Thursday, November 21

Chicago Is Rahmboned

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Want a good example of the Chicago mentality and how Rahmbo fits into it? A group of Chicago-based White House staffers, led by U of C professor Dr. Austan Goolsbee, did their last get together with Rahm in the Roosevelt Room and presented him with a going away present: a dead fish wrapped in copies of the Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune. All had a good hearty laugh, partly because of the obviously mafiaoso overtones (for those who have never seen The Godfather, the dead fish represented a death threat) and partly because Rahm Emmanuel once used a similar gag to express his displeasure with a Chicago pollster.

“In Chicago, this is how friends say goodbye,” said White House mouthpiece Robert Gibbs.

This anecdote is making the rounds today, and most people find it funny, but it is actually a deadly serious point. This is how things are done in Chicago, to this day. You cross the wrong people and your very life is threatened. Sure, you might not (emphasis on might) get your brains blown out on Lower Wacker Drive, but political, financial and social assassination are all powerful tools, and ones that are commonly used in Chicago. It isn’t a joke, America. It’s the Chicago way.

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  1. yah! Rick Sanchez mensa member and former drunk/vehicular manslaughterer is fired from CNN. on

    Also it seems rahm has also mastered the fake emotional presser as most libs have down pat.

    Dont believe him people.

    Was the WH East Room an appropriate venue for Barack to anoint the next mayor of Chicago? What was the big news – everything that occurred was already known the day before yet the entire media covers it as if it were news?

    Like the tough guy adjectives the media attributes to Rahm like ‘sharp elbows’ for instance.

    The guy is a 5’4″ ballerina that apparently likes to approach men in the gym showers. He’s just a smuck!

  2. "...and Mr President the bears are 3 and zero" uttered by Rahmborina from the East Room of the WH - yeah thats sounds like a Chicagoan to me? on

    I say to properly welcome Rahmborina back to Chicago and because he thinks its so amusing to send and receive dead fish – we should all send him a properly packaged and labeled (conforming with postal and/or ups laws and regulations) a dead fish.

    How about a Flounder?

  3. Rahmborina the Britney Spears of Chicago politics on

    Rahmborina was out ‘pressing the flesh’ and no he wasnt in the gym showers of the East Bank Club – he was letting Chicagoans ‘tell it like it is’…

    and suspiciously the entire Chicago (Fox, NBC, CBS) media whom he shunned and even told to ‘get back and out of his way’ somehow knew exactly where to find him…

    • Don't Tread On Me on

      Why are you posting videos from this Brietbart hack? All his videos are edited. He and his little idiot James O’Keefe have nothing to do with conservative efforts and are nothing but entertainers and money makers. They will now be spat upon at every tea party rally they attend.

      Personally I think Rahm will be beaten down by the minorities when they start whining for their own candidate. I don’t know why people live in such corrupt places like Chicago anyway.

      • Interesting there self-proclaimed “patriot” 🙂 you agree with me that Breitbart is a hack…and his videos are edited (and if you still watch him and post links there must be something wrong with you.)

        However I think Rahm is smart enough to realize the minority vote is key to a win and he will go for that immediately. This race will really be dependent on the violence factor.

      • rhamboring... yawn on

        the only hack on this website is logic/rational American or now apparently dont tread on me!

  4. I thought this was a listening tour Rahm?

    I post comments on your facebook page and you delete them?

      • How many people do you actually think click on your Breitbart links? You have posted about 20 at this point…

        • PS you obviously don’t read the real news or use your brain Idiot.

          Asking Rahm whether his “Wall Street friends benefitted from the stimulus” is ridiculous and no real candidate should answer this. Furthermore, this same idiot accused everyone in the Obama administration of being a socialist. What kind of socialist/communist has Wall Street friends? Its as dumb as the tea party idiots who say Obama is a Muslim Communist, literally an oxymoron since communism is founded in no religion.

          But hey you keep believing whatever you want to and posting Brietbart links…how does it feel to repeatedly be shown an idiot on this website? 😉

          Furthermore this guy was not a reporter. Regular citizens don’t belong at press events.

          Exerpt from today’s Chicago Sun-Times:

          In July, Kelly debuted a one-hour Saturday evening radio talk show called “The Kelly Truth Squad” on WIND-AM (560). But Kelly buys the air time on WIND and is not an employee of the station — an arrangement that the host argues gives him more leeway in what he can say and do on the show. …

          “It was wrong for Kelly to call himself a reporter at WIND when he does not work for the station,” said [WIND general manager Jeff] Reisman, who otherwise indicated he has no problems with the host or his radio show.”

          • "you are not even a real reporter..." on

            so using your circular reasoning is ANP not a ‘real’ journalist website? its self funded – direction guided by an individual not corporate policy.

            strange arent you supposed to be demonizing big corporatations and sticking up for the individual?

            the questions to rahm are relevant as he was the one bending arms to get genius bankrupting legislation like obamacare various bailouts – wall street, bank etc passed or more appropiately put forced down Americas throat?

            and stop saying marxists dont have a religion its secular humanism.

            wasnt there an actual avowed communist in the white house – van jones?

            obama is not a muslim hes a kenyan? – i thought that was the tea party mantra.

            by the way how is obama brother is he still living in a card board box in kenya – which was discovered last year right after obama uttered these magnificent words ‘i am my brothers keeper…’

            if those are the plans for his half brother imagine what rice paddy he has imagined for the rest of America?

          • Are you sure you can read? 🙂 You are just looking more and more dumb with your defense.

            Sure ANP is a legitimate news organization. Yet if Joe Fosco told me that Kelly was not a reporter with his organization (as Jeff Reisman, GM of WIND did about Kelly which I posted ;)) then I would not believe he was affiliated with ANP and therefore was misrepresenting himself. What if we allowed any “citizen journalist” the ability to attend political press conferences? Do you realize that even the media has standards you abide by?

            So you are saying on the one hand that Obama and Emanuel created Obamacare to bankrupt insurers, making them anti-business, yet bailed out their big business friends in Wall Street? Say that out loud and see if it makes sense 😉 Forced down Americans throats? The Wall Street bailouts? Explain how this directly affects you.

