After saying he wouldn't, he did. Barack Obama has thrown another friend under the bus. Jim Johnson, who Obama tapped to vet potential vice presidential candidates, was forced to resign because he did not want to become a distraction.
Obama said in a statement:
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.
In a separate statement, Johnson added:
I would not dream of being a party to distracting attention from that historic effort. I believe Barack Obama's candidacy for President of the United States is the most exciting and important of my lifetime.Johnson's days were numbered once reports emerged of his sweetheart loans with a predatory lender, Countrywide Financial Corp., which is under federal investigation for its role in the subprime mortgage crisis.
At a town hall meeting in Lancaster, Pa., earlier this year, Obama harshly criticized Countrywide:
These are the folks who are responsible for infecting the economy and helping to create a home-foreclosure crisis -- 2 million people may end up losing their homes.Obama's tepid defense that Johnson was "tangential" to the campaign was a signal that the bus was coming.


Comments: (42)
Add a comment
By: Marty on 6/24/2008 4:50PM
He shouldn't have fallen far the Jeremiah Wright non-issue. Now everybody who isn't perfect is a target. Who is the guy going to have left to build a cabinet?
Reply to this Comment | Report This
By: Louis Chitty on 6/27/2008 3:54AM
Black people had better wake up, AOL has this June 12th junk posted here for black folks while white folks as discussing the events of today and tomorrow. There is an election campaign going on, but you wouldn't know it from what is being fed to black people HERE in Black Voices. All you have to do is go to the home page of AOL and clicks NEWS, then, click ELECTIONS. Then you can scroll down through all the election coverage and click on any of the articles there and read the comments that are posted 24/7; you will see how vicious and racist the attacks on Obama and his wife are. The racists against him are out in force while you read this diluted crap and try to be civil. Our brother is already in the field--why stand you here, idle? I suggest you join the fray and post your comments, too; the opposition certainly is doing it. Do YOUR part to help the campaign. Here are some of my favorite posts that you can cut an paste 24/7 anytime you can:--------John McCain is the Rip Van Winkle of the 21st century. Time has passed him by. We are no longer the stronger of the old "two-party" COLD WAR rivalry between the Soviet Union and the United States. In the MODERN WORLD, we have to contend with IRAN, IRAQ, CHINA, PAKISTAN, AND INDIA (AMONG OTHERS)--AND WE CAN NO LONGER ACT UNILATERALLY AS THE POLICEMAN OF THE WORLD, NOR CAN WE AFFORD TO PAY ALL OF THE COSTS ALONE. We don't even have enough troops for IRAQ and AFGHANISTAN; God forbid that another crisis should arise elsewhere. OBAMA IS RIGHT--WE MUST GET OUR TROOPS OUT OF IRAQ NOW! Not only is it costing us the LIVES of thounds of BRAVE AMERICANS KILLED--and tens of thousands more WOUNDED AND CRIPPLED, but it is BANKRUPTING THE COUNTRY AND LEAVING US VULNERABLE TO ANY NEW CRISIS THAT MAY HAPPEN. THESE ARE JUST A FEW OF THE REASONS i'M VOTING FOR BARACK OBAMA FOR PRESIDENT!!!!!! McCain needs to ACCEPT that LIFE HAS PASSED HIM BY and EITHER GO BACK TO SLEEP or retire to his rocking chair. #
READ THE MESSAGES They may not SEEM to make sense, but they are the same techniques used by HITLER to gain power in GERMANY. First, you tell OUTRAGEOUS LIES. Then you REPEAT THEM OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN. These REPUGNANTCAN LIES, mention OBAMA or DEMOCRAT and TAX-AND-SPEND and MUSLIM and TERRORIST to ASSOCIATE OBAMA and Democrats with NEGATIVE IDEAS like these or with CRIME and DRUGS . People eventually become "FATIGUED" so their SUBCONSCIOUS MIND begins to ASSOCIATE the negative things with the candidate. It's call BRAINWASHING--and the REPUGNANTCANS are very good at it. THEY HAVE PEOPLE WORKING FULL-TIME (24/7), just to spread these lies. LOOK AT THE POSTS, and you'll see the same STUPID, OUTRAGEOUS LIES repeated OVER AND OVER.#
So many people play right into the hands of the sexists and & racists; THEY WANT YOU TO BE OFFENDED AND COME UP WITH ALL KINDS OF HATEFUL MESSAGES. Then they use it against you and say: "See, I told you so". This site is accepts of all of the racist, anti-Obama and anti-Clinton messages they can get. There are Republicans posting messages and pretending to be Democrats, men posting who pretend to be female, whites posting who pretend to be black, etc, etc, etc. Keep your cool and don't let people bait you into hateful speech; you're not going to change a racist online. You only intensify their pleasure--and turn off others who might be sympathetic, except for your vicious, hateful comments. THEY WANT YOU TO SINK TO THEIR LEVEL. Some of them are even PAID to bait you 24/7--and every time you respond to their racist stupidity, they are WINNING. If you want to post something, be POSITIVE about your candidate and honest about the negatives of the other candidate. You are NOT helping when you sound like some raving, foul-mouthed, thoughtless lunatic. If you REALLY want to help, donate whatever you can afford to the Democratic campaign. #
esrmd WROTE: "Senator Mc Cain is a war hero, unlike Obama who is inexperienced, who voted present in all important issues in the senate, who is a racist and has an ugly, equally racist wife."
