Very interesting phone call I just received about Obama...

[Chovexani]

A few minutes ago, a woman claiming to be a Time magazine reporter (I forget her name, but I wrote it down somewhere) called my house, asking for my cousin. She said she was researching a story on Obama, and according to her, when he was going to Columbia University he lived in the same building in Manhattan as my cousin and his friends when they were going to theater school. My cousin vaguely remembers a light skinned brother with a fro that lived upstairs, but isn't sure if that was him or not. What was really interesting was my cousin said the reporter kept asking him about "stories surrounding Barack, like drugs". It was a building in Washington Heights that was fairly rough in terms of drug activity, lots of selling going on. My cousin said he had no idea and hung up.

Not ten minutes later, one of my cousin's old roomies from that place, now residing in California called up. Same woman called him up wanting to know about Obama, specifically asking about any supposed drug ties or involvement. Cousin's friend didn't know anything either.

Now, this may be my tinfoil hat being on too tightly, but the first question that came to my mind was: is this woman who she really says she is? Is she just a Time reporter doing a hit piece, or a McCain/Rove dirty trickster? I don't know if she left a number or anything; mostly my cousin is weirded out and still talking to his buddy trying to figure out if Afroman upstairs really was Barack.

How do you guys suggest we handle this?

[eShirl]

1. google her name

of course, there's no proof she gave you her real name

[Olney Blue]

2. It's a trap- don't talk.

[bjobotts]

135. Nonsense. Talk big. "Yeah it was Obama. We used to party heavy together and

would buy coke from this guy down the street named Mike. Hell, I even think I have some pictures around here somewhere...would they be worth some money?" You'd find out real quick what this was all about and who was working where and for whom.

[TahitiNut]

138. Yup. That's exactly what I'd do. A sting.

Ubetcha. They're spending a LOT on a fishing expedition. I'd try to arrange for them to catch a shark. A hungry one.

[gateley]

3. I'd call Time and ask if it was one of their researchers calling.

If so, I'd complain about the emphasis on drugs, even after telling her 'no'.

If not, there's probably nothing you can do -- except maybe try to find out who she is from Caller ID?

If she is a Repub -- it'd be a GREAT story. I'm sure Keith would love it. :7

[stillcool]

4. Tell them Cindy McCain lived there..

[babylonsister]

10. Ha! Good answer! nt

[JaneQPublic]

51. ...along with her roomie, Rush Limbaugh (nt)

[Joe Bacon]

117. Don't you mean Jeff Christie??????

Google "Jeff Christie" and see what pops up :evilgrin:

[Spiffarino]

106. Tell them her limo driver opened the window

...and you saw him exchange a bag for some cash.

[nam78_two]

116. lol

:thumbsup:

[demnan]

5. All I know is this

The Republicans will do anything to win, anything.

[MikeNearMcChord]

6. It's Rove or one of those Rove-Clones

It will be a great day in America seeing that evil fuck(and I hate using the f-bomb in full) is hauled in front of a jury.

[ColbertWatcher]

49. Rove is just a modern-day Machiavelli and not a very good one either. n/t

[Bette Noir]

101. Don't besmirch the name of Machiavelli!

He srgued against seizing the assets of political prisoners, unlike some current Presidents we could name.

[demigoddess]

149. you don't have to apologize, ever since b*** became pResident, i have learned to cuss

before those words did not cross my lips but now I am a drunken sailor with language.

[babylonsister]

7. I'd love to know her name; we could try to find out if she does work

for Time. I'd also e-mail Obama's campaign with the name and story; this could be something they'd like to know about.

[oldtime dfl_er]

133. Could it be the National Enquirer?

They'd probably be willing to misrepresent themselves for some dirt.

[mmonk]

8. Call Time and ask if such a person exists.

Also, tell the campaign what happened.

[elleng]

9. Inform O campaign,

somehow.

[BrklynLiberal]

13. Excellent idea...

[puebloknot]

141. For sure. And let Olbermann and Maddow know about this. nt

[annabanana]

11. Oh I'm sure there's second cousins of uncles of neighbors of

plumbers of paperboys of Obama who are getting the questions...

I'm surprised.. usually they just make stuff up and the hell with all that pesky asking...

