"That's not the Aunt Zeituni I knew..."

This one does not pass the smell test:

Barack Obama did not know a relative was living in the United States illegally for the past nearly four years prior to today's Associated Press report, "but obviously believes that any and all appropriate laws be followed," the campaign said Saturday in a statement.

The Democratic nominee last heard from Zeituni Onyango, who attended his swearing-in ceremony to the U.S. Senate in 2005 and is a half-sister of Obama's late father, two years ago, when she called to say she was in Boston, the campaign said. Campaign officials said they did not assist her in getting a tourist visa and had not known that she was living in America.

Do they expect us to believe that?

To paraphrase what Obama said about the Reverend Jeremiah Wright and Tony Rezko--after each man embarrassed him, "That's not the Aunt Zeituni I knew..."

David Axelrod, the de facto head of the Obama campaign is whispering "consiracy," questioning the timing of the release of the story of Obama's aunt.

It was the Times of London that first broke the news that Obama's aunt was living in impoverished conditions in South Boston. Associated Press revealed that Onyango was living in the country illegally.

If opposition researchers discovered Onyango residing in Southie, wouldn't they have gift wrapped the story for one source?

It appears to me that AP did some good reporting that fed off of the Times discovery.

Political campaigns are forbidden from accepting contributions from foreigners, but the Obama campaign accepted $265 from Onyango.

That raises another issue--other illegal contributions coming from abroad.

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