Is this supposed to be the "November Surprise?"

[FVZA_Colonel]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/10/31/national/w203225D04.DTL&tsp=1


I'd like to know who leaked this information to the press, considering the timing of this.

[PBS Poll-435]

1. I think so

However...

Doesn't matter at this late hour.

[LisaLynne]

2. If it is ...

they must have lost Bin Laden's number.

[Blondiegrrl]

15. ...

:spray:

"As of press time, Osama bin Laden was unavailable for comment."

[LisaLynne]

24. I figure the conversation went something like this ...

Cheney: Ok, it's October. Things aren't looking good for the GOP. Better get bin Laden to release a tape endorsing Obama. Get him on the line.

Intern: Um ... we don't have the number. Remember when your Palm Pilot died?

Cheney: You were supposed to export all that shit to my new iPhone!

Intern: Well, I was going to but then Dimwit was playing with the Palm Pilot ..

Cheney: Ok OK! I get it. Well ... what else do we have?

Intern: Um ... nothing. Well, there was this one thing about Obama's aunt ...

US Voters: FAIL!

[Blondiegrrl]

31. LOL! nt

[TTUBatfan2008]

3. Obama doesn't even know her for crying out loud...

He doesn't know any of his family in Africa. He's met them one or two times and that's it. It's dumbfounding to me that these idiots keep trying to lay responsibility on Obama for things he has nothing to do with.

[FVZA_Colonel]

6. Wasn't she mentioned in "Dreams of My Father?"

[FrenchieCat]

10. Don't you know?

[TTUBatfan2008]

13. Just listened to the very beginning of it...

And he mentions being called on the phone at the age of 21 while in New York by Aunt Jane of Nairobi. She called him Barry and he had no idea who she was at the time. She was calling to tell him that his dad had been killed in a car accident.

[FVZA_Colonel]

29. I guess I was thinking of the aunt mentioned in the Times of London piece in this DU thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=7661514&mesg_id=7661514


If they are one and the same, then the Times people simply fucked up in their description of her, as the description from the book would hardly seem to establish her as "beloved," given how little he knew her.

[Mojorabbit]

27. I read that she was

mentioned in the book in an article yesterday so this is just more than some anonymous person. That being said, I personally could not care less one way or another.

[FrenchieCat]

28. Can you provide a page number?

Thanks.

[Mojorabbit]

34. There was a discussion last nite

on the subject and the page number was given. Let me do a search and see if I can find it.

[Mojorabbit]

37. Here is the british article

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article5042571.ece
Here is the discussion last night
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=7661514&mesg_id=7661514
This must not be the one I am thinking of with page numbers. I am still looking.

on edit I must have got it from this line in the british article listed above
"Zeituni Onyango, the aunt so affectionately described in Mr Obama’s best-selling memoir Dreams from My Father, lives in a disabled-access flat on a rundown public housing estate in South Boston."

and on page three there is an excerpt from the book. I swear someone posted page numbers last night but I can't find the post.

[TTUBatfan2008]

40. It's the first chapter...

I don't have the book. I have the audiobook and one of the first things he says is that he got a call at the age of 21 in New York from someone he didn't know who described herself as Aunt Jane in Nairobi. She was calling to tell him that his father had been killed in a car accident.

It starts off, "A few months after my 21st birthday, a stranger called to give me the news. I was living in New York at the time..."

[HughMoran]

4. So I am responsible for my mothers sister

What?

...makes no sense at all.

[CreekDog]

16. Wrong: "half aunt" on his father's side

i know 2nd and 3rd cousins, but i don't know my half-aunts.

[HughMoran]

19. The point is...

Why is it his responsibility? The fact that she may not even be blood related makes it even more stupid.

[CreekDog]

22. I agree with your point completely, and my point was it was even more ridiculous

than you had made it out to be. :hi:

[HughMoran]

25. This whole this is effing ridiculous!!

Yay, we're frittering our time away when we should be sleeping (at least I should be!)

[CreekDog]

30. early here 10:30pm

:hi:

[FVZA_Colonel]

41. My only little fear, which I consciously know to be irrational, is that some fools out there will

think "if he has an illegal immigrant relative, maybe his 'associations' do matter."


Consciously, I understand this will only matter to people who would never have voted for Obama in the first place, but... man, I need to relax.

[RL3AO]

5. Yeah. Its a real game changer.

... :eyes:

[chollybocker]

7. It's an A/P Story

American Pravda

[Tarheel_Dem]

26. With "unnamed" sources. Doesn't pass the smell test. (nt)

[FrenchieCat]

8. We're are not going to get excited about it......

although some would prefer if we did.

