Kerry: Donors to president bought influence

[Rose Siding]

KETCHUM, Idaho - Sen. John Kerry plans this week to present his case that President Bush is stacking the federal government with friends and donors who are gutting regulations on U.S. corporations.

Kerry, running mate John Edwards and supporters are stressing a theme that they’ve been campaigning on all year — Bush puts corporate interests ahead of workers and the middle class.

Bush campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt said Kerry has no standing to criticize, considering that the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics determined he has received more campaign contributions from lobbyists over the years than any other senator. Schmidt also pointed out that Edwards, a North Carolina senator, refused to release the names of his top fund-raisers.

“There is a great deal of hypocrisy in these attacks,” Schmidt said.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5724959/

The campaign's release, pre-desperate reactions, is here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=754767&mesg_id=754767&page=

[KittyWampus]

1. The Hypocracy Is The N.J. GOP Whining About McGreevey

[IndianaGreen]

2. Well duh!

All donors to presidents gain influence, no matter what party the president belongs to. Bush is the most extreme manifestation of this. Let's not indulge in phony outrage in here. Should we mention the money behind the Clinton pardons? How about the corporate representatives at the Democratic Convention, the very same ones that will be at the GOP Convention?

[Rose Siding]

5. These donors were given policy control...

that is contrary to the public interest:

-The logging and timber industry gave more than $1.5 million to Bush and got the right to log without the usual environmental reviews.
-The coal industry gave $300,000 to Bush and got less protection against black lung disease for workers.
-The chemical industry gave more than $1 million to Bush and got reduced regulations on chemicals exposed to workers.
-The auto industry gave more than $300,000 to Bush and got eased rules on reporting potential defects and a rule allowing truckers to drive 11 hours a day.
-The restaurant industry gave more than $1.2 million and got killed a regulation intended to prevent their workers from exposure to smoke.

[jpgray]

6. You can't equate Clinton and Bush on this one

Nearly every senior member of the administration was a lobbyist or board member for energy, auto, or defense corporations. Nearly every head of the regulatory bodies Bush has appointed is affiliated with the very industries that need to be regulated. I just don't think you can say the two are the same here.

[Rose Siding]

7. In 99 a dem donor, Nemazee, even withdrew his name

from an admin job because of fund-raising questions. Wasn't there a recent write-up about the average contribution price of ambassadorships awarded the Bush WH?

[IndianaGreen]

8. Bush is the most extreme example, as I said earlier, but

both parties have been corrupted by money. To act now in shock and horror about the sleaze of the Bush regime is nothing but phony outrage because both parties have done the same thing. Bush has only done it to a higher level of sleaze.

Money has corrupted the political system to the point that the American people no longer have a voice in their affairs!

[jpgray]

9. Yeah, the Dems are by no means clean here (nt)

[TahitiNut]

3. "contributions from lobbyists" = typical deception and deceit

There are corporate 'lobbyists' and union 'lobbyists' and environmental 'lobbyists' and human rights 'lobbyists' and civil liberty 'lobbyists' and ...

The lobby is crowded, and to categorize 'lobbyists' with a constituency in the tens of millions with 'lobbyists' with a constituency in the hundreds is pure bullshit.



Lobbyists that're purely ideological/partisan, having no other overriding goal or advocacy other than influence peddling are overwhelmingly stacked on the Repugnant/Konservative side.

The Democrats, in 2000, received $140,000 from "People for The American Way Action Fund."

The Repugnants, in the other hand, received $900,000 from "Americans for Tax Reform," $480,000 from "Christian Action Network," $1,760,000 from "Christian Coalition," $60,000 from "Christian Legal Society," $40,000 from "Christian Voice Inc," $220,000 from "Citizens for a Sound Economy," $885,173 from "Council for Government Reform," $120,000 from "Family Research Council," $470,000 from "Liberty Alliance," $589,588 from "Prison Fellowship Ministries," $80,000 from "Republican Jewish Coalition," $120,000 from "Republicans for Clean Air," $300,000 from "Traditional Values Coalition."

That's a total of $6,024,761.

Remember, "Republicans For Clean Air" and like-named lobbyists have virtually nothing to do with their title, and everything to do with the opposite. Don't believe me? Just look 'em up.

[aquart]

4. So Schmidt didn't deny it. Well, he couldn't, could he?

Still, it is the teeensiest bit entertaining.