Fact vs. Fiction

To the Editor:

In response to Jacqui Agius’s latest hyperbole and smear job, “Obama Is A Socialist” (Letter Hive, 10/01/08), lets set the facts straight.

Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae (FMs) are forbidden by law from contributing to candidates campaigns. They can hire lobbyists and consultants. They did. They run McCain’s campaign. In fact, Freddie Mac recently paid the largest election fine ever, after regulators found it used corporate funds illegally to pay for fundraisers that benefited mostly Republicans. (USA Today, 10/1/08). As for the underlying study you cite that claims that Obama has received more from the FM employees, the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) issued a qualifier confirming their study did not include contributions from directors, officers, and lobbyists for the FM’s. That list shows McCain receiving $169,000 vs Obama’s $16,000. Adding these amounts together means McCain received $190,550 from all FM-related sources to Obama’s $142,349. (CNN.com Political Fact Check, 10/07/08). CRP also concluded that up until Congress changed hands in the 2006 election cycle, that Republican candidates received considerably greater donations from FM sources then Democrats did.

As for Franklin Raines and Bill Ayres, these questions have been asked and answered. They are baseless and have been rebuffed as Swift Boat smear. Franklin Raines said he met Obama once and called his office to speak with an aide once. Bill Ayres and Obama served on a charity board together to fight poverty. Of course Republicans have denounced and belittled community service repeatedly. However, Ayer’s prosecutor has called him a model of rehabilitation. He has received awards for his civic contributions to fight poverty and help literacy. And he immediately responded to misquotes in a 2001 New York Times article implying his unrepentant state as “not a question of being misunderstood or ‘taken out of context’, but of deliberate distortion.” (Wikipedia, Bill Ayers).

But if these are really the type of questions you want answered, then lets ask this one: Why did Sarah Palin’s husband belong to a political party that openly calls for the secession of Alaska as recently as 2001? (Los Angeles Times, 9/3/08) And why did she record a video for that party’s 2008 convention praising them for their fine work? (www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwvPNXYrIyI). Maybe Sarah Palin should consider not palling around with her husband! Under your rules of association, the Palins qualify as either domestic terrorists or guilty of treason.

Lastly, please spare us the redistribution of wealth rhetoric. I am in the five percent that will be negatively affected by Obama’s tax plan. My taxes will still be lower than they would have been in the Reagan era, and they are certainly half of what I would pay if we lived in “Socialist” France.  Your party has reigned supreme with the controls of both the Congress and Executive Branch for six of the last eight years and John McCain was a key player in the destruction of our Constitution, world image, quality of life, and economic demise.

Peter Sandler

4 Far Horizon, Sandy Hook October 14, 2008