McCain makes a distinction between good lobbyists and bad
By Steve Benen Monday Mar 10, 2008 1:19pm
John McCain’s website tells visitors, “Too often the special interest lobbyists with the fattest wallets and best access carry the day.”
It’s become an increasingly amusing line as the senator’s presidential campaign has unfolded. We now know, for example, that McCain’s campaign staff is dominated by corporate lobbyists, and he adds new ones all the time.
The subject came up briefly during McCain's “60 Minutes” interview.
Download | play 
Download | play (h/t Heather)
Pelley: You point your finger at other senators and claim that there is culture of corruption on Capitol Hill. But you take money from lobbyists who have business before your committee, as other senators do. So how is it that you call the system corrupt?
McCain: Well, one of the reasons why I call the system corrupt is because we have members of Congress who are in jail, who are former members of Congress. But it’s not the individuals, it’s the system we have today. I believe that I serve with honorable men and women. And I believe the people who bring their case to government, the overwhelming majority of them are honorable people.
Pelley: The lobbyists?
McCain: Retirees have a lobbyist, firemen have a lobbyist. Your business has a lot of lobbyists, a lot of lobbyists.
So, when McCain blasts the role of lobbyists in the political process, he’s only talking about the bad lobbyists (the ones he doesn't like); not the good lobbyists (the ones who give him money and run his campaign operation).
As for McCain's examples, it's true that there are lobbyists for firemen and senior citizens, but those aren’t the folks running his campaign.
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Good: swallow
Bad: spit
Bill parsed the verb to be. Why not parse lobbyists?
How did this putz ever get a reputation as a straight shooter?
Let me take a crack at this one:
Good lobbyists trade sex for legislation.
Wow! His ties to lobbyists should really be at the top of campaign news in general. THANK GOD for him that the media can chew on Spitzer for the next 3 weeks.
The "news". Feh, I say. Double-feh!
Rusty Baines Shackleford @ 1:
Gak! LOL
Since Bush is endorsing McCain
will McCain endorse all of Bush's lobbyists.
New GOP House Leader Has Many Old Ties to K Street
http://www.publicintegrity.org/lobby/report.aspx?aid=780
The number of registered lobbyists in Washington has more than doubled since 2000 to more than 34,750
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/21/AR200506...
Fundamentally, he's right. There are good lobbyists and bad lobbyists. His bus is full of the bad ones.
You don't see the teachers union lobbyists or those for the AFL-CIO on his bus.
I'm sorry, but I missed the part in the clip where he said some lobbyists are bad. I saw him say that some congress-critters are corrupt, which, I assume, makes them bad. But I never saw him say anything against any lobbyist.
Is there a longer clip?
jeffenator98 @ 3:
No shit...at least bush just plows ahead with his lies...McBain changes his lies everytime he's on the teevee....what two-faced piece of shit.
.
McLobbyist argues against his McCampain team?
McLOL
McROLFMAO
.
He also listens to lobbysits parents who's children were neurologically damaged by vaccines. The same parents as the Polings who had the govt concede their case rather than bring out the truth about how the CDC and FDA SCREWED up and overdosed kids with mercury, formaldhyde, aluminum, junk RNA and other infectious materials.
I dont like McCain but at least he listens.
Seems like staff here blindly follows the govt fudge studies instead of looking into WHO is doing the studies, HOW they altered the data and WHAT conflicts of interests those crooks and liars have.
jebus.love.me @ 4:
Yes!
jeffenator98 @ 3:
Every now and then he says something that's true, which is rare in a politician. For instance, he called Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell "agents of intolerance," which is true. So he gets labelled a "straight shooter."
Then, when it became politically necessary, he went to Robertson and Falwell and kissed their intolerant asses until they forgave him. Yet for some reason the "straight shooter" label stuck.
As McCain says to himself, "O.K. did I get one over on those fools out there?" They never know when a politician is lying anyway, he thinks to himself. McCain continues his thought process and says under his breath, "Look sincere, they will never know."
Rusty Baines Shackleford @ 14:
It sticks because the corupt corporate media makes it stick. They know what side of the bread is buttered.
jebus.love.me @ 4:
Good lobbyists help him get his groove on.
Blue Lensmadinejad @ 17:
Good lobbyists will help me get elected!
Good lobbyists like to ACT bad if their candidate is into S&M.
Worthy of a list:
A good lobbyist . .
1. Trades sex for legislation
2. Flies me around the country
3. Helps me get elected
Add some more!
Blue Lensmadinejad @ 17:
mccain doesn't look particularly groovy to me man."
Could a lot of the Spitzer bouhaha be a result of mccain essentially being caught with a lobbyist?