[yellowdogintexas]

72. yeah, the old step neighbor cousin in law connection. You KNOW those are

always the ones who really KNOW the answers :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:

Seriously, Sounds like cousin needs to fling the net on all the people that he knew and have his old roomie do the same, and get them all to unite against answering any questions...(after they get over the fact that they may have shared a building with Obama of course)

[nachoproblem]

122. They make a show of asking

so when they print the allegation they can say that they asked around. They will, of course, not say what answers they got. These people they question are not likely to respond anyway, since they don't know anything, but I doubt it matters. You can pass off nearly any kind of lie if you just put it in the form of a question.

[BrklynLiberal]

12. I think it is someone trying to create a hit piece...not to be trusted...at all.

Call everyone else you know from the dorm and warn them..

[d_b]

14. that's creepy as all hell

I'd forward your story to the obama camp.

[EC]

15. Get a hold of DNC or send email

to Dean about it...if your cousin knows how to get a hold of anyone else that lived there at the time call them and find out if they were contacted too. They will probably offer big bucks for some kind of story and someone will sell out and say what they want to hear...

This just sucks that this is what our presidental campaignes have come to...

[Kitty Herder]

25. Good idea.

The DNC needs to know what these monsters are up to.

[EC]

36. This person has to be someone with some clout somewhere

to have the names of people that lived in the same building all those years ago...The suggestions to call Time are good too, because if it is someone impersonating a reporter they'd want to know...and it is still against the law to misrepresent oneself like that...call your local police and see what they say to do...the fraud division maybe.


Whoops, meant this to OP, sorry...

[Cassandra]

81. New York has very extensive rental records...

because we have rent control and stabilization. It probably wouldn't take that much clout to look at the old rent rolls in one building. Christopher Grey, who writes the Streetscapes column in the Sunday Times, looks up rent rolls from the 1890s and early 20th century all the time. There are probably old reverse directories available from periods not that long ago, as well.

[Doug.Goodall]

136. I was about to ask how they got the cousin's name

Don't we have any F***ing privacy in this country anymore?
Next they will be publishing lists of Obama's library books and video rentals.

With this kind of anal exam for every politician, we ain't going to get any kind of good candidate to run for office anywhere, from any party.

This stuff needs to stop.

[Janice325]

16. Do you have caller ID?

If so, you could google the phone number and/or her name. Or, you could google "reverse telephone directory." I've both used www.whitepages.com and www.anywho.com to look up folks I didn't know when I got calls I didn't recognize.
Just a thought.
I'd probably be wearing a tinfoil hat about it too.

[Chovexani]

18. Came up as one of those "unknown numbers"

And *69 said it was blocked from tracing it.

We are kinda creeped out, frankly.

[jimlup]

47. It was a repuklian attack attempt

They're attempting to dig dirt. I'm sure it was them or their minions. Those people are lower than $*@).

[Spiffarino]

107. I believe the Southern expression is...

Those people are lower than snake shit. :nuke:

[rucognizant]

86. There is an outfit in FLa.

That calls me once or twice a month offering to help me deal with my out of control credit cards........( I DON"T OWN EVEN ONE!) I tried to call the number back once, and it wasn't "an available number" Verizon said even tho I am on the no-call list, that doesn't prevent people from going down a numerical sequence for solicitations.
You are correct to be freaked out! Try all the good suggestions posted here!

[supernova]

17. How wierd

I would call TIME to verify if it's true that they are working on a story such as this, but I bet not. I bet it's the Repubs doing opposition research.

[Warpy]

19. Posting here was a good first step

and alerting the party through your local HQ is a good second.

She's on a fishing expedition, obviously, and the campaign needs to know this stuff is going on.

It doesn't matter who is employing her: Scaife, Rove, Time, or Murdoch.

[Diane R]

20. Let's recommend this to try to bring it to the attn of the Obama folks.

[DB1]

21. No caller ID. Contact your local dem rep and get the phone traced via FISA....

Call the ACLU, this is political espionage, use FISA against them, there is a record. Do not remove tinfoil hat, it may be working. Seriously, do not let it drop. We had a bigot phone call at our house in Washington State calling us n..... lovers, because of our Obama sign, my wife and daughter deleted it but I wish they had not so I could have pursued it.

[RedLetterRev]

98. Do you have E-Billing or does your phone company have a customer web site?

If so, you can always log in and see your last detailed bill online. Unless you have metered service (very few people do any more) you might not see local calls, but long distance calls are detailed on your bill. It's worth a look, always.

