The American Dream or Married To The Mob?
By Nicole Belle Monday Aug 25, 2008 5:20pm
Remember this interview with Katie Couric? We were all so focused on McCain's inability to count property that a fairly large whopper of a lie went for the most part unnoticed:
Couric: Are you sorry about the way you answered the question about how many homes you own?
McCain: Well, I'll continue to say I'm blessed, and very proud, that Jim Hensley, a war hero, a man barely able to graduate from high school was able to pass on to his daughter a...what he had struggled for and saved for. That's the ambition all of us have for our children and our grandchildren. And if someone wants to disparage that, they're free to do that.
Yeah, Hensley was the Great American Success Story. Funny thing about that... while there are some serious lowlifes on the right willing to smear Obama by association with terrorism in ads funded by nebulous shadow groups (although it must hurt Simmons where he lives that his kid donated the max to Obama), I'd say that there is more than enough ammunition in this whitewashing of Jim Hensley's background to fill a few ads.
So it's natural to ask: how was the Hensley fortune built? According to a 2000 investigation in the Phoenix New Times,
The Hensley saga... swirls with bygone accounts of illicit booze, gambling, horse racing, deceit and crime.
The story by investigative reporters Amy Silverman and John Dougherty is riveting - and remarkably untouched by the Corporate Media, even though it involves the car-bomb murder of a top reporter at the Arizona Republic named Don Bolles.
Jerome Corsi - a rightwinger who co-authored the infamous and election-changing Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry [and the recent Obama hit job Obamanation]- summarizes the Hensley saga and its extensive ties to the Mob...read on..
So Jim Hensley had dirty fingers in enough juicy pies of bootlegging, mafia, racketeering and even murder -- while being defended by future Supreme Court Chief William Rehnquist, mind you -- to even make a right wing hack like Corsi sit up and take notice? That's some good stuff the media is completely ignoring.
And for the record, McCain, that's not at all the kind of ambition I hope for my kids and grandkids.
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Behind every great fortune is a great crime.
And with McCain's family baggage, are there any Christian conservatives still supporting McMafia !?
So basically Cindy McCain = Meadow Soprano?
Oh, for Pete's Sake! Don't slime Corsi for being a douchebag about Kerry and a douchebag about Obama, then cite him as any kind of credible source to slime Cindy's daddy.
I'm not saying not to criticize Helmsley - although, really, has there been any Repug fortune that wasn't built on crime, deceit and murder? I'm just saying, don't give Corsi the disputable credibility of using him as a source.
How about Leona Helmsley....the Death Tax would have prevented her from passing on the full $12 million Trust fund she left to her pooch, her nasty tempered pet dog. Another story of America's greatness.
how many commandments does this little list break,
coupled with McCain's over lapping marriages, taking out the new license before the divorce was finalized.
seven or ten mansions, $520 shoes, myriad luxury cars...
Just yer average American church going christian. plus added extra.
"bygone accounts of illicit booze, gambling, horse racing, deceit and crime."
Republicans will just say he sounds like Joe Kennedy.
brakshow @ 7:
an old one doesnt make another new one right.
Surprising (not) that McCain fails to mention that Hensley didn't leave his other biological children squat.
mccain is scum.
america knows it, and if he wins the election, it's only because america is racist.
it really is that simple.
fiver @ 1:
Is that like "Behind every great man there has to be a great woman?"
" Well Katie my friend.. back WHEN I WAS A POW..i thought alot about how bad organized crime was ..but then i entered politics and they bought my ass and now i work for them too.. highest bidder "
I think citing Corsi shows that the MSM will pick up on his smears of the left but dismiss his smears of the right.
Also, WTF is Karl Rove doing on TV and not in jail?!?
Mike @ 5:
'Queen of Mean'
it warms the cockles of ones heart, to merely be near the presence of such gracious Republicans such as her,
makes paying taxes even more pleasant.
Maybe John McCain should use his P.O.W card on this one too!
LanceThruster @ 13:
same ol same ol IOKIYAR
You know that Corsi is a pathological liar. His swiftboating of Kerry was despicable. I don't like McCain any better than you do, but if you don't have better sources than Corsi to attack McCain and his wiife, your behavior is on a par with Limbaugh. Clean up your act!
