Obama: Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, & Lehman Brother
i disagree. accepting money from lobbyists and special interests groups is not inherently bad. There is so much money being thrown around that it is often two different positions on an issue are both contributing to a campaign. Sort of like, "hey I know you have supported oil in the past, but heres a couple million so tell me what you think about natural gas instead". I think it is naive to think that all politicians are tied down by ALL contributions.
Trust me when i say i believe the system is f*cked, but i do not think sweeping generalizations should be made about anyone. Unless your a Washington insider!:thumbsup:
Obama: Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, & Lehman Brother
Quote:
Originally Posted by allrollsin21
i disagree. accepting money from lobbyists and special interests groups is not inherently bad. There is so much money being thrown around that it is often two different positions on an issue are both contributing to a campaign. Sort of like, "hey I know you have supported oil in the past, but heres a couple million so tell me what you think about natural gas instead". I think it is naive to think that all politicians are tied down by ALL contributions.
Trust me when i say i believe the system is f*cked, but i do not think sweeping generalizations should be made about anyone. Unless your a Washington insider!:thumbsup:
So you think highly of someone who takes money from another entity that is obviously trying to manipulate them? yes money is thrown around between opposing factions to a candidate, but obviously the highest bidder wins. People don't give something for nothing. It's been true since the world began.
Sorry, you have your opinion and I still believe it's naive to think otherwise. :hippy:
Obama: Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, & Lehman Brother
All of the money in the system is definitely a corrupting influence and a serious problem. Donations from big donors, like corporate donors or special interest lobbyists, are generally not about getting one candidate elected over another candidate, because often the same big donors give to BOTH candidates. They want to get them BOTH elected? No, they are hoping their money will have some influence over the eventual winner, whoever it turns out to be.
For the most part, I don't think most politicians make any kind of commitment to support or oppose any particular policy in exchange for contributions --- that would be true bribery and corruption. It happens, but I do not think it is very common. I think mostly the donors are hoping for access. They know that a candidate may not actually side with them in the end, but they know that if they give a decent amount of money, the candidate will likely at least hear them out on their positons. Having a face-to-face sit-down with a candidate is worth a lot of money to some interests.
Obama: Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, & Lehman Brother
Quote:
Originally Posted by dragonrider
All of the money in the system is definitely a corrupting influence and a serious problem. Donations from big donors, like corporate donors or special interest lobbyists, are generally not about getting one candidate elected over another candidate, because often the same big donors give to BOTH candidates. They want to get them BOTH elected? No, they are hoping their money will have some influence over the eventual winner, whoever it turns out to be.
For the most part, I don't think most politicians make any kind of commitment to support or oppose any particular policy in exchange for contributions --- that would be true bribery and corruption. It happens, but I do not think it is very common. I think mostly the donors are hoping for access. They know that a candidate may not actually side with them in the end, but they know that if they give a decent amount of money, the candidate will likely at least hear them out on their positons. Having a face-to-face sit-down with a candidate is worth a lot of money to some interests.
Jim Johnson
Chris Dodd
Tom Craddick
Ted Stevens
Tom Delay
Bob Ney
Ryan Fraizer (local city council in Colorado.. yes even the small fries do it)
Hillary Clinton (top donator, Norman Hsu plead guilty to one count of grand theft for defrauding investors as part of a multi-million dollar Ponzi scheme. It just doesnt' look good)
John Coyers (no donation problems but used government resources to act as his servants, babysitters.. etc etc. Just as bad IMO).
Diane Feinstein (gave government military contracts to two companies that were owned by her husband)
Mike Huckabee.. I won't even get into this one.. oh boy.
Barack Obama (I won't even explain this.. look at the link below for more information)..
Judicial Watch Announces List of Washingtonâ??s â??Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politiciansâ? for 2007 | Judicial Watch
There are more politicians that I haven't listed that are in that link.. and probably explanation into a few of them better than I did.
Point being. It does happen.. and it is common.
Obama: Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, & Lehman Brother
Quote:
Originally Posted by daihashi
First of all: Judicial Watch - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Judicial Watch" is an organization run by Richard Mellon Scaife, a conservative billionaire. It does a decent job of pretending to be nonpartisan though.
The anecdotes about Barack Obama don't seem to be so much corruption, as bad decisions, where he didn't realize how it looked. I mean, he bought $5000 worth of stock of a company that his actions later benefited. But really, would he have knowingly done that for only the increase in value of $5000 worth of stock? I mean, the amount he made on that deal was probably less than I make in a week. Considering that Obama received practically nothing from his supposedly corrupt deals, I'm not sure why he's on the list. Unless of course, whoever made the list wants to make him look bad.
Obama: Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, & Lehman Brother
Quote:
Originally Posted by khronik
The anecdotes about Barack Obama don't seem to be so much corruption, as bad decisions, where he didn't realize how it looked.
Like with Rev. Wright, the Trinity Church, William Ayers, the D.C. city gun ban, and the list goes on and on. Just who I want for a President, somebody that consistantly makes bad decisions.
Have a good one!:s4:
Obama: Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, & Lehman Brother
Quote:
Originally Posted by Psycho4Bud
Like with Rev. Wright, the Trinity Church, William Ayers, the D.C. city gun ban, and the list goes on and on. Just who I want for a President, somebody that consistantly makes bad decisions.
Have a good one!:s4:
Um, none of those were actually bad decisions. And the DC gun ban thing was actually a mistake by one of his staffers.
