First Campaign Barbs Tied to Jailed Man (Clinton vs Obama)

Feb. 22, 2007 — The sharpest political snipes among the Democratic 2008 presidential hopefuls can be traced beyond media mogul David Geffen to a jailed man named Leonard Peltier.


Peltier, convicted of murder in 1977 for allegedly gunning down a pair of FBI agents in a shootout at South Dakota's Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, was one of the primary reasons cited by Geffen for jumping ship from New York Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign in favor of fellow Democratic Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois.

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''Marc Rich getting pardoned? An oil-profiteer expatriate who left the country rather than pay taxes or face justice?'' Geffen told Times' columnist Maureen Dowd.


And then, referring to the Peltier case, Geffen continued, ''Yet another time when the Clintons were unwilling to stand for the things that they genuinely believe in.


"Everybody in politics lies, but they do it with such ease, it's troubling," Geffen said.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=2895962&page=1

I had not heard this part of the story. Is this truly the reason?

Like two years ago in a "Racial and Ethnic Relations" class. My professor was very emotional talking about how this "innocent guy" had been in jail for years.

for the riff.

It's not "about" Peltier but about egos. Peltier is barely even a background motivation here.
You have to wonder why the reporter even brought the topic up.

This is one of the reasons, if not THE REASON, that Geffen turned on the Clintons. It seems at the end of Bill's last term, when he was handing out pardons like no body's business, he gave one to a oil tycoon at the request of some republican. When Geffen and others requested a pardon for Peltier, their request was declined. Whether or not Peltier is innocent or not, I don't know but Amnesty International considers him a political prisoner.

:shrug:

did say it was to a republican request. Of course, I should know better than to believe everything I read. :spank:

:9