Now Kerry must face up to those tough questions

[Tinoire]

((Thank you to Janx for posting this in a thread earlier today))

Now Kerry must face up to those tough questions

Paul Harris in Washington
Sunday February 15, 2004
The Observer

<snip>

Kerry - like Bush - has recruited an army of 'bundlers' who skip around strict campaign finance laws by gathering $2,000 cheques from friends and employees into bundles of $50,000 or $100,000. Kerry has 32 $100,000 bundlers and 87 $50,000 bundlers. They come mainly from powerful law firms, real estate companies, financiers and lobbyists.

Kerry has received more money from lobbyists over the past 15 years than any other serving senator. Some of Kerry's close links with lobbyists have raised eyebrows among supporters used to his campaign slogan: 'From the moment I take up office, I will stand up to special interests.'

Kerry has strong ties to lobbyists for the telecommunications industry. Michael Whouley, a top Kerry political aide, is a registered lobbyist for telecoms giant AT&T. Kerry has also taken hundreds of thousands of dollars from Boston lobbying firm Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky. Kerry's brother Cameron is a lawyer for the company which represents communications firms and the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association.

Between 1999 and 2002 Kerry sponsored two law bills and co-sponsored six more that were seen as advantageous to CTIA's interests. One of Kerry's main bundlers, Chris Putala, is employed as a lobbyist by the CTIA. 'We are beyond the point of whether he takes money from special interests, but rather what, if anything, has been done in response to the funds,' said Steve Weiss, spokesman for the Centre for Responsive Politics watchdog.

Kerry and his wife are also personally linked to the fortunes of the telecommunications industry. Official records show the couple have at least $17 million invested in firms with a stake in the industry. Tracing the actual effect that donations have on politicians' decisions is virtually impossible. A Kerry spokesman has denied Kerry has ever acted in response to donations.


<snip>

More here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004/story/0,13918,1148524,00.html

[AP]

1. Kerry probably wont's say anything about Comcast-Disney merger,

right?

[David Dunham]

2. Bush Won't Touch THese Corporate Issues. Kerry'll Be Fine.

[John_H]

3. Bingo. This will be Nader's big issue though. LOL!

[David Dunham]

5. Nader Will NOt Be so popular this time

[AP]

6. He'll touch them to undermine any attempt by Kerry to sound like a

populist, or to appeal to the middle and working class -- just like they did with Gore.

[David Dunham]

11. Gore Got More Votes than Bush and than Clinton Ever Got

[AP]

13. Had Bush not been able to blur the class distinctions (ie, had...

...Gore been more like Clinton) Gore would have won by many more votes.

[Tinoire]

7. What Bush will touch or won't touch now determines who the Dem nominee is?

I'm not concerned about what Bush will or won't touch right now. I'm concerned about Kerry's ethics. I'm not in this to replace Bush with someone who has so much in common with him that Bush won't touch it.

I can just see this debate. No talk about corporate corruption. No talk about the war. No disagreement about the occupation. No disagreement about much huh?

Will they spend more time agreeing than disagreeing?

This kind of puts a nice new light on Kerry voting for the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the deregulatory bill that allowed behemoths like Clear Channel to swallow up such vast portions of our information dissemination infrastructure.

[AP]

10. It's not so much about agreeing vs disagreeing. It's about this:

If you listed the dem's strengths/weaknesses and ranked them from high to low, you'd have middle class opportunity/jobs/economy at the top and national security on the bottom.

It's the inverse for Republicans.

What both sides want to do is to convince America that their issues are the most important issues.

After 8 years of clinton, Americans stopped thinking war was a big threat, which is bad news for Republicans. So, Bush steals the presidency and tries his damndest to make voters think national security are the most important issues.

Now, we're running a guy who is trying to run on the Repubican's stregths (which is bad news) and, to boot, he's not a great spokesman for the Democrats' strengths.

Gore was similarly bad on this front. Gore defined himself as the environmental president. So much so, that he would skip labor events to attend environmentalists events. The college students might like that, but the environment isn't one of the top three issues for Dems, according to the public. The public is looking for democrats who help the working man and woman. Being super rich is the first problem for Kerry. Being a favorite of the lobbyists is the second problem.

If you aren't a symbol of your party's strengths, you're going to have a very hard time winning.

[Tinoire]

12. Nice post. As always. But depressing. Thanks n/t

[scarletwoman]

4. Kerry spokesman has denied Kerry has ever acted in response to donations.

Yeah, the great fairy tale of American politics -- "Honestly, just because they give us money that doesn't mean we actually DO anything for them." Right...

People only believe this because they WANT to believe this.

This country is going down the tubes due to the tendency of the masses to prefer comforting bullshit over uncomfortable truth.

sw

[Tinoire]

9. Bush won't touch it they say. Nevermind the voters getting screwed

But Paul Davis, co-founder of internet firm Predictive Networks, has seen the process of how fundraising and legislation mix. Kerry met a top Predictive executive on 25 July, 2000. A day later Kerry introduced a Senate bill that would allow internet firms to monitor what their consumers were viewing and that Predictive had been lobbying for. In February 2002 Predictive chief executive Devin Hosea threw a fundraiser for Kerry in Boston. Kerry was given a lift back to Washington DC in a private jet. Hosea threw a second fundraising party that summer. In the end Hosea become one of Kerry's $100,000 'bundlers'.

===

Lovely. A man who missed 43% of this year's votes in the Senate made damn sure he didn't miss that one!

And he wants to represent me? You? Us? The people?

Maybe the little people need lobbyists and bundlers so that our interests will be represented!

[The Magistrate]

8. Do You Expect The Man To Campaign Without Money, Ma'am?

The "more money from lobbyists" line is a distorted canard, as you well know. It refers to personal contributions, all limited to $2,