31. Sorba is right, as much as anyone wants to deny it.

Chris Finch at 8:41PM on Sep 8th 2008

32. Hussein Obama brags he does not have lobbyists on his campaign. Well, I guess Axelrod does not count in Obama's eyes even though he is a lobbyist. Guess also Biden son, the lobbyist, is not really working for Obama.

But then again, who made lobbyists evil?

Here is some information on PAC's and Lobbyists

Just how big a factor are PACs and lobbyists in Presidential election fundraising?
Not much. Read on.

According to OpenSecrets.org, just 1% of John McCain's contributions -- a whopping $960,990 -- came from PACs. Over $88 million came from individuals.

Individual contributions $88,221,824= 91%
PAC contributions $960,990= 1%

And lobbyists?= $655,576.

$250 Million -Barack is opting out of public financing because John McCain has raised $1.6 million -- less than 2% of his campaign -- from lobbyists and PACs. After Obama's very big promise he would only use Public Financing, then broke that prosmise. Some more of the change we can expect from Obama?


Obama used the same Big Lie against Hillary, though she raised $1.25 million from PACs, or about 0.6% of her fundraising. Lobbyists were not in her top 20 industries, according to Open Secrets.

Now, I know that lobbyists are supposed to be the source of all our problems. But lobbyists are ultimately hired guns -- hired and paid for by big corporations. So, is Obama turning down money from executives at big corporations and other special interests? Not hardly.

These are the top employers of Obama contributors:
This is bundling, where individuals from a company bundle money to skate the law.

Goldman Sachs $571,330
University of California $437,236
UBS AG $364,806
JPMorgan Chase & Co $362,207
Citigroup Inc $358,054
National Amusements Inc $320,750
Lehman Brothers $318,647
Google Inc $309,514
Harvard University $309,025
Sidley Austin LLP $294,245
Skadden, Arps et al $270,013
Time Warner $262,677
Morgan Stanley $259,876
Jones Day $250,725
Exelon Corp $236,211
University of Chicago $218,857
Wilmerhale LLP $218,680
Latham & Watkins $218,615
Microsoft Corp $209,242
Stanford University $195,262

Roughly 90% of funding for Presidential campaigns comes from individuals, and just 1% comes from PACs. Lobbyists and PACs are convenient scapegoats, but just the tip of the iceberg compared to the millions Obama has received from corporate executives who hire lobbyists to represent them before Congress and the executive branch.

If this is really about small donors, "true public financing" and fighting corporate interests, Obama should have no problem limiting the maximum an individual can give to his campaign to $100 and turning down contributions from employees of Fortune 500 companies in the general election.

Obama's big snow job.

But lest we not forget Hussein Obama saying
"I don’t take money from oil companies"
But that was a lie. As per Fact Check
We find the statement misleading:

Obama has accepted more than $213,000 from individuals who work for companies in the oil and gas industry and their spouses.

Two of Obama's bundlers are top executives at oil companies and are listed on his Web site as raising between $50,000 and $100,000 for the presidential hopeful.

More bundling, more snow jobs.

Robert OKane at 8:44PM on Sep 8th 2008

33. Bobby, if your "Captain" reference in post #29 refers to me, you're a fucking asshole.

When I want to call you a fucking asshole, the post will be signed, "Captain Negative."

I just have more important things to do, for awhile,than waste time on a bunch of stupid, republican BULLSHIT.

And, Bobby, all I read from you these days is smarmy, condescending, BULLSHIT. You really are full of yourself.

You republicans ought to be ashamed of yourselves. This country is being run by corporations and stupid evangelicals. Your republican leaders just make shit up.


Bobby, the primary symptom of your incompetence is your failure to recognize your incompetence.

If your "Captain" reference was not directed to me, have a nice day.

Captain Negative at 8:52PM on Sep 8th 2008

34. Robert Bigot,

You are the absolutely biggest misleader and bullshitter I've ever seen in my life. Your hatred gets in the way of thought. Unbelievable.

