Clinton, Obama and Edwards wasted $266,363,577 on bullshit.

[originalpckelly]

How many homeless people could have been fed, clothed and housed for the $44,259,384 John Edwards' campaign received last year by itself?

How many people could have been treated for even common ailments for the $118,301,658 Hillary Clinton's campaign received last year?

How many scholarships could have been made to kids with the $103,802,535 Barack Obama's campaign received last year?

I think our priorities are bullshit, we claim to care about poor people, the sick, the young, and the old but we're donating our money to these bullshitting politicians, instead of donating it to charities that could do the work themselves, or hell, we could do it ourselves.

I think it's a bunch of crap to say that when you look at the money. It may not solve our problems, but there are far better places this amount of money could have been spent, don't you think?

Instead of spending it on politicians who just want power and to look good, we could have done good.

I hate this bullshit filled country sometimes.

Hillary's summary of fundraising from the Federal Elections Commission:
http://herndon1.sdrdc.com/cgi-bin/cancomsrs/?_08+P00003392

Barack's summary of fundraising from the Federal Elections Commission:
http://herndon1.sdrdc.com/cgi-bin/cancomsrs/?_08+P80003338

Edwards' summary of fundraising from the Federal Elections Commission:
http://herndon1.sdrdc.com/cgi-bin/cancomsrs/?_08+P40002347

[originalpckelly]

1. I guess I'm the only one who thinks it wrong to waste so much money.

[AJH032]

2. completely agree

nt

[HeraldSquare212]

3. The outcome will determine the disposition of billions of dollars in federal money.

I agree it's way too much, but there's a lot more money at stake that could be used to address the situations you describe.

[originalpckelly]

8. Quite frankly, I really don't believe any of the people running actually give a fuck.

These people don't even know that I exist, how the fuck do they care about me?

[magatte]

40. Obama`s been there, done that, he gives a fuck.

Seriously check his lifetime commitment to fighting for the disadvantaged, always refusing the easy money of a corporate job, or the prestige of academia. The guy has a good heart and has consistently proven it.
You can be either be cynical about it or check his bio, read his book, watch some town halls, and discover for yourself the opportunity that`s oppen to you this election.

[Donnachaidh]

9. and considering the stance of the remaining two

Don't expect EITHER to make any difference in the disposition of those billions. They BOTH have political IOU's to pay back.

[Hippo_Tron]

31. Compared to the Republic Party I do expect there to be a difference

Not nearly as much as there should be, but there will be a difference.

[bobbolink]

4. "or hell, we could do it ourselves." BINGO!! Charities are just as much a waste...

Thank you for pointing out that the emperor has no clothes!

I suspect you won't make people very comfortable saying that, but... too bad, eh?

:applause:

Thank you for speaking up for us with the obvious!

[Donnachaidh]

5. Edwards wanted to do something, but wasn't ShowPony enough

to compete with the American Idol audience.

[SammyWinstonJack]

12. The fact that he would have done something is what got him ousted.

[Bluebear]

6. When you're right, you're right.

[Bucky]

7. Getting the nomination is "bullshit"?

It's not like all that money would have gone into federal coffers or charitable causes if it hadn't been for the campaign.

[originalpckelly]

11. Why does it take so much money?

Can't we just discuss the ideas and figure out who is best without wasting so much money?

[Horse with no Name]

13. We could....

but then only the American people would benefit.
We couldn't have THAT could we?

[mohc]

10. And how much worse would it be

Had they just sat back and let the Republicans dominate the primaries and go on to win the White House. Does it suck that the process costs so much? Of course. Should we try and change it? Sure. But they are certainly not wasting their money if the current alternative is a Republican winning in November.

[OzarkDem]

14. $10 billion per month

that's how much we're spending in Iraq. I'd rather they spend money if they have to get elected so we can stop bankrupting our future over Bush's war.

[originalpckelly]

18. Oh it's complete BS to think they'll end the war.

We've had both houses of congress for more than a year, and nadda. They aren't going to do it, because they're both influenced by the rich, they just try to be quiet about it, unlike the Republicans who are open about fucking you over! Don't believe me? Go look at their FEC contribution reports, you'll find many of the same people donating to both political parties, and they're often upper management.

[OzarkDem]

19. We don't have a choice, its running our economy over a cliff

I think Clinton is more likely to end it because she knows how bad its screwing up the economy and will find some way to get most of the troops out.

OTOH, Obama is probably enough of an air-head, like Bush, to buy some argument about how "everythings ok as long as our debt is only a small percentage of the GDP, yadayada", or some other GOP voodoo economics.

[originalpckelly]

21. Oh, our economy was running off a cliff before Iraq, but it's going faster with it.

We're going to end up like the Soviet Union.

[Hart2008]

15. All for an issueless campaign! n/t

[Meshuga]

16. I might catch some flak around here but

The last donation I have made for a candidate was to the Kerry campaign in 2004. Since 2004, politicians have been getting my vote and that's pretty much it. I don't even donate 1 cent in my tax returns. I know that soup kitchens and other charities will always put my donations to better use.