=============================================================
OH, you mean the REPUGNANTCAN NAVY "HERO" who spearheaded the KEATON 5 SCANDAL THAT COST TAXPAYERS BILLION$--or the one whose daddy got him into the Naval Academy and who graduated near the very bottom of his class? OR THE ONE WHO CHEATED ON HIS SICK WIFE, CAROL) (WITH CINDY & many other women) WHILE CAROL WAS RECOVERING FROM MULTIPLE SURGERIES? Or the one whose DRUG ADDICTED wife stole drugs from a non-profit pharmacy she set up so she could get high? Or, are you talking about THE ONE WHO CHANGES POSITIONS JUST LIKE THE CLIMATE? Or, the one who said he didn't love his country until he was captured in Vietnam? "I didn't really love America until I was deprived of her company."
Oh, I'm sorry--I'M TALKING ABOUT JOHN McCain, aren't I? #
RACISTS ALWAYS FIND AN EXCUSE FOR BEING RACIST (ANYBODY but THIS guy--I'd vote for Powell, Rice, M L King--even Fat Albert!); that's the nature of the ILLNESS. They Even become GOD, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent: all-powerful, all-knowing, all over the place. So many racists come on here with their BS about how they would vote for the "RIGHT" black--but if the "RIGHT" black hasn't been spotted in America since the 1600's--almost 500 YEARS--I don't reckon the "RIGHT" one is going to be spotted by you or people like YOU, now or EVER. It's so sad. You are so sad--and you don't even realize that it's people JUST LIKE YOU who are dragging the country down. You don't even realize that you are a CANCER. You're DESTROYING AMERICA to "save" it. Well, it's your country too, but I'm convinced you have no idea what you're doing. You see only what you want to. It's so sad; you're so pitiful. May God have mercy on your FILTHY souls. #
The Republican Party is a party of SEXISM, FEAR and HATE--AND CHILD-MOLESTERS. It is the party of LIES and DECEIT. Republicans FAVOR THE RICH OVER WORKING PEOPLE. Working people are only good to make OTHERS rich. Republicans favor MONEY over PEOPLE. Republicans are ALWAYS RIGHT and working people are ALWAYS WRONG. Poor people CHOOSE to be poor. Sick people CHOOSE to be sick. Exploited people CHOOSE to be exploited. POVERTY is a CHOICE. REPUBLICANS BLAME THE PEOPLE FOR EVERYTHING, BUT DO NOTHING TO MAKE THINGS BETTER. THEY FIGURE IF THEY LIE LONG ENOUGH AND LOUD ENOUGH PEOPLE WILL GIVE UP AND LET THEM WIN--BUT NOT THIS TIME--THIS TIME WILL BE DIFFERENT--THAT'S WHY BARACK OBAMA WILL BE OUR NEXT PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES!!!! #
READ THE MESSAGES They may not SEEM to make sense, but they are the same techniques used by HITLER to gain power in GERMANY. First, you tell OUTRAGEOUS LIES. Then you REPEAT THEM OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN. These REPUGNANTCAN LIES, mention OBAMA or DEMOCRAT and TAX-AND-SPEND and MUSLIM and TERRORIST to ASSOCIATE OBAMA and Democrats with NEGATIVE IDEAS like these or with CRIME and DRUGS . People eventually become "FATIGUED" so their SUBCONSCIOUS MIND begins to ASSOCIATE the negative things with the candidate. It's call BRAINWASHING--and the REPUGNANTCANS are very good at it. THEY HAVE PEOPLE WORKING FULL-TIME (24/7), just to spread these lies. LOOK AT THE POSTS, and you'll see the same STUPID, OUTRAGEOUS LIES repeated OVER AND OVER. #
Seems mighty curious to me that (some) REPUGNANT REPUBLICAN WHITE PEOPLE are so stuck on RACISM; one would think that blacks had enslaved whites in America for 300 years.
