Posts by Nico Pitney

Nico Pitney is National Editor at the Huffington Post.

Obama Report Exonerates Rahm ... Had Only One 'Pro-Forma' Courtesy Call With Blago
Posted by Nico Pitney, Huffington Post on December 22, 2008 at 6:45 AM.

Aides to President-elect Barack Obama will release a report this week exonerating incoming Chief of staff Rahm Emanuel of any wrongdoing in the controversy surrounding Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, ABC's George Stephanopoulos reports.

According to the report, Emanuel had only one "pro-forma" courtesy call with the embattled governor. Also, Emanuel is on tape telling Blagojevich's chief of staff that Obama would not offer any favors to induce the governor to choose Obama's favored candidate.

More from Stephanopoulos:

Sources also confirm that Emanuel made the case for picking Obama confidante Valerie Jarrett during at least one of the conversations [with Blagojevich's chief of staff John Harris]. In the course of that conversation, Harris asked if in return for picking Jarrett, "all we get is appreciation, right?"

"Right," Emanuel responded.

Bottom line: These sources say that Obama's report, which is expected to be released this week, will confirm what Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald and President-elect Obama have said -- and what Gov. Blagojevich clearly believed: that Obama officials were not open to any kind of deal for the Obama Senate seat.

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Officials: Obama Offered Clinton Secretary Of State Position
Posted by Nico Pitney, Huffington Post on November 14, 2008 at 1:48 PM.

President-elect Barack Obama offered Sen. Hillary Clinton the position of Secretary of State during their meeting Thursday in Chicago, according to two senior Democratic officials. She requested time to consider the offer, the officials said.

Multiple reports have indicated that Clinton was under serious consideration for the nation's top diplomatic post, in addition to Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry and Chuck Hagel, the Republican Senator from Nebraska.

A longtime aide to the New York Senator argued to the Huffington Post that there are strong reasons why Obama would be inclined to make the post worth Clinton's time.

"She is a beloved figure around the world. She has visited over 80 countries, as first lady and senator together," the aide told the Huffington Post. Noting the fact that Clinton learned as first lady how to be effective as a "backdoor diplomat," the former White House assistant said Clinton mastered "a lot of the intricacies of these issues before ever joining the Senate's Armed Services committee. She's tough; she had meetings with some Prime Ministers and Presidents where she had to deliver some blunt messages for us."

The offer shows that the Obama team is, in fact, serious about bringing all types of political officials -- former foes included -- into its governing tent. During the Democratic primary, Clinton was often accused by aides to Obama of inflating or over-dramatizing her foreign policy experience.

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Confirmed: Hillary Met With Obama About Role in New Administration
Posted by Nico Pitney, Huffington Post on November 14, 2008 at 8:03 AM.

A Democratic official confirms to the Huffington Post that Sen. Hillary Clinton met with President-elect Barack Obama on Thursday to discuss her role in the new administration.

Clinton's trip to Chicago, described in press reports as "personal business," came following a request from Obama, the official said.

The New York Senator is reportedly under consideration for Secretary of State, but it is unclear whether she had discussed that position with the transition team before making the trip. "If they told her beforehand, she did not tell her people," the official said.

Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines referred questions to the Obama transition team

Obama Hires Progressive Liaison for Transition Team
Posted by Nico Pitney, Sam Stein, Huffington Post on November 10, 2008 at 8:27 AM.

Veteran Democratic official Mike Lux has been tapped by Barack Obama to serve as an adviser and progressive liaison during the transition period, the Huffington Post has learned.

Lux, who worked on the Clinton administration transition efforts in 1992, confirmed the hiring but, citing a need for clearance, declined to offer further information.

The staffing move provides the Obama team with an important outlet to the progressive community -- a constituency from which the president-elect currently enjoys great support but one that has a wide range of priorities and will be holding Obama most firmly to his campaign promises once he takes office.

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Top McCain Adviser Blasts Palin: 'Of Course' She's Not Ready
Posted by Nico Pitney, Sam Stein, Huffington Post on October 31, 2008 at 8:46 AM.

A former Republican Secretary of State and one of John McCain's most prominent supporters offered a stunningly frank and remarkably bleak assessment of Sarah Palin's capacity to handle the presidency should such a scenario arise.

Lawrence Eagleburger, who served as Secretary of State under George H.W. Bush and whose endorsement is often trumpeted by McCain, said on Thursday that the Alaska governor is not only unprepared to take over the job on a moment's notice but, even after some time in office, would only amount to an "adequate" commander in chief.

"And I devoutly hope that [she] would never be tested," he added for good measure -- referring both to Palin's policy dexterity and the idea of McCain not making it through his time in office. (Listen to audio below.)

