Chipping away by “political sources opposed to Obama’s presidential campaign”
Barack Obama filled out a questionnaire on his views in 1996. His campaign denied that the views expressed were his, but it turns out that Obama was interviewed on the questionnaire, and amended it the next day, in his own handwriting. The two versions of the questionnaire, “provided to Politico with assistance from political sources opposed to Obama’s presidential campaign”, seem to add up to something less than honesty on the part of the Senator:
Barack Obama played a greater role than his aides now acknowledge in crafting liberal stands on gun control, the death penalty and abortion — positions that appear at odds with the more moderate image he’s projected during his presidential campaign. The evidence comes from an amended version of an Illinois voter group’s detailed questionnaire, filed under his name during his 1996 bid for a state Senate seat.
Late last year, in response to a Politico story about Obama’s answers to the original questionnaire, his aides said he “never saw or approved” the questionnaire. They asserted the responses were filled out by a campaign aide who “unintentionally mischaracterize(d) his position.”
But a Politico examination determined that Obama was actually interviewed about the issues on the questionnaire by the liberal Chicago non-profit group that issued it. And it found that Obama - the day after sitting for the interview - filed an amended version of the questionnaire, which appears to contain Obama’s own handwritten notes adding to one answer…
Both versions of the 1996 questionnaires provide answers his presidential campaign disavows to questions about whether Obama supports capital punishment and state legislation to “ban the manufacture, sale and possession of handguns.” He responded simply “No” and “Yes,” respectively, to those questions on both questionnaires. But a fact sheet provided by his campaign flatly denies Obama ever held those views…
One of the interesting elements of this story is that the questionnaire was initially reported back in December 2007, but had no impact. Now perhaps, after the Wright affair and the simple passage of time, it might. We’ll see what’s next in the “scandalous information” promised to us last November by “political sources opposed to Obama’s presidential campaign.”
UPDATE
Speaking of “scandalous information,” there is also Christopher Hitchens on a certain trip to Bosnia previously mentioned in this space.