Obama's Saudi Sweetie?
On the other side, Investor's Business Daily asks, "Does Barack Obama owe his meteoric rise to an Israeli-hating adviser to a Saudi billionaire? Why did a race-baiting mentor to the Black Panthers favor this yet unknown community organizer?"
Lovely.
The IBD editorial board writes:
We know he's a Harvard graduate and was editor of the Harvard Law Review. Less known is the story of how he got into the prestigious Ivy League university. As Newsmax's Kenneth Timmerman reports, he was helped by a letter written by Percy Sutton, former Manhattan borough president and a credible candidate for mayor of New York in 1977.In an interview earlier this year on New York's all-news cable channel NY1, the 88-year-old Sutton made some interesting revelations about his relationship with the young Obama. He told NY1 reporter Dominic Carter on "Inside City Hall" that he was introduced to Obama by a friend raising money for him. The friend asked Sutton to write a letter in support of Obama's application to Harvard law school.
"The friend's name is Dr. Khalid al-Mansour, from Texas," Sutton said. "He is the principal adviser to one of the world's richest men. He told me about Obama."
Sutton recalled that al-Mansour said, "There is a young man that has applied to Harvard. I know that you have a few friends up there because you used to go up there to speak. Would you please write a letter in support of him?" Sutton did.
According to Timmerman, "At the time Percy Sutton, a former lawyer for Malcolm X and a former business partner of al-Mansour, says he (al-Mansour) was raising money for Obama's graduate school education (and) al-Mansour was representing top members of the Saudi Royal family seeking to do business and exert influence in the United States."
...What did this radical extremist see in young Barack Obama that he would seek to sponsor and perhaps finance Obama's education? Obama says he paid his way solely through student loans. How did they meet? Where did the money he raised come from? Now that we know who the father of Bristol Palin's baby is, maybe the mainstream media will have time to find out.
Obama's camp denies the Percy Sutton claim. Here's Sutton on NY1 making it:
Ben Smith at Politico.com tried to check out the story. He writes:
Sutton's story is particularly difficult to follow at one point: that al-Mansour was "raising money" for Obama. Obama attended Harvard with the help of student loans, as the Sun-Times' Lynn Sweet reported in detail at one point, writing that he had $42,753 in debt.I left messages for al-Mansour and for Sutton, but haven't heard back. Sutton, an eminence in Harlem politics, has not been well lately, people who know him said; I also left a message for his son.
Sutton supported Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary and was quoted saying of Obama at the time, "We don't know the other person in this election -- we've never met him."
UPDATE: I spoke to Mansour Thursday evening, who said he'd avoided directly contradicting the story out of respect for Sutton, "a dear friend, his health is not good."
But pressed, he denied all the details of Sutton's story.
"The scenario as it related to me did not happen," he said.
"I'm sure he's written a letter [to someone else] and he got it confused somehow," he said of Sutton, adding that he'd never asked Sutton to write a letter to any university supporting anyone's admission.
Mansour said he admires Obama, but first heard of him when a relative sent him a copy of Obama's 2004 convention speech.
"I've never met him," he said.
So, true, false? Documents released to the media anytime soon?
Sutton's story does sound rather detailed. But, maybe he's wrong. Maybe he's just...old, and losing his memory.
Let's hope.
I'll bet a sweet, shiny nickel that this turns out to be a whole bunch o' nuthin.
Seems like we've had a lot of that lately.
old rpm daddy at September 9, 2008 5:48 AM
Gotta tell you I'm discounting this one.
Never heard of the guy before but even in that You Tube clip he sounded disjointed and seemed to be having trouble concentrating. I'm tending to think that the claims that his health isn't good could be a reference to senility.
I could be wrong but, in any case, it'd have to have some kind of other verification.
T's Grammy at September 9, 2008 5:55 AM
Amy Alkon
https://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2008/09/obamas-saudi-sw.html#comment-1588799">comment from T's GrammyI could be wrong but, in any case, it'd have to have some kind of other verification.
I looked and looked for some kind of debunking or confirmation on mainstream media. There's only silence.
Amy Alkon
at September 9, 2008 5:58 AM
Sutton's family retracted, saying he misspoke. Well, yes, maybe. Ben's commenters seem pretty frothing.