Right there with you Nicole. Yet Bill Ayers is a horrifyingly dangerous terrorist extremist that Obama must repeatedly answer for. Having a gangster felon booze-peddler be your political sponsor is just fine, however.
idleuser @ 15:
"before I was stinking idle rich, and before I was a POW, I dropped napalm on women and children"
there a nice phrase, McNasty can use on TV or in some speech.
candideinnc @ 17:
no we dont know, as far as anybody is concerned Corsi speaks the speech of angels, unable to utter any falsehoods.
candideinnc @ 17:
candide, you're not looking at the big picture. Yes, Corsi is slime and a hack. Yet he gets on TV EVERYWHERE as a credible source to smear Obama.
He's said far worse about McCain's DIRECT connections--not some oblique "we live in the same neighborhood" connections--and yet there's NOT ONE PEEP about this in the media.
Do you not understand the irony and double standard?
ferrofluid (Obama + Biden = 2008) @ 8:
You're expecting Republicans to be reasonable.
Nicole:
Thanks for placing this story on the front page!
Just Wiki Jim Hemsley, it is all there, with footnotes and links.
And even if he was totally legit, as McCain proposes, what a high tech business model: Get a Bud distributorship in post-war fast growing Phoenix, get a warehouse, some forklifts and some trucks. and supply booze to millions and make a fortune!
Dennich Kucinich just dropped a bomb on McCain at the DNC. Too bad it was not in Prime Time. That was a rocking speech.
'Wake Up America'
Kucinich rocked the fuckin' house. Man, that guy kicks ass.
#10 no truer words were ever said.
Nicole Belle @ 21:
yeah, one guy is black, one guy is white....
if racism still runs so deep and strong in this country that it elects mccain-- true corrupt scum-- over a man of integrity and intelligence like obama.....well, it deserves everything the mccain administration will deliver...and that'll be about twice as bad as bush...bush knows he's an ignorant fool....mccain, just as stupid, thinks he's smart.
jerome corsi of course is the most reliable source.
I didnt pay much attention to the 2004 elections, not being a citizen just a mere resident at the time,
also I assumed it was a forgone conclusion that Bushco would win by any means.
Regarding the swiftboating of Kerry and the book 'Unfit for Command' Kerry pretty much proved it true, by losing and not fighting hard enough.
WTF did Kerry mean by being pally with Chimpy at the debates, I know they are both Skull&Boners but from opposing parties,
and it was known in the Democratic / liberal camp that four more years of Bushco would mean ruin for the USA.
So Kerry was a gentleman and lost with dignity, and the USA lost worse.
Pee on Kerry
brakshow @ 22:
I expect them to be the usual scumbag thieves and criminals.
ohio progressive @ 27:
Ron Paul has the racist vote sewn up, we have a Paultard at work, OMFG very stereotypical of the 'we are being overrun crowd'
ohio progressive @ 27:
It's not only racism, although that certainly plays. This is about one being GOP and one being a Dem too. Republicans get a slide for things that they'd never let a Dem slide on. We've only got about 10,000 posts proving that.
ferrofluid (Obama + Biden = 2008) @ 29:
Kerry proved he was not thinking of anyone but himself by not fighting back.
The Prescott-Bush Crime Family were mere 'Appeasers.' The Hensleys break legs.
Don Bolles was down here in Tucson meeting a source for a story. He was at a hotel bar when the guy never showed. Bolles went to his car, turned it on, and was blown up. It was down on 4th Avenue, which is near downtown and the university. It was big news at the time, and members of IRE (Investigative Reporters and Editors) worked en masse to honor their fallen colleague.
That McCain has ties to someone widely suspected of ordering Bolles's murder is unsettling, to say the least. I had no idea this sort of stuff happened in Arizona. Live and learn, I guess.
The NY Times had a nice Hensley-McCain bio piece on Saturday. I suspect they only printed the facts they could prove but the skeleton provided nicely fits the skin of Corsi's story.
Since we're talking about McCain's lies and connections to his father-in-law, have we already covered the "I am Eldon Smith" topic? If so, I missed it:
http://blogs.citypages.com/gop/2008/08/mccain_owns_zer.php#more
Also, WTF is Karl Rove doing on TV and not in jail?!?
