Obama's Cabinet Picks Being Dictated by Kook Left-Wing Bloggers

A man of principle standing tough in the face of vigorous opposition. Not really. Obama folded like a Chinaman in a Shanghai Laundromat.

John Brennan, Obama's chief intelligence adviser and anticipated CIA chief, was recently forced to withdraw his name. There was no drumbeat of opposition to Brennan from the front pages or on cable. Rather, the pick was torpedoed by the blogosphere.

"Apparently there is a lot of pressure on the Obama team from a blog saying that Brennan couldn't be made the director of the CIA because he was involved in torture and renditions, which he wasn't," said Mark Lowenthal, former assistant CIA director.

The turn of events only emphasizes the influence of the Internet on the operation of a president-elect whose campaign was powered in large part by the Web.

"Blogs do have significant influence," said blogger Glenn Greenwald, one of those critical of Brennan. "I think the Obama team would be foolish if they just ignored what happened on blogs, and I know for a fact that there are people high up in the Obama campaign and now the transition team who read blogs regularly."

As a result, say knowledgeable sources, the Obama transition team pushed Brennan to withdraw his name. "Their knees buckled," one intelligence veteran said.

Report: Rahm Emanuel Gave Blagojevich Names of Acceptable Senate Replacements

These are the ones we've been waiting for. This was Barack Obama yesterday:

"I have never spoken to the governor on this subject. I'm confident that no representatives of mine would have any part of any deals related to this seat,"

And this is a report from The Telegraph today:

Sources close to the investigation said Rahm Emanuel, the new chief of staff, had conversations about the issue with Rod Blagojevich and John Harris, the governor's chief aide who is also facing corruption charges.

It is claimed that at one point he even gave them a list of acceptable candidates to take over the vacant seat.

Suspicion has grown that Mr Emanuel is the unnamed "Washington based adviser" mentioned in the 76-page prosecutors' affidavit that Mr Blagojevich ordered his chief of staff to contact.

Mr Obama, who takes office on Jan 20, has vehemently denied any of his staff were involved in deal-making and has promised to reveal any contact between members of his team and the governor's office.

OBAMA'S CHIEF OF STAFF RAHM EMANUEL GOT $250,000 FROM FREDDIE MAC

Membership has its privileges.

He’s President-elect Barack Obama’s new chief of staff, according to various Nov. 6 media reports, but Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., also has some baggage pertaining to the financial crisis. Will anyone in the media take note?

Emanuel, who was a senior adviser for former President Bill Clinton throughout the 1990s, was appointed to the board of Freddie Mac upon his departure from the Clinton administration.

“Clinton’s going-away gift to Emanuel was a seat on the quasi-governmental Freddie Mac board, which paid him $231,655 in director’s fees in 2001 and $31,060 in 2000,” Lynn Sweet wrote for the Chicago Sun-Times on Jan. 3, 2002.

During the time Emanuel spent on the board, Freddie Mac was plagued with scandal involving campaign contributions and accounting irregularities…

And, since his successful run for the House of Representatives in 2002, Emanuel has been the beneficiary of campaign cash from Freddie Mac and its sister organization Fannie Mae – $51,750 according to the Center for Responsive Politics Web site OpenSecrets.org.

Emanuel received $25,000 in contributions from Freddie Mac during his first run in 2002, right at the end of his tenure at the government-sponsored enterprise. Freddie Mac was his third largest overall contributor that year.

However, there was an even larger conflict of interest that Sweet pointed out in an editorial column published in the Chicago Sun-Times on Aug. 14, 2003.

“Emanuel’s trust is supposed to be blind, not stupid,” Sweet wrote. “Freshman Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), a former Freddie Mac board member, sits on the very House subcommittee that has oversight of the federal government-sponsored enterprise at the same time that he has outstanding options for 2,500 shares of the company.”

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TERRORIST GROUP TO PROTECT OBAMA IN THE WEST BANK

Hmmm...One day he's meeting with our troops, and the next day he's using terrorists as body guards. Obama is an enemy of the State.

Members of the most active West Bank terror organization are set to serve in security forces being deployed to protect Sen. Barack Obama during his trip to the West Bank tomorrow, WND has learned.

Obama is due to visit Israeli officials in Jerusalem and leaders of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank city of Ramallah as part of a wider Middle Eastern and European tour that includes Jordan, France and Germany.

According to security officials coordinating deployments of forces with the PA for Obama's Ramallah visit, members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Fatah's declared military wing, have been called upon by the PA to participate in the protection of Obama, particularly in securing the perimeter during a scheduled meeting with PA President Mahmoud Abbas.

The Brigades is listed as a terror organization by the U.S. State Department. The group took credit along with the Islamic Jihad terror organization for every suicide bombing in Israel between 2005 and 2006 and is responsible for thousands of shootings and rocket firings. Statistically, the Al Aqsa Brigades perpetuated more terrorism from the West Bank than Hamas, according to the Israeli Defense Forces.

Ten bucks says he's goes to Mississippi with the Nation of Islam pulling security duty.