I'll see your points and raise you. Let's see you come back and acknowledge what you are. That will be a big step in your life.

"Hussein Obama brags he does not have lobbyists on his campaign. Well, I guess Axelrod does not count in Obama's eyes even though he is a lobbyist. Guess also Biden son, the lobbyist, is not really working for Obama."

McCain has 169 Lobbyists in his campaign. Obama has zero, zilch, nada. Deal with it Robert.

"$250 Million -Barack is opting out of public financing because John McCain has raised $1.6 million -- less than 2% of his campaign -- from lobbyists and PACs. After Obama's very big promise he would only use Public Financing, then broke that prosmise. Some more of the change we can expect from Obama?"

Did Obama flip flop on this? Absolutely, and I for one couldn't have been more happier. He decided that the American people decide, not the special interests. It was a flip flop that would be seen in some circles as not popular mainly from old school politicians.

Lobbyists work for corporations and bring them to politicians to vote for things in their favor. Not all are bad I would argue, but most are. A politician no longer votes on what they really want.

"These are the top employers of Obama contributors:
This is bundling, where individuals from a company bundle money to skate the law."

People work for employers Robert. Are you saying that people that work for influential companies cannot donate to a Presidential Candidate? Are you kidding me? So Barack getting $100 from a worker who works with JP Morgan Chase is going to influence Obama? What? Does he even know where each individual who donates 5,10, and $20 works? Does he even care?

"If this is really about small donors, "true public financing" and fighting corporate interests, Obama should have no problem limiting the maximum an individual can give to his campaign to $100 and turning down contributions from employees of Fortune 500 companies in the general election."

Are you joking? Him opting out of Public Financing IS about not getting donations from special interests. Don't you get it? You should be touting this, and explaining how this brings forth transparency and integrity. Instead you're trying to spin this into something it isn't because he has a Muslim name.

"Obama has accepted more than $213,000 from individuals who work for companies in the oil and gas industry and their spouses. "

Are you saying that individuals that work at Oil Companies can't donate to a President? These people aren't rich Robert. Their every day working individuals. Do you know how many people work in the Oil Industry throughout the United States?

You're a joke.

Botts at 9:59PM on Sep 8th 2008

35. Palin's a bright, confident woman who I feel in time will be up & running. She's gotta cram like never before to pass her entrance exam.

I'm confident she has the ability to 'execute' once given the chance & work into a much larger system than she's used to.

She's got the mettle, wit & the power to "hammer down" when needed, knowledge is basically 'introduction' & the girl to me is a very fast learner....




Bobby
xxx
If one cuts through the BS, your comments read...this chick is ignorant, doesn't know much, but hey I think she's a fast learner soooo..... Hmmmm, If that's the case, why don't we skip the learning curve part, the wide eyed fundy part, the flat earth part, and find a conservative woman who already knows whats going on in DC and around the globe,is up to speed on science and technology and other presidential thingys like the economy, and just skip the cheerleader with the acid mouth? Oh thats right, acid mouthed ex-beauty queens who can read a telepromptor and deliver a line with a gleam in their eye, who believe that war is from god, who love guns, and who hate globally accepted scientific priniples, play well in the red states. "She's just like us they cry" and so the republican base is energized.
BTW who sez knowledge is basically introduction?

Tim at 10:18PM on Sep 8th 2008

36. Que Sarah Sarah - whatever McCain McCain----Greg------http://us.imdb.com/name/nm2734923/

GregbeingFrank at 11:18PM on Sep 8th 2008

37. Reverend Botts

As a man of the cloth, I am surprised that you jerk around with the truth. You know quite well that bundlers pack together money, just as I had shown, and Obama has also had on his web site. The 2 oil executives who bundled money and Obama's web site acknowledged it.

Also Reverend Botts, you are well aware that Axelrod and Biden's son are lobbyists, or do you deny that also. Want the full background on that.