            Secular humanism is not a religion you MORON. Its a philosophy that has no distinction on which type of God you believe in. Secular humanists can be Muslim, Christian or Atheist. If you disagree, provide proof, fact and cite your sources. 😉

            Van Jones? In his role as “Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation” I’m sure he was invited to the White House a total of one time. He was never a central figure in Obama’s administration and one who was appointed to a role based on his deep experience in alternative energy and other relevant fields. Now Glenn Beck avowed about Obama bringning a “communist” into the White House right after Obama bailed out Wall Street. Yes a communist/marxist/socialist who bails out Wall Street. Now say that out loud and see if it makes sense 😉 The more you post the dumber you look.

            Obama is neither Muslim, nor Kenyan, nor a socialist, nor a black militant, nor a communist/marxist, nor a secret alien from the planet Mars. Its simply ridiculous hate and false conspiracy theories that continue to frame you and those who think like you along the same lines as people who go hunting for Big Foot in Arkansas. Small town idiots.

            Obama discussed “his brothers keeper” in terms of Americans helping each other you moron. Now you chastize him for being born to a father who had multiple children with multiple wives. How does this impact Obama’s ability to lead, and how dumb do you look right now for even bringing this up?

            Yes because Obama plans to treat his half brother, who he didn’t know existed until 2008 exactly like the American Citizens. Well two years into his presidency none of us are in a rice paddy, but a few of us as paranoid as can be. Lock yourself in your bomb shelter and throw away the key…I can ensure you that the convoluted outright mythical vision of America you have will never exist.

            Want to continue having me prove you wrong Barney? 😉

          • "you are not even a real reporter..." on

            it wasnt a press conference.

            secular humanists worship at the alter of big government. you through your comments are evidence of this dilusion based religion.

            van jones was a tsar or czar (depending on what type of oligarchist you prefer) these tsars positions mirrored senate approved cabinet posts. so no van jones would have never been oked by the senate which is the reason the marxist obama made him a tsar.

            i dislike obama because he is destroying America not because his father was a creep or his mother was an atheist.

            i dont care what anyones beliefs are however when you seek to transform American Exceptionalism into eurotrash socialism i will take issue with you!

            apparently the Kennedys didnt know that obama was the fifth brother until 2008 either.

            has your health insurance co dropped you or increased your rates yet.

            all these bailouts have done nothing for our economy. actual unemployment is nearing 20% in some states –

            so yes wasting tax payer money bailing out the democrats wall street friends has affected my ability to create wealth for my self.

            obama is not and will never be a leader (marxist cant lead they only destroy!) he is an agitator.

          • "you are not even a real reporter..." on

            and what about kelly’s free speech rights or does the first amendment only applicable to liberals.

            as it was not an private or invite only press conference – rahmborina was walking around on taxpayer roads.

            i think anp is an exceptional entity and God bless them for allowing you a sophist to propagate through your posts misinformation, secular religious beliefs, outright lies and distortions.

          • "i am your teenage daughters keeper??" - obamas polygamist half brother in kenya. on

            By TOM ODULA, Associated Press Writer Tom Odula, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 8 mins ago
            NAIROBI, Kenya – President Barack Obama’s polygamist half brother in Kenya has married a woman who is more than 30 years younger than him.

            The 19-year-old’s mother told The Associated Press on Friday she is furious that her daughter quit high school and married the 52-year-old.

            Mary Aoko Ouma says her daughter tried to marry Malik Obama two years ago, but the mother says she wouldn’t give permission.

            Malik Obama, who is Muslim, has two other wives. Polygamy is legal in Kenya if it falls under religious or cultural traditions.

            In an interview broadcast by Kenya’s NTV that was filmed without his knowledge, Malik Obama says he married the 19-year-old but didn’t say when.

          • Sure Kelly has all the free speech in the world…but this was a press-sanctioned event where they invited the media (he’s not media). Plus the types of questions he asked were way off base, based on conspiracies and ridiculous…hence why he was obviously shut out. Furthermore he was LYING AND MISREPRESENTING HIMSELF BY IDENTIFYING WITH WIND. THE GM FOR THAT STATION JUST ACKNOWLEDGED THAT BUMPKIN. DO YOU NOT READ? Why do you try and reward complete and utter ignorance? Are literal “idiots” more American than smart people? What does this say about you?

            Obama is turning America into “eurotrash socialism?” How so? He bailed out Wall Street and major companies…Wall Street is still running unregulated and making huge profits again. WE ARE NO LESS A CAPITALIST ECONOMY THAN WE WERE 10 YEARS AGO..NO AMOUNT OF RHETORIC, CONSPIRACY THEORIES OR FLAT OUT LIES CAN REFUTE THAT. You refuse to post fact and simply post opinion.

            God Bless ANP and God Bless our god-given ability to logically induce who is an idiot: you sir…and readers know this. You fail to accept defeat even when faced with bold-faced lies.

            Obama’s mother was an atheist and still took her son to Church? WHAT PLANET DO YOU LIVE ON WHERE THIS MAKES SENSE?

            I’ll write this again in all caps so maybe it will sink in:

            HOW CAN OBAMA BE A MARXIST WHEN HIS ALL HIS ACTIONS INDICATE OTHERWISE. HE’S FILLED HIS CABINENT WITH WALL STREET FRIENDS AND BAILED OUT WALL STREET FIRMS AND GIANT COMPANIES THAT BECAME VICTIMS OF THEIR OWN GREED, ALLOWING THEM SIMPLY TO CONTINUE TO THE GREED. EXECUTIVE BONUSES CONTINUE AND COMPANIES CONTINUE TO EXPAND. HE’S ENACTED NO MAJOR REFORM TO WALL STREET OR THE PRIVATE SECTOR.

