Obama Continues Attack On Chamber Of Commerce

[Psychoblues]

By Dan Eggen and Scott Wilson
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, October 10, 2010

The White House intensified its attacks Sunday on the powerful U.S. Chamber of Commerce for its alleged ties to foreign donors, part of an escalating Democratic effort to link Republican allies with corporate and overseas interests ahead of the November midterm elections.

The chamber adamantly denies that foreign funds are used in its U.S. election efforts, accusing Democrats of orchestrating a speculative smear campaign during a desperate political year.

President Obama, speaking at a rally in Philadelphia, said "the American people deserve to know who is trying to sway their elections" and raised the possibility that foreigners could be funding his opponents.

"You don't know," Obama said at the rally for Senate candidate Joe Sestak and other Democrats. "It could be the oil industry. It could even be foreign-owned corporations. You don't know because they don't have to disclose." ...........................

Much More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/10/AR2010101004009.html?hpid=topnews


I think we do deserve to know who is financing our elections. Is it foreign interests or for foreign interests? Is it corporations with agenda's not so plainly or immediately seen? Are we being led to vote against our own self and American interests? This is not a left wing or right wing problem. It is an AMERICAN problem and we need to KNOW what and who we're voting for and not some foreign or corporate propaganda. Don't 'cha know?

Love :laugh2:

Psychoblues

[Kathianne]

Indeed, especially on the Presidential front, where those donations on credit cards could buy the most:

http://dailycaller.com/2010/10/10/obama-backs-off-charge-that-foreign-money-is-funding-chamber-ads/


Obama backs off charge that foreign money is funding Chamber ads
By Jon Ward - The Daily Caller 6:30 PM 10/10/2010
ADVERTISEMENT

President Obama
on Sunday stepped back from categorical charges he made earlier this week that foreign money was funding conservative TV campaign ads, telling a rally in Philadelphia only that such a scenario was possible.

The softening of Obama’s language reflects the impact of a Saturday report on the issue by the New York Times, which concluded that charges originally made by a blog run by a Democratic-aligned think tank were baseless...

Obama’s backtracking on the issue follows several days of intense debate on the subject, following the posting Tuesday of the charges at ThinkProgress.org, the blog that is operated under the umbrella of the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank run by John Podesta, who oversaw Obama’s transition team in the winter of 2008.

White House officials, who took up the charges and ran with them for a few days, admitted Saturday to the New York Times that they had no evidence of foreign money being used by the Chamber for any of its estimated $75 million in ads this cycle...

[Kathianne]

Here's the NYT article referred to above:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/09/us/politics/09donate.html


October 8, 2010
Topic of Foreign Money in U.S. Races Hits Hustings
By ERIC LICHTBLAU

WASHINGTON — Ever since he raised the issue in his State of the Union speech nearly nine months ago — prompting head-shaking by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. of the Supreme Court — President Obama has been warning about the danger of foreign money creeping into elections as a result of the court’s landmark campaign finance ruling.

In two campaign stops Thursday, Mr. Obama invoked what he portrayed as a specific new example, citing a blog posting from a liberal advocacy group as he teed off on a longtime adversary, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, over its political spending.

“Just this week, we learned that one of the largest groups paying for these ads regularly takes in money from foreign corporations,” Mr. Obama said. “So groups that receive foreign money are spending huge sums to influence American elections.”

But a closer examination shows that there is little evidence that what the chamber does in collecting overseas dues is improper or even unusual, according to both liberal and conservative election-law lawyers and campaign finance documents.

In fact, the controversy over the Chamber of Commerce financing may say more about the Washington spin cycle — where an Internet blog posting can be quickly picked up by like-minded groups and become political fodder for the president himself — than it does about the vagaries of campaign finance.

Organizations from both ends of the political spectrum, from liberal ones like the A.F.L.-C.I.O. and the Sierra Club to conservative groups like the National Rifle Association, have international affiliations and get money from foreign entities while at the same time pushing political causes in the United States.

...

Richard L. Hasen, an election-law specialist at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, said there were legitimate questions about whether foreign money could be making its way into campaigns, particularly because many groups are not required to disclose their donors. But he added, “I’ve seen no proof of the chamber funneling a penny of foreign money into U.S. elections.”

The specter of foreign money entering American campaigns has been a potent political issue over the years. President Bill Clinton’s 1996 re-election campaign gave rise to evidence of illegal contributions from overseas.

Mr. Obama himself faced accusations by conservative opponents in his 2008 campaign that his large online fund-raising efforts may have generated contributions from foreign nationals barred from contributing. No allegations were substantiated.

...

[Psychoblues]

Indeed, especially on the Presidential front, where those donations on credit cards could buy the most:

http://dailycaller.com/2010/10/10/obama-backs-off-charge-that-foreign-money-is-funding-chamber-ads/

The charges remain, Kathianne. President Obama never has said that absolutely foreign funds are being used but we do know the Chamber accepts a lot of foreign funds and puts them in the same general fund where the political contributions come from, we do know the Chamber deals with foreign and special interests all the time, we do know that the Chamber is now unprecedentedly contributing enormous amounts of money to mostly right wing issues and politico's, we do know that they don't have to disclose from whence their money came or for whom or what it was used, and we don't know if our own American best interests are being served by this fiasco with the Chamber. President Obama warned about this exact thing in his last SOTU address while the smug Judge Alito sat and mouthed "not true" and shook his head "no". So much for Judge Alito and the fairness of our Supreme Court!!!!!!!

