Well . . . as the field narrows the beginning of the attacks can be seen on the Horizon. We KNOW this to be true so it would be a mistake to open yourself even further to more issues than necessary. Obama was the ONE who wouldn't take special interest money.
Referring to Mr. Edwards, Mr. Obama said in December in the heat of the Iowa campaign, "John said yesterday he didn't believe in these 527s." Then he added, "You can't say yesterday you don't believe in it, and today three-quarters of a million dollars is being spent for you."
Vote Hope and PowerPac.org are planning to spend $4 million promoting him in California and conducting voter registration drives aimed at blacks in 11 Southern states.
The problem, of course, is you can't control others. They can spend on your behalf so it's naive to criticize one guy and have the same thing you criticized him for happen to you the day he drops from the race! The OTHER problem is . . . you CAN control these PACs, though it's illegal, and it takes nothing more than a phone call or a suggestion . . . something Rove managed to pull off seamlessly.
PowerPac.org was founded by Mr. Phillips, the son of a Billionaire banker. ...And is a drive to register black voters racist? Wouldn't America hope for a drive to register and empower people of all colors instead?
Interesting.
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Comments: 53
And arent rich people allowed to voice their opinions and choose their candidates too?
He has raised more money from more individuals than I ever thought possible. And, if the percentage of special interest money is 10% or something along those lines, compared to a Clinton percentage (one who loves lobbyists), maybe those 10% don't really create such a big splash.
And forget the rich v poor argument. There are limits set in place so that neither rich NOR poor have disproportionate access . . . which you can get around using the 527s . . . and which is WHY Obama criticized Edwards. Yes, rich people can voice their opinions . . . or they can buy their candidates. True enough.
Regards,
Doyle I <~~~~~
Really? So without knowing the details on either you know Clinton 'loves' lobbyists? Maybe we SHOULD look into that!
Regards,
Doyle I <~~~~~
But what does it say about race when the goal is the registration of BLACK voters in 11 SOUTHERN states? I thought race wasn't an issue.
Regards,
Doyle I <~~~~~
It is only a reality due to a lack of ethics in our elected officials.
It is up to us, as a voting populace to vote in ethical people.
Education, once again, is the key. Too many people depend on our convoluted and rigged media to bring information to them, rather then researching voting records. Research Obama and you will find the same thing the media has found. He's ethical. Try as they might, they haven't ben able to slam him over anything except his lack of experience.
Because I have actually heard both Obama and Edwards speak AGAINST them. Clinton is the one that hasn't. (That I'm aware of.)
Another reality is that Obama condemned Edwards for that . . .
Regards,
Doyle I <~~~~~
Is it MORE ethical to speak out against them BEFORE you get the money like he did?
Regards,
Doyle I <~~~~~
LORI - Bold steps for bold people and you're special (not inna short bus kinda' way either)!
Regards,
Doyle I <~~~~~
Is it naive . . . people seem to think he's inexperienced . . . so maybe he can condemn others but do it himself. The bottom line is whether it's naive or shrewd . . . it's a flaw in thinking or a lapse in judgement . . . or unethical.
Regards,
Doyle I <~~~~~
I prefer someone that takes less or speaks against the "necessary evil" over someone that has no problems with it or even relies on it more than the hundreds of thousands of individual average people that donate.
I'm not saying this killed his campaign by a long shot . . . and still think he'd make a fine President . . . but I don't turn blind eyes to what I see.
Regards,
Doyle I <~~~~~
I don't think so. Obama himself (as you point out) railed against it. And you yourself admit you don't know the statistics and are making assumptions about the amount being donated. Still, that wasn't MY point. MY point was that it showed either inexperience or a lapse in judgement to criticize someone for doing less than you yourself do . . . I DO know Edwards' number was $750,000 not $4,000,000 like Obama's number . . . and that's quite a difference.
Regards,
Doyle I <~~~~~
Regards,
Doyle I <~~~~~
Problem is that this type of camaign reform has been badmouthed and propagandized by the powers that be who profit from all these dollars into some kind of socialist movement meant to take the power away from the people - and the little people actually BUY INTO IT. Just like all those people who screamed and shouted about a "death tax" in support of Bush's reforms - all the NASCAR bubbas who would never even come close to having the estate tax affect them in any way were hoodwinked through language and, well, lying to believe that it did. In the end, it was the fat cat friends of GW who benefitted.
Americans are very, very stupid on the whole. They personlify the saying "bite off one's nose to spite one's face".
There Lainie I yelled at Sheryl:)
I just returned from a lunch where our state's Atty General spoke. He related the status of a number of items he was working on, usually in coalition with other states, like product safety, health issues, business regulation (especially nailing the bastards responsible for the sub-prime mortgage mess) and investor protections. He said that he gets slammed all the time for doing what other people say is the Federal government's job. The problem is, he pointed out, that the Federal government is DOING NOTHING.....NOTHING AT ALL. Since Bush has been in office, no one feels they have to do anything, and no one feels its their responsibility. Just like Katrina.
