OpEdNews - Page 3 of Article: New Anti-Obama Smears in Tabloids Owned by Staunch Clintonista

Why would the editors of the Enquirer, Globe, Examiner and other Altman-controlled tabloids publish these wild allegations about Obama without a shred of evidence to back them up -- and knowing full well of their boss' ties to the Clinton campaign?

Richard Valvo, a spokesman for America Media Inc., insisted that Altman has "no involvement in editorial, ever" and said that Evercore owns 20 percent of AMI through an investment fund.

In fact, however, Evercore bought a controlling interest in American Media in 1999. Evercore's president and co-CEO, Austin Beutner, sits on American Media's board of directors, according to Evercore's Web site.

Altman declined to be interviewed for this article.

Altman Is No Stranger to Scandal -- Remember Whitewater?

Altman himself is no stranger to scandal. He resigned as deputy treasury secretary in 1994 amidst the Whitewater controversy over the real estate dealings of Bill and Hillary Clinton and their associates, Jim and Susan McDougal in the Whitewater Development Corporation, a failed business venture in the 1970s and 1980s.

Altman decided to step down following revelations that he tipped the Clinton White House off to criminal referrals made by federal investigators related to the now-defunct Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan, which the McDougals owned.
A college friend of Bill Clinton's, Altman angered both Republican and Democratic senators after giving conflicting testimony about contacts between the Clinton White House and the Treasury Department.

Altman is also the vice chairman of The Blackstone Group, a private investment banking firm and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a liberal foreign-policy think tank.

Obama Not Only Target of Tabloid Smears; Edwards Hit, Too

Altman's Enquirer also published a story late last year that another Clinton rival for the Democratic presidential nomination -- former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina -- allegedly had an extramarital affair, a claim that Edwards denounced as "totally false."

The Enquirer, as it often does in its celebrity gossip stories, cited anonymous e-mails from the unnamed woman allegedly involved with Edwards, sent to yet another unnamed source.

The Edwards campaign was allegedly concerned about its relationship with a filmmaker, Rielle Hunter, who had shot web videos for Edwards, according to the political Web site HuffingtonPost.com. The stories stopped short of directly suggesting the candidate had a relationship with her. But that didin't stop Hunter from issuing a strongly-worded denial.

"The innuendoes and lies that have appeared on the Internet and in the National Enquirer concerning John Edwards are not true, completely unfounded and ridiculous," she said. "When working for the Edwards camp, my conduct as well as the conduct of my entire team was completely professional. This concocted story is just dirty politics and I want no part of it."

To be fair, the Altman-controlled tabloids have also published some lurid stories about the Clintons. But the Obama smears, in the opinion of this blogger, reek with the stench of bias. And the fact that these tabloids are owned and controlled by a man who is a key member of the Clinton campaign makes these smears smell all the more rotten.

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Volume III, Number 22
Copyright 2008, Skeeter Sanders. All rights reserved.

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