Reverend Botts-do you disagree with source that McCain contributions from lobbyists came to only $655,576. And your pissing up a tree over that Reverend?

Reverend Botts, you imply McCain has been influenced in some evil way by some evil lobbyist, but supply nada, none, not one single piece of bull shit. No names, no amounts of money, just "McCain has 169 Lobbyists in his campaign"
or
"So Barack getting $100 from a worker who works with JP Morgan Chase is going to influence Obama? "
But air head, you sort of missed JP Morgan total contribution from JP Morgan is $362,207, and not $100. If JP Morgan had no interest on influencing Hussein Obama, they would have sent in 3600+ $100 donations. But I know you know that cuz I know you are not that stupid. You just want to pull on peoples chain.

So Obama is accepting money from Fortune 500 companies that has been bundled, the same as accepting money from a lobbyist who is paid for by the same Fortune 500 Companies. Same, Same-you know it and to deny it is a Big Lie.

Robert OKane at 11:22PM on Sep 8th 2008

38. palin isnt lying, she's speaking in tongues.
and por favor bobby,
je ne suis pas capt. negative.
hey you wanna know what the funniest part of that framed newspaper from india in florida is........when people informed the owner that jindal didnt win that 2004 election, the owner was stunned because the newspaper explicitly stated that foster had promised jindl the election.
hahahahahah.......oh well, jindal got that governorship later.
hey eisenhower's granddaughter is on tv...
she's left the republican party and is endorsing obama.
ohhhh dear.......mccain wasnt for the surge either.
mcpalin: they aint lying, just speaking in tongues.

Louis KingofFrance at 11:54PM on Sep 8th 2008

39. Reverend Botts

Interesting article of monies given to Obama and the Firms and Lobbyists involved in giving the money. Please note, the last paragraph, states there are 3 salaried lobbyists on the Obama campaign staff. Reverend Botts, I would also like to point out that you show no sources to back up your empty words.

Obama's Money Cartel by PAM MARTENS

In February, on a chart at the Center for Responsive Politics website, there was a list of the 20 top contributors to the Barack Obama campaign, and it looked like one of those comprehension tests where you match up things that go together and eliminate those that don’t. Of the 20 top contributors, I eliminated six that didn’t compute. I was now looking at a sight only slightly less frightening to democracy than a Diebold voting machine. It was a Wall Street cartel of financial firms, their registered lobbyists, and go-to law firms that have a death grip on our federal government.

Why is the “yes, we can” candidate in bed with this cartel? How can “we”, the people, make change if Obama’s money backers block our ability to be heard?

Seven of the Obama campaign’s top 14 donors consisted of officers and employees of the same Wall Street firms charged time and again with looting the public and newly implicated in originating and/or bundling fraudulently made mortgages. These latest frauds have left thousands of children in some of our largest minority communities coming home from school to see eviction notices and foreclosure signs nailed to their front doors. Those scars will last a lifetime.

These seven Wall Street firms are (in order of money given): Goldman Sachs, UBS AG, Lehman Brothers, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse. There is also a large hedge fund, Citadel Investment Group, which is a major source of fee income to Wall Street. There are five large corporate law firms that are also registered lobbyists; and one is a corporate law firm that is no longer a registered lobbyist but does legal work for Wall Street. The cumulative total of these 14 contributors through February 1, 2008, was $2,872,128, and we’re still in the primary season.

But hasn’t Senator Obama repeatedly told us in ads and speeches and debates that he wasn’t taking money from registered lobbyists? Hasn’t the press given him a free pass on this statement?
Barack Obama, speaking in Greenville, South Carolina on January 22, 2008:

“Washington lobbyists haven’t funded my campaign, they won’t run my White House, and they will not drown out the voices of working Americans when I am president”.

Barack Obama, in an email to supporters on June 25, 2007, as reported by the Boston Globe:

“Candidates typically spend a week like this – right before the critical June 30th financial reporting deadline – on the phone, day and night, begging Washington lobbyists and special interest PACs to write huge checks. Not me. Our campaign has rejected the money-for-influence game and refused to accept funds from registered federal lobbyists and political action committees”.