            FURTHEMORE, OBAMA WAS A CORPORATE LAWYER IN CHICAGO, FOUNDING THE BASE OF HIS FORTUNE. HE’S MADE MILLIONS MORE SELLING BOOKS THROUGH GIANT PUBLISHING HOUSES BUILT ON A MODEL OF CAPITALISM. HOW CAN A MARXIST CONTINUE KEEPING A WALL STREET TRADITION ALIVE AND MAKE HIS OWN FORTUNE OFF CAPITALISM? DO YOU REALIZE HOW STUPID YOU SOUND WHEN YOU MAKE THESE RIDICULOUS ACCUSATIONS AGAINST SOMEONE WHO EXEMPLIFIES WALL STREET MORE THAN GEORGE W. BUSH? THIS IS WHY MAINSTREAM AMERICA CALLS YOU “STUPID” AND CALLS YOU “HICK.” I KNOW…WE ARE BULLIES AND ELITISTS FOR PICKING ON YOU DUMB PEOPLE RIGHT? 😉

            ONCE MORE…SECULAR HUMANISM IS NOT A RELIGION. “WORSHIPPING AT THE ALTAR OF BIG GOVERNMENT?” 🙂 YOU IDIOT.

          • "i am your teenage daughters keeper??" - obamas polygamist half brother in kenya. on

            how is rahmbarina walking down the street a press sanctioned event?

            in 2007 the government controlled 28% of the economy and with obamacare passing the government will control 45% of the economy.

            so really nearly half the of our ‘free’ market are controlled by government.

            free market capitalism is slipping away and only a marxist would not admit that.

            as for the rest of your POST HAVE YOU BEEN DRINKING TONIGHT OR HAVE YOU SLIPPED OFF YOUR MEDS AGAIN?

            OH READ YOUR POST AGAIN – HOW CAN YOU ARGUE SECULAR HUMANISM IS NOT A RELIGION.

            THE ONLY THING SILLIER THAN SECULAR HUMANISM IS SCIENTOLOGY.

          • logic i know you will start in on fox news eventually so heres this – fox is the breaking news network – what cnn once was.

            ill summurize there was breaking news and more Americans chose to get the news via fox. fair and balenced like America as founded!

            from deadline.com:

            Some 7.1 million viewers tuned into Fox News at 8 PM last night to watch the last trapped Chilean miner, Luis Urzua, making it safely to the surface. That was not only the cable news channel’s largest audience in the hour this year but its biggest viewership since Election Night 2008. It more than doubled what the channel’s flagship series, The O’Reilly Factor, averages at 8 PM. Fox News not only pummeled its entire cable competition, it also beat broadcast networks NBC and Fox in the 8 PM hour. CNN also got a boost with its rescue coverage vs. the miniscule ratings it has been getting in the 8 PM slot with new talkshow Parker Spitzer. The network averaged 2.7 million viewers. That was almost 10 times what the show hosted by former New York Democratic governor Eliot Spitzer and political columnist Kathleen Parker most recently logged at 8 PM but trailed Fox News by a wide margin in the area CNN used to dominate — breaking news. MSNBC (1.1 million) was on par with what Keith Olbermann normally delivers….

        • hows your insurance? on

          Health Care Reform Blamed for Huge Hike in Premiums – NBC Connecticut

          The state has given Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield the go ahead to raise premiums by as much as 47 percent for some members, and says health care reform is the reason why.

          Attorney General Richard Blumenthal sent a letter to Insurance Commissioner Thomas Sullivan on Oct. 6, asking what he called “excessive” increases were approved without full consideration of all the facts. His letter mentioned rate increases for both Anthem and Aetna.

          Weird News Photos
          The new rates took effect Oct. 1, and include increases from 19 percent all the way to 47 percent depending on the individual, the Hartford Courant reported.

          Sullivan responded to Blumenthal saying the new rates included “very rich benefits” mandated by federal law.

          “There is not one person in the state of Connecticut who will see an increase in their current premiums based on what the department approved for Anthem and Aetna,” Sullivan said in a release. “The rates that were filed and approved reflect the current cost to deliver care and the impact of more comprehensive benefit designs required under the federal healthcare reform law. If the attorney general wants to complain to someone, he should complain to Congress.”

          People who were enrolled in the Anthem program prior to the increase will not see a change, according to the agency. The increased rates will be applied to new customers.

          In a letter to Blumenthal, Sullivan said the rates granted were reduced from the company’s original request of 39 percent to 58 percent increases.

          “I find myself in an unprecedented place and time, as do my counterparts throughout the country, in overseeing one of the most far-reaching policy initiatives enacted by the federal government in recent history,” Sullivan said in the letter. “It is unfortunate that this reform, while addressing insurer behavior, has provided little to no reform of the escalating costs of the health care delivery system.”

  5. "i am your teenage daughters keeper??" - obamas polygamist half brother in kenya. on

    i like how you think all marxists are broke.

    they arent take a look at the two richest men in America warren buffet and bill gates both obama supporters. both economic tyrants – elitists who feel they know best what to do with our money.

    and what about that creep bloomberg another billionaire that wants to tell newyorkers what they can and cannot eat.

    as asked time and time again when is enough enough with you people.

    what are the limits to your tyranny?

  6. rahmbo thanks for cap and trade on

    yep thanks for getting economy and job killing cap and trade through the house.

    thanks for twisting arms, breaking legs and threatening house dems to get this wretched piece of legislation passed.

    really jagbag you should be the next mayor of Chicago!

    really we want to turn Chicago into Detriot.

    thanks

    ps louis guterriez has ended his ‘assured ascension’ via chicago machine (democrat plantation) to the mayors office maybe you should do the same!

    oh and thanks mark kirk for showing that you have only one more brain cell than alexi gennuliis (hes democrat that means he is not smart so mark having one more brain cell than him is not a compliment!) by voting for cap and trade – did rahm approach you in the showers also?

  7. "i am your teenage daughters keeper??" - obamas polygamist half brother in kenya. on

    logic says:
    “HOW CAN OBAMA BE A MARXIST WHEN HIS ALL HIS ACTIONS INDICATE OTHERWISE. HE’S FILLED HIS CABINENT WITH WALL STREET FRIENDS AND BAILED OUT WALL STREET FIRMS AND GIANT COMPANIES THAT BECAME VICTIMS OF THEIR OWN GREED, ALLOWING THEM SIMPLY TO CONTINUE TO THE GREED. EXECUTIVE BONUSES CONTINUE AND COMPANIES CONTINUE TO EXPAND. HE’S ENACTED NO MAJOR REFORM TO WALL STREET OR THE PRIVATE SECTOR.

