Johnny Damon can’t pay his bills because he had his money invested with “Sir” Allen Stanford.
Asked at today’s press briefing whether Sen. Roland Burris should resign, Robert Gibbs all but gave him the old heave-ho:
(See more at CNN.com)
If you’ve been out of pocket since yesterday and missed CNBC’s Rick Santelli going off on the Obama foreclosure relief plan (a Google search for “Rick Santelli” offers “Rick Santelli rant” as an alternative search term), here’s a snippet of his rant and Robert Gibbs’ response today at the White House press briefing:
Sen. Cornyn decides to cough up 1/5 of Sir Allen Stanford’s contributions.
We’re learning that one of the ways Sir Allen Stanford plied U.S. lawmakers was through a little-known non-profit group called the Inter-American Economic Council. At one point, the group was focused on easing the restrictions that the Patriot Act imposed on offshore banks like Stanford’s. Zack Roth has the background on Stanford’s relationship with the group — and pictures of Stanford attending an IAEC event with lawmakers in Washington.
Late Update: I’m not sure “little-known” is the best description of this group. Last year’s keynote speaker at IAEC’s annual awards gala, which is held at the headquarters of the Organization of American States in Washington, was Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY). In 2006, when Sir Allen was given the group’s top award, President George Bush and First Lady Laura Bush were the honorary co-chairs of the event. Tickets for this year’s black-tie affair, set for next Friday, are $500 apiece, and sponsorships of the event go for as much as $250,000.
A little nugget from an article in yesterday’s New York Daily News pointed out by TPM Reader DS. Turns out my main man Sean Hannity was a big pal of Sir Allen Stanford too …
A big booster of Stanford has been Fox News host Sean Hannity who intones on his radio show, “Stanford Coins & Bullion, a member of the Stanford Financial Group – their name as good as gold.”