For example, in town I had Vonage (I still do, but since I can't get anything but satellite internets out here in the boonies, it won't work, but I keep it alive JIC). All calls are detailed in your personal home page. Out here, I have another landline provider, but there's a customer home page I can log into and it details all available numbers.

Just because you delete a number from your handset, there's still that backup online. I go after telemonsters all the time because I'm on the Do Not Call list. If they call and you bitch about it, action will be taken. You might not get any feedback, but there will be silence afterward. Even if you do business with certain companies, you can request to be put on their own Do Not Call list and they must. I'm rarely bothered by telemonsters.

Think outside the box. There are always ways of getting at those numbers.

Whitepages.com and Yellowpages.com do have reverse lookups, but they will often lead you to pay-for services. If it's that important, it may be worth the $30 to find out who's pestering. That's cheap enough to nail a rat.

On edit: I just remembered: If you have the date and time, you can also call your phone company and report a harrassing phone call and request a trace. It may cost a buck or two. It may be free. That depends on your provider. You may or may not get a response. But it will put the oppo on notice that we are watching and that we most certainly will take action.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

22. Off to the Greatest Page...

And greater visibility!

This is a dynamite story, and it needs to be shouted from the rooftops!

[mmonk]

23. Bookmarking

[Tangerine LaBamba]

24. Bogus all the way

If she was a real researcher, she wouldn't start blabbing to whomever answered the phone about what she was researching. She'd have asked how to get in touch with your cousin, and that would have been that.

I'd make note of her phone number via Caller ID, and then I'd contact Time, and tell them what happened.

Never, never talk to anyone you don't know about anything like this, especially over the phone.

[ColbertWatcher]

26. At this late in the game? It can only mean one thing: gossip and lies.

Obama stated in his book what his involvement with drugs has been.

Yet, we're supposed to believe that a Time magazine reporter is just now doing research for a story?

LOL!

Sorry, this is a serious topic...LOL!

Okay, maybe it's not so serious. But, what I see coming from this is what the Holocaust deniers do so well: argue the validity of distinctions that make no differences.

They're going to say shit like, Obama said he lived on the second floor, but unnamed witnesses say he lived on the third floor.

The echobots will say, "he's lying!" And we'll hear about it until we can''t stand it any more. Of course, they'll create something else before then.

[RB TexLa]

27. Might be from a media outlet, I can't see how any opposition research group would be that

far behind in trying to track down people from that age of a candidate's life and still be in business. That's the second place you look after people who might have had affairs with the candidate.

[CitizenPatriot]

28. creepy

you need to alert obama campaign and get the phone co or your cell provider to give you the number of the person who called. I called them once about a smear thing I saw in a prominent place and they were very responsive.

If they are not really from Time, they are misrepresenting themselves and that is a rather large deal (I know it doesn't seem like it in this day and age of our president lying us into war, but back in the day, telling lies was a bad thing).

you also need to call Time and let them know that they are being represented in a slimey, unethical way. A real reporter would not lead the witness, so you can bet they weren't from Time (or they are related to the AP or Corsi).

Make sure anyone else they might call keeps track of the call, records it, etc. You can always tell people at the beginning of the call "I'm recording this call". that puts an end to a lot of bs -- and it provides evidence.

Depending on the things they asked, I would also notify certain other agencies. This is creepy and obviously not above board.

[Cleita]

29. Get her name and number and tell her you will call her back if

you have any information. This should flush out the not so journalistic.

[Triana]

30. Does your cousin's old roomie remember her name? GET THE NAME...and

send this info to the ACLU, DNC, and Obama camp post-haste! They need to know. Also give them the number - they CAN trace its owner.

DO NOT let this drop!

[KentuckyKrazyKat]

31. Call from Time magazine reporter

Ohh. I just signed up here after reading on this place for years, and yours was the first post I clicked! I don't think that you have your tinfoil hat on too tight. Spooky if you ask me, and I would certainly try to check into who the woman is and why she's trying to dig up trash on Obama from a roommate who might POSSIBLY remember, as you said, a "light skinned brother with a fro." I'd damn sure want to know what it is that she planned to gain out of it!

[tbyg52]

32. Hey, KentuckyKrazyKat!

Welcome to DU! :hi:

[KentuckyKrazyKat]

33. THANKS!

Thanks for the welcome, tbyg52!