    FURTHEMORE, OBAMA WAS A CORPORATE LAWYER IN CHICAGO, FOUNDING THE BASE OF HIS FORTUNE. HE’S MADE MILLIONS MORE SELLING BOOKS THROUGH GIANT PUBLISHING HOUSES BUILT ON A MODEL OF CAPITALISM. HOW CAN A MARXIST CONTINUE KEEPING A WALL STREET TRADITION ALIVE AND MAKE HIS OWN FORTUNE OFF CAPITALISM? DO YOU REALIZE HOW STUPID YOU SOUND WHEN YOU MAKE THESE RIDICULOUS ACCUSATIONS AGAINST SOMEONE WHO EXEMPLIFIES WALL STREET MORE THAN GEORGE W. BUSH? THIS IS WHY MAINSTREAM AMERICA CALLS YOU “STUPID” AND CALLS YOU “HICK.” I KNOW…WE ARE BULLIES AND ELITISTS FOR PICKING ON YOU DUMB PEOPLE RIGHT?

    ONCE MORE…SECULAR HUMANISM IS NOT A RELIGION. “WORSHIPPING AT THE ALTAR OF BIG GOVERNMENT?” YOU IDIOT.”

    i cant find where barack obama the marxist was ever a corporate attorney (or a fan of capitalism) he has only been a civil rights attorney and community agitator and at some piont he fell out of a reed basket on the chicago river and was subsequently ‘take in’ by the chicago democrat machine (plantation) which enabled his political ascension.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama

    or is the liberally biased wikipedia not a legit source.

    • A. Wikipedia is liberally biased? Its controlled by users…thus I guess all users are liberally biased right?

      B. The article states Obama’s career at Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland in downtown Chicago. The firm specialized in civil rights and labor litigation…aka “a corporate law firm.”

      C. A “reed basket?” Judging by your didain for “elites” (people with education and money) it appears you simply cannot stand anyone who has found success…or anyone who doesn’t live in your trailer park 🙂

      • thanks rahmbarina and 'congressional shower partner' barneys frank for the housing crisis! on

        funny it doesnt say ‘corporate’ it clearly says ‘civil rights’…

        so i guess jesse jackson sr is a corporate leader rather than a civil rights leader (aka racialist aka race leader)…

        so precious you using the wikipedia to back your irrelavence.

      • thanks rahmbarina and 'congressional shower partner' barneys frank for the housing crisis! on

        obama climbed the ladder of the chicago dem machine … making him a marxist corruptocrat

        not someone who has earned their success.

        face it the man will never be a leader aside from the 18% of this country in your cult – you know the liberals progressives marxists socialists globalists oligarchists et al soup of the day ideologies…

        • Well I think you have the name calling down…what if I just say “I know you are, but what am I?”

          Now go back into your bomb shelter and lock the door before those scary marxist communist muslims come and get you…cover up in that glenn beck blanket and raise it well above your head. I’m sure a “patriot” will ride his horse and let you know when the revolution is over (cue X-Files music….:) )

          • brevity - the soul of wit! on

            according to the liberal gallup poll 54% of all Americans are conservative and 18% are in a creepy cult.

            so with that in mind 18% of ANP readers are probably like you right now softly playing xfiles music as you listen to the leftist conspiracy theorist tom harten radio show.

            good luck with that.

          • Yes because the majority of Americans didn’t vote for a liberal democrat (Obama) two years ago right?

            Idiiot. The public’s point of view varies from issue to issue. If the vast majority were conservative Christian (as you imply) why would we even have a 2 party system and why would liberal movements like feminism, equal rights, sexual revolution, gay rights, etc. have enjoyed the success they have? Americans are divided…conservative in opposing gay marriage and gay adoption, liberal in favoring embryonic stem cell research and a little of both on abortion. Along with favoring no clear ideological approach to most social issues, the public expresses a desire for a middle ground on the most divisive social concerns. Thus the majority of Americans are moderate.

            You need to stop taking things at face value. Yes Fox News is ranked high, but young americans tend not to get their news from television and tend to avoid cable shows. The majority of young americans are tech savvy and liberal. Its like talk radio…who under the age of 60 actually knows what this is? Shall we compare horse carriages next? Rational thinking helps us understand.

            Is science a conspiracy theory compared with radical religion? Do creators of “survival seeds” and other products meant for a post-apocalyptic world advertise on MSNBC and not Glenn Beck?

            You aren’t that dumb….you just assume other readers on this forum are, which is insulting to them (though understandable).

            The more you lie the more I’ll mock you and make you look dumb 😉 Smarten up and post facts, examples and real citations before posting again.

          • Did you really post a link to another talk radio program? Do you still ride a horse to work and hunt your own food? You realize we have “cars” and “Jewel-Osco” right? 😉

            I seem to provide facts and explain my positions…you simply post a link to some conservative whackjob…or a Breitbart video 😉 those are actually my favorite…just respond to me with links to Breitbart going forward and see who looks smarter.

          • notice how liberals attack people not ideas on

            yes i really posted the radio show you listen to every day – funny how the same time slot sean hannity has 17 million listeners and thom hartmann (@ 99 fm) has less than 100,000.

            good ideas attract people creepy ideas attract the insecure or a cult like following. yes you libs are a cult 18% of our country and thinking the rest of us will go along to get along with you is a huge mistake.

    • wikipedia comes clean by banning leftist enviro-eco terrorist moderators on

      “Wikipedia is the most popular source of written information in the world. It is the third most popular non-search engine site on the web, bested only by Facebook and YouTube. In other words, it can be a potent ideological force.

      And it has been. The site’s administrators recently banned 16 users from editing any article related to global climate change. One user, William Connolley – also an active member of the UK Green Party – had been editing misinformation and propaganda into Wikipedia articles since 2003.”

      http://newsbusters.org/#ixzz131bl0zRJ

      • wikipedia comes clean by banning leftist enviro-eco terrorist moderators on

        i guess that means that once again logic is wrong!

