The party of special interests

Submitted by Bird Dog on Mon, 02/01/2010 - 3:42pm

Politics

The GOP has been labeled such, and deservedly so. But with great power comes great lobbying, and the Democrats are making a run for the moniker. Last week Bob Menendez said:

"In the upcoming elections, voters will face a choice between Republicans who are standing with Wall Street fat cats, bankers and insurance companies -- or Democrats who are working hard to clean up the mess we inherited by putting the people’s interests ahead of the special interests."

Last weekend, Menendez and eleven other Senators stood with Wall Street fat cats, bankers and insurance companies, not to mention other industries, when they invited 108 lobbyists to their little confab at a luxurious South Beach resort.

Twelve Democratic Senators spent last weekend in Miami Beach raising money from top lobbyists for oil, drug, and other corporate interests that they often decry, according to a guest list for the event obtained by POLITICO.

The guest list for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee's "winter retreat" at the Ritz Carlton South Beach Resort doesn't include the price tag for attendance, but the maximum contribution to the committee, typical for such events, is $30,000. There, to participate in "informal conversations" and other meetings Saturday, were senators including DSCC Chairman Robert Menendez; Michigan's Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow; Bob Casey of Pennsylvania; Claire McCaskill of Missouri; freshmen Kay Hagan of North Carolina and Mark Begich of Alaska; and even left-leaning Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

Across the table was a who's who of 108 senior Washington lobbyists, including the top lobbying officials for many of the industries Democrats regularly attack: Represented were the American Bankers Association, the tobaco company Altria, the oil company Marathon, several drug manufacturers, the defense contractor Lockheed, and most of the large independent lobbying firms: Ogilvy, BGR, Quinn Gillespie, Heather Podesta, and Tony Podesta.

Holy Animal Farm, Batman.

In his State of the Union address, Barack Obama reserved special criticism for lobbyists, then the next day invited K Street lobbyists for private briefings.

It's not the hypocrisy that rankles, it's the glaring blatantness of it.
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I support diaries like this, however,

(#205432)

Submitted by dionysus on Mon, 02/01/2010 - 7:50pm.

that is some terrrrrrrrible sourcing in the item you linked. "Obama denounced lobbyists, then someone in the administration held a conference call with some large group of people, at least one of whom physically works on K street!". That phrasing could describe a campaign conference call. They even get into the first 2 sentences of the letter, like it's juicy or something. Note the literally true yet totally noncontroversial content that's being portrayed as if there's something scandalous about it.

As a former small-town politician, I know small town politics when I see it. "The hill?" Offended and piqued, and getting even.

Holy Animal Farm, indeed, Batman

(#205416)

Submitted by BlaiseP on Mon, 02/01/2010 - 4:49pm.

"Gentlemen," concluded Napoleon, "I will give you the same toast as before, but in a different form. Fill your glasses to the brim. Gentlemen, here is my toast: To the prosperity of The Manor Farm! "

There was the same hearty cheering as before, and the mugs were emptied to the dregs. But as the animals outside gazed at the scene, it seemed to them that some strange thing was happening. What was it that had altered in the faces of the pigs? Clover's old dim eyes flitted from one face to another. Some of them had five chins, some had four, some had three. But what was it that seemed to be melting and changing? Then, the applause having come to an end, the company took up their cards and continued the game that had been interrupted, and the animals crept silently away.

But they had not gone twenty yards when they stopped short. An uproar of voices was coming from the farmhouse. They rushed back and looked through the window again. Yes, a violent quarrel was in progress. There were shoutings, bangings on the table, sharp suspicious glances, furious denials. The source of the trouble appeared to be that Napoleon and Mr. Pilkington had each played an ace of spades simultaneously.

Twelve voices were shouting in anger, and they were all alike. No question, now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.