These fools must go.....and the fools that still support them, too. THOSE are the stupidest of all Americans.
Or maybe she named the kid America... I don't remember now.
I'm not sure that Freedom goes so well with P.
(BTW - for some reason, yours and Lainie's icons have disappeared for me - you are now only little white boxes with red crosses in them. I miss Lainie's sepia tones!)
Yours truly (not Doyle) was featured on the home page under politics today.....
: )
Juan. I don't think it is inevitable that anyone seeking the office of president roll over to the big bucks.
And your Attorney General is right . . . Those guys are (in the words of John Kerry) "The biggest bunch of crooks I ever met." Remember he said that in the race and his mike was on? Guess what . . . he was right.
Regards,
Doyle I <~~~~~
Regards,
Doyle I <~~~~~
There's a very funny/sad scene in a Family Guy where they are at a rich yacht club in Newport, RI and at the start of a sailing race, the announcer asks everyone to pray for their sons and daughters fighting in the war......after which there is an uncomfortable silence where all the rich folks look around at each other confused.....until the announcer laughs and says, "Oh, I forgot! None of YOUR sons or daughters are fighting in the wars." At which point everyone laughs. Good one, right?
When will these stupid people wake up to the fact that they are being basically used, abused and shit on by these neocons???? What will it take??? Obviously not even the loss of their own children to line the pockets of these evil people.
The dumb will soon be convinced as I have been told more than once "They're the Government and they have more information than we do; we have to trust them". Pathetic . . . but an organized assault on education and what could the goal of such an onslaught be? Control . . . sure, but to what ends? Scary thoughts.
Regards,
Doyle I <~~~~~
Sorry - this is an especially bleak day for me, after hearing about how even groups of the most powerful lawyers in a group of states are still having a difficult time making this administration adhere to the law in their own practices, never mind expecting them to enforce it when it comes to others.
Then, seeing people on Gather like ModernDay and Rob Port and others who obviously have half a brain, but continue to support this bunch of criminals, wholeheartedly swallowing & spewing back all the shit they dish out to them. How can people BE so stupid? How can they BE so gullible? How can they BE so blind, so lacking in compassion, empathy and a single original thought from their own brains?
It is beyond me. I truly believe that we are quickly going to hell in a handbasket. These people are so intent on preserving what they are told is "our country" by doing exactly opposite of what is would actually take to preserve our REAL country.
I fear you may be right. A middle class has time to think instead of a daily struggle just to live. To ask questions . . . to have ideas . . . to see inequity and injustice . . . and so a PNAC shift to one world order . . . tiered by a Caste system harsh enough that any threats to it can be easily bought off . . . almost Orwellian in the sinister implications . . . isn't it?
The yahoos you mention just like to argue . . . without an original thought . . . they liken life to sports and have picked a team. An impeachment means revelry . . . where it should have meant some concern for the Nation . . . I know more of these types than I should. Unreal . . . they can make money in business but other than figuring out how to screw the middle man, the supplier and the customer . . . they don't know squat.
Regards,
Doyle I <~~~~~
Since everyone and their mother (including my daughter and me) are conducting registration drives, I think this is difficult to answer. I target friends and neighbors that I hear complain. My daughter targets young people. Another group targets people near or like them.
I don't think it is your intention to insult anyone, but read an insult into the insinuation (the widespread one, not yours personally) that every black person who registers will vote for Obama. I think we empower all people when we get anyone to vote. The more involved 'we the people' are, the better off we all will be.
" Anyone in Washington or anyone vying for a spot in the Big House will eventually have to take monies from special interest groups such as big oil and the pharmaceutical corporations. This is just reality in today's political areana."
Another reality is that Obama condemned Edwards for that . . .
Regards,
Doyle I <~~~~~
Doyle, did Obama condemn Edwards for taking the money, or for criticizing others when he had done the same?
I am thinking through another article on books, both fiction and non-fiction, and why it is so important to never ban them and to read as large a variety as possible. Actually, one of your comments this past week inspired me - when you responded to my allusion to Jane Austen's leading men. You basically said that that's why they call it fiction. Remember? Well, it led me down a train of thought, along with some other writings, that convinces me that, in many ways, those great fictional literary works are even more important to society than non-fiction. It's germinating.
Regards,
Doyle I <~~~~~
However, now that the labor unions are all but crushed beneath the heel of "corporate-friendly" policy makers (beginning more or less with Reagan and continuing up through Bushes Sr. and Jr.) who have now tipped the scales totally in the opposite direction... In my opinion, they have outlived their usefullness to the system and the time has come to get rid of them.
You've heard of bundlers? People who collect maximum donations from maximum people and deliver to one candidate $300,000 instead of $2,500. True . . . it comes from a wide variety of people but don't even TRY to tell me that a man handing over $300,000 will not get access. ...And gues who has the most 'Bundlers' in this campaign? McCain and Clinton. Go figure, huh?
Regards,
Doyle I <~~~~~
Regards,
Doyle I <~~~~~