Good Lobbyist, one who is on my payroll or who contributes to my campaign.
Bad Lobbyist, all the rest of them.
jeffenator98 @ 3:
His putz never misses the toilet bowl.
Blue Lensmadinejad @ 20:
4. Doesn't sign the visitors log at the White House.
5. Doesn't conspire to knock off Gus Bousalis.
As long as Obama is the Democratic nominee, McCain is going to go down in a landslide. And the vast majority of citizens will breathe a collective sigh of relief.
Teh McFibulator
shantiquax @ 26:
Until the Cons get a hold of the House and Senate which is what always seems to happen.
There needs to be a law stating that the only avenue of access lobbyists should have to Congress is by petitioning for and receiving grant of public hearings. Then the lobbyists positions and wants could be aired in the light of day, with dissenting public input being part of the hearing process. Any Congress person who so much as talks to a lobbyist outside of the sanctioned arena of official public hearings should be considered to be taking bribes and held criminally liable. The same goes for any lobbyist who attempts to contact any elected official or member of that official's staff - hold them criminally liable for attempting to bribe and to corrupt congress. I don't care what the lobbyist's cause is.
This would have to go hand in hand with campaign finance refroms, which would provide federal funding, allow individuals to donate no more than 5-10 bucks, prohibit PACs, 527's, corporate or business contributions, etc and require that networks which have been granted franchises to use OUR airwaves be compelled to give equal time to all candidates.
Until these happen, corruption is going to be the name of the game, with dickheads like Darth Vaguer McShitstain here pretending as if they anything other than crooked to the core.
Didn't Hillary Clinton make this same argument?
I don't think Clinton has nearly the ethical issues that McCain has, but I seem to remember this almost verbatim from her.
For example, its not true that many senators take gifts from lobbyists who have business before their committees, but John McCain does.
Isn’t flip-flopping a sign of senile dementia. I mean come on, the guy changes his position every time he changes his depends. Cue boat deck.
it's much, much, simpler.
mccain: "my lobbyists are good, yours are bad."
Too bad there isn't somebody on Capital Hill to lobby for voters, huh?
Heres a crazy idea what if someone went to DC to represent the peoples interests, maybe representing different parts of the country, they could be well paid and have great perks ...?? nah ... Congress and the senate would never go for it ...
earl @ 33:
Yeah, and the Extreme Court would doubtless declare such a system unConstitutional.
Moveon.org is a lobbying organization that is bigger than the NRA. Would most of you argue that Candidates should renounce them?
Devil's Advocate @ 35:
I would. Politicians should not be influenced in any way by any organization except the will of the people.
Old Billy Hussein @ 30:
That's different. She's a Dem. They only have the "good" lobbyists.
"Good lobbyists choke down my disgusting dry-rub pig ribs, and like it, goddammit!"
scott must swallow because he sucks on McTaint really hard!
It's pathetic that anyone gives this show credibility.
It's pathetic that this show exists anymore.
Ed Bradley would have resigned rather than do something like this.
sassafra @ 32:
Also,my trial lawyers are good and yours are bad.
Oh:and my God is better than yours.
Paul @ 29:
hay Paul, it's nice to see at least one considered viewpoint in amongst the catty remarks... and it's true... lobbying is not going to go away... it is actually fundamentally important to a democracy... imho, the problems with lobbying lie specifically in a lack of transparency... every dollar, every proposal and every meeting should be transcribed and published for the public to scrutinize...
mccain, like EVERY politician will respond to each question as if it's separated from every other issue and contained in a silo because sound bites are the only way concepts get transmitted to the public in this day of instant information that people still don't bother to research before forming emotionally indentured opinions...
if a politician takes the populist road and decries lobbying because they know the public is fed up with the 1percenters constantly gorging themselves at the trough, then you know they are lying... lobbying will not go away... nor should it... the manner in which it is handled however, needs to change...
Devil's Advocate @ 35:
Are you sure about that? MoveOn.org claims 3.3M members. The NRA claims 4M.
"hay Paul, it's nice to see at least one considered viewpoint in amongst the catty remarks... ."
Hmmm,speaking of "catty remarks"....
s'okay we do tend to get a little silly at times.
Rusty Baines Shackleford @ 1:
Ugly: jerkoff
Speaking of John McCain and lobbyists, what has happened to Vicki Iseman since the New York Times broke the story about McCain's advisors being worried in 2000 about his having an improper relationship with her? Her photo and bio disappeared from her firm's website and she hasn't been interviewed by anybody about this. Why isn't Nancy Grace running nightly stories about this missing white woman? Why aren't Katie Couric or Barbara Walters interviewing her for an exclusive story? Has anybody seen Iseman since this story was published? Has she followed the traditional route that Republicans follow when imbroiled in a scandal, that of checking into rehab, only to emerge when the story has died down and then tell everyone that she has found Jeses?