  8. thanks rahmbarina and 'congressional shower partner' barneys frank for the housing crisis! on

    “Before its portfolio of bad loans helped trigger the current housing crisis, mortgage giant Freddie Mac was the focus of a major accounting scandal that led to a management shake-up, huge fines and scalding condemnation of passive directors by a top federal regulator.

    One of those allegedly asleep-at-the-switch board members was Chicago’s Rahm Emanuel—now chief of staff to President Barack Obama—who made at least $320,000 for a 14-month stint at Freddie Mac that required little effort.

    As gatekeeper to Obama, Emanuel now plays a critical role in addressing the nation’s mortgage woes and fulfilling the administration’s pledge to impose responsibility on the financial world.

    Emanuel’s Freddie Mac involvement has been a prominent point on his political résumé, and his healthy payday from the firm has been no secret either. What is less known, however, is how little he apparently did for his money and how he benefited from the kind of cozy ties between Washington and Wall Street that have fueled the nation’s current economic mess.

    Though just 49, Emanuel is a veteran Democratic strategist and fundraiser who served three terms in the U.S. House after helping elect Mayor Richard Daley and former President Bill Clinton. The Freddie Mac money was a small piece of the $16 million he made in a three-year interlude as an investment banker a decade ago…

    …During his brief time on the board, the company hatched a plan to enhance its political muscle. That scheme, also reviewed by the board, led to a record $3.8 million fine from the Federal Election Commission for illegally using corporate resources to host fundraisers for politicians. Emanuel was the beneficiary of one of those parties after he left the board and ran in 2002 for a seat in Congress from the North Side of Chicago.

    The board was throttled for its acquiescence to the accounting manipulation in a 2003 report by Armando Falcon Jr., head of a federal oversight agency for Freddie Mac. The scandal forced Freddie Mac to restate $5 billion in earnings and pay $585 million in fines and legal settlements. It also foreshadowed even harder times at the firm.

    Many of those same risky investment practices tied to the accounting scandal eventually brought the firm to the brink of insolvency and led to its seizure last year by the Bush administration, which pledged to inject up to $100 billion in new capital to keep the firm afloat. The Obama administration has doubled that commitment.

    Freddie Mac reported recently that it lost $50 billion in 2008. It so far has tapped $14 billion of the government’s guarantee and said it soon will need an additional $30 billion to keep operating.”

    ‘rahms ill gotten gains’ (3/26/09)

  9. The Hatchet Man on

    Rahm thanks for being Obama’s hatchet man I mean Chief of Staff.

    Without you calling Congressional Democrats to the carpet none of this gargatuan debt would have been possible as Barack Obama can barely read a teleprompter on his own!

    “It’s official: The Obama administration has now borrowed $3 trillion, according to the U.S. Treasury Department.

    It took from 1776, when the United States became an independent country, until 1990, the year after the Berlin Wall fell signaling victory in the Cold War, for the federal government to accumulate a total of $3 trillion in debt, according to the Treasury Department. It only took from Jan. 20, 2009, the day President Barack Obama was inaugurated, until Oct. 15, 2010, for the Obama administration to add $3 trillion to the federal debt.

    The overall debt of the federal government, according to the Treasury Department, is now $13.666 trillion.”

    cns news

  10. A. This teleprompter obsession. Where does it come from? Is Obama the first President to use one or something? Should his notes be written on his hand like Sarah Palin because a teleprompter is too “elitist?”

    B. Factually you are completely wrong regarding the deficit, something that is well known. If not for the tax cuts enacted during the presidency of George W. Bush that Congress did not pay for, the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that were initiated during that period, and the effects of the worst economic slump since the Great Depression (including the cost of steps necessary to combat it ie Bank Bailouts under Bush), we would not be facing these huge deficits right now.

    While President Obama inherited a dismal fiscal legacy, that does not diminish his responsibility to propose policies to address our fiscal imbalance and put the weight of his office behind them. However, Wall Street and his economic team (composed of smarter people than you) recommended he not tighten fiscal policy in the near term while the economy was fragile, as salvaging millions of jobs for Americans took priority over nation’s long-term deficit problem.

    You see as expensive as the stimulus and bailouts were, they do not rival the cost of the Iraq War. And what was more important and ultimately more beneficial for America? You realize most GOP leaders, including the anti-stimulus Bachman, McConnell and Lindsey Grahm. For instance, For instance, when the stimulus passed, Tennessee Republican Lamar Alexander (a popular tea party figure) spoke out against the bill on the Senate floor.

    “It is not temporary. It is not targeted. It is not primarily creating jobs. It is not a stimulus bill. It is mostly a spending bill,” he said.

    But Alexander later wrote letters to the Transportation Department seeking stimulus grants for local projects he said would spur job creation.

    Thus your utter lack of understanding and perception of reality are rather astounding.

    Sure the spending in Washington is bad…but I’d rather keep spending then watch our nation take a tailspin. The recession hit the planet Earth, not just the US and every country is suffering.

    C. I’m sure you are in favor of Bush Tax Cuts, yet would rather not discuss the trillions more they will add to the deficit right? Oh those are ok, but spending to ensure our economy doesn’t crumble is bad?

    Facts really suck for you people don’t they 😉

    • brevity - the soul of wit! on

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Va_cFEaqDZI

      yeah bush was a moron but obamas some sort of genius – gee didnt they both attend havard?

      the bush 2001 2003 tax cuts increased revenue nearly immediately – so why would one need to pay for tax cuts when they clearly increase revenue as they did under JFK, Reagan and Bush! if you dont believe me check out:

      http://www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/fy11/hist.html

      as for the rest of your inane dribble once again are you still arguing that the keynesian economic model (thats oxymoronic) works?

      • Actually neither President attended undergrad at Harvard. Obama gained his lawschool degree from Harvard and Bush obtained an MBA from Harvard.

        As for tax cuts, prepare to be mocked and proven wrong again. Let’s discuss Federal revenues and what educated people understand about them. Federal revenue normally increases every year. In fact, revenues have declined in only five years since 1962. The 35 percent growth between 2003 and 2006 is significant – the last major growth in revenue was between 1997 and 2000 under Clinton, when the economy was booming and federal receipts rose 28.2 percent. But the recent three-year period also comes after three years of decreases, a drop many economists attribute to the 2001 tax cuts and the start of a recession that same year.

