Conservative Blogs Duped In Panetta Controversy
By Cliff Kincaid
January 20, 2009
In a frantic search for the obscure and hidden left-wing connections of members of the new Obama Administration, some leading conservative blogs and websites have made an embarrassing error by claiming without evidence that Leon Panetta, the former Clinton chief of staff and incoming CIA director, has a radical daughter named Linda who associates with Hugo Chavez and other Latin American revolutionaries.
One conservative site identified Linda Panetta as "an avowed Marxist, anti-American, anti-military leftist" and said that Leon Panetta would have to explain his daughter's activities.
But reached by telephone in Philadelphia, Linda Panetta told Accuracy in Media that while she admires Leon Panetta and that there may be a distant family connection somewhere, he is not her father and that she has never even met him. "Not only am I not his daughter but unfortunately I have not had the pleasure of meeting this man who has done amazing work in his lifetime," she said. "He and my father may have been second cousins," she acknowledged, but under no circumstances is he her father.
Despite charges or information to the contrary, she has never claimed to be his daughter. She explained, "God rest my Dad's soul. He was an incredible individual as well. I would never in my lifetime claim to be anybody's daughter but my father's."
Official biographies (web site) of Panetta say that he has three sons but no daughter.
The real scandal involving Panetta is that he claims to be a practicing Roman Catholic but openly dissents from Church teaching on the inalienable right to life from conception to natural death. He is one of several faux Catholics of this nature (web site) chosen by Obama for his administration.
Linda Panetta is not Leon Panetta's daughter but is a photojournalist whose work appears on the optical realities website. (web site) She covers conflicts in Latin America, the Middle East, and other areas. She is also involved with the leftist group known as the School of the Americas Watch. (web site)
Assuming she was Leon Panetta's daughter, one conservative blog (web site) declared, "If the adult daughter of a CIA Director-designate hangs out with sworn enemies of the United States, it's a matter for the United States Senate to probe aggressively. And so the Senate really has to ask some very pointed questions about Linda Panetta, daughter of President-Elect Obama's pick to lead the CIA, and her ties to Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega and Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez." A photo was posted of Linda Panetta in the arms of Chavez and in the company of Ortega.
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