Good God! Is THIS the best our country can come up with? I'm sick as hell of being straight out lied to, them telling me they're lying, and then still getting away with it. WTF? If someone has sex in this country, they're up for a lynching, but to lie this country into shambles, hell, that's OK. What the hell am I supposed to say to my children? How am I supposed to raise well rounded, honest people with these lying sychophants on the damn tube every minute of the day lying their butts off, getting caught lying their butts off, give us the finger and laughing at us all the way to the bank?
pinkobait @ 43:
that's a bit of an understatement... and you need to revisit a dictionary if you think i was being "catty"...
Monday's McAKA's
- attention contributors: definitions wanted -
McWaterTourture
Voted against banning it
under its Orwellian watersports name, waterboarding,
but says it’s definitely wrong
now that chimpster’s endorsement’s locked in.
McClap-on – has yet to be grilled
by the intrepid Corporate Media.
The closest he gets
is when they're blowdryin' his McCombover
in makeup.
...hardly a cure for the McClap-on...
Just ribbin’ ya, msmotherfuckers.
McWaterboardingIsTortureOhWaitNoItIsNot
If he keeps impaling himself
on his own flipfloppery,
Dr. Acula will bleed him dry wit eze.
McCainthra – this fratricidal bastard (see McMothra) of his
father’s monstrous illicit affair during a drunken shore leave in pre-WWII Japan
took after his father as an aviator…didn'tcha, McCrashy?
McMummy - The Thousand Year McMummy staggers on
… dragging his decaying, dusty carcass
across the stage:
” More… MORE of the same…
STAY the Course for 100 years…
...a thousand years…. AAAaarrrrgghhh!”
McMothra – McCainthra’s non-evil twin, AKA McAbel, has been MIA since ’68.
What really happened in Hanoi, Johnny? Let’s unseal those records
before we give ya the top job,
whattaya say?
Mackula – he sucks at keeping his personal affairs secret cuz he’ll go on public record to break whatever ethics rules come between him and that sweet sweet blondlobbyisthookerskankypie.
Frankencain
His handlers forgot
to tighten his bolts recently
and he almost lost his head
with a Times reporter…
Oh, Johnny, bring us all home
so we can finish burning down the contard castle…
Bushenstein’s been playin’ with matches so long
it shouldn’t be hard to finish the job.
McBladderTrouble – (definition?)
McIsano - (definition?)
McShouldhavebeenleftinVietnam - (definition?)
McBabykiller
As a ground attack pilot in Vietnam,
he dropped bombs on women and children…
...oh, war, war, glorious war…
The Mcbastard will get whats coming to him in 08.
…Just go into the smoke, Johnny...
...just follow the smoke...
McCheney
A smart orangutan’ll tell ya
he’s a Dick.
And if he steals into the Oval Office,
expect another 4 years
of bein’ Dicked around, America.
Just cuz he’s gonna croak
long before the end of his term
don’t expect his VP Republiclone
to be any different either.
Mcsongbird - his VC (nick)Mcname , brought to you by Viet Nam vets against Mcgain.
Mcgain – just another self-interested sociopath, really.
McBoot - this guy the fuck outta here.
mcnicknames.com – the only upside
to McAsshole actually stealing the Oval Office
is that the McAKA list
would become a thriving business,
but 2b can’t be bought,
so forget it McMotherfucker.
Keep McPileing on McCainophobes! The current McList numbers 582 and the entire list will be updated Sundays or whenever the hell I feel like it, and links will be posted on
McDamnthisisgettingtobeareallyfuckinglonglistalmostlikeafulltimejob and/or Open threads daily (owthIfli) as well as the previous day’s contributions.
“Shorter lists are funnier” generally holds true, and very well may re the McList. McCainophobes are diverse and eclectic, and I’ve enjoyed many lols, LOLs, LOL!s and Ha ha’s here. I’m reluctant to exclude any McEntry, ’cause they’re all funny/pointed/cathartic to varying degrees, and the sheer length of the entire list has a humorous quality of its own.
We are also generating denigrating McMemes, some of which may be useful, in a memie sort of way. The thuglicontards are very aware of the usefulness of denigrating memes, and it won’t hurt to put out a few of our own.
That being said, a Top 11, Dirty Dozen, etc. are considerations, for those (myself included, usually) who like
things condensed to essentials.
