Does anyone remember Jack Ryan and Obama's Senate run four years ago?

23 August 2008 | Vanity

[shrinkermd]

Four years ago Obama was in a tight race with a Republican opponent--Jack Ryan. Wikipedia records what happpened.

...Ryan married actress Jeri Ryan in 1991; together they have a son, Alex Ryan. They divorced in 1999 in California, and the records of the divorce were sealed at their mutual request. Five years later, when Ryan's Senate campaign began, the Chicago Tribune newspaper and WLS-TV, the local ABC affiliate, sought to have the records released. On March 3, 2004, several of Ryan's GOP primary opponents urged release of the records.Both Ryan and his wife agreed to make their divorce records public, but not make the custody records public, claiming that the custody records could be harmful to their son if released. On March 16, 2004, Ryan won the GOP primary with 36 percent to 23 percent against Jim Oberweis who came in second. Obama won the Democratic primary, with 53 percent to 23 percent against Dan Hynes, who came in second.

Barack Obama's backers emailed reporters about the divorce controversy, but refrained from on-the-record commentary about the divorce files. On March 29, 2004, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert Schnider ruled that several of the Ryans' divorce records should be opened to the public, and ruled that a court-appointed referee would later decide which custody files should remain sealed to protect the interests of Ryan's young child. The following week, on April 2, 2004, Barack Obama changed his position about the Ryans' soon-to-be-released divorce records, and called on Democrats to not inject them into the campaign. The Ryan campaign characterized Obama's shift as hypocritical, because Obama's backers had been emailing reports about the divorce records prior to Judge Schnider's decision.

On June 22, 2004, after receiving the report from the court-appointed referee, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert Schnider released the files that were deemed consistent with the interests of Ryan's young child. In those files, Jeri Ryan alleged that Jack Ryan had taken her to sex clubs in several cities, intending for them to have sex in public. The decision to release these files generated much controversy because it went against both parents' direct request, and because it reversed the earlier decision to seal the papers in the best interest of the child. Jim Oberweis, Ryan's defeated GOP opponent, commented that "these are allegations made in a divorce hearing, and we all know people tend to say things that aren't necessarily true in divorce proceedings when there is money involved and custody of children involved."

Prior to release of the documents, Ryan had told leading Republicans that five percent of the divorce file could cause problems for his campaign. But after the documents were released, GOP officials including state GOP Chair Judy Baar Topinka said they felt Ryan had misleadingly indicated the divorce records would not be embarrassing.That charge of dishonesty led to intensifying calls for Ryan's withdrawal, though Topinka said after the June 25 withdrawal that Ryan's "decision was a personal one" and that the state GOP had not pressured Ryan to drop out. Ryan's campaign ended less than a week after the custody records were opened, and Ryan officially filed the documentation to withdraw on July 29, 2004. The same party leaders who called for Ryan's resignation controversially chose Alan Keyes as Ryan's replacement in the race; Keyes lost to Obama, 27% to 70%.

I>Subsequent to his withdrawal from the U.S. Senate race in Illinois, Jack Ryan has characterized what happened to him as a "new low for politics in America". According to Ryan, it was unprecedented in American politics for a newspaper to sue for access to sealed custody documents. Ryan opposed unsealing the divorce records of Senator John Kerry during Kerry's race against George W. Bush in 2004, and Kerry's divorce records remained sealed. Ryan has made this request: "let me be the only person this has happened to. Don’t ask for Ted Kennedy’s. Don’t ask for John McCain’s. Don’t ask for Joe Lieberman’s. Just stop. This is not a good precedent for American society if you really want the best and brightest to run."

The Wikipedia link is: HERE.

[Mr. Silverback]

I remember it well. I met Jack Ryan early in the primary process and was impressed. What happened to him was tragic, and when Jeri Ryan came out and said her ex-husband would make an outstanding Senator, I could tell she was thinking, "Oh boy, I screwed up."

Here's a story from later in the race. Obama visited Freeport for a rally at the public library with Dick Durbin in tow, so I, my wife and some pro-life friends went down to greet him. We were waiting for two hours before he got there and had lots of exchanges with local Dems. There was this one guy who kept going into the library and then coming out to lay a real crusher of a comment on us, and every single time my wife smacked him down. Here's a typical exchange:

Dem dipstick: Hey, let's all go to the sex shops like JACK RYAN!! [This was accompanied by hand motions and hip swivels that were just short of public indecency]

My wife: No, that's all right sir, you can go on ahead. We aren't into that sort of thing.

He wandered off, completely confused. Man, I love that girl!

[Bender2]

When you look at nObma's very short political campaign record, the dirty Chicago Style Campaign tactics are stark, except the one time they came back to bite him. The only time he went up against an opponent that he couldn't knock out of the race, 2000 House Race against Bobby Rush, Obama lost.

From http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/05/29/obamas.first.campaign/index.html: "In his first race for office, seeking a state Senate seat on Chicago's gritty South Side in 1996, Obama effectively used election rules to eliminate his Democratic competition."

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama: "In 2000, [Obama] lost a Democratic primary run for the U.S. House of Representatives to four-term incumbent Bobby Rush by a margin of two to one.

