Our Lobbyist Nation
Why bother electing members of Congress when it’s the lobbyists who run the country:
WASHINGTON — In the official record of the historic House debate on overhauling health care, the speeches of many lawmakers echo with similarities. Often, that was no accident.
Statements by more than a dozen lawmakers were ghostwritten, in whole or in part, by Washington lobbyists working for Genentech, one of the world’s largest biotechnology companies.
E-mail messages obtained by The New York Times show that the lobbyists drafted one statement for Democrats and another for Republicans.
(via)
11/14/09 8:22 pm | | Permalink | Tags: healthcare, lobbyists
A Stimulating Conversation
- Jon Kyl went on TV today to demand an end Obama Socialism, aka the Stimulus, so Obama said “OK, Jon” and sent his Cabinet to take back Arizona’s stimulus money. What a bad ass. But then Republican Gov. Jan Brewer pointed out that Arizona, collectively, could really use the cash, and all of this made the state’s other John (heh), McCain, very angry. (Daily Kos)
- Awww, did meany Chris Dodd make the widdle lobbyists cry, by saying mean things about them? Don’t worry, lobbyists, the NRSC is there to cheer you up because they love you soooooo much. (Party Time)
- Ugh, now everyone has to line up at the DMV again to get their new socialist ID number tattoo driver’s license, because apparently George W. Bush even screwed those up. (MSNBC First Read)
- Was that Al Franken in the Senate Judiciary Chairman’s chair? Who does this humorous clown, the distinguished gentleman from Minnesota, think he is? (CNN Political Ticker)
- Silly Hillterns,* just because the Democratic Party has all the colored folks in it does not make it the minority party. You don’t have to be a Republican to swim at the Valley Club pool, yet. (Spotted: DC Summer Interns)
* That’s “Hill interns,” for the uninitiated.
(P.S. I offer no apologies for the horrible, horrible pun in the title of this post.)
7/15/09 8:58 pm | | Permalink | Tags: Al Franken, Arizona, Barack Obama, Chris Dodd, driver's license, John McCain, Jon Kyl, lobbyists, NRSC, racism, stimulus
Washington Post for Sale to Lobbyists
Good thing your Washington Post fired Dan Froomkin, so they can maintain high standards of journalistic integrity:
For $25,000 to $250,000, The Washington Post is offering lobbyists and association executives off-the-record, nonconfrontational access to “those powerful few” — Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and the paper’s own reporters and editors.
The astonishing offer is detailed in a flier circulated Wednesday to a health care lobbyist, who provided it to a reporter because the lobbyist said he feels it’s a conflict for the paper to charge for access to, as the flier says, its “health care reporting and editorial staff.”
Well, this might explain a few things about the Post’s opposition to a public option, since ”the public” doesn’t have $25,000 to bribe the Post for good press. Anyway, congratulations to The Washington Post for finding something so unethical not even healthcare lobbyists will participate.
7/2/09 11:21 am | | Permalink | Tags: healthcare, lobbyists, Washington Post
- A Miami-Dade judge says there is “no rational basis” for a Florida law prohibiting gays from adopting children. John Cole outlines the wingnut interpretation of the Constitution when it comes to Teh Gay. Now you know what to expect for the next few days. (CBS News/Balloon Juice)
- Repeatedly bailed-out coporation AIG is hard at work making sure bloggers accruately represent how they’re wasting their latest infusion of taxpayer money. They’re media relations department emailed Wonkette and, needless to say, hilarity ensued. (Wonkette)
- DC police are investigating a bank robbery that occurred at 14th and K Street NW this morning. Obviously, this master thief hasn’t been reading the news or he would have known that banks don’t have any money anymore. Still, it’s inspiring to see a taxpayer robbing K Street, rather than the other way around. (DCist)
- Still-President Bush pardoned a guy who pled guilty to killing three bald eagles in 1995. Let freedom ring! (Associated Press)
11/25/08 2:20 pm | | Permalink | Tags: AIG, around the blogosphere, bailout, George W. Bush, lobbyists, Washington D.C.
Head of McCain’s Transition Team Was Saddam Hussein’s Lobbyist
It’s hardly news that McCain’s campaign is run by lobbyists, but the newest member of the team could be the scummiest of them all:
William Timmons, the Washington lobbyist who John McCain has named to head his presidential transition team, aided an influence effort on behalf of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein to ease international sanctions against his regime.
The two lobbyists who Timmons worked closely with over a five year period on the lobbying campaign later either pleaded guilty to or were convicted of federal criminal charges that they had acted as unregistered agents of Saddam Hussein’s government.
During the same period beginning in 1992, Timmons worked closely with the two lobbyists, Samir Vincent and Tongsun Park, on a previously unreported prospective deal with the Iraqis in which they hoped to be awarded a contract to purchase and resell Iraqi oil. Timmons, Vincent, and Park stood to share at least $45 million if the business deal went through.
…
Timmons declined to comment for this story. An office manager who works for him said that he has made it his practice during his public career to never speak to the press. Timmons previously told investigators that he did not know that either Vincent or Park were acting as unregistered agents of Iraq. He also insisted that he did not fully understand just how closely the two men were tied to Saddam’s regime while they collaborated.
But testimony and records made public during Park’s criminal trial, as well as other information uncovered during a United Nations investigation, suggest just the opposite. Virtually everything Timmons did while working on the lobbying campaign was within days conveyed by Vincent to either one or both of Saddam Hussein’s top aides, Tariq Aziz and Nizar Hamdoon. Vincent also testified that he almost always relayed input from the Iraqi aides back to Timmons.
Talking points that Timmons produced for the lobbyists to help ease the sanctions, for example, were reviewed ahead of time by Aziz, Vincent testified in court. Proposals that Timmons himself circulated to U.S. officials as part of the effort were written with the assistance of the Iraqi officials, and were also sent ahead of time with Timmons’ approval to Aziz, other records show.
What does it say about John McCain that he’s pallin’ around with someone who worked for a sponsor of international terrorism? Seriously, the sheer hypocrisy of the McCain campaign is just astounding. The whole report is well worth reading. What does it say about the kind of people John McCain would keep around his White House?
10/14/08 4:48 pm | | Permalink | Tags: 2008, John McCain, lobbyists, Saddam Hussein, William Timmons
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