[tbyg52]

40. Honored to be the first! (Of many, I'm sure!) nt

[yellowdogintexas]

73. another welcome to KentuckyKrazyKat! I am an Ole Kentucky Gal myself

glad to have you here. :toast: :hi: :hi: :hi: :hi: :kick:

[KentuckyKrazyKat]

79. Thanks for welcome

Thanks, yellowdogintexas!!!

[barbtries]

76. welcome to du

:hi:

[KentuckyKrazyKat]

80. Thanks!

Thanks for the welcome, Barbtries!

[YDogg]

95. Welcome to DU!

:hi:

[KentuckyKrazyKat]

139. Thanks!

Thanks a heap for the welcome, YDogg!

[goforit]

34. Scarey.....Rove is close to your home!!... Bleach the place!!

[mzmolly]

35. What is the name?

You wrote it down, can you locate it? Thanks.

[philly_bob]

37. Wow! Lot of resources behind that call.

You'd have to get Obama's address in -- what, 1990? Okay, that's possible.

Then you'd have to get the names of everyone who lived in the same building as he did.

Then you'd have to find out where each of those neighbors have moved since then. (I'm assuming your cousin still doesn't live in the same building.)

Now that's a major investigation. Who has that kind of resources? Is there any non-governmental organization (even TIME) that could do that?

For that matter, how did they make the connection between your cousin and you? Did he put you down as a reference on his rental agreement?

Please tell us the name the "TIME reporter" gave you.

And I'd like to see cops' and reporters' comments on the scope of this investigation...

[kwassa]

46. All you have to do is use a reverse phone directory

or go to the landlord at that time who would have records. He might have SS numbers, which would help further investigation.

and then the Internet. Just some sleuthing, not too hard.

[philly_bob]

67. Is it legal for a landlord to release former tenants' Social Security numbers?

To a cop, yes. To a journalist?

And you'd have to have reverse phone directories going back 20 years.

[Gman]

90. Who has the resources, you ask?

The McCain campaign does.

[MorningGlow]

38. Ugh--they're still trying the drugs angle?

That smacks of desperation. Pun not intended. But I say it stinks to high heaven and that stench is coming from the Republican attack machine.

Aside--I'm sorry, on a SATURDAY? I'm a magazine writer, and I would never contact people at home on a weekend. Again--stinks.

I say dig up the caller's name and Google it along with "Time" and "magazine". If she's really on the staff or has written articles for them before even on a freelance basis, it'll turn up. But I doubt you're going to find anything legit!

Good luck!

[Alcibiades]

94. The weekend is a good time to try to contact people

Especially if you've tried and failed during the week.

That being said, this does stink.

[GoneOffShore]

39. No tinfoil, BUT, this is a bit bizarre.

[Lil Missy]

41. Contact your local Obama headquarters. They should be able to pass it up the chain.

[flvegan]

42. Don't say anything out loud you don't want played back.

Best to just leave everything at "no comment" until the potential for defense come up. Make the campaign aware of the event, and let them know that should they need you, you'll be there to refute something damaging if need be.

[unblock]

43. DEFINITELY contact the obama campaign. there are ways to SCREW this person.

i wouldn't do it without quietly cooperating with the campaign, but there are ways you could screw with this person, e.g., feed a provably false story, wait for them to publish it (i have my doubts about this being a time reporter, it's more likely a free-lancer working for the repugs, maybe they once contributed something to time but that's not their mission at the moment) and then go public with the proof to discredit the story.

don't try this at home, but if the obama camp wants to do this, i would jump at the opportunity to foil one of their dirty tricks.

[LeftyMom]

44. Holy leading questions, Batman!

If this person really was mainstream press (and I kinda doubt it) than those sort of leading questions about a barely remembered person who might have been Obama would suggest that they're really digging for anything they can fling at him, and don't really care if it holds up.

[Chovexani]

45. Thank you so much for the great ideas and comments

Just to let you know because a few people asked, my cousin didn't tell her ANYTHING at all, just that he wasn't sure if Obama was his neighbor or not. He is calling around to some of his other buddies from back then to see if they've been contacted too.

I am NOT letting this drop, it stinks worse than the bathroom after beer bong and chili dog night at the Crawford Ranch...please keep this thread kicked and I will try to keep y'all updated. We WILL be notifying the Obama camp ASAP. This has Rove's sulfuric hoofprints all over it as far as I'm concerned.

[jimlup]

48. Sounds good!

Kick!