As described on this thread, Obama's dirty tactics against Jack Ryan in 2004 again knocked a strong opponent out of the race.

So, we will see how it goes in the next 10 weeks. If Obama can can get John McCain kicked out of the race, he wins.

If not, in my humble opinion... Obama doesn't have a chinaman's chance.

[SJackson]

Blair Hull, an Obama opponent in his Senate primary run. Barak was sleeping during legal ethics.

No description of Obama’s relationship with the Chicago press can ignore the benefits of Obama’s ties to local strategist David Axelrod, a former reporter for the Tribune, a frequent source for local reporters, and on good terms with most of the paper’s editors. Fortuitously for Obama, Axelrod began the 2004 Senate primary cycle by engaging in early discussions with Obama’s best-funded rival, Blair Hull. Those discussions included Axelrod asking Hull to confirm or deny rumors of spousal abuse; Axelrod told Mendell that Hull offered a “glacial” and evasive answer. Unsurprisingly, Axelrod lost interest in Hull shortly after that.

As the primary heated up, a consultant for one of Obama’s rivals handed Tribune reporter Mendell a packet of opposition research on Hull — the documents noted that he had been divorced three times, and that his second wife had been granted a court order of protection from him.

That prompted the Chicago media to demand Hull unseal his divorce records, and his campaign ultimately showed them to Mendell. The contents were devastating — allegations of abuse and threats. Mendell makes clear in his book that a non-Obama candidate provided him with the research.

Oddly, within a few months, dogged efforts on the part of the local press would eliminate another Obama rival, this time in the general election. Republican Jack Ryan seemed to be out of central casting — handsome, independently wealthy, sharing the name of a Tom Clancy hero.

But once again, the Tribune and a local television station launched a crusade to unseal the candidate’s divorce records. Ryan, his ex-wife (actress Jeri Ryan, best known for playing a cybernetic bombshell on Star Trek: Voyager), and his supporters argued that his nine-year-old son ought to be spared the messy details of his contentious divorce. A California judge ordered the records unsealed, and the entire political world heard accusations that the candidate urged his unwilling wife to have public sex in clubs in New York and Paris. Ryan denied the allegations, but no candidacy could survive a revelation like that.

http://article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=YjE4OWQ2NDIyNTkzYjg2YThlNjU1YmNjMWFjNzk3YjY=

[Ancient Drive]

[Mr. Silverback]

Actually, Jeri Ryan came out during the scandal and tried to do some damage control, saying she knew Jack would make an excellent Senator.

Didn’t work.

[BigSkyDream]

Only in America can a guy wake up in alley one day and then end up running for President.

Obama, The Columbia days: "While at Columbia, he lived off campus. He claims to have spent his first night sleeping in an alley near the corner of 109th and Amsterdam Avenue and washing with the homeless next to an open fire hydrant. (This, regardless of the fact that there is no alley at 109th and Amsterdam Avenue - perhaps Mr. Obama is confusing New York, which has few alleys, with Chicago, where every block is transected by an alleyway for trash.)"

[Mr. Silverback]

What the Chicago LIBune did was uncalled for, but Judy Barr Topinka literally through Jack Ryan

Not to be the grammar police, but if she literally threw him under the bus he would be dead with tire tracks on him.

[arkady_renko]

There is a good Rebulican State Senator from downstate LaSalle County named Gary Dahl. Other than him, this place is pathetic. The Emil Jones charade with his kid and the Meeks threat to the suburban schools makes you wonder if there is a future for this state. If Daley is calling the shots for Obama, then it makes sense. Daley is a socialist thug, and sees himself as king.

[potlatch]

LOL, slept in an alley, huh?

 

[Lancey Howard]

I only hope a few more of Obama’s homosexual lovers and crack buddies come out of the woodwork.

[TheBattman]

All funny aside - I very well think that it could be the NWO folks putting their “chosen one” in office. They need a brainless idiot puppet to get the remaining power.

One World Government IS coming - maybe sooner than many think.

[Miss Didi]

What goes around comes around.

[devolve]

.

LOL!

Excellent potlatch!

[ken21]

that’s hysterical!

it’s what he wants people to think.

i doubt that he’s ever done without.

[potlatch]

Got it in email or somewhere.

[DAVEY CROCKETT]

ping

[BigSkyDream]

Seriously, On O’Reilly’s show the other day they did a full show on Obama and the next night they did Sen. McCain and they said that Obama claimed to have slept in an alley so I googled it.

http://www.wikicu.com/Barack_Obama

[SoCalPol]

*Caddel said he’d like to know who’s REALLY doing the picking and mentioned the Daley machine in Chicago*

I think it is way beyond the Daleys and starts with Soros.
The various Marxist in his background, and slick movers, would also explain how Hillary was toppled.
Who would have thought that would have happened.
There is a major machine at work.

[ken21]

another bill clinton psychopath.

reality is whatever is convenient at the moment.

[pepperhead]

Yes Obama had Palmer and another person thrown off the ballot and he ran unopposed.

Dirty Barack Obama
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3Ned5TQoW4