The remarks took place during an interview on National Public Radio that was, ironically, billed as "making the case" for a McCain presidency. Asked by the host whether Palin could step in during a time of crisis, Eagleburger reverted to sarcasm before leveling the harsh blow.

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New Questions Arise Over McCain's Health
Posted by Nico Pitney, Huffington Post on October 20, 2008 at 7:16 AM.

The New York Times reporter Lawrence Altman, a medical doctor himself, finds that "serious gaps remain in the public's knowledge about the health of the presidential and vice-presidential nominees," which is "a striking departure from recent campaigns, in which many candidates and their doctors were more forthcoming."

Of McCain, the Times reports:

If elected, Senator John McCain of Arizona, 72, the Republican nominee, would be the oldest man to be sworn in to a first term as president and the first cancer survivor to win the office. The scars on his puffy left cheek are cosmetic reminders of the extensive surgery he underwent in 2000 to remove a malignant melanoma.

Last May, his campaign and his doctors released nearly 1,200 pages of medical information, far more than the three other nominees. But the documents were released in a restricted way that leaves questions, even confusion, about his cancer.

A critical question concerns inconsistencies in medical opinions about the severity of his melanoma; if the classification of his melanoma is more severe, it would increase the statistical likelihood of death from a recurrence of the cancer. [...]

By not allowing reporters to interview him or his doctors extensively about his entire medical history, he has made it impossible to get a complete picture of his diagnoses and treatment.

Both Barack Obama and Joe Biden released recent medical records to the Times showing that they were healthy, though Altman notes that Biden's documents "did not indicate whether he had had a test in recent years to detect any new aneurysm," and Obama's most recent check-up was in January 2007.

Meanwhile, "Nothing is known publicly about Ms. Palin's medical history," Altman reports, "aside from the much-discussed circumstances surrounding the birth of her fifth child last April. Ms. Palin has said that her water broke while she was at a conference in Dallas and that she flew to Anchorage, where she gave birth to her son Trig hours after landing.

"Last week Maria Comella, a spokeswoman for Ms. Palin, said the governor declined to be interviewed or provide any health records."

The issues of John McCain's age and health have repeatedly been pushed, with much resistance, into the heart of the political discussion. Prompted in part by the selection of Palin as the Republican vice presidential nominee, the topic crested with the release of a political advertisement by Brave New Films PAC calling attention to McCain's history of skin cancer and the need for more information about his medical records.

(Watch Brave New Films' original video regarding McCain's heath record secrecy and sign the open letter calling for full disclosure of his medical records.)

Biden: Palin Must Condemn Supporters' Hateful Obama Attacks
Posted by Nico Pitney, Huffington Post on October 8, 2008 at 11:42 AM.

Joe Biden lashed out at Sarah Palin on Wednesday, calling her recent rhetoric "ugly" and "mildly dangerous," and expressing shock that the Alaska Governor did not interrupt recent rallies when supporters shouted hateful attacks about Barack Obama, including "treason!" and "kill him!"

"I watched the news and I heard a couple people hollering from the audience semi-vile things about 'terrorists,' things like that," Biden said on NBC's Today show. "The idea that a leading American politician who might be vice president of the United States would not just stop mid-sentence and turn and condemn that -- it's just a slippery slope, it's a place that we shouldn't be going."

Biden repeated the sentiment on ABC's Good Morning America:

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McCain May 'Suspend' Campaign Again
Posted by Nico Pitney, Huffington Post on September 30, 2008 at 11:36 AM.

David Kurtz at TPM writes, "John McCain made the morning show rounds today. On Fox they were virtually begging him to 'suspend' his campaign again in the wake of the bailout failure yesterday on the Hill. You know, since it worked out so well the first time. McCain's answer: He just might suspend again."

McCain's comments follow a blog post by William Kristol yesterday arguing, "if this is really 'a national economic crisis,' and others have failed to lead, then McCain should lead--by re-suspending his campaign (fine, let observers mock him when he announces this), and leading his party and the Congress towards a solution. They won't mock if he can pull this off."

Watch the video of McCain on Fox News this morning:

Palin Laughs as Opponent Is Called "Bitch," "Cancer," Mocked For Her Weight
Posted by Nico Pitney, Huffington Post on August 31, 2008 at 12:00 PM.

Early this year, an op-ed in the Anchorage Daily News ripped into Gov. Sarah Palin's appearance on a morning "shock jock" radio show as "plain and simple one of the most unprofessional, childish and inexcusable performances I've ever seen from a politician."

So what happened? Palin has repeatedly feuded with the state's Senate president, Lyda Green, over a wide range of legislation. Last January, Palin appeared on "The Bob and Mark Show," whose host Bob Lester despises Green. That's when the trouble started:

Early on in the conversation before Palin started to crack up, Lester referred to Sen. Green as a jealous woman and a cancer. Palin, who knows full well Lyda Green is a cancer survivor, didn't do what any decent person would do, say, "Bob, that's going too far."