[chat_noir]

82. lol@stinks worse than the bathroom after beer bong and chili dog night at the Crawford Ranch

[truth2power]

92. Great pic! It should be on a billboard. n/t

[Changenow]

87. It would be really cool

if your cousin could find someone who hasn't yet talked to the "reporter" and plant some positive information to see how it is eventually played. Since the reporter is trying to slant the answers, she might slant her reporting as well.

[The Wielding Truth]

50. Obama has already been out there with those times and his

drug use as a young adult. No scoop there.

I wonder how many times McSmeagol did drugs to fit in to gain social prowess for more power? Did he partake then - as an older adult - too?
Creepy that he was probably doing the same thing but in the millionare clubs.

[Berry Cool]

55. They are not digging to find out whether Obama did drugs, ever.

They are digging to try to find out whether he ever DEALT drugs.

They are convinced that if he is uncovered as ever having been a drug dealer, that will be the end of his campaign.

This is definitely fishy in the extreme. K&R so it gets more attention.

[The Wielding Truth]

57. Let's see if Mc Cain has dealt drugs to his rich friends for fun.

[CitizenPatriot]

61. no, that was cindy the skelator.

[The Wielding Truth]

68. Maybe John,too? Let's investigate.

[CitizenPatriot]

70. good point

after all, he has a bad habit of assimilation to the point of loss of self (has he picked up **'s accent yet?)

MCSAME ARRESTED in accidental FISA wire-tapping of his butler's phone for SELLING STREET VIAGRA MIXED WITH SPEED

Now he can add the Big House to his list of houses. Damn, that makes 12!

[Matariki]

52. Do you have caller ID?

Forward the info to the Obama campaign.

[Swamp Rat]

53. It was me. I did it.

I had an afro at the time. :D

[Chovexani]

54. Dammit Swampy I knew it was you

Always gettin your ass in trouble. :rofl:

[Swamp Rat]

56. It was me. I plead gill-tee!

I was framed! :D

I only smoke weed when I need to,
And I need to get some rest, Yo, where's the Cess,
I confess, I burnt a hole in the mattress,
Yes, yes, it was me, I plead guilty,
And on the count of three I pull back the duvet,
Make my way to the refrigerator,
One dry potato inside, no lie
Not even bread, jam,
When the light above my head went bam!
I can't sleep, something's all over me,
Greasy, insomnia please release me,
And let me dream about making mad love on the heath,
Tearing off tights with my teeth.
But there's no relief,
I'm wide awake in my kitchen,
It's black and I'm lonely,
Oh, if I could only get some sleep,
Creeky noises make my skin creep,
I need to get some sleep,
I can't get no sleep....

[zeemike]

58. :-)

[arthritisR_US]

59. contact the Obama campaign and the DNC and let them investigate her. n/t

[helderheid]

112. WHAT YOU SAID

[UpInArms]

60. Time - Joe Klein editorials

and neo-con spew

not worth the paper that it is printed it on

cancelled our subscription years ago and have not one regret

:hi:

[RollWithIt]

62. WE WILL... WE WILL...... BS YOU.....

It's sort of weird, a guy just called me from another national magazine, i spoke to him for a long period and I can't remember his name either! I mean, I talk to reporters from national publications so often! It just slipped my mind. I'm sure I wrote it down somewhere around here. Where did I put it?

Maybe over here behind this chair?

Kitchen counter?

Awww, can't find the name.

[Name removed]

65. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

78. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Laxman]

63. Reverse Dan Rather

You've got it all wrong. Tell them "Yeah, now that you mention it, that dude upstairs did look like Obama. Everytime I copped a dime bag off of him he used to always say you're buying weed from a future president, your money is going towards my future campaign fund." Let them run with the story for a while and when they try to source it you tell them "What do I know, I was high at the time."

[kaygore]

64. A reporter once called a close friend to ask about Chuck Robb

when Robb was running for the senate from Virginia. My friend had been the bar tender at a party that Robb attended when cocaine was everywhere in Virginia Beach.

My friend kept saying that there might have been cocaine at the party but it was out of sight and he saw no one use and that Robb had been in his view during the whole party and that Robb definitely did not do any cocaine.

The reporter just wouldn't drop it, and finally said how much money would it take for my friend to say that Robb had used cocaine at the party. My friend said $1,000,000. The reporter replied, "You want $1,000,000 to tell the truth about Robb's drug use." My friend replied, "No, I want $1,000,000 to lie. I gave you the truth for free."