Thank you for the post.
It is also in the Breaking News Forum.

Now I'm concerned. :eyes:

[JJ]

9. What exactly is a "half aunt"

"Obama's presidential campaign confirmed to the Times of London that Onyango" ... "was Obama's half aunt on his father's side."

[FrenchieCat]

11. Like a cousin by marriage, 4 times removed.

Would be his father's half brother's wife.

[HughMoran]

12. Half aunt? Is she even blood related?

:shrug:

[vaberella]

50. The phrasing is poor and makes absolutely no sense.

However, I figured she was Obama's Father's half sister. Which would make her as such his Half-Aunt, but that's never used. Like no one's half sister is the kids half aunt, normally it's just aunt anyway you look at it.

[Webster Green]

14. I hope Obama uses his considerable influence to get her "legal"..

:smoke:

[firedupdem]

17. Half aunt on his fathers side and he's supposed to be responsible

for her being here illegally? OMG! What next? I've got some half relatives who have done all sorts of shit...am I responsible for them???? Come on Tuesday...sick of this shit!

[TheBigotBasher]

54. The bigots are claiming the Obama does not care because

he has not helped her become legal. However if he had sone so, the would then be bigoting on about how he helped an illegal immigrant.

This is what they are bigoting on about now

Obama Relegates Aunt Who Resides Illegally in US to the Shadows While Taking Her Campaign Contributions

By TruthtellergravatarcloseAuthor: Truthteller Name: Truthteller
Email: [e-mail]
Site: http://noquarterusa.net/blog/
About: See Authors Posts (74) on November 1, 2008 at 1:15 AM in Barack Obama, Immigration Reform, Kenya

According to Barack Obama’s website, he ostensibly desires to “bring people out of the shadows.” I quote:

Bring People Out of the Shadows

Obama and Biden support a system that allows undocumented immigrants who are in good standing to pay a fine, learn English, and go to the back of the line for the opportunity to become citizens.

Obama also outlines his (laughable) record on immigration reform. Conveniently elided from this list, however, is his aunt from Kenya. On 30 OCT 2008 we learned that Obama’s aunt, Zeituni Onyango, the child of Obama’s paternal grandfather, Hussein Onyango Obama, resides in a dilapidated public housing block in South Boston. Although residents of the same metropolitan area, she and Obama led parallel lives: he edited the Harvard Law Review and gamboled about Harvard Square, while she lived in squalor with other immigrants in an economically depressed area of Boston.

He did describe her affectionately in his memoir entitled Dreams of My Father, however. Recounting his first meeting with Onyango, Obama recalls how she said, “You take good care of Barry now.” “Make sure he doesn’t get lost again,” she admonished Obama’s cousin. But as Obama climbed the political and social ladders of the Ivy League and of inner city Chicago, he became more and more “lost” to the relatives about whom he waxes poetic in a text he wrote for personal and political profit.

“I have been coming to America ever since 1975,” Obama’s aunt boasts when interviewed by a London Times reporter. But there is one problem: Obama’s aunt is not a United States citizen. In fact, she received a deportation order in 2004, when her application for political asylum was rejected. I quote the New York Times:

Zeituni Onyango, 56, referred to as ”Aunti Zeituni” in Obama’s memoir, was instructed to leave the United States by a U.S. immigration judge who denied her asylum request, a person familiar with the matter told the AP late Friday. This person spoke on condition of anonymity because no one was authorized to discuss Onyango’s case.

Zeituni Onyango’s status as illegal immigrant begs a few questions.

* How did she contribute a total of $260 to her nephew’s campaign in a series of small donations from her South Boston address if she is not a United States citizen?
* Are many illegal immigrants and foreigners submitting small donations to the Obama campaign in order to avoid scrutiny by the FEC?
* How does she qualify for public housing if she is not a United States citizen?
* How is Obama to be trusted to reform the immigration system if his relatives are breaking immigration laws and living illegally in this country?
* And why did the Senator not file a form I-130, a Petition for Alien Relative, on behalf of his aunt after her request for political asylum was rejected? As a United States Senator, he certainly could expedite the adjudication of such a petition.

This is not just the kitchen sink. The bigots are starting to throw the house as well. The only people this plays to are their remaining base.

[The River]

18. We're All Part Of The Same

Family tree. The Family of Man.
We are all related, no matter how distant, to every saint
and sinner who's ever lived.

It will only matter to the 29% ers.

[firedupdem]

20. related?=maybe..responsible?= hell no! n/t

[and-justice-for-all]

21. A) it is bullshit..

B) what would this have to do with Obama? He would have to abuse his power in order for this to have any sticking power and that is no where to be found.

