NOTHING WRONG WITH POLITICS AS USUAL...:

MBNA paid Biden son at critical time for bill (PETE YOST, 8/25/08, Associated Press)

A son of Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden was paid an undisclosed amount of money as a consultant by MBNA, the largest employer in Delaware, during the years the senator supported legislation that was promoted by the credit card industry and opposed by consumer groups. [...]

Obama opposed the bankruptcy law, enacted in 2005, while Biden supported it.

Biden Tied to Rezko Fraud Figure: Vice-Presidential Candidate's Former Campaign Advisor and Fundraiser Aided Kickback Scheme (JUSTIN ROOD, August 25, 2008, ABC News)

Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., brings to Obama's presidential campaign assets like foreign policy experience and a knowledge of Washington. But he also brings another tie to the Antoin "Tony" Rezko scandal, a mess that has already caused sizeable headaches for the Obama campaign.

Chicago lawyer and onetime mega-fundraiser Joseph Cari has advised Biden and his campaigns on and off since 1984, serving in posts as varied as a Senate adviser on crime to the Midwest Political Director for Biden's aborted 1987 presidential bid. [...]

Federal prosecutors indicted Cari in August 2005 and in September Cari cut a deal, agreeing to cooperate with the government's investigation and pleading guilty to a count of attempted extortion .

Cari admitt ed that in 2004 he helped a Rezko associate by making calls in what turned out to be a kickback scheme.

...as long as you aren't pretending you'll change things.

MORE:
Obama to amend report on $800,000 in spending (David M. Brown, 8/22/08, Pittsburgh TRIBUNE-REVIEW)

U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign paid more than $800,000 to an offshoot of the liberal Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now for services the Democrat's campaign says it mistakenly misrepresented in federal reports.

An Obama spokesman said Federal Election Commission reports would be amended to show Citizens Services Inc. -- a subsidiary of ACORN -- worked in "get-out-the-vote" projects, instead of activities such as polling, advance work and staging major events as stated in FEC finance reports filed during the primary. [...]

[S]aid Blair Latoff, spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee: "Barack Obama's failure to accurately report his campaign's financial records is an incredibly suspicious situation that appears to be an attempt to hide his campaign's interaction with a left-wing organization previously convicted of voter fraud. For a candidate who claims to be practicing 'new' politics, his FEC reports look an awful lot like the 'old-style' Chicago politics of yesterday."

Posted by Orrin Judd at August 25, 2008 7:00 PM