[Chovexani]

66. Wow that is fucked up.

Were they Enquirer or something? I know they pay that kind of money for stories.

Kudos to your friend for doing the right thing. Bet he had to take 15 showers after talking to that sleazebag.

[kaygore]

123. As I remember (it was years ago) the reporter was a regular one

from the MSM. However, this was an extremely conservative state back then and Robb is married to Lyndon Johnson's daughter...and is a Democrat.

[Chovexani]

69. Another update.

"Time" woman's name was Maya. She didn't actually give a last name, and my cousin didn't get one from her either. He says the drug questions were really couched...as if she were asking for "flavor details" about the kind of environment they lived in, but it always seemed to come back around to the drug thing. She didn't leave a number, either, only that she'd been in contact with a bunch of other people who also said they couldn't remember if Obama lived in the building or not. Google didn't turn up anything on her (and I looked for different female "M" names on staff on the website, in case I misheard her--I AM fairly tired--to no avail). I have a really bad feeling about this.

We couldn't reach the other guy my cousin roomed with, but left him a voicemail. So far we just know that cousin and roomie #2 have been contacted (as well as other random neighbors--she evidently wasn't lying about having info on the building itself, because she mentioned there was a Roma family that lived on the first floor, which my cousin confirms). One thing that freaks me out is that she managed to get contact info for my cousin and his buddy despite the fact that neither of them were on the lease (roomie #3 and a later one, #4--who moved in after my cousin left--were on it). We also sent an email to the Obama campaign explaining what happened. We're going to follow up with the magazine on Monday. In the meantime I will try to sleep and hope Rove doesn't eat me.

[Terre]

71. I think you should wait to hear

what the Obama campaign advises you. In the meantime, don't give out any more information, and simply tell them that you don't remember or no nothing.

You know - The 'I don't recall' strategy.

[Changenow]

88. The public library may have

old reverse phone directories. Maybe voter registration records would also show who lived there. It would take leg work, but it is possible.

What's interesting is that this kind of investigation would have revealed all kinds of sorted information about Bush, even McCain.

[mmonk]

91. Good work and keep us updated.

[Castleman]

124. Don't tell them? NO, TELL THEM!

Tell them Obama kept you up all night singing God Bless America, and that was the only person in the building who would get up every morning at 5 am to raise a flag on the rooftop. Tell them he always pestered everybody to wear American flag lapel pins. Tell them he used to bitterly complain about big government, and always thought taxes should be lowered for the rich, and tell them he would argue for hours about how this country needs a strong military and that we should be out there exporting democracy!
Yeah, fuck with them for awhile.

[kegler14]

130. If the woman didn't give a last name she wasn't from Time.

I used to be a newspaper and wire service reporter and you ALWAYS identified yourself fully.

[Canuckistanian]

74. They're casting far and wide now

All the easy fish have already been caught.

And they're WAY under limit with the ones they've already caught.

[No Elephants]

75. Ask if she's looking into all McCain's plane crashes.

[riverdeep]

77. This is what it means to run for office nowadays.

Every person you encountered in your life can be contacted and if they have a grudge, or if the party is offering monetary or some other compensation, can just make up a story. Scary stuff.

And yet, in 2000, the press was stunningly incurious about a governor from Texas that went AWOL and used drugs extensively and went from failed business to failed business. How strange for a liberal media.

[Christa]

83. If she calls again (which I doubt)

Take the name and phone number and say you will come back to her with some real dirt, play her just to get the name and number.

Then go public with it.

Could you do *69?

[Chovexani]

99. *69 didn't work

Got that recorded message that the number was unreachable through that means.

[druidity33]

100. I would call the telephone company

and tell them you got a call that FRIGHTENED you. That you are considering calling the Police and ask if they would be able to get you the number under those circumstances. You just need to know when the call came through.

Then do the reverse look-up.

Post everything to multiple websites.

Good Luck.


:shrug:

[JDPriestly]

119. The phone company has the number.

[Celebration]

84. "someone" has hired a private investigator n/t

[lisa58]

85. Contact Time Magazine and ask them if it's legit

[sellitman]

89. I bet there are rats in both parties doing this kind of work.

I doubt the Repiggies are alone in this kind of endevor.

[noblesse oblige]

93. It's a shame that politics....

...and campaigns stoop this low. I hated the Swift Boating, I hate the McCain POW rumors.

In elections as close as this one is likely to be, the few voters that may be swayed by such negative stories could be significant even though their numbers are small.

