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gee. that didn't take 20 years. and in regards to your sig ^^^^^ that's the scariest sight. i'm not talking about the brown hornet. i'm talking about mic e. she's going to make hilary look like barbara
Obama Veep Vetter Resigns
Johnson resigns from team vetting Obama veep
By NEDRA PICKLER – 1 hour ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — A manager of Democrat Barack Obama's vice presidential search team resigned Wednesday amid criticism over his personal loan deals.
"Jim did not want to distract in any way from the very important task of gathering information about my vice presidential nominee, so he has made a decision to step aside that I accept," Obama said in a statement. "We have a very good selection process under way, and I am confident that it will produce a number of highly qualified candidates for me to choose from in the weeks ahead. I remain grateful to Jim for his service and his efforts in this process."
Johnson, the former chairman of mortgage lender Fannie Mae, received loans with the help of the CEO of Countrywide Financial Corp., which is part of a federal investigation in the midst of the subprime mortgage crisis. Republican presidential candidate John McCain had accused Obama of hypocrisy for speaking out against Countrywide's tactics while his vetter got favorable rates on three home mortgages totaling $1.7 million.
Johnson served on Obama's vetting team with two prominent Democratic attorneys — former Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder and Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of the late President John F. Kennedy.
Johnson brought the most experience to the vetting team, having filled the same role for Democratic nominees John Kerry in 2004 and Walter Mondale in 1984. He and Holder had been holding meetings this week with lawmakers on Capitol Hill to seek their input on possible running mate candidates.
On Tuesday, Obama said Johnson had a "discrete task" and was performing it well. He suggested the Countrywide connection was not a problem since Johnson was an unpaid volunteer and hadn't been assigned to work in a future administration.
"I am not vetting my V.P. search committee for their mortgages," Obama said at the time.
It had to be done.
gee. that didn't take 20 years. and in regards to your sig ^^^^^ that's the scariest sight. i'm not talking about the brown hornet. i'm talking about mic e. she's going to make hilary look like barbara
Oh brother. Is that all you got.We already got Mrs. Joker in the White House. Brahahahahahahaha!!
does it not look like him? it's not a racial thing. if you say that then you live with it, but ol' barack is the spitting image of the brown hornet. i wonder what cosby thinks.
I was wondering where the "brown hornet" reference was coming from. I don't find it a racial thing but a funny thing. Just like all who say he sounds like the Rock.
In Obama's own words, "I choose my friends (Jim Johnson) carefully".
Obama's Choice of Insider Draws Fire
Republicans Assail Head of VP Vetting
For Republicans seeking to tarnish Obama's image as a squeaky-clean outsider hoping to clean up Washington -- not to mention divert attention from questions about lobbyists working in Sen. John McCain's campaign -- Obama's embrace of Johnson has been a gift.
"He's tagged himself as a different kind of politician," said Republican strategist Mark Corallo. "He's supposed to transcend party, transcend politics. He's exploited that more than anyone in recent memory, and it becomes demoralizing to all the starry-eyed Obamaphiles who are saying, 'I thought he was different.' "
The questions about Johnson began after the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday that he received more than $2 million in home loans that might have been below average market rates from Countrywide Financial, a partner of Fannie Mae and a leading purveyor of the kind of subprime mortgages that spawned a national housing crisis.
Responding to questions yesterday about that article, Obama said: "I am not vetting my VP search committee for their mortgages. These aren't folks who are working for me. They're not people who I have assigned to a particular job in a future administration."
But the questions surrounding Johnson's past suggest the difficulties Obama will face as his campaign expands from an underdog insurgency to a general-election operation. He has little choice but to pick up experienced political insiders -- and the baggage they bring with them.
"This is a game that can be played," Obama told reporters in St. Louis. "Everybody who is tangentially related to our campaign, I think, is going to have a whole host of relationships. I would have to hire the vetter to vet the vetters."
As CEO of Fannie Mae, Johnson, a former chief of staff to Vice President Walter F. Mondale and chairman of the board of the Kennedy Center, was the beneficiary of accounting in which Fannie Mae's earnings were manipulated so that executives could earn larger bonuses. The accounting manipulation for 1998 resulted in the maximum payouts to Fannie Mae's senior executives -- $1.9 million in Johnson's <---Obama's chosen friend... case -- when the company's performance that year would have otherwise resulted in no bonuses at all, according to reports in 2004 and 2006 by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight.
In a 2006 civil enforcement action against Fannie Mae, another agency, the Securities and Exchange Commission, called the company's 1998 accounting "fraudulent" and said numbers were "intentionally manipulated to trigger management bonuses."
(more) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...061003475.html
What next, ties to da mob?
...or lobbying for brutal dictators? Oh wait, that's McCain's guy...
Way to hit this thread head on Pix, a classic case of "can't see the forest for the trees".
Did he say something about whitey?
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