Most of the black people I talk with are looking to the future, but white racists are looking BACKWARD. I wonder why? #
WHO WAS ONE OF THE RINGLEADERS OF THE KEATING BANKING SCANDAL THAT COST US BILLIONS? JOHN WHO? NOPE, NOT EDWARDS--IT WAS OLD, SENILE JOHN SYDNEY McCAIN. THE RACIST WAR-MONGER. #
I am truly ASHAMED of FELLOW white Americas. I lived through the bitter racism of the '50's and 60's and thought all of that was being put behind us--but as of this presidential campaign, I realize that much of what I had thought was merely wishful thinking. Having traveled all over the world, it would be hard to name a country where people are so hateful and so venemopus and so toxic as in white America. AND WE TRY TO JUSTIFY OUR RACISM. O, LOST!
Only Senator Obama and Rev. Huckabee have spoken out. The racists will not hear Senator Obama--and, unfortunately, Senator Huckabee only spoke of the Republican racial attacks as harmful to the McCain campaign. Huckabee should have said it was UNCHRISTIAN, INDECENT INHUMANE AND UNAMERICAN, so while Huckabee didn't go far enough, he did say something. But where are America's "spiritual" leaders? Where are the moral giants? Where are the people of God? WHERE'S BUSH? And where's McCain, WHO WANTS TO BE OUR "LEADER": MISSING IN ACTION--AGAIN! Oh, Lost! #
An old turkey named John McCain was chatting with a bull. "I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree," sighed Old Turkey McCain, "but I haven't got the energy." "Well, why don't you nibble on some of my droppings?" replied the bull. They're packed with nutrients." Then, Old Turkey McCain pecked at a lump of dung, and found it actually gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree. The next day, after eating some more dung, Old John reached the second branch.
Finally after a fourth night, Old Turkey McCain was proudly perched at the top of the tree. He was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot him out of the tree.
Moral of the story:
BS might get Turkey McCain to the top, but it won't keep the Old Fart there. #
The Republican Party is a party of FEAR and HATE AND CHILD-MOLESTERS. It is the party of LIES and DECEIT. Republicans FAVOR THE RICH OVER WORKING PEOPLE. Working people are only good to make OTHERS rich. Republicans favor MONEY over PEOPLE. Republicans are ALWAYS RIGHT and working people are ALWAYS WRONG. Poor people CHOOSE to be poor. Sick people CHOOSE to be sick. Exploited people CHOOSE to be exploited. POVERTY is a CHOICE. REPUBLICANS BLAME THE PEOPLE FOR EVERYTHING, BUT DO NOTHING TO MAKE THINGS BETTER. THEY FIGURE IF THEY LIE LONG ENOUGH AND LOUD ENOUGH PEOPLE WILL GIVE UP AND LET THEM WIN--BUT NOT THIS TIME--THIS TIME WILL BE DIFFERENT--THAT'S WHY BARACK OBAMA WILL BE OUR NEXT PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES!!!! #
GOD BLESS JOHN "Stab-You-In-The-Back" Mc-CAIN (brother of ABEL)--THE MAN who CHEATED on his ILL WIFE, CAROL with MANY women, flew to Hawaii MANY TIMES to date DRUG ADDICTED Cindy, while wife, CAROL, was left HOME ALONE, recovering from multiple surgeries. She waited for him to return from the "Hilton", but he sneaked into the HYATT with a slut. Good ole MORALS and VALUES John McSAME--yeah, THAT one, the CROOK involved in the KEATING BANK SCANDAL--yes, the same one whose daddy got him in the Naval Academy. YES, the one who "graduated NEAR THE BOTTOM of his class. (BUT HIS WIFE'S GOT A GREAT (stolen) BUTTERSCOTCH COOKIE RECIPE #
hjaz43 WROTE: "Anyone who can't be Proud to be an American for the first time in her life."
===================================================================
WHAT AN IGNORANT OUT-OF-CONTEXT COMMENT. MICHELLE OBAMA SAID:
"For the first time in my adult life, I am REALLY proud to be an American." The operative words are "REALLY proud". She was COMPLIMENTING WHITE AMERICA for being so gracious as to vote for her husband--but the racists have turned it on its head to mean the opposite. She's always been proud of her country (it's the only one she has) but she is ESPECIALLY PROUD to see (some) WHITE AMERICANS get beyond race. EVEN FIRST LADY, LAURA BUSH, understood what Mrs. Obama meant, and she said so ON TV--because she has CLASS--which is more than I can say Cindy McCain and some rank-and-file REPUGNANTcans. #
Pick those you believe in and cut and paste them on these sites--that's the least you can do.
Peace, Lou
Reply to this Comment | Report This