Having said that, I think you have to fight back. The question is, do you fight fire with fire, or do you fight fire with water?

[pipi_k]

96. My own suggestion...

How do you guys suggest we handle this?


If she called back again, I would say to her in a seductive manner...

"I was just about to call one of those sex lines, but you sound pretty hot....so, what are you wearing....?"


:evilgrin:



OK, seriously....some of the others had good suggestions...Google her name...call the publication and ask if anyone by that name works there...if not, tell them there's an impersonator running around claiming to work for them...if so, complain anyway....

[The Wizard]

97. Time for the big

red herring. Send them looking for a heroin connection named Rudolf or Mike Litoris or Richard Head.

[Spiffarino]

108. Bang!

"Hello, this is Maya from Time Magazine. Is Mike Litoris available? Have you seen Mike Litoris? Are you acquainted with Mike Litoris?" :rofl:

[Whoa_Nelly]

102. Contact the Obama camp re: Fight the Smears

Get this, and all the info you have, to them before whoever is trying to drum up a smear story gets it into print.
Maybe they can squash it.

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/fightthesmearshome/

Contact page:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/contact/

Obama headquarters phone: [phone]

[TomClash]

103. Might be SS

But probably too late for that.

Could be HS.

Probably op research by McCain people.

I would advise anyone who receives such calls to get the name, title and number of the caller. If they won't give it to you, it's probably op research or "law enforcement" shilling for the Repukes.

[dsharp88]

104. Say, "YES!", then ask for her tel # to call her back later with details, then report to...

to Time, DNC, and Obama campaign.

[rucky]

105. Could this be a push poll, 2.0?

just putting the idea out there

[JDPriestly]

120. It is't a push poll. It is targeted at people who lived in a particular building

at a particular time.

The only "high" Obama would have had time for while at Columbia was getting the "high grades" he needed to get into Harvard Law School.

You don't get into those top law schools by smoking dope in college. No way.

Not unless you are a son of a Bush.

[klyon]

109. Obama admitted to drug use in college if I am not mistaken

It was the current President that refuse to answer questions about his and his wife's drug use including a possible arrest for possession of coke in Houston while in the Texas National Guard.

[robinlynne]

110. could be both a Time reporter and a Rove trickster. But sounds more like Rove....

[robinlynne]

111. I would advise the Obama campaign.

[garybeck]

113. Caller ID. n/t

[progressivebydesign]

114. That's creepy, but it's what passes for journalism right now.

I'm on a huge list that puts out daily requests for info on behalf of reporters, journalists, and freelancers. A few queries have caught my eye, and it could be that the call you received was from a freelancer "working on a story for Time Magazine", but does not actually have a story, nor a greenlight to write it, or is someone hoping to sell it to Time, or using that ruse to gather negative info on Obama.

I saw one query the other day on the list from a writer who said they're working on a piece for a major publication (like USA Today or NYT), and they asked for opinions on whether you'd feel safe enough having him in the White House. But the salient point is not that she wanted opinions, it was that her query was negative - it was like "would you feel safe with him in the White House knowing that he has no experience" etc... slanted in the way she was going to write it. That's journalism now. They don't try to find out what happened, or what people think, they have an idea in their mind or an assigment from their editors and spend their time digging to find SUPPORTING evidence to bolster their angle. That could be very well what that writer was doing...

It's not good journalism.

[file83]

115. I have to call BS on you...

If you wrote down the name of this Time reporter, why would you not bother to find it and include it in this post that you took the time to write?

You even took the time to acknowledge this by writing:

"(I forget her name, but I wrote it down somewhere)"

That makes absolutley no sense an raises a big red flag.

Don't take this personally, but until you cough up a name, your story doesn't add up.

[nam78_two]

118. Might be worthwhile to post this "reporter's" name here

That strikes me as the most valuable piece of information available for help with debunking this.


Edit: Nevermind -I see you posted it upthread. Maybe the thing to do is look for a Time reporter of that name. Not sure what the best way is to do that.

[johnaries]

121. Ignore it. Obama already admitted he tried drugs and got himself off.

This is a dead end for them.

[CreekDog]

125. Wait a minute, she called a few minutes ago, you wrote it down and you don't know where it is

:shrug:

[Chovexani]

142. I guess you don't hang in the Lounge much.

Or you'd know that my house is an absolute wreck due to the fact that I just moved cross-country again and I'm in the middle of unpacking. I was also up for 24+ hours at the time and extremely tired.