        Here is a non-partisan website to check this information before you call me “Marxist/Socialist/Muslim/Miniority Sympathizer” or start accusing me of secular humanism, Keynesian economics or other concepts you fail to understand: http://www.factcheck.org/taxes/supply-side_spin.html

        Now below I have included a variety of quotes from  Real economists! People who actually have a background on this. Why would all these smart people who advised famous conservatives like Reagan and Bush disagree with your perspective and prove me right? Why would they assert that the tax cuts do indeed add $4 Trillion to the deficit. Could it be you really don’t understand what you are talking about? 😉

        You can find the source for these quotes here:

        Martin Feldstein, a Harvard economist, chairman of President Reagan’s Council of Economic Advisers and adviser to John McCain’s 2008 campaign, quoted in a New York Times article: “It is not that you get more revenue by lowering tax rates, it is that you don’t lose as much.”

        Andrew Samwick was chief economist to the Bush CEA, and is now at Dartmouth. He wrote the following New Year’s message to his former colleagues in the Bush White House: “You are smart people. You know that the tax cuts have not fueled record revenues … You know that the first order effect of cutting taxes is to lower tax revenues. We all agree that the ultimate reduction in tax revenues can be less than this first order effect, because lower tax rates encourage greater economic activity and thus expand the tax base. No thoughtful person believes that this possible offset more than compensated for the first effect for these tax cuts. Not a single one.”

        Alan Viard, a former Bush White House Economist, said in a Washington Post article: “Federal revenue is lower today than it would have been without the tax cuts. There’s really no dispute among economists about that.”

        Robert Carroll, deputy assistant Treasury secretary for tax analysis, said in that same Washington Post article, “As a matter of principle, we do not think tax cuts pay for themselves.”

        Ed Lazear, chief economic adviser to President Bush and a member of Bush’s Tax reform advisory panel, was quoted in the Washington Times: “We do not say the tax cuts pay for themselves.”

        Henry Paulson, Bush’s Treasury Secretary, at his confirmation hearing in the Senate: “As a general rule, I don’t believe that tax cuts pay for themselves.”

          • I CARE ALMOST AS LITTLE WHAT LIBERAL RINO REPUBLICANS SAY AS WHAT HACK MARXIST LEFTIST WACKOS LIKE YOU HAVE TO SAY.

        • brevity - the soul of wit! on

          if i can pull you away from the salt lick (you know the soft alluring xfiles theme music you seem to enjoy – as you keep talking about it – and the thom hartmann radio show @ 99 fm – i think theres still a half hour left) –

          after that look at this well written article that details what any respectable economist would whole heartily agree with.

          http://startthinkingright.wordpress.com/2010/09/08/tax-cuts-increase-revenues-they-have-always-increased-revenues/

          i have explained many times i will not waste my times researching or arguing with cement headed sophist, contrarians aka trolls.

          • OK so I’ll post facts and insight from highly educated, well-known and accredited economists, economists who actually advised Republican Presidents on their economic policies…and you post….well a blog by some tea bagging idiot probably writing from his trailer. Gee…which source is more credible?!? 😉

            A “well written article” from who…who is this guy and my aunts blog on breastfeeding is more put together than his.

            Idiot…I told you that you would be embarassed and now you are. You failed to provide me with substantial facts from credible sources. I don’t cite liberal hippy blogs as my sources, so stop using conservative, (borderline terrorist) blog drivel.

            You can literally find facts for anything on the internet…even alien invasions…and given your insistance on living in a fantasy world and accusing me and others of being part of a “vast Marxist conspiracy,” I’m sure these whacko alien blogs would make you even more paranoid.

            You haven’t explained anything that I haven’t directly rebuffed with fact proving you wrong.

            Now go turn on NASCAR and make fun of “college fellers” Real American…;)

            PS–Real trolls are the ones who cruise political outlets calling people “marxists” or “socialists” or “Muslims” at will…that’s what you do. The only name I will call you aside from idiot is….”simple”….how bout that? 🙂

          • notice how liberals attack people not ideas on

            you got nothing of substance so you attack credible people with ideas that have been proven to work.

            same old saul alinsky rules for radicals crap identify your target, freeze your target, isolate your target, eliminate your target with the ends always justifying the means.

            we are all on to your game you chicago trained community agitators (marxists) form the midwest academy.

            looks like the leftist radical thom hartmanns show (on 99 fm) is on soon so i guess you will be busy filling your God given brain with marxist secular dehumanist crap what a sin!

            and me calling you a cement headed sophist contrarian is simply an observation. one which others have pointed out time and time again on previous articles at ANP.

      • brevity - the soul of wit! on

        can you read i said both attended harvard again answer the question are you still contending that keynesian economics work?

        • Please stop your obsession with keynesian economics as if you understand it. Its wildly obvious that you do not and have probably picked this term up from Glenn Beck, along with Tides, Acorn and Soros conspiracies.

          The same conservatives are not bothered by “extensions of government” effected by Reagan, Bush Sr., and now the Shrub. Ronald Reagan’s program would have been thought “liberal” had the same program been advocated by a Democrat. As Richard Nixon committed the nation to deficits of truly “liberal” proportions, he famously said: “We are all Keynesians now”.

          All GOP “tax cuts” do is enrich an already elite. That’s right…those damn “educated elite” will be the only ones prospering under the GOP. Very little of any of those “tax cut windfalls” ever trickle down to anyone in any way at any time, hence why more jobs from American companies are shipped offshore under Republicans, than Democrats.

          Think about this logically: The main function of large corporations is making more money. Labor is cheaper in third world countries and China. Then what is to stop corporations from shipping labor overseas to increase revenues? Honor? 😉 Ha…

          Tax cuts. Taxing the shi* out of companies who do that, and providing cuts only to companies that don’t. You see…libertarians and tea baggers do not comprehend the big picture.

