[QUOTE=Pochacco]
This is all about putting the squeeze on McCain. McCain says he’s in favor of reform, but he’s packed his campaign with lobbyists and he can’t afford to stop taking money from them. Obama is setting himself up to start pummelling McCain on his “reform” talking points.
Attack the enemy’s strengths, baby. Last week he smacked McCain on national defense. Now he’s teeing up clean government. The overall strategy is to force McCain to play defense from now 'til November. So far it’s working beautifully.
[/QUOTE]
Dang. Obama is scary good at this.
[QUOTE=Liberal]
I gotta say it’s great to see you Democrats in the driver’s seat for a change. No wooden Indians. No ketchup bottles. No trailer trash from Arkansas. You’ve got a fearless, intelligent, and articulate leader with a good heart, an even temperament, and a great vision for America. It wouldn’t surprise me to see y’all wax patriotic every once in a while.
[/QUOTE]
We’re the ones who’ve actually BEEN patriotic the whole last seven and a half years, rather than the ones who’ve talked a big game while replacing the definition of patriotic with that of jingoistic.
We’re also the ones who actually cared about the troops the last seven and a half years, rather than the ones who talked a big game about it while really meaning they cared about KBR and Halliburton.
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic]
I like this kind of assertiveness, I like the imposition of a genuine change,
[/QUOTE]
Eh, its more symbolic then a “genuine change”. As the article notes, PAC money wasn’t a major source of funding for the DNC before this policy, and I imagine the same money will simply be re-routed to Dem political campaigns.
[QUOTE=Cervaise]
Dang. Obama is scary good at this.
[/QUOTE]
Better at talking than doing, though. Obama takes lobbyist money quite a bit, and has lots of lobbyists in his campaign, even the campaign inner circle.
Now if a partner of a lobbying firm gives you a personal donation, but he made that money through lobbying - can you say you didn’t take lobbying money?
[QUOTE=Mr. Moto]
Now if a partner of a lobbying firm gives you a personal donation, but he made that money through lobbying - can you say you didn’t take lobbying money?
[/quote]
Of course. What makes lobby money lobby money is desire for a quid pro quo. A personal donation which is not made on behalf of any company or PAC is not lobby money.
If you make a donation to John Mccain, is he taking money from the military?
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton]
(I know the answer would be yes if he were POTUS, but he ain’t there yet.)
[/QUOTE]
The DNC doesn’t even have to do what a Democratic President wants. It’s generally a good idea if POTUS and the party are in line, but the DNC and its chairman are independent of the president. (The DNC Chairman is elected by the members of the DNC, unlike the chairman of the RNC, who’s appointed by the President if the President is a Republican).
Well, Jesus, Mr. Moto. Nobody’s more than six degrees removed from Kevin Bacon. If that’s the best you guys can do this year, you should just quit wasting your money now, drop out of the election, and spend what you need to gut your party and rebuild it.
[QUOTE=Cervaise]
Your no doubt sincere concern has been noted and discarded.
[/QUOTE]
I’ll remember that when you express likewise sincere concern about McCain.
Look, when someone is saying he’s pure as Ivory flakes, it isn’t bad manners to point out the Playboys sticking out from under his mattress. None of this means Obama is a criminal or anything - he just set up rules to allow him to say he’s not taking lobbying money or hiring lobbyists while in fact he’s doing both.
Now if he manages perceptions so well that all of you actually see things his way, fine. I don’t happen to do so. In fact, I don’t have much problem with lobbying - and I don’t think most of us do either, so long as those lobbyists are working for causes we believe in.
[QUOTE=Liberal]
Well, Jesus, Mr. Moto. Nobody’s more than six degrees removed from Kevin Bacon. If that’s the best you guys can do this year, you should just quit wasting your money now, drop out of the election, and spend what you need to gut your party and rebuild it.
[/QUOTE]
I will point out that these weren’t opinion pieces - they were mainstream news stories. And if Obama continues this anti-lobbyist stance, the extent of his own involvement with lobbyists will attract more scrutiny.
Besides, Obama’s chief strategist isn’t six degrees - it’s about one. Think Karl Rove to Bush.
[QUOTE=Liberal]
Well, Jesus, Mr. Moto. Nobody’s more than six degrees removed from Kevin Bacon. If that’s the best you guys can do this year, you should just quit wasting your money now, drop out of the election, and spend what you need to gut your party and rebuild it.
[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Maureen]
They have a crack team working on it as we speak.
[/QUOTE]
If we really think about it, I think we know who was the gunman on the grassy knoll (Obama was what, two?).
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic]
There aren’t enough rolleyes.
[/QUOTE]
Cold Warriors never die. They just spend a lot of time in the freezer in suspended animation between the occasions when they’re trotted out by the John Birch Society for surreal political performance art.
I’ve been active in party very heavily in the past, and I was completely unaware that the party was the personal property of the nominee. I’ve never been a DNC member, but I thought that they voted on this sort of thing. DNC members are elected to their posts by State Central Committees acting through their Executive Boards if they have one. I think that there was a lot more room for looking classy here. But it is not a proposal I would simply rubber stamp. The implication is that PACs and Lobbyists are inherently evil. That’s a naive position. It also unilaterally disarms us against Republicans, who are inherently evil (just kidding! only elected Republicans are inherently evil).
