if he was engaged at all with the Democrats' quest for the White House. He said that he had gotten a couple of calls from the Obama campaign. I asked him about what, and he said 'oh, general housing, economy issues.' ('Not mortgage/foreclosure meltdown or Fannie-specific,' I asked, and he said 'no.')"

By Raines's own account, he took a couple of calls from someone on the Obama campaign, and they had some general discussions about economic issues. I have asked both Raines and the Obama people for more details on these calls, and will let you know if I receive a reply.
The Pinocchio Test

The McCain campaign is clearly exaggerating wildly in attempting to depict Franklin Raines as a close adviser to Obama on "housing and mortgage policy." If we are to believe Raines, he did have a couple of telephone conversations with someone in the Obama campaign. But that hardly makes him an adviser to the candidate himself--and certainly not in the way depicted in the McCain video release.


The right wing blogosphere is absolutely apoplectic over this. They've convinced themselves they have Obama in a gotcha! moment, but as usual -- the lies and exaggerations of the John McCain campaign are quickly being brought to light.

http://wizbangblue.com/2008/09/19/mccains-false-accusations-about-rainesobama.php

[JStatus330]

1. Private needs to take his uniform off at rally!

Just seen at a McCain Palin rally on TV some private is stupid enough to wear his uniform there. Either he's a fake, or he's really stupid. I hope his chain of command recognizes him and rips him a new A-HOLE for disregarding the UCMJ which CLEARLY states no military member is to engage in political rallies or such in uniform, PERIOD! NO EXCUSES!

Just seen at a McCain Palin rally on TV some private is stupid enough to wear his uniform there. Either he's a fake, or he's really stupid. I hope his chain of command recognizes him and rips him a new A-HOLE for disregarding the UCMJ which CLEARLY states no military member is to engage in political rallies or such in uniform, PERIOD! NO EXCUSES!

Just seen at a McCain Palin rally on TV some private is stupid enough to wear his uniform there. Either he's a fake, or he's really stupid. I hope his chain of command recognizes him and rips him a new A-HOLE for disregarding the UCMJ which CLEARLY states no military member is to engage in political rallies or such in uniform, PERIOD! NO EXCUSES!

[4themind]

2. I guess objectively speaking

there may be some debate about Burtons's "on any matter" and Raines "on housing/economic matters", but Obama can just come out himself and reiterate the later position and say that there was a slight miscommunication between Obama himself and Burton , if necessary. Of course this is assuming that Rinaes is correct and the campaign itself (vs. just a person who solicited his advice without campaign permission) seeked his advice on anything at all, and that's something that I think will be fleshed out over the next couple of days. The bottom line is McCain can't prove nay of these claims unless he had a mole within the obama campaign or a bug on the conversation that Raines supposedly had with the campaign