          You see economists will frequently discuss the similarities between supply-side proposals and Keynesian economics. If the result of changes to the tax structure is a fiscal deficit then the ‘supply-side’ policy is effectively stimulating demand through the Keynesian multiplier effect. Supply-side proponents would point out, in response, that the level of taxation and spending is important for economic incentives, not just the size of the deficit. Then what the hell do you call the stimulus?

          Furthermore, if you want to discuss keynesian economics, its hard to do so without Reagan, under whose leadership the deficit actually tripled.

          AGAIN…UNDER REAGAN, THE DEFICIT TRIPLED AND GOVERNMENT GREW. Yet you keep worshipping him like some sort of odd “savior.” The extreme promises of supply-side economics or “Reaganomics” did not materialize. President Reagan argued that because of the effect depicted in the Laffer curve, the government could maintain expenditures, cut tax rates, and balance the budget. This was not the case. Government revenues fell sharply from levels that would have been realized without the tax cuts.

          Most economists will say that also…if you think not, then find me one that doesn’t 😉

          Facts. 🙂

          • why dont results matter to liberals? on

            Reaganomics created 24 million jobs in under 8 years.

            Obamanomics has evaporated 8+ million jobs since 2008 (and even more since that whore nancy pulosi and feckless reid have been in charge of congress in 2006). and even asshat joe biden has said “these jobs arent coming back!”

            so no Keynesian economics dont work, never have never will.

            what does work are free market principles and low tax rates accross the board its been proven time and time again.

          • NPR - Soros creepiness on

            http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.soros.org/initiatives/usprograms/focus/transparency/news/npr-grant-20101018

            the same npr that just fired npr contributor juan williams a liberal who happened to also frequent the evil fox news as a contributor.

            yes juan was fired for expressing his fear of muslims when boarding airplanes – who can blame him.

            fired for expressing his opinion or because he was also a fox contributor and the npr (soros funded) did not care for this?

            is soros even a us citizen?

          • NPR - Soros creepiness on

            i only bring up soros citizenship because obama now has a deep concern over foreign money.

            i know its laughable a guy who accepted 2008 campaign contributions from “foreigners” which is illegal.

            (convientaly obama campaign shut off the function that would indicate where credit card donations were coming from.)

          • So after proving you wrong about keynesian economics, Reagan and Bush tax cuts, you post YET ANOTHER CONSERVATIVE BLOG showing me the George Soros conspiracy is actually true?

            Well done idiot 😉

            Now acknowledge a simply fact: you can’t refute my points pointing explaining the ineffectiveness of the Bush Tax Cuts, the hypocracy (and blatant falsehoods) of conservative beliefs about Reagan and your misunderstanding of keynesian economics.

            As for Soros…well Logic should allow most to realize a highly successful billionaire such as he, would probably know better than to blatantly lie to the American public about never having funded Media Matters previously. In 2010 the “information age” its pretty easy to misprove lies. Yet he continues…thus I actually believe him. Now he’s only funding them because of the ridiculous filth that spills out of Glenn Beck’s mouth.

            If Glenn Beck told you that the Obama administration buried gold under the entire United States, how many tea baggers would grab shovels?

            You obviously would.

          • “RE: why dont results matter to liberals?” I just showed you what is wrong with your assumption of “free market principles” and how Reagan actually enacted Keynesian economics.

            Please learn to read and try reading again.

            “RE: notice how liberals attack people not ideas”

            You are a psycho-path obsessed with conspiracy theories. The only “radical” is someone who actually believes there are Marxists and socialists plotting to take over the country and somehow, one got into the white house. Suddenly being in favor of taxes to corporations makes you Stalin’s best buddy. Do you realize how incredibly ignorant you sound?

            Say this outloud and see if it makes sense: We elected a president who actually wants to do away with capitalism and enact socialism. Somehow he got by the FBI, CIA, Secret Service as well as 90 million Americans with all of these traitor views.

            Does that still make sense? Gonna guess you think “YES” 😉

            Now go dig a bomb shelter in your back yard to keep safe from these “marxists” who want to steal your money…and I’ll see you on 60 Minutes in a few years when the FBI raids your militia compound…

            AMERICA HATES WHACKJOBS.

          • why dont results matter to liberals? on

            Reaganomics created 24 million jobs in under 8 years.

            Obamanomics has evaporated 8+ million jobs since 2008 (and even more since that whore nancy pulosi and feckless reid have been in charge of congress in 2006). and even asshat joe biden has said “these jobs arent coming back!”

            so no Keynesian economics dont work, never have never will.

            what does work are free market principles and low tax rates accross the board its been proven time and time again.

          • THE ONLY THING HISTORICAL ABOUT THIS PRESIDENCY IS THE ASTRONOMICAL SPENDING.

            AND WHAT EXACTLY HAS THE KEYNESIAN ON CRACK BARACK OBAMA AND HIS HOOKER NANCY PELOSI AND FECKLESS REID DONE TO THE DEFICIT IN THE LAST 20 MONTHS?

            OH THATS RIGHT RANG UP 3 TRILLION IN NEW DEBT.

            DO US A FAVOR DONT TELL OBAMA REID PELOSI WHAT COMES AFTER A TRILLION MAYBE THE KEYNESIAN TRIO WILL STOP SPENDING MONEY!

          • i know somewhere on this blog you read that supply side economics and keynesian economics are the same – this is mistaken as nothing could be further from the truth.

            Reaganomics was supply side economics. Reagan was an economics major!

            Obamanomics is keynesian economics on crack – which is even sillier after considering this economic principle has failed over and over again. Is there any proof obama attended class at columbia? i know he graduated i doubt he actually attended class.

            “Even today, economics is often still thought of in “underconsumptionist” terms — not often by economists but frequently in politics and in public debate — and the Los Angeles Times still prints articles to the effect that the basic problem of economics is “how to achieve sufficient demand to absorb available production” [3]. In fact, public policies including everything from protective tariffs and “fair trade” to unionism and the minimum wage are based on this principle. These kinds of ideas in the post-World War II world are usually identified with John Maynard Keynes. A biographer of Keynes, Robert Skidelsky, says that Keynes’s “aim was simply to ensure a level of aggregate demand sufficient to enable market-clearing real wages to be established without price inflation” [4].

