There's a rather odd (to say the least) guy who's been claiming for months that he has dirt on Barack Obama. The thing is, the guy's credibility is, well, shall we say "spotty." Ben Smith at the Politico reports that the guy has a 27-year criminal record. And he's apparently wanted by the state of Colorado. Above you can find his "WANTED" notice from the Pueblo County, Colorado Web site. It's ironic that the cops are asking anyone with information about this guy to contact them, because you can find him today at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. (Ben Smith did in fact contact the Sheriff, who says they can't extradite the guy, but that he will be arrested if he steps foot in Colorado. The Sheriff did, however, contact the FBI about the guy.)
Here's a sample of what Ben reports:
He was first arrested on a larceny charge in 1981 in Denver, according to his Colorado arrest record, as filed in federal court. In 1985, he was convicted of theft and of forging a check in Florida, and sentenced to a year in jail, according to Florida records filed in federal court.Oh, and the guy took a polygraph - reportedly, it didn't go so well:
After the Florida episode, according to the records, he returned to Colorado, where he faced check fraud and credit card charges in 1986. Then, in 1987, he was convicted in Colorado on more serious forgery charges, and sentenced to 16 years in jail.
In prison, according to state records filed in federal court, Sinclair was disciplined 97 times for infractions including assault, threats, drug possession, intimidation, and verbal abuse, most recently in 1996.
This February, the website Whitehouse.com reportedly offered Sinclair $100,000 if he could pass a polygraph test verifying his claims. He took them up on it, and the site said in a press release that the polygraph organizers said his results "indicated deception." Sinclair then suggested the polygraph's sponsors had been bribed to skew theYes, the august National Press Club is hosting a known criminal (his own lawyer admits to Politico that his criminal record "is what it is," and that "he's not denying it") in order to help him defame a presidential candidate with sleazy unsubstantiated rumors. The Press Club claims they don't "censor" anyone. Maybe we should schedule our own panel at the Press Club, and hire some hookers and strippers to do a, uh, live presentation, and test the Press Club's no-censorship rules.
results against him.
Oh yeah, speaking of censorship. The guy himself is claiming that he won't let any reporters in to the press conference, unless he and his agents approve of those reporters in advance. For example, no "bloggers" will be allowed. Apparently, some censorship is permitted after all at the Press Club,
