Update: Obama severs his Countrywide connection
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Breaking news from the Associated Press: The Obama campaign has just announced that Jim Johnson, who received special loans from Countrywide under a ‘friends of Angelo’ (Mozilo) program, has quit the campaign. From the A.P.: ‘A leader of Democrat Barack Obama’s vice presidential research team has resigned amid criticism over his personal loan deals. Obama announced in a statement Wednesday that Jim Johnson was stepping aside to avoid distracting from the vetting process.’
My colleague Andy Malcolm is all over the story at Top of the Ticket.
Obama had defended his selection of Johnson yesterday, pointing out that Johnson was an unpaid volunteer. But his defense, according to the influential Dan Balz of the Washington Post, raised more questions about Johnson’s role. Balz wrote ‘for Obama to suggest that Johnson is floating in some outer orbit of his campaign raises questions about the candidate’s willingness to deal forthrightly with controversy.’
The Wall Street Journal broke this story over the weekend and I linked to it because I thought it was important. For that I received all manner of negative feedback from supporters of Obama. So I’m hereby inviting my good friends in the Obama camp to weigh in again. Come on back, folks.
Mike wrote, ‘The author of this should be fired. What horrible journalism.’ Mike?
Paul Hiller wrote, ‘This is a cheap shot ... show me some proof before you make allegations that this is a sweetheart deal’ Paul?
Zooey wrote, ‘Do your homework Mr. Viles, lest you further erode the Los Angeles Times journalistic reputation...’ Zooey?
Ruri wrote, ‘The only news sources pushing this smear have been Murdoch mouthpieces: The Sun, the WSJ, and Fox news.’ Ruri?
Ben wrote, ‘... this is a pathetic story. Friend of a friend took some big real estate loans at low rates? Boo, author.’ Ben?
Christopher Robin wrote, ‘This blog is typical vapor news from the mouthpieces of the repugs. Please dig deeper and make a more convincing case next time. A second grader could have done this well! (Sorry to insult the second grader, but what passes as journalism these days is a very low bar.)’ Chris?
Your thoughts? Comments? E-mail story tips to peter.viles@latimes.com
Photo Credit: Associated Press