He's the Rupert Pupkin of our time but instead of taking one person hostage he took the country hostage. After the election, I expect FOX to give him his own primetime show.
The marriage between crime and politics is a tradition in American history. The Kennedy empire was built on crime. Joe Kennedy made a fortune in the bootlegging business during the Prohibition era. McCain should also feel right at home by marrying into the Hensley crime family.
Of topic but important
I need someone that could answer a question I have about McCain using Hillary’s past speech as she did try to destroy Obama during her fail run for the WH. Does the Clinton could sue Mc Cain for using her without her consent?
Kyla @ 35:
The IRE was set up as a direct result of the murder of Don Bolles.
I would recommend any serious freelance investigator joining the IRE for protection and help.
Pretty much anybody can join their ranks for various fees at different levels, investigative bloggers should be welcome.
Being accredited IRE might save a bloggers life, if treading on certain toes, esp at the local level.
not stupid @ 40:
The US Constitution gives blanket coverage to political speech. Copyright laws, libel laws and slander laws are rendered null & void during a political campaign.
not stupid @ 40:
Nope. It's considered "fair use."
ferrofluid (Obama + Biden = 2008) @ 29:
let's hope clinton has made this same observation, and kicks mccain hard in the balls tonight.....he deserves it....
Nobody's commented yet on the "plausible deniability" aspect of this interview vis his numerous homes. They are "investment properties." This is the perfect answer, however untrue it may be, and the mouth-breathers will lap it up. On to the next issue, nothing to see here.
We're in a chess match with Big Blue, and it's just taken our first Bishop.
ferrofluid (Obama + Biden = 2008) @ 42:
Thanks for the tip!
natlanth @ 28:
Was wondering about his inclusion in this story myself...
No offense, one doesn't do their credibility any favors by, on the one hand, cite (correctly) that an author is a right-wing hack (Corsi), but then only a few days later use him as a source to discredit/call into question a McCain associate.
Strikes me s low intellectual honesty. Find another source, and I'm good to go though....
Corsi's either a hack or he ain't: Can't have it both ways without someone throwing IOKIYALW back in your face.
Just sayin'.
Bart @ 49:
Bart, stay with me.
Corsi IS a hack and slime. Said so above.
However, he is a reliable and credible enough source to get on EVERY media outlet to smear Obama with a somewhat tenuous connection to William Ayers.
But look what he wrote about McCain and his in laws.
Where have you seen that in the media?
It's all about the hypocrisy and double standards by which we hold Dems and Republicans.
well let's see what the (R) has to say about this if they're
going to give his obama book validity? what is their response to this gem? this is the family value(s) party..
maybe tony saprano could appreciate this
the article isn't by Corsi! it's by John Dougherty, Amy Silverman
And I just heard Smerconish refer to Hensley as a great man. If anyone on stage had read this article they should have replied: He went to jail for illegally selling alcohol, which makes him a Convicted Drug Dealer in my book.
I live in a small rural bible belt town where until about 2 yrs ago I lived in what they called a dry county. You couldn't even buy beer on the weekend. You used to go to surrounding counties to buy your stuff. Now you can buy beer on Sat and you can buy it after noon on Sun. I don't drink however, I a firm believer if you are an adult it is your right to buy what you want to buy when you want to buy it. They are just now letting the super walmart sell beer here. Some bible thumpers are upset. I say if you can go to war than you have a right to have a beer if you want it. These people are nuts. These same people have said that Bush was chosen by god to be president. My husband told her well taking your point than god chose Hitler and Saddam to be presidents of their countries. They get so they don't know how to answer.
Nicole,
I'm with you.
If the thrust of the entry had been "Why the fark does the media pay attention to hack Corsi with Obama, but not Hensley, I'd be there sayin' "damn straight."
But I'm reading the entry as focusing on what a slime Hensley is, based on the "research" of Corsi, after his competence, honesty, and motives have been inspected, detected, and thoroughly rejected (by us of course). But then to give Corsi any semblance of credibility (by even citing him) seems poor form.
Bart @ 54:
The entry on Hensley's slimy qualities comes from the article by Amy Silverman and John Dougherty, The Phoenix New Times pointed out that even Corsi -- who cannot by any measure be dismissed as a liberal partisan -- even found him slimy.