It is a bullshit story that has not tread.

[Feron]

23. Hell if anything...

a story like this can backfire on the pugs.

Lots of legal people may have family members or loved ones that are illegal. Or loved ones they want to bring to the country.

Those on the fence may vote for Obama because they identify with this story.

I severely doubt that xenophobes and anti-immigrant individuals would vote for Obama anyway. Minute men and their ilk are hardly progressive.

[FVZA_Colonel]

32. Given that McCain and Obama favor some sort of a "paths to citizenship" program,

I honestly can't see this getting much play outside of the xenophobes, who wouldn't have voted for Obama any way.

[smoochpooch]

33. I wonder if McCain will touch this, or if he will let Hannity and them do it for him? n/t

[FVZA_Colonel]

35. Hannity will be screaming about it until Judgement Day.

But given that McCain co-sponsored a bill with Ted Kennedy that people like this woman could probably have qualified for, it will be hard for him to try and make this into an issue.


I can definetly see the surogates saying he "used his power" to get her the apartment, given she had a "standing deportation order" against her. But given that he was a state-senator at the time, I don't know how much power he would have had, even with his then-growing national profile.

[FrenchieCat]

36. They will all try.......in fact it is starting right now.

It is part of the reason that it is being posted here.....
so that it can spread first into the Blogosphere.
If we, as bloggers are talking about it, it provides the News media that much more cover
when they discuss it.

Of course many stories that have been printed about McCain that were negative, the media chose not to touch, but Barack doesn't get that kind of treatment.


Can't wait till Tuesday, when some folks here will come clean.

[busybl]

38. Doubt it's true she's illegal

if she was, how could she be in subsidized housing? They practically ask for your first born and a pint of blood to get in. Been there.

[FrenchieCat]

39. It's a lie, but that won't stop them........

as you can read that nothing in the story has been confirmed by any named source, and yet we are discussing it here at DU.

That's all they want......
Blogger Buzz is all it takes these days.
Perfect excuse for the media to decide to discuss it
a few days before an election.

We should actually let this story sink, because there is no there there.....

But I'm sure that a few "operatives" here won't let it go...
because they are here to spread uncomfirmed lies....
and AP is nothing but a lie factory.

[Mojorabbit]

43. this line in the article was interesting

"Onyango's case — coming to light just days before the presidential election — led to an unusual nationwide directive within Immigrations and Customs Enforcement requiring any deportations prior to Tuesday's election to be approved at least at the level of ICE regional directors, the U.S. law enforcement official told the AP."

Even though it broke in the British papers, I have a suspicion DC republicans are behind it..

[FVZA_Colonel]

44. Did Limbaugh say a few weeks ago that McCain had a "bombshell" he'd drop in the last 72 hours?

I hope this is it, because I seriously can't believe this will gain much traction with anyone but the wingnut xenophobes.

[Mojorabbit]

45. If it is

it is a piss poor bombshell. I hope if they did have something that this is it too. I totally agree with you that it is a non issue.

[vaberella]

49. THANKS FRENCHIE!!! A voice of reason amongst a few others.

Circumstantial evidence and yet this is under discussion here. All it said was that she was rejected for political asylum (or so they say) because even if you're rejected you can appeal and be in the system for 10 years. I know when I applied for my citizenship I had a problem with my form and so I was called back, I had to reapply and then I was put floating in the system for 5-6 years. No papers, no nothing. All you get is a sort of receipt (maybe) that lets you get by slightly. Until Naturalization Services give you a call.

I'm surprised we're giving this so much credence without any direct facts. Further more, I would expect Hannity to watch his back especially considering the stupidity he must have experienced with Backward B-Girl. Drudge isn't the best source of info, and that coming from AP even B-Girl Backward got attention there before it was seen as typical faux news.

[dave29]

42. So what's the end game here? Kick Obama's half aunt out of the country?

Whatever

[blogslut]

46. No kidding

This thing will backfire on the pubs. It will make them look mean and spiteful, picking on some poor woman who came here for asylum.

[anneboleyn]

47. Do they think, in the one news day that is left (Monday), that this would sway the election?

Very hard for me to believe.

[FrenchieCat]

51. Well, there are a couple here who are going to try hard

not to let this drop off the DU radar when it should.

[democrat2thecore]

48. I'm sure lots of people will think of Obama's Aunt as they walk into the polling booth(!) -nt

[vaberella]

52. Don't marginalize the impact of this. A lot voters are teetering.

I don't think this story is fully credible since there's a lot of circumstantial evidence and no one has spoken to the aunt, they're just making stuff up by word of mouth which could come out to be another hoax in and of itself. But don't believe that the media won't use this to mess with people's minds (as they've done throughout this election) and give McCain unfair advantage.