Love :laugh2:

Psychoblues

[Kathianne]

The charges remain, Kathianne. President Obama never has said that absolutely foreign funds are being used but we do know the Chamber accepts a lot of foreign funds and puts them in the same general fund where the political contributions come from, we do know the Chamber deals with foreign and special interests all the time, we do know that the Chamber is now unprecedentedly contributing enormous amounts of money to mostly right wing issues and politico's, we do know that they don't have to disclose from whence their money came or for whom or what it was used, and we don't know if our own American best interests are being served by this fiasco with the Chamber. President Obama warned about this exact thing in his last SOTU address while the smug Judge Alito sat and mouthed "not true" and shook his head "no". So much for Judge Alito and the fairness of our Supreme Court!!!!!!!

Love :laugh2:

Psychoblues

You are so correct! The investigations into the credit card abuses for Obama donations from abroad, many of which were laundered through Canada at amounts not legal in US for individual donations should be investigated. No doubt.

[Psychoblues]

You are so correct! The investigations into the credit card abuses for Obama donations from abroad, many of which were laundered through Canada at amounts not legal in US for individual donations should be investigated. No doubt.

May the investigations commence!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love :laugh2:

Psychoblues

[Kathianne]

May the investigations commence!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love :laugh2:

Psychoblues

Starting where they should have, over 2 years ago:

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/FEC_Should_Begin_Obama_Audit_Now.html


FEC Should Start Obama Audit Now
Examiner Editorial
-
October 14, 2008

Turns out that “Doodad Pro” and “Good Will” are not the only phony contributors to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. The New York Times finally bestirred itself to apply some basic investigative journalism attention to the Democratic presidential nominee’s donor list. The Times found nearly 3,000 other questionable donors like “Jgtj Jfggjjfgj” and “Dirty West” after what the paper admitted was just a cursory look at the Illinois senator’s September financial filings. But then Times reporters Michael Luc and Griff Palmer revealed an incredible level of naivety by stating “it is unclear why someone making a political donation would want to enter a false name.”

Unclear? What other motive could there be for using a phony name and a nonexistent address to make multiple small donations using a single credit card than to evade U.S. election laws? Such journalistic gullibility may explain why bloggers have been on this story for months and the Times is only now noticing. The Atlas Shrugged blog first broke the story of such suspicious donors behind Obama back in July after noticing little gems like this in the Illinois senator’s official FEC filings:

...

Then there’s the question of whether foreign nationals are contributing to the Obama campaign. There is more than enough evidence to warrant a full-scale investigation by the Federal Election Commission, including the $32,332.19 that appears to have come from two brothers living in a Hamas-controlled Palestinian refugee camp in Rafah, GA (that’s Gaza, not Georgia). The brothers’ cash is part of a flood of illegal foreign contributions accepted by the Obama campaign. Potentially at issue, according to a complaint filed last week by the Republican National Committee, is as much as half of the $427 million he’s already collected. In any case, a complete FEC audit became an even more urgent matter after MSNBC reported that Obama’s Muslim outreach director quietly met with top Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) officials in an uncharacteristically unpublicized event in Springfield, Virginia on September l5th. The FEC’s primary job is to protect the integrity of our federal election process. With this many red flags flying and barely three week left before election day, there’s no time to lose if voters are to have all the information at hand before casting their ballots.

[Psychoblues]

Starting where they should have, over 2 years ago:

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/FEC_Should_Begin_Obama_Audit_Now.html

I agree, Kathianne. But if investigation is what you want I would suggest that there will not be many Republicans walking the streets for a while. They are all dirty and given a "fair" day in court will be in prison for at least a few years!!!!!!!!!!!

Howza 'bout that?!???!?!?!?!???! We've agreed on several fronts this morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love :laugh2:

Psychoblues

[Kathianne]

I agree, Kathianne. But if investigation is what you want I would suggest that there will not be many Republicans wa;lking the streets for a while. They are all dirty and given a "fair" day in court will be in prison for at least a few years!!!!!!!!!!!

Howza 'bout that?!???!?!?!?!???! We've agreed on several fronts this morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love :laugh2:

Psychoblues

Think they should get all that are dirty, including Obama, Rangle, (whether he gets re-elected or not), Dodd, (again, he's not running, but there still within statute of limitations.)

The more of them that are tossed, the better. I'm guessing you're no longer claiming that most of these folks are there to make our lives better and deserve 100% or more pensions?

[Psychoblues]

Think they should get all that are dirty, including Obama, Rangle, (whether he gets re-elected or not), Dodd, (again, he's not running, but there still within statute of limitations.)

The more of them that are tossed, the better. I'm guessing you're no longer claiming that most of these folks are there to make our lives better and deserve 100% or more pensions?

Where did you pull that out of, Kathianne? I never made those claims. On the other hand, I do believe that professional civil servants are absolutely committed to making our lives better. I put my life into the hands of VA doctors and other personnel all the time. I've been in and around government all my life and have never seen or heard of a 100% and/or above pension unless it was one of the Thrift Savings (somewhat like a 401k) pensions. It is impossible under the civil service and congressional systems to achieve retirement above I think 80% of your highest 3 year average pay. I may be mistaken and I would certainly take your correction in good faith, Kathianne.

Love :laugh2:

Psychoblues