More On Obama And Che

FrontPageMagazine has some additional info on that campaign worker in Texas who displayed that Che Guevara poster inside the Obama campaign’s Houston Office.

It turns out she’s no “low level” volunteer:

The campaign volunteer who hung the Che poster is named Maria Isabel (second photo above) and according to the Lone Star Times, she hung similar banners from her balcony at home. Apparently she’s no “low-level” volunteer either. She serves as a campaign ‘precinct captain” and the co-chair of the Houston Obama Leadership Team.

Most interestingly, she is a middle-aged woman who was born in Cuba and lived there as a child during a period when Che Guevara was Cuba’s chief executioner and second in command. At the time Cuba had the highest political incarceration and execution rate on earth, far surpassing that of their Soviet mentors and suitors. Pictures have surfaced (see Babalu blog.com) of Maria Isabel at several Obama campaign functions; arm in arm with Barack, in a bear hug with Michelle Obama, and apparently, very heavily involved in the Obama campaign.

So the woman isn’t just some naive twenty-something who got caught up in the Che-Chic fad. She’s a hard core commie, sympathetic to the Castro regime.

The MSM virtually ignored this story, but it was big on conservative sites for awhile.

Finally, there emerged a formal disavowal, of sorts. “We were disappointed to see this picture,” read the terse campaign statement, “because it is both offensive to many Cuban-Americans — and Americans of all backgrounds — and because it does not reflect Senator Obama’s views.” Not a hint that the campaign honchos or candidates themselves found Guevara “offensive.”

Pretty weak…..”disappointed?” Not so disappointed that she was relieved of her position as precinct captain. She is still an active member of the Obama campaign in Houston, as of March 4, or... today.

Yet the Obama campaign would like to see the  Cuban-American voting bloc, in Michelle Obama’s words - “move out” of their Republican “comfort zones”.  I don’t know how they think they can possibly be successful with these proposed policies:

Besides proposing to meet Raul Castro without pre-conditions as President, Obama also proposes to lift the limited U.S. travel restrictions to Cuba. “Lifting the travel ban to Cuba would be a gift to the Castros,” explained Cuban defector Alcibiades Hidalgo, who until 2002 served as Raul Castro’s Chief of Staff.

Fidel Castro has already endorsed his dream ticket for 2008: Obama/Clinton. Nicaraguan Sandinista “leader” Daniel Ortega has also endorsed Obama. “(The U.S.) is laying the foundations for a revolutionary change,” he predicted. So far, Obama indicates that he does plan a revolutionary change in regard to Cuba.

Be sure to read the entire article for a comparison of a Michelle Obama speech with one by Che Guevara. Revolutionary minds think alike, I guess.

I.R.S. Investigating United Church Of Christ Because Of Obama Speech

Oh my! This is very awkward for the Obama campaign.

An open letter (posted by The American Spectator) from Jeffrey Lord, a member of the UCC in Pennsylvania, to Obama, details Obama’s visit to a UCC celebration, last June, his flagrant disregard for well known, and specific rules that regulate the appearances of political candidates campaigning in front of church audiences, and the legal ramifications thereof.

The invitation was extended to Obama, (a UCC member himself) to speak before the UCC’s General Synod during the church’s 50th anniversary celebration in Hartford, CT. , well before he became a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Jeffrey Lord, although conservative, originally thought the choice of Obama was a good one, but when Obama made his formal announcement that he was running for POTUS, he changed his tune:

The moment your status as a candidate changed, both you and the UCC had two options. One, you could have gracefully refused the invitation, citing the Johnson law and your candidacy. Or the church could simply have withdrawn the invitation to you on the same grounds. Two, the church could have easily complied with the IRS rules under the Johnson law by simply inviting your competitors for the Democratic nomination. Yes, you would have been sharing the spotlight, but under the circumstances that shouldn’t have been too much to ask of you.

In the event, neither of these options — withdrawal or inviting other candidates — was taken. And so you went to Hartford. Almost immediately you violated IRS rules, discussing your presidential candidacy from what, under the circumstances, meets the legal definition of a pulpit. Addressing some 10,000 of our religious brethren you said:

“It’s been several months now since I announced I was running for president. In that time, I’ve had the chance to talk with Americans all across this country. And I’ve found that no matter where I am, or who I’m talking to, there’s a common theme that emerges. It’s that folks are hungry for change — they’re hungry for something new. They’re ready to turn the page on the old politics and the old policies — whether it’s the war in Iraq or the health care crisis we’re in, or a school system that’s leaving too many kids behind despite the slogans.”

Further on, you said this:

“I have made a solemn pledge that I will sign a universal health care bill into law by the end of my first term as president that will cover every American and cut the cost of a typical family’s premiums by up to $2,500 a year.”

The statement on health care is what’s known in the trade as a campaign promise, and you made it from a UCC pulpit.

Pretty brazen if you ask me.

UNSURPRISINGLY, ALL OF THIS resulted in a complaint being filed with the IRS following your presentation. In addition to your speech and the stories featured by the UCC’s own website, the complaint cites numerous media accounts describing your appearance as a campaign event. This is bolstered by photographs of volunteers manning Obama campaign tables at the entrance to the Civic Center, volunteers who were then ushered inside for the oldest of campaign rituals — a photo op with the candidate.

As a direct result of your actions, this last week the UCC — our mutual denomination — has now been notified officially by the IRS that it is under investigation.

Our national church suddenly stands in danger of losing its tax exempt status — because of you.

Read on…it’s a long letter, but well worth the read. It will be interesting to see if there’s any political fallout from all of this.

Via Hot Air Headlines