I live in a building that was half owned by a wealthy guy. When he died, his will split his estate evenly throughout his family, including his stepkids and their kids. And the ex-wife of one of his sons and her kid by her second husband were included.
Hensley provided the minimum for the kid he dumped while alive, but left her nothing (or 10k-basically the same thing with this kind of dough) in his will.
Now that's the fucking core of slimy in my book.
orcas Says and fiver Says: Thanks I was asking just asking a question. I am a little amazed that women in America are so against their own rights!
Get off my lawn Katie!!
" My wife Cindy worked hard to inherit that money from her hard working war hero father. She worked even harder stealing money from her charity to support her drug habit. If people want to be critical of that they are free to do so. "
You learn something new every day.
Things I didn't know:
McPOW was a POW.
McPOW is blessed.
The American dream is marrying a really, really rich person. (I'm not sure if abandoning your first wife who was badly injured and disfigured in an accident is a necessary part of that dream or simply icing on the cake.)
Now, will the American people further bless McPOW by making him CIC? He'll be so busy waging war it won't matter that he doesn't know anything about the economy. After all the Defense Department is like John McPOW -- they're both hooked up to an ATM with an inexhaustible balance.
And if ya don't vote for Johnny Short Arms ? You'll be sleeping with da fishes. We will send Fat Karl over to smear ya.
Southern Yankee @ 53:
Logic is lost on the average MIA brained Republican
Ruthless People @ 59:
"MY HUSBAND WAS A POW!"
Col Kilgore @ 61:
I wonder if McCain's made name is 'Gimpy' that would be poetic
There's plenty of sources besides Corsi's regarding McSames father-in-outlaw available on the net. The guy was part of the AZ cowboy-mafia and was basically given the beer distributorship by Kemper Marley as payoff for taking the rap for him. You see MCain's father-in-law (as well as Hensley's brother)was convicted on seven counts of filing false liquor records and on much more serious federal conspiracy charge while working for Marley's liquor business. Marley was a prime suspect in the murder of reporter Don Bolles as well back in 1976. ..I'd be curious to find out how he was able to get and keep a liquor licence with those convictions? I mean don't you need one to own a liquor business and I assume those convictions are felonies??? A well placed contribution or help for a certain supreme court justice?? Oh it's rich but I doubt the knuckleheads in the MSM will ever lift a pen and do some real reporting...
How can you post a link to Jermone Corsi ?
His work is poison. You are not the first I have seen with better sense than to use him as a reference, but I do not appreciate you vectoring his pathology.
yeah, don't forget to point out that cindy's dad made his fortune AFTER he had been convicted of multiple felonies ...
mccain's version of the american dream: building a fortune through protected criminal activity
this is a link to an article from february 2000 in the phoenix (arizona) news with the dish:
http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/content/printVersion/167059
montag @ 36:
this story was a whitewash given the phoenix news article
Just proud to dump that first wife and kid for a young woman that I could woo that had alot of money. You see money isn't important to be happy. "I know alot of people that are weathy that are not happy".
I wanted to be unhappy too......
And by the way, I'm very blessed. Matter of fact God has blessed me more than you, monetarily that is. All I had to do was dump my first wife and child. After that, once I made congressman and then Senator. It was simply sell Americans to corporations and foriegn investors.
Its easy.....Anyone can do it..
to be sure, Cindy's father who came back from war poor, who made an American dream come true (for me), did it through distrtributing beer.
This day and age, how many distributors could American beer business' have that could be as wealthy as Cindy's dad this day and age? It is a limited pie in many respects.
karen marie @ 67:
Even if Corsi embellished, the felonies ought to be a matter of public record. This is what disturbs me most about McCain's version of his father-in-law, a convicted felon is an example of attaining the American dream? Please!
I wonder if mob ties could be spun into a modern-day "Christian" value...
orcas @ 43:
You went to Pat Robertson's law school, didn't ya, okra?
Yes, Mr. Hensley was able to pass on enough beer money to his daughter that she was able to attract an unqualified hack to marry her, and buy him a seat in Congress. Maybe even the presidency.
That's what we hope for for our children and grandchildren - that they'll be able to squander what we worked for on dangerous follies.
God bless America.
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