Ann the Man Coulter Endorses Hillary over McCain

[skcin]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

Clinton says lobbyists run Obama South Carolina campaign

By: Associated Press -

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. -- Hillary Rodham Clinton says lobbyists are leading Democratic presidential rival Barack Obama's South Carolina campaign.

At a debate Monday, Clinton tried to blunt John Edwards' criticism about lobbyists influencing presidential politics. "But, you know, Barack has a lot of lobbyists who are leading his campaign here in South Carolina," Clinton said.

THE SPIN:

Influence-peddling and lobbying money are recurring themes in the run-up to Saturday's Democrat primary in the state. Edwards is running South Carolina ads noting that Clinton and Obama have taken lobbyist money, while he does not.

THE FACTS:

Obama's campaign announced this month that former South Carolina Gov. Jim Hodges had become a national co-chairman. Hodges' lobbying and consulting is registered to lobby for Hillenbrand Partners, a Chicago-based company that does business with the Federal Home Loan Bank in Atlanta.

Two other South Carolina leaders in Obama's campaign have lobbied in South Carolina. Senior adviser Rick Wade said he last lobbied in 1996. Anton Gunn, Obama's state political director, was a registered lobbyist between 2001 and 2004, according to state Ethics Commission records.

Obama adviser Steve Hildebrand said the campaign has no problem with lobbyists volunteering to work, but no federal lobbyists are on the campaign's payroll and they cannot donate money or collect it from others. "We're not going to prevent people from being volunteers on this campaign," he said. For instance, Hildebrand said he gave up federal lobbying work for an environmental group as a condition of taking his paid staff position.

When he was an Illinois state senator, about 40 percent of Obama's campaign cash came from political action committees, corporations and unions. He has since sworn off taking money from Washington lobbyists and PACs. "We've never walked away from that. He's said it's time to change that," Hildebrand said.
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So, let's see, people who get paid millions a year plus huge perks from politicians are volunteering to work on the campain of someone who is not going to do them favors -- hmmmmm there's a bridge in Brooklyn that's for sale

Quoted from the article you linked to:

To be fair, Obama already addressed this on "Meet the Press":

MR. RUSSERT: ..."I will not allow a lobbyist to work in my White House"...

SEN. OBAMA: Right.

MR. RUSSERT: ...and now you've changed on that.

SEN. OBAMA: No, I...

MR. RUSSERT: You said they can work.

SEN. OBAMA: I haven't changed. Look, the terminology may have changed, the, the basic concept remains the same. I am going to break the revolving door that has become so commonplace in this administration and in some previous administrations. If you want to work in my White House, you will not be able to regulate former employers. And if you leave my White House, you will not be able to lobby agencies that you used to work for on behalf of folks that were regulated. That is the revolving door that has to be broken to give the American people confidence in, in their government.

MR. RUSSERT: So if a lobbyist agreed to those terms, they could work in the White House?

SEN. OBAMA: Look, there are people who may have lobbied 10 years ago, 15 years ago. They may be able to render excellent service to the American people as long as they're clear that we want people of integrity and we want this link between you cashing in and you serving in government broken.


I don't doubt that ALL of them have some lobbyists donating/running/assisting their campaign. Obama obviously shouldn't have made such a blanket statement - I don't think he meant to lie outright, but he obviously keeps needing to clarify/correct himself, so he shouldn't have said anything. No one is freaking out that the other candidates have lobbyists involved in their campaign - not because this isn't the case, but because they never addressed it!

Was it Barrack or Hillary who said something to the effect of "nobody's hand are completely clean, it's impossible" in one of the debates when this issue was brought up. That's sad, but true. I think it's up to them how much influence they allow people to have on them. I know what you're saying, Strand, I really do. But that doesn't mean that Barack (or Hillary or anyone else) have to continue the status quo. I don't think ALL politicians are crooked, but I'm not fooling myself by thinking any one of them is completely innocent. Nobody's pulling the wool over my eyes & I'm not naive. I can only HOPE that he's being honest when he says what he does in the above quote, and that he actually will make an effort to not do favors for people. What else can you do?