The Center for Responsive Politics website allows one to pull up the filings made by lobbyists, registering under the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 with the clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives and secretary of the U.S. Senate. These top five contributors to the Obama campaign have filed as registered lobbyists: Sidley Austin LLP; Skadden, Arps, et al; Jenner & Block; Kirkland & Ellis; Wilmerhale, aka Wilmer Cutler Pickering.

Is it possible that Senator Obama does not know that corporate law firms are also frequently registered lobbyists? Or is he making a distinction that because these funds are coming from the employees of these firms, he’s not really taking money directly from registered lobbyists? That thesis seems disingenuous when many of these individual donors own these law firms as equity partners or shareholders and share in the profits generated from lobbying.

Far from keeping his distance from lobbyists, Senator Obama and his campaign seems to be brainstorming with them.

The political publication, The Hill, reported on December 20, 2007, that three salaried aides on the Obama campaign were registered lobbyists for dozens of corporations. (The Obama campaign said they had stopped lobbying since joining the campaign.) Bob Bauer, counsel to the Obama campaign, is an attorney with Perkins Coie. That law firm is also a registered lobbyist.

Robert OKane at 12:01AM on Sep 9th 2008

40. when you look it up, it turns out to be employees of those companies just as thousands of other employees of other companies have donated,
but the right wing commie blogs are all in a hissy fit......
....probably because they're all bottoms.

Louis KingofFrance at 12:48AM on Sep 9th 2008

41. Louis KingofFrance said in Post 38

ohhhh dear.....mccain wasn't for the surge either
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Washington Times story 9/08

Mr. McCain sent a private letter to Mr. Bush on Dec. 12, 2006, that challenged the president to show the "will" to win the Iraq war by deploying 20,000 troops into Baghdad and the Sunni Triangle to beat back a growing insurgency.

The letter was the climax of a 3 1/2-year effort to persuade the president to send more troops to Iraq. The former Navy pilot, who had his arms repeatedly broken during nearly six years of captivity, couched his argument in the terms born of the Vietnam War.

Mr. McCain, whose letter is made public here for the first time, added that "surging five additional brigades into Baghdad by March" was the answer.

Mr. Bush, who had resisted Mr. McCain's call for a troop surge for years, now praises him for persisting in his argument that expanding the war in Iraq was the way to win it.

"John recognized early on that more troops would be needed in order to achieve the security necessary for the Iraqis to make the political progress we're seeing now," the president told The Washington Times this week.

"He supported that action even though many said it would hurt his campaign [for president]. He didn't care about popularity; he cared about success for our troops and our country. And now that the surge has worked, it proves that John's judgment was correct."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Louis-guess you never got your head back after the French Revolution

Robert OKane at 1:48AM on Sep 9th 2008

42. This guy reminds me of hockey players from the Boston area I went to college with. Couldn't handle the wanderings of their own minds in the locker room. Somebody should tell him trying doesn't make you gay, a preference for it does.

Tim P at 3:30PM on Sep 11th 2008

43. It is no one's business what I do in my bedroom. The Republicans have always wanted to control people. This is another example of them trying to take more freedoms away from the American people.

Chuck at 7:24AM on Sep 9th 2008

44. "It is no one's business what I do in my bedroom. The Republicans have always wanted to control people. This is another example of them trying to take more freedoms away from the American people."

*******************

Actually, Chuck, this is a nut job.

When you've got nosebleed press credentials like Cenk, this is what rolls by. He took what he could get.

Next: Cenk interviews a guy with a broom!

bob at 8:04AM on Sep 9th 2008

45. Why do people ask for someone else's opinion and then not let them speak? There is no doubt that the guy doing the interview is Gay. Why would he stick up for queers so much if he wasn't?

Hod at 8:05AM on Sep 9th 2008