            But Hoover, Roosevelt, and Keynes had it all backwards. (and carter and now obama!)

            The proper economic principle is called “Say’s Law,” for Jean Baptiste Say (1767-1832), that “supply creates demand.” This means that “overproduction” in a free economy is actually impossible. This happens to have been the topic of the doctoral dissertation of the great economist Thomas Sowell, now available as
            Say’s Law, An Historical Analysis [Princeton University Press, 1972] [5].”

            more @:

            http://www.friesian.com/sayslaw.htm

    • for the record under bush II we had the lowest unemployment (5 years straight)since unemployment stats have been kept.

      again the liberal progressive keynesian model does not work. sure you will find so called academics who say to does but govt kept stats clearly indicate otherwise.

      these are facts.

      Link: http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2
      Help: http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/help-faq

      UNRATE Civilian Unemployment Rate (UNRATE), Percent, Monthly, Seasonally Adjusted

      Frequency: Monthly
      observation_date UNRATE
      2003-05-01 6.1
      2003-06-01 6.3
      2003-07-01 6.2
      2003-08-01 6.1
      2003-09-01 6.1
      2003-10-01 6.0
      2003-11-01 5.8
      2003-12-01 5.7
      2004-01-01 5.7
      2004-02-01 5.6
      2004-03-01 5.8
      2004-04-01 5.6
      2004-05-01 5.6
      2004-06-01 5.6
      2004-07-01 5.5
      2004-08-01 5.4
      2004-09-01 5.4
      2004-10-01 5.5
      2004-11-01 5.4
      2004-12-01 5.4
      2005-01-01 5.3
      2005-02-01 5.4
      2005-03-01 5.2
      2005-04-01 5.2
      2005-05-01 5.1
      2005-06-01 5.0
      2005-07-01 5.0
      2005-08-01 4.9
      2005-09-01 5.0
      2005-10-01 5.0
      2005-11-01 5.0
      2005-12-01 4.9
      2006-01-01 4.7
      2006-02-01 4.8
      2006-03-01 4.7
      2006-04-01 4.7
      2006-05-01 4.6
      2006-06-01 4.6
      2006-07-01 4.7
      2006-08-01 4.7
      2006-09-01 4.5
      2006-10-01 4.4
      2006-11-01 4.5
      2006-12-01 4.4
      2007-01-01 4.6
      2007-02-01 4.5
      2007-03-01 4.4
      2007-04-01 4.5
      2007-05-01 4.4
      2007-06-01 4.6
      2007-07-01 4.6
      2007-08-01 4.6
      2007-09-01 4.7
      2007-10-01 4.7
      2007-11-01 4.7
      2007-12-01 5.0
      2008-01-01 5.0
      2008-02-01 4.8
      2008-03-01 5.1
      2008-04-01 5.0
      2008-05-01 5.4
      2008-06-01 5.5
      2008-07-01 5.8
      2008-08-01 6.1
      2008-09-01 6.2
      2008-10-01 6.6
      2008-11-01 6.9
      2008-12-01 7.4
      2009-01-01 7.7
      2009-02-01 8.2
      2009-03-01 8.6
      2009-04-01 8.9
      2009-05-01 9.4
      2009-06-01 9.5
      2009-07-01 9.4
      2009-08-01 9.7
      2009-09-01 9.8
      2009-10-01 10.1
      2009-11-01 10.0
      2009-12-01 10.0
      2010-01-01 9.7
      2010-02-01 9.7
      2010-03-01 9.7
      2010-04-01 9.9
      2010-05-01 9.7
      2010-06-01 9.5
      2010-07-01 9.5
      2010-08-01 9.6

      last weeks figure was also 9.6%

      my question is why are you not in favor of extending the bush tax cuts any do you wish to effectively raise taxes on Americans in jan 2011?

      • My question to you would be why you keep saying “Americans” when in reality, Obama’s plan is to only cancel Bush tax cuts for Americans making more than $250K.

        That’s 3% of America. 🙂 Facts.

        Why are you whining about 3% of America? Based on your understanding of econimic stats, I’m going to take a wild guess that you are not in that 3%.

        So why is the tea party, predominantly middle class, fighting for the wealthy again? How many of them actually understand that Democrats mean to extend the tax cuts for them (middle class) to ensure America’s middle class is not burdened again?

        REPEAT…IF YOU DO NOT MAKE $250 k…THIS IS YOU 97% OF AMERICA…YOU WILL NOT PAY HIGHER TAXES.

        To your other point, yes after the 2003 tax cuts, the unemployment rate fell to the lowest level since World War II. Let me repeat that: the Bush economic program created the lowest unemployment level ever. However most economists agree this was mainly driven by the incredible job market of the late 90s where companies rapidly expanded. These tax cuts were not solely responsible for low unemployment, and you find me one accredited economist who says otherwise.

        Make sense?

        • gee more broad generalizations from a marxist – you are starting to sound like our president.

          just because you say something is a fact does not make it so.

          you are weak minded with ill designs.

          • What is a broad generalization? ITS BASIC FACT IDIOT: OBAMA WANTS TO END TAX CUTS FOR ONLY 3% OF AMERICA (THAT DOESN’T INCLUDE YOU).

            Now what is your problem with that country bumpkin? When you call me “Marxist” I’ll just call you “hick.”

          • why dont results matter to liberals? on

            allowing the bush tax cuts to expire will effectively be a tax increase on all Americans who pay income taxes taking into consideration the 47% of Americans in 2009 that paid no income tax whatsoever!

            additional some of that 47% that paid no income taxes received thousands in refunds (via tax credits) i mean WELFARE.

            i wonder if they claim themselves as a ‘dependent’ on the USA on their income taxes?

  11. Rahm the President can do with out you on

    but apparently Barack cannot do without “PATTY MURRAY: THE STUPIDEST PERSON IN AMERICA”

  12. Rahmbo the dancing ballerina on

    “These sources say that even if Republicans take over the House, Boehner and other GOP leaders want to avoid the images of the Democrats in 2006, where Speaker Pelosi, then-Rep. Rahm Emanuel, and others were dancing on the stage.”