I don't have much hope in the American people at large, although this past primary has definitely elevated a bit of my faith. I also know that immigration is a big issue and let's say any of the info is true (which I doubt-in relation to her status) they'll use this.

On another note...wasn't this brought up months ago? I distinctly remember a story about some immigration problem.

[FVZA_Colonel]

57. Could it really affect that many?

It might tip some, but given the wave of support Obama's been building up it doesn't seem like it could really be a "game changer."

[vaberella]

58. No it can't affect that much. Plus it's a situation where the US Government broke a pact with

someone asking for citizenship. This situation was to be confidential. That could be another reason major news networks may not want to touch something like this.

Have you heard this on the news, ie MSNBC, CNN, or Fox. I haven't been up to date.

But to get back to the point it's just something the media could use a great deal to have the people in a way lose confidence in Obama, and this one unlike the others can have some impact. Most people who watch the news know they're getting some poorly set up assymetrical information, however a lot of them buy into it...ie Fox viewers. I just don't like the idea of Obama dealing with even more drama with this out there. Plus it shows how shitty the Government is to leak this out the press and especially days before the General Election.

[FVZA_Colonel]

59. I'm thinking a lot of the leaners to Obama might not have actually voted for him at all.

I've seen emails posted on other forums by people whose relatives have said that they were "leaning Obama" but can't vote for him over this. Because he must have known and helped her, after all.

I doubt these people could actually have brought themselves to vote for Obama anyway.

[vaberella]

61. I've seen those posts too.

This is rather nonsensical. Since there's no evidence either way and no one knows if she's illegal do they? This is just AP running their mouth but there's no real facts to suppor this from what I've gathered. As a matter of fact it seems the Government must have been aware she was around in order for this to be some sort of leak with an address and phone number or something.

Even this claim that she some how donated $260 is enough to suggest that there was something else going on and it could have been easy for anyone to steal that identity and do anything with it---since I doubt the lady has a computer and if she was really trying to stay in this country then she wouldn't even use or buy a credit card.

I think those people, and I agree with you, either weren't going to vote for Obama or they're just freepers spreading shit in the blogosphere. At this point I don't put a lot of honorable belief in freepers or even long term posters and I definitely don't put any sort of honor in the case of the McCain campaign post the Backward B-Girl incident.

[Waiting For Everyman]

53. I'll get interested in that right after Palin's abuse of power's dealt with.

[GoesTo11]

55. Who leaked it? The article hints.

"The information they made available is known to officials in the federal government, but the AP could not establish whether anyone at a political level in the Bush administration or in the McCain campaign had been involved in its release."

OK, Bush admin used gov't resources to dig this up. Told someone at McCain campaign, who told someone in the press to leak it. Sounds a lot like the Plame chain of custody. No fingerprints, and yet something happened.

[msanthrope]

62. Bet it started with McCain---n/t

[WinkyDink]

56. Where are all of McCain's family? Including immediate?

[Overseas]

60. You mean Bush administration ILLEGAL DISCLOSURE

of confidential immigration documents?

Bush administration law breaking is not that big a surprise.

Check out the DU thread from ProSense with Josh Marshall highlighting the real story:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x7693950


Breaking the Law for McCain
11.01.08 -- 10:08AM By Josh Marshall

You may have noticed that the AP is reporting that Barack Obama's aunt (who he does not seem to have a relationship with) was denied asylum in the US four years ago and is now living illegally in Boston. Convenient timing, ain't it?

The real story, though, is down in the third paragraph of the AP story ...

Information about the deportation case was disclosed and confirmed by two separate sources, one of them a federal law enforcement official. The information they made available is known to officials in the federal government, but the AP could not establish whether anyone at a political level in the Bush administration or in the McCain campaign had been involved in its release.

That's about as transparent a red flag as an outfit like the AP is usually willing to give. And there you have it. Quite likely working in concert with the McCain campaign, a Bush administration official is leaking details on an immigration case to try to help McCain three days before the election. It's shades of Bush I's riffling through Bill Clinton's passport files just before the 1992 election in a desperate last minute gambit as they were swirling down the drain.

Late Update: Note too that the story first got leaked to the Times of London, a Murdoch paper with a history of taking planted stories from Republicans for siphoning back into the US media.

Another Republican fraud to investigate. This is despicable.

[msanthrope]

63. So who in the McCain campaign tried to get this woman deported

in time for the election????

That's the story.....