Just Words, but Not Obama's Words - Page 3 - Political Forum

SamInTheSouth · 02-19-2008, 11:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leo

How about not take a dime of lobbyist money for his campaign...

That is not true. Obama has taken hundreds of thousands of dollars from lobbyists in the past. He continues to accept money now, just not as much as the others and none are employed on his Presidential campaign.

The Boston Globe

Columbia Journalism Review

Common Dreams

leo · 02-19-2008, 01:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SamInTheSouth

That is not true. Obama has taken hundreds of thousands of dollars from lobbyists in the past. He continues to accept money now, just not as much as the others and none are employed on his Presidential campaign.

Very interesting Sam... I knew he took a little in the past but he seemed to me not to be taking any in this 08 campaign and that was what I was referring to... but the articles seem to imply that he is taking some money in a round about way... I still believe that he will do more to fix our system than the other two candidates. He is the ONLY one that wants to negotiate with some of our "lesser friends" out there - makes perfect sense to me... I don't want us to just stick our heads in the sand and hope/pray for the best... we didn't do that with Russia in the 80s why should we be doing this now... ??? Hillary actually insulted Vladimir Putin, Russia's President, with her comment on him having no soul a really really stupid thing to do and shows her character and her ability to lead our great country - right into the crapper !!! Even though McCain said and I truly believed him because he was tortured in his past - that he doesn't support water boarding a few months ago and now says that he does... back and forth too - I'll still vote for him if it's McCain vs Hillary. He will work with the other side much more that Hillary will and he will get something done... ??? Back to the point...

This is just some parts of the articles you put up and I really suggest that people read the whole thing for a good idea of what they are saying - not just the parts I put up here :

Quote:

Obama's main Democratic target on the issue of lobbyist and PAC contributions has been Clinton, whom Obama has been working to paint as a figurehead for the broken politics of Washington. Through June, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, Clinton had collected $413,000 from lobbyists and $533,000 from PACs -- leading all 2008 presidential contenders in both categories. Clinton has also raised about $3 million from PACs and $400,000 from lobbyists for her Senate campaigns, according to the group.

Clinton's campaign declined to comment.

Peverill Squire, a political scientist at the University of Iowa, said Obama, given his record of raising special-interest money throughout his political career, was taking a "gamble" in holding himself up as a beacon of purity.

"He probably will be hurt if he's put in a position where he's trying to draw very fine distinctions between his present campaign and his past behavior," Squire said.

Obama's campaign is relying almost exclusively on an unprecedented network of grass-roots donors and activists -- nearly 260,000 of them had given him money through June alone.

And some good-government activists say that, past fund-raising practices aside, Obama has genuinely been a champion for ethics and campaign reform, both in the Illinois Legislature and in Congress.

"On the one hand, sure, he rose to power as many people do in this town, which is to raise money from the people who have the money," said Gary Kalman, of the advocacy group US PIRG.

At the same time, he added, Obama has championed public financing for elections and he fought hard to pass the federal ethics reform bill.

Quote:

“This ban is part of Obama’s best effort to address the problem of money in politics,” Burton said in a statement. “It isn’t a perfect solution to the problem and it isn’t even a perfect symbol. But it does reflect that Obama shares the urgency of the American people to change the way Washington operates.”

Quote:

To explain: Opensecrets.org, the Web site of the Center for Responsive Politics, is the most authoritative source on campaign finances. Basing its reports on data from the Federal Election Commission, the Center shows that Obama indeed doesn’t take much money from a sector the Center calls “lobbyists.” Through the end of December, Clinton received more than $800,000 and McCain around $400,000 from this group, which the Center says includes people who work for lobbying firms at the local, state, and federal level and their relatives who are not otherwise employed, as well as those who are officially registered as Washington lobbyists. Obama received contributions of about just $86,000 from this group. Obama’s Web site says he doesn’t take money from Washington lobbyists or political action committees,and the Center says that if his campaign finds that the money came from registered Washington lobbyists, it does get returned.

Quote:

Consider the sector called lawyers and law firms. Clearly, lawyers and law firms lobby on behalf of their own interests—like fighting malpractice reform, which could again surface as a thorny issue for the new administration. Clinton and Obama have raised similar amounts from lawyers and law firms—$11.8 and $9.5 million. McCain and Huckabee have taken far less. The health sector has also given to Obama, Clinton, and McCain. In the pharmaceutical and health product industries, contributions to Clinton total $349,000 and $338,000 to Obama. Again, McCain trails in donations at about $98,000, an indication that the sector sees the real action on the Democratic side of the ballot. Health professionals, which include doctors, nurses, and dentists, have given Clinton some $2.3 million and Obama $1.7 million.

OK it's places like this that I think we need to read behind the lines... for both of these candidates - I'm a heath care professional and I donated for the first time in my life to a campaign - it was to Obamas. When I donated they asked me what I did for a living... I'm in the medical field but I'm not a lobbyist... ???

Finally the fact is as far as just the 08 Presidentially campaign Obama has taken 99% of his donations from Individual contributions, not one dime from lobbyist - I stand corrected and I guess not - I will not say something that is not true just because I like the person/candidate - thats not how I roll, but it still sounds like Obama is on a really good start to me and I still really feel like Obama can start us down the road to a better system and a much much better country.... will he do it all by himself - hell no - he knows as well as anybody that anything good or really great will take the work of many many different types of people with many different types of ideas... thats just my opinion.

Here are the statistics on 08 Presidential donation contributions as of 2/11/08 :

Obama :

2008 Presidential Election: Barack Obama Campaign Money

Clinton :

2008 Presidential Election: Hillary Clinton Campaign Money

And a page of 2008 Donor Demographics for most of the candidates - you can toggle the different types of donors.

2008 Presidential Election

You are right about what you said in your post, so thanks a lot Sam for your info on the subject... now I do know a little bit more because of you :-)

Caltex · 02-19-2008, 03:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by W.E.B. Du Bois

No, that's just more Paulist BS. A button with the word change on it is not proof that Obama got his campaign slogan from Goldwater. Just another baseless comment, like most Paulist opinions.

I didn't say that. I showed that all slogans and campaign themes are all rehashed and have all been done before. Carter and Mondale's "change" theme is a likely source for Obama's inspiration to make "change" his campaign theme as well.

The buttons are just an example to show that "change" was a theme in the 1964, 1976, and 1984 elections as well, and not an original thought.

What is "Paulist" about saying that all campaign slogans are rehashed, and ripped off? There is ample proof that politicians rip ideas off of each other. This whole thread shows Obama used words of a peer. Why is it "Paulist" to say he could also have "borrowed" the slogan from Mondale's 1984 run, who borrowed it from Carter, who borrowed it from Goldwater, who probably saw it somewhere else too?

For good measure, Ron Paul's campaign slogan is a rip off of Thomas Jefferson's "Revolution of 1800".