[Exultant Democracy]

17. Why not get some priorities yourself first. We spend over 4 times much on Halloween each year

not to mention X-mas or the salary for one sports team. Get some perspective for a Democrat that cares right now and investment in our party is the best way for us to get the multi-trillion dollar budget of the united states government on the right side of the issues you care about.

Get some perspective and take a look at the big picture.

[originalpckelly]

20. So you don't think it's hypocritical for someone to take so much money...

and then go out and talk about homlessness? I mean, honestly, that could be a gigantic scholarship fund, now couldn't it? How many loaves of bread is that anyway? Coats? Houses? That'd be 1000 odd 250,000 homes. That's a lot of homes.

[Exultant Democracy]

23. Prioritize your outrage. There are hundreds of thing that get more money that are far more stupid,

Like Halloween. There is nothing that Obama, Clinton, or Edwards have to feel ashamed about in fact it would be a huge betrayal for them to give the money away instead of investing the money into winning back the American Government for the American people.

[originalpckelly]

24. I'm glad to see you've donated free colonoscopies to them.

[saracat]

26. You already posted this ludicrous reply in my thread stating the same as this OP.

This is obscene. Period.

[Exultant Democracy]

27. "Transformers" and "The GoldenCompass" cost more. If dems had spent a few more million more in 2000

then we could have saved a lot of lives. I just don't understand where you are coming from. I would hope that more time and energy goes into picking our next President then goes into making lets say "Water World" and as soon as we start talking about time we are talking about money. On the list of things that people should bother to be outraged about this is down there around all the eggs wasted at easter.

[saracat]

30. Interesting that Hukabee and McCain have gotten a lot of traction with waaay less money.

Sure doesn't make us look good the the repukes can do this on public financing and we can't. And your movie arguments are just "straw men".The silliness of thinking if we spent more money we would have taken the WH in 2000 is a symptom of the problem the has gotten us here.

[Exultant Democracy]

35. I'm listing the over $100 million movies to give you some prespective

if you don't know enough about 2000 to know when Gore could have really used about 20-30 million more then I'm not teaching you history (but think about what a couple more ads and field offices could have done in such a close election.)

[saracat]

36. As I have aproduction company , you are NOT impressing me and your perpective is incorrect

and after many years in politics I don't need your lectures thank you very much. I certainly am aware of my history as well.Sparee the condescension.We do NOT agree on this.

[robinlynne]

22. No. We the voters let it get wasted by not demanding publicly financed elections!

No private money should go to campaigns. none. it should be absolutely equally distributed and publicly financed.

[saracat]

25. I aGREE And the Obama Campaign, having raised yet another 32 mil, just asked me for MORE.

I told them it was obscene!

[Jed Dilligan]

28. Agreed, it's a piece of shit system and a huge waste

I often think we should go back to Plan A: vote for Electors as wise people from our immediate communities and send them off to be campaigned to for a couple of weeks. No money changes hands, or no more than in college student council elections (poster paint, butcher paper, xeroxing, etc.)

[andyrowe]

29. Yeah, we could've spent that on Iraq (at least for a day or two).

n/t

[JVS]

32. So how do you want a candidate to be chosen on the cheap?

How can we settle this thing for $20?

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

33. If It Makes You Feel Better, I Haven't Donated A Dime To Any Candidate But I Have For Charity.

I'm with ya 100%. When I have money to donate, it ALWAYS goes to charity, such as Americas Second Harvest or Children International (with exception to small DU donations, but they're worth it!).

[Hippo_Tron]

34. No because once in office they can use billions of federal dollars to address those problems

If you want to make the argument that they won't actually address those problems then go to a separate thread and do that.

Although I don't like where some of that money is coming from a lot of it is coming from small donors who are going to demand a certain degree of change from Clinton and Obama in exchange for their donations. I'd rather give a small amount of money to that cause to compete with McLame who will keep us in Iraq for another 100 years.

[jillan]

37. It is sickening. I totally agree.

[lisainmilo]

38. that is why election reform is so important....I think

Centralize Ethics and Lobbying Information for Voters: Obama will create a centralized Internet database of lobbying reports, ethics records, and campaign finance filings in a searchable, sortable and downloadable format.
Require Independent Monitoring of Lobbying Laws and Ethics Rules: Obama will use the power of the presidency to fight for an independent watchdog agency to oversee the investigation of congressional ethics violations so that the public can be assured that ethics complaints will be investigated.
Support Campaign Finance Reform: Obama supports public financing of campaigns combined with free television and radio time as a way to reduce the influence of moneyed special interests. Obama introduced public financing legislation in the Illinois State Senate, and is the only 2008 candidate to have sponsored Senator Russ Feingold's (D-WI) tough bill to reform the presidential public financing system.

(enhanced)

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/ethics/

[Political Heretic]

39. It sucks, but the problem is bigger than them - its not wrong for them to try to be President

What we need is a system that doesn't require that amount of money to be viable. We need publicly funded elections.