On 18 January 2008, a Mr. Larry Sinclair of Duluth, Minnesota posted to YouTube a video statement entitled “OBAMA’S LIMO SEX & DRUG PARTY” in which he made sensational allegations against Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama and challenged him to a polygraph showdown. Mr. Sinclair has to date presented no evidence to corroborate his claims. The video is linked below and followed by a full transcript:
Hi. My name is Larry Sinclair. I’m making this video and posting it on YouTube because of an incident involving myself and Senator Barack Obama between November 3rd and November 8th of 1999 in the Chicago, Illinois area. The mainstream media and Obama himself has done greatly [sic] to prevent this story from becoming public.
During those time periods in 1999, I met Obama at an upscale lounge in Chicago, Illinois. After having a few drinks, Obama and I left in my limo, began to drink. Mr. Obama acquired powdered cocaine for my use, crack cocaine for his use. I performed oral sex on Senator Obama who at the time was a state representative for the state of Illinois.
Mr. Obama knows these allegations to be true. I’m challenging Mr. Obama to come forth, be honest, stop claiming that his drug use is limited to his teenage years. In 1999, you weren’t a teenager. In 1999, you were a state representative for the people of the state of Illinois. In 1999, I performed oral sex on you in the back of my limo, as well as in my hotel room in Gurnee, Illinois, two days later.
If you challenge this — the authenticity of this allegation — I challenge you to take a polygraph test, as I will submit to as well. These allegations are true and need to be told to the public. Let the public decide whether Mr. Obama is being forthright and honest. Thank you.
Mr. Sinclair soon became the darling of a number of right-of-center political blogs, and he has been interviewed by conspiracy theorist Jeff Rense (download MP3) and New York shortwave talk radio show “The Right Perspective” (download MP3).
On 11 February, Mr. Sinclair filed, pro se, a federal lawsuit against Barack Obama, his campaign manager, and the Democratic National Committee in which he repeated his allegations but again offered nothing to substantiate them.
Then on 15 February, sometime Internet pornographer Dan Parisi, who runs the website WhiteHouse.com, made his own polygraph challenge to Mr. Sinclair, offering him $10,000 to submit to a lie detector test and an additional $90,000 if he passes. Two days later, Parisi reported that Sinclair had accepted his challenge, and on Monday, 18 February, Parisi announced that the “test” will be administered by a “renowned” but as-yet-unnamed polygraph examiner on Tuesday, 26 February 2008. Parisi promises, “Since the outcome of the test will be vital interest [sic] to the voting public, our findings will be made available before the presidential primaries in Texas and Ohio slated for March 4.”
Actually, the results of Mr. Sinclair’s polygraph examination will shed no light on the question of whether he has spoken the truth, and the voting public should attach no weight to the results. Polygraph “testing” has no scientific basis: it’s fundamentally dependent on trickery, inherently biased against the truthful, and yet easily passed by liars using simple countermeasures that polygraphers have no demonstrated ability to detect. See AntiPolygraph.org’s e-book, The Lie Behind the Lie Detector (1 mb PDF) for a thorough debunking of polygraphy and details on how anyone can fool the lie detector.
While polygraph challenges may make for titillating political theater and publicity stunts, they are a poor substitute for investigation, fact-checking, and honest reporting.
What a bunch of garbage. I am all over the internet reading and had never even heard this before. Why even give this garbage any time at all. You are only pushing this crap forward and on a progressive blog no less. Why not leave this to the repugs. Please do not rec this garbage.
Aparently this has been all over the freeper sites, I saw it mentioned the other day on this site when bits were quoted from that site, so this is going on and we should be aware, imo, because sooner or later it’s going to erupt to the surface.
I agree it’s unfortunate, nasty and scurrilous, but no doubt the Reps. will be looking for anything to bring down Obama.
Indeed, I think it is important to be aware of this development — however distasteful it may be. If Larry Sinclair passes his polygraph “test” the result will no doubt be trumpeted by Obama’s detractors in an effort to hurt him politically. It’s important to understand that polygraph “testing” has no scientific basis and that the results will be evidence of nothing.
Oh I just clicked on this guys name above and what is that on his info site, a bunch of code?
It’s a PGP public key that may be used to send e-mail securely.
First, let me clarify that I do not give any credence to Larry Sinclair’s allegations. As I noted in the article, he has offered no evidence to support his assertions. But considering that his YouTube video has been viewed nearly half a million times and that his story is being shopped around the blogosphere, I thought it worthwhile to point out here and now that this polygraph publicity stunt can prove nothing regarding the merits of Mr. Sinclair’s claims.
It is garbage, but we need to be aware. I had seen hints of these allegations, but really knew nothing. This is why I recommended this diary; there will be a lot more of this as Obama solidifies his position. Unconfortable as it is, we need to be prepared.