2008-06-19 Obama, telecoms and the Beltway system

2008-06-19 Glenn Greenwald Salon \Barack Obama\John Barrow\2008 US elections\Bush illegal wiretapping\Regina Thomas http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/06/19/obama/ Obama, telecoms and the Beltway system &ldquo;As noted yesterday, Blue Dog Rep. John Barrow of Georgia has been one of the most enthusiastic enablers of the radical and lawless policies of the Bush administration. ... Despite all of this, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported yesterday that Barack Obama ... taped a radio endorsement this week for Rep. Barrow, with the specific intent to help him defeat Regina Thomas in the Democratic primary.&rdquo;  As noted yesterday, Blue Dog Rep. John Barrow of Georgia has been one of the most enthusiastic enablers of the radical and lawless policies of the Bush administration. When running for re-election, he ran ads accusing his own party of wanting to "cut and run in Iraq," and was one of the 21 Blue Dogs to send a letter to Nancy Pelosi demanding that they be allowed to vote for the Rockefeller/Cheney Senate bill to give warrantless eavesdropping powers to the President and amnesty to lawbreaking telecoms.

Despite all of this, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported yesterday that Barack Obama -- who has been claiming to be so emphatically opposed to warrantless eavesdropping and telecom amnesty, to say nothing of the Iraq War -- taped a radio endorsement this week for Rep. Barrow, with the specific intent to help him defeat Regina Thomas in the Democratic primary. Obama's first real misstep?   