"The information Mr. Percy Sutton imparted on March 25 in a NY1 News interview regarding his connection to Barack Obama is inaccurate. As best as our family and the Chairman's closest friends can tell, Mr. Sutton, now 86 years of age, misspoke in describing certain details and events in that television interview.
We regret this unfortunate incident and we ask good conscientious people to extend compassion and grace to Percy Sutton, a man who has served America in many capacities; an officer with the Tuskegee Airmen in World War II and as a public servant who was the first elected African-American Manhattan Borough President."
If Sutton's so gaga, why did the family let him do the interview in the first place? And why didn't they issue a retraction then? Didn't they watch it?
Kate at September 9, 2008 6:23 AM
Amy Alkon
https://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2008/09/obamas-saudi-sw.html#comment-1588813">comment from KateThat's an awfully detailed example of misspeaking. I'd like to see some mainstream media outlet check it out. None have.
In a world of blogs and alternative media, I think the mainstream media might make it their business to be a watchdog in rumorland. Apparently, they think differently.
Amy Alkon
at September 9, 2008 6:38 AM
AP unearthed a copy of Obama's school records where his parents registered him as a Muslim at a Jakarta school. But, considering where he was, maybe that was just expediency. Was Obama presenting himself as Muslim in his 20s, as part of discovering himself or for expediency?
I'm not so worried about Obama taking orders from Mecca, but he does seem to have a curious ability to be all things to all people.
Kate at September 9, 2008 7:08 AM
"(al-Mansour) was raising money for Obama's graduate school education (and) al-Mansour was representing top members of the Saudi Royal family seeking to do business and exert influence in the United States."
The implication seems to be that al-Mansour was trying to help Obama so that he could influence Obama in the future. If that is the case, wouldn't the Saudi Royal family be willing to chip in the cost of a graduate degree? The could probably find the cash under the seat cusions in their Rolls Royces.
Steamer at September 9, 2008 7:46 AM
You have got to be fucking kidding me.
So, thanks to ace investigative and unbiased news source Newsmax, we're supposed to believe an up-and-coming young black man with a Columbia degree under his belt and a Harvard law degree in his future was going around asking others to raise money for him to go to school? Like a church bake sale? Because if he couldn't get enough money from shadowy Saudi-connected black Muslims, what? He'd have to settle for beauty school?
Just FYI, here's what you do when you need money to go to Harvard Law: You get a loan. And your loan is approved in about .0006 seconds, because if there's one thing lenders are willing to bet on, it's the future earning power of a man with two Ivy League degrees, one of them a juris doctorate.
Also, note to the obviously senile Percy Sutton: You don't get named president of the law review before you've set foot in school. It's a position you earn by being at the top of your class in your last year. You'd think a lawyer would know that, but it's pretty obvious Sutton is one step ahead of tapioca and adult diapers, if he isn't there already.
Nance at September 9, 2008 11:20 AM
When I read this, I sense the question is more about why isn't MSM responded AT ALL to this when it spent so much time questioning (things like) Palin's Down Syndrome son's maternity? Both seem equally bizarre shots in the dark, but until now I've only heard about one of them from the "tundra" of the GWN. However, I heard nothing but Obama, Obama, Obama when he first won the democratic nomination(?)...now I hear nothing but Palin, Palin, Palin. I think the MSM (and its customers) mostly just have a short attention span.
moreta at September 9, 2008 1:21 PM
It's ain't that, Morey... They're SKEERED!
Crid at September 9, 2008 7:11 PM
I definitely would like to see the next generation of the Apple A4 chip. Hopefully it"s 1.2Ghz. It would love the see the option of a 1.2 and a 1.4Ghz iPad 2 maybe with 128GB and the ability to sync your iPhone to it. Ok, I know I"m dreaming now.Mail now shows attachments and their total size, across from "cc, bcc, etc" and when clicked on, one gets the option to choose to make it smaller… Small, medium, big, and original size" or some such, with the corresponding size listed next them.Mail now shows attachments and their total size, across from "cc, bcc, etc" and when clicked on, one gets the option to choose to make it smaller… Small, medium, big, and original size" or some such, with the corresponding size listed next them.
Jimmy Going at March 17, 2011 5:28 AM
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