But as the conversation moved on, Lester intensified his attack on Green.

Lester questioned Green's motherhood, asking Palin if the senator cares about her own kids. Palin laughs.

Then Lester clearly sets the stage for what he is about to say by warning his large audience and Palin. He says, "Governor you can't say this but I will, Lyda Green is a cancer and a b----." Palin laughs for the second time.

What were teenage boys thinking when they heard the governor laugh at someone being called a b----? How about the teenage girls who look up to Palin. What did they think when they heard her laugh?

But there is more. Lester then describes Green's chair as big and cushy. A clear reference to the senator's weight. Palin laughs a third time. She's just having a grand old time.

Palin was clearly enjoying every second of Lester's vicious attack on her political rival.

Here's the audio:

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Banana-gate: McCain Backer's Firm Pleaded Guilty To Funding Terrorist Group In Colombia
Posted by Nico Pitney, Huffington Post on July 2, 2008 at 8:00 AM.

The co-host of a recent top-dollar fundraiser for Sen. John McCain oversaw the payment of roughly $1.7 million to a Colombian paramilitary group that is today designated a terrorist organization by the United States.

Carl H. Lindner Jr., the billionaire Cincinnati businessman, was CEO of Chiquita Brands International from 1984 to 2001, and remained on the company's board of directors until May 2002. Beginning under his tenure, Chiquita executives paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (known by the Spanish acronym AUC), which is described by George Washington University's National Security Archive as an "illegal right-wing anti-guerrilla group tied to many of the country's most notorious civilian massacres."

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DNC Ad Hammers McCain on Iraq: Watch Video
Posted by Nico Pitney, Huffington Post on April 27, 2008 at 12:51 PM.

Here's a first look at the Democratic Party's new ad hitting Sen. John McCain -- the first DNC spot to take on McCain over his support for the Iraq war.

The 30-second ad manages to squeeze in not one but two clips of McCain's infamous exchange at a town hall meeting declaring that he'd be "fine" staying in Iraq for 100 years. In between, we see edgy shots of chaos in Iraq, including a bomb going off behind a startled U.S. soldier, and Iraqis scrambling around an exploded car.

The McCain campaign is sure to go apoplectic over the spot. In the past few months, they've sent out no less than 13 emails decrying the use of the "100 years" line by his political opponents. But the DNC plays it smart by not characterizing McCain's words, and it's hard to argue with the tape.

The ad is part of a $500,000 buy on national cable networks. Take a look:

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Bill Clinton Flashback: "All These Economically Insecure White People ... Are Scared to Death"
Posted by Nico Pitney, Huffington Post on April 13, 2008 at 4:00 PM.

As the rumination continues over Barack Obama's comments about economically-depressed small town voters, statements made by Bill Clinton on the same topic -- uttered while he was running for president in 1991 -- have now surfaced.

"The reason (George H. W. Bush's tactic) works so well now is that you have all these economically insecure white people who are scared to death," Clinton was quoted saying by the Los Angeles Times in September 1991.

A couple months later, Joe Klein, writing for the Sunday Times, reported that Clinton made the following remarks:

"You know, he [Bush] wants to divide us over race. I'm from the South. I understand this. This quota deal they're gonna pull in the next election is the same old scam they've been pulling on us for decade after decade after decade. When their economic policies fail, when the country's coming apart rather than coming together, what do they do? They find the most economically insecure white men and scare the living daylights out of them. They know if they can keep us looking at each other across a racial divide, if I can look at Bobby Rush and think, Bobby wants my job, my promotion, then neither of us can look at George Bush and say, 'What happened to everybody's job? What happened to everybody's income? What ... have ... you ... done ... to ... our ... country?'"

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NY Times: McCain's Alleged Romance with Lobbyist Exposed
Posted by Nico Pitney, Sam Stein, Huffington Post on February 20, 2008 at 8:15 PM.

On Thursday night, an otherwise obscure telecommunications lobbyist by the name of Vicki Iseman was thrust into the media and campaign spotlight, after a New York Times story suggested that she and Sen. John McCain had a close relationship that may have been romantic.

[Iseman] had been turning up with him at fund-raisers, visiting his offices and accompanying him on a client's corporate jet. Convinced the relationship had become romantic, some of his top advisers intervened to protect the candidate from himself -- instructing staff members to block the woman's access, privately warning her away and repeatedly confronting him, several people involved in the campaign said on the condition of anonymity.

When news organizations reported that Mr. McCain had written letters to government regulators on behalf of the lobbyist's client, the former campaign associates said, some aides feared for a time that attention would fall on her involvement.