But if it really makes you feel better to shit on this thread rather than try to be constructive, knock yourself out.

[CreekDog]

147. i do hang out in the lounge all the time, or perhaps YOU don't hang out in there or you would know

and i'm not trying to shit on your post. but it's not like you said, they called this morning and now i can't find the name. i did notice that you provided the name later in another post. you know, i've been played with so many times at DU, i do have some skepticism, i hope you can forgive me. i didn't accuse you of anything.

[noel711]

126. We got a similar kind of call months ago...

Back in the early days of the primaries, we got a call from
the New York Times asking for a certain pastor;

They asked if my husband was the same pastor who
used to be Hillary Clinton's pastor..(same name I guess)...

Of course my huband said "no."
(No, he was never the Clinton's pastor...)

The caller thanked him and hung up.

But we sat there and looked and each other..

"You should have asked 'Why?' " I told my husband.

No, not fair, said he.

But it makes you wonder...

[MadMaddie]

127. I would suggest that you and your friend and others

that were contacted to contact the Obama campaign and give them a headsup that this is happening. They can take the feet from under this and expose what the McCain campaign is doing.

[EV_Ares]

129. I agree but I think they should try to sucker them in more and get more info from them

to pass on.

[EV_Ares]

128. It could be anyone with the McCain campaign or any right wing organization but I would

try to suck them in where you could get more information so you could pass it on to the Obama campaign. Sucker them in.

[Waiting For Everyman]

131. Maybe send it to StopThe Smears?

That's really creepy, but it's their MO.

[readmoreoften]

132. How bout this: "No but I do remember a white, ex-Vietnam pilot, real messed up guy: he was a pimp,

crackhead, Klan member, part-time abortionist, who advocated babyeating--eating the cheeks of babies, to be specific. Name was John Mc'somethin'.

[2008]

134. Why is this even a story? Obama has admitted to these types of mistakes, and no one cares

Handle it? How should we handle it?

We should ignore it. Your thread accomplishes nothing more than stirring up some bullshit.

[bemildred]

137. How did she know to call you? nt

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

140. Let's see:

NYC, rent rolls, drug implications, possible ratfuck op...

I smell Roger Stone.

[Chovexani]

143. For the minority of people who seem to want to troll this thread

Please get off it if you have nothing constructive to add. I just moved cross-country and have a lot of things going on in my life right now. Believe me when I say that I have far, far more important things to do with my time than try to bullshit people on a part of the site I avoid like the plague to begin with. I'm a grown ass woman and stirring up internet drama was something I got over when I was fourteen years old on AOL. I'm sad that others haven't appeared to have grown out of it.

I'm not asking you to believe that this really happened. I don't give a fuck, frankly. But if you have nothing helpful to add, please don't come in here picking fights. Hide thread, put me on ignore, whatever, and move on, kemosabe.

[a la izquierda]

145. There you go, girl. Tell 'em all to piss off.

There seems to be an awful lot of fucktards around these parts lately.
I'd be flipping out if I'd gotten a call like that. Honestly, I don't like people tracking me down, I don't care what the reason.

[Ellipsis]

148. .

:thumbsup:

[defendandprotect]

144. If they don't find someone . . .

they'll find someone anyway . . . . !!

[zeemike]

146. You are right

If they want to do it badly enough they can always by a story.
There are a lot of people that work cheep, and a million is too tempting.

[peacetalksforall]

150. Where do they get the data about who was in the building ? - from the Poindexter database.

(That's my name for it. No one can mistake it. But, we're supposed to believe it's to catch criminals.)

2. The Swift Sniff Boys and Maya are after Obama. They may have some ardent Republican who lived in the building willing to say Obama did 'something' with drugs and they need their second or third witness corroborations.

3. If he had gone to school in the 70's, the question would/should not even be asked. If he had gone to school in the 80's, it would have been the boys at the other end of the island doing most of the cocaine - Wall Street.

4. If they are using THEIR Poindexter database for people tracing politics, we need to know. We should also know what the Democrats use, but the Dems don't seem to construct high pile-ups of lies and write books based on those lies.

Let's all watch for Maya.

The sad truth is the Poindexter database is a product of the Patriot Act vote and some Dems fell for it knowing that the people in power misuse everything.

[cayuga]

151. Interesting coincidence?

Obama's half sister's name is Maya.