Will update at my convenience or tolerable inconvenience on pertinent threads.
;-}
The Big Pile O' McAKA's
Updated (to Saturday), alpha'd, and somewhat defined...
There's 555 of them, so bring a snack.
;-}
Some lobbyists are more equal than others.
Here's the lobbyist story (besides Iseman) to keep your eyes on:
"Charlie" Black is one of McCain's chief campaign spokesmen/advisers. He is also one of the main lobbyists for United Technologies. United Technologies attempted a hostile takeover of DIEBOLD last week.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/3/5/15161/35910/60/469812
DIEBOLD is the corporation that is in control of 80% of all touchscreen voting machines:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=GzPXer7946E
How many ways can you spell r-e-d f-l-a-g-s?
Hardly an unexpected viewpoint from McDryrub. After all he imagined he buy out the journalists with a weekend cannibalism festival. They're cheap, it's true, but not that cheap.
Rusty Baines Shackleford @ 1:
Post of the Day...Easily.
What a Hypocrite!
Peter G @ 52:
McDryrub, lol, sounds painful, lol...
#583,
from Peter G.
hee hee.
;-}
Thanks goodness we have John McCain who is so capable of making the distinction between "good" lobbyists and "bad" lobbyists. All I know is that lawyers once became Washington lobbyists so they could get experience, and use that experience as a stepping stone to a political career. Now the Senators and Reps. retire so that they can become wealthy lobbyists.
If lobbying is THAT lucrative, it is hard to see how it could be totally on the up and up. Lobbyists have to produce in order to get the big bucks. That means cutting corners to beat out competing lobbyists. So, it's reallllly a good thing that John has such a great handle on all this. I mean, after all, he is Mr. Straight Talk :)
McCain should be sitting on a pier somewhere in a floral shirt holdin' a fishing pole.
"Moveon.org is a lobbying organization that is bigger than the NRA. Would most of you argue that Candidates should renounce them?"
If there are 37,500 lobbyists in Washington and some represent several clients, I'm really not too worried about MoveOn. org. They are no different than NARAL, anti-abortion groups, the NRA, AMA, Bar Association and others..... Most of these groups take money from individual members in small donations and use that money to get their opinions heard. The real serious lobbying groups that worry most of us are Boeing, Halliburton, GE, Dow Chemical, and the Banks. Yes, the banks that are in such desperate straits today lobbied hard to get those mortgage qualification rules eased so that they could lend piles of money to people with poor credit at much higher rates of interest. Worked great until home prices crashed. Now they are suffering the consequences of their hard lobbying and want the government to bail them out. And how are they getting the government to respond to their needs? Why, by more lobbying. Nice system, huh?
Hussein AND Proud @ 57:
NOOOO! We got enough cranky old bastards in Florida!!! I here the climate in AZ. is juuuust loooverly for the elderly.
liberalHUSSEINmoderation @ 59:
Haven't watched the video yet, but off the cuff, it goes something like this:
Good lobbyists give me a lot of money: bad lobbyists, not so much.
but not you, right johnny? you beat those charges.
americans' memories are shorter than goldfishes'.
The good lobbyist bribe mccane and the bad one bribe someone else!
McCain says it's not the people (his fellow senators and congress-humans) but "the system" that is corrupt. WTF? You don't touch, see, smell, taste ot hear "the system." "The system" doesn't put a gun to anyone's head and demand that he/she vote a certain way in exchange for money. It's the people that are the problem, not "the system."
I am sure McCain woould blame Enron (that bodiless corporation) and not its CEO and CFO for what happened to all its investors.
Take some personal responsibility McCain.
Jeeez...this country is going to put another palsied, alzheimer's addled old douche in the White House.
There are many, many people who will not vote for this hypocritical, bigoted, loser.
The good lobbyist swallow, the bad ones swallow someone else.
What's more disturbing about McCain is that in that same interview, he said that he "disagrees with the American majority". How is that going to get him elected? Doesn't the American majority matter any more to change, or are they/we and congress still suppressed from the voting process and the special interest groups and lobbyists decide who gets elected?
They are only bad if they aren't on his staff. Why are Obama and Clinton not attacking this fact? Just asking.
I wonder at what point in time of the "straight talk express derailing" will the GOP regret standing behind this guy.
Gawd what a nitwit.
I think I missed something last week. Charley Black is/was a lobbyist for United Technologies. UTC just tried to buy Diebold, which rebuffed them. I have heard rumors of "hostile" action. Did this not hit the political landscape, or was I completely out of it?
And gee John, Who lobbys for me.???
The everyday working shcmuck like me?
McCain is such a goddamn whore.
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