Who is Iseman? A quick search on the Internet turns up some background information, including a picture of her with President Bush.

A website of her alma matter, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where she graduated with a degree in elementary education in 1990, documents her fast rise in the world of lobbying.

Iseman, the site notes, secured a job at the firm Alcalde and Fay only a few months after graduation, mostly for secretarial work. Soon thereafter, however, she began moving up the employment ranks. And eight years after she started, she became the youngest partner at Alcalde. Her clients included PAXtv, Religious Voices in Broadcasting, Telemundo, the Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation, and Computer Sciences Corporation.

From her page on the firm's website -- which was pulled from the web shortly after the New York Times story broke -- there is this: "[Iseman] has consulted for clients who are interested in government contracting opportunities. She has assisted corporations through the authorization and appropriation process. An active fundraiser, she has organized and participated in many political fundraising events."

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Hillary May Have Magic, But Obama Has Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Posted by Nico Pitney, Huffington Post on January 22, 2008 at 4:32 PM.

Unbeknownst to him, basketball legend-turned-author Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was pulled into the 2008 campaign fray this week.

In a radio ad airing in South Carolina, Abdul-Jabbar's former teammate Magic Johnson endorses Hillary Clinton and suggests that her chief rival, Barack Obama, is an overreaching rookie.

"We won our first game on a last-second shot," the former L.A. Lakers point guard says in the ad. "I was so hyped. But the captain of my team said, 'Take it easy rookie, it's a long season, it's a long road to the championship.' He was right."

The team captain that Magic is referencing: Mr. Abdul-Jabbar, who told the Huffington Post that Magic has it wrong about Obama. "I don't think he's a rookie. He's served as a senator very capably, and he is very skilled in terms of his ability to organize and lead people. And that's what we need right now."

Abdul-Jabbar, who recently authored a book charting the lasting impact of the Harlem Renaissance, said he doesn't fault Magic Johnson for his endorsement. "Mrs. Clinton is not a bad choice, I just think Mr. Obama is the best choice."

But he noted, "Unfortunately, Mrs. Clinton has been at many times a divisive figure, and I don't think that's intentional on her part, but I do think that's the case."

Abdul-Jabbar's book "On the Shoulders Of Giants" addresses the legacy of key African American leaders (in a glowing book review, the Washington Post said the author had transitioned from "iconic professional athlete to astute cultural historian.") But he chose not to weigh in on the recent racially-loaded spats between Obama and Clinton.

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New Documents Revealed in Case of Huckabee's Support for Freeing Rapist
Posted by Nico Pitney, Sam Stein, Huffington Post on December 11, 2007 at 5:35 AM.

This post, written by Sam Stein and Nico Pitney, originally appeared on The Huffington Post

In the wake of revelations that Mike Huckabee pushed for the parole of a convicted rapist who went on to rape and murder two other women, the former Arkansas governor has sought to distance himself from the story and questioned the legitimacy of the relevant documents.

Murray Waas reported last week for the Huffington Post that Huckabee received (and subsequently tried to keep secret) letters from victims of rapist Wayne Dumond and their family members, imploring the state not to grant his parole.

When first informed of our story last Tuesday, Huckabee spokesperson Alice Stewart said, "There were no letters sent to the governor's office from any rape victims." Later on Tuesday, Huckabee's campaign acknowledged that his office had received at least one letter from another Dumond victim.

On Wednesday, Huckabee campaign research director Joe Carter claimed in a statement that "the authenticity of the letters [posted by the Huffington Post] is questionable." Yet, in an interview with ABC News aired on Wednesday evening, Huckabee personally acknowledged receiving one of these letters from a previous victim of Dumond, and said he had also "encountered" the rape victim.

Since the Huckabee campaign has questioned the validity of the original report, the Huffington Post has decided to release additional documents from Huckabee's file on Dumond.

[Read the new documents in full here.]

The file, which was provided by a staffer to then-governor Huckabee who was concerned about his handling of the case, includes 12 separate letters written by eight different women. (This includes the three documents posted for the original story). Three of the women reported being raped or sexually assaulted by Dumond. One, whose writings have not been made public up to this point, wrote about her harrowing assault at Dumond's hands.

Standing there yielding a butcher knife above his head, was the shadow of a man. I asked "Who is it?" and he immediately burst on to my side of the bed, put his hands over my mouth and stuck the knife in my throat, whispering, "Don't say a word or I'll cut your goddamned throat." I froze and adhered to his request...

Also included in the file is an officially marked and dated Arkansas State Police affidavit, given to Huckabee prior to his decision to support parole, in which Dumond confessed to having raped another woman. Dumond was never charged for the crime.

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