tawny: blog 
tawny's blog
an october surprise?
Published Nov. 1, 2008
This story was posted earlier, but it made me think whether this was the October surprise the GOP was seeking.
Apparently, this political story of the "moment" is about the residency status of Barack Obama's half-aunt, a Kenyan woman named Zeituni Onyango, who has been living in public housing in Boston despite having a U.S. immigration judge deny her asylum request four years ago.
This is fascinating because ... well, actually I have no idea why anyone would find this even remotely interesting.
What is interesting, however, is how this story came to the public's attention.
Information about the deportation case was disclosed and confirmed by two separate sources, one 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. [...]
A spokeswoman for U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, Kelly Nantel, said the government does not comment on an individual's citizenship status or immigration case.
No, but the government does illegally leak information about an individual's citizenship status or immigration case when administration officials decide it might influence a presidential election.
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.... 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.
Nevertheless, I'm hard pressed to imagine why voters might care. People often vote for very irrational reasons, but I wonder how many Americans are out there this morning thinking, "I was going to vote for a healthier economy and a sensible foreign policy, but Obama has a half-aunt that apparently was denied asylum and didn't leave. Now, I want more of the same for four more years."
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Should my green card application or N-400 application be available for all to see? What about your passport application? After all, the INS is making a legal judgement on your eligibility.
GOLO member since October 8, 2008
November 1, 2008 4:19 p.m.
GOLO member since October 18, 2007
November 1, 2008 4:13 p.m.
I doubt this since they can't get the LA times to release the tape that could rally hurt his election. This would not be worth the time to the GOP but since you brought it up Obama has constantly said in Sept that he had a surprise for October. Well today is 11-1 and I still don't know where this surprise he's talking bout is. Can yo assist me in that. ladyblue-THE PHOENIX
GOLO member since July 7, 2007
November 1, 2008 4:08 p.m.
Obama will win in a landslide on Tuesday....end of story!
GOLO member since August 9, 2008
November 1, 2008 4:06 p.m.
GOLO member since January 25, 2008
November 1, 2008 4:00 p.m.
pschevy: The father of Social Security was an avowed socialist! Edwin Witte!!
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November 1, 2008 3:48 p.m.
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November 1, 2008 3:37 p.m.
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November 1, 2008 3:34 p.m.
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November 1, 2008 3:31 p.m.
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November 1, 2008 3:29 p.m.
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