Black Box Report

The end may be near and the final curtain dropping for a couple of area Democrats. Obviously, Hillary is the headliner here and I'll get to her end game in a moment. But while the New York senator may have done it her way, Rob Andrews in New Jersey absolutely has done it the wrong way.

In going after fellow Democrat Frank Lautenberg in the Garden State's senatorial primary, Rep. Andrews has launched a scorched earth campaign that burned every bridge he had in his own party, and for what? He has a snowball's chance in you know where of winning, broke his word to the delegation that he wouldn't run and then took a cheap shot on the age issue that nobody will, or should, forget. About the only thing going for Andrews is that nobody will be watching his exit, since we'll all be focused on Hillary's next move.

Unlike almost every other talking head I've had no problem with the former First Lady hanging around. She's toughened Obama up, gotten the dirty laundry out before the general and forced Democratic voters and party elders to make a choice in a very close race. But with Florida and Michigan resolved by the DNC, a decision has been made. After tomorrow night, if Hillary fights on she will quickly learn not many of her steadfast allies are so steadfast. Here's hoping she gets out on her own terms and brokers a deal in everybody's best interest, including hers.

Maybe she'd be the Democrats best chance in November, maybe she'd be the best president, but after last weekend, I believe that ship has sailed. It's been a heck of a race. I, for one, hope it ends now, not in Denver.

So, last week, Barack Obama was giving a speech in New Mexico, and committed the heinous crime of misstating a bit of his family history. He claimed his great-uncle helped liberate the concentration camp at Auschwitz at the end of WWII. That was incorrect, as Republicans and the Crack Conservative Blogger Brigade pointed out with much tsk-tsking and questioning of Obama's fitness for office.

The truth of the matter was that Obama's great-uncle actually helped liberate Buchenwald, a Nazi slave labor camp, and not Auschwitz. And while some resorted to (im)moral equivocation between the two, most conservatives realizing this was not their "Tuzla" moment for Obama, dropped it and the case was closed.

....or was it???

No, to all our amusement, it was not:

Steve Gilbert of Sweetness & Light did some digging and discovered a website dedicated to preserving the history of the 89th Infantry Division of World War II, the division in which Obama’s great uncle served and helped liberate the Ohrdruf satellite of the Buchenwald concentration camp. Seeking to get to the bottom of a mystery that had been solved hours earlier, Gilbert dutifully fired off an email to the site’s owners, Ray and Mark Kitchell, thus setting up the greatest b**ch slap in history:

—– Original Message —–
From: Steve Gilbert
To: markkitchell@yahoo.com
Sent: Wednesday, May 28, 2008 6:14 AM
Subject: Any Record Of Charles W Payne?

Mr. Kitchell,

As you may have heard by now, Barack Obama has claimed that his great uncle Charlie Payne was a member of the 89th Div that liberated Buchenwald.

According to records his full name is either Charles W Payne or Charles T Payne (most likely the former), and he was born in 1924 — and he is still alive today.

He most likely was from Kansas at the time of enlistment.

Do you have any record of this gentleman?

Thank you,

Steve Gilbert
sweetness-light.com

PS - If you go to my website, you will see that I was probably the first to note the error in Mr. Obama’s first claims about his “uncle.”

And now, the coup de grace:

The reply was quick and to the point:

Please crawl back under the rock you came out from.
Good day

Raymond Kitchell, veteran 89th Inf Div

Watch it all in its slow-motion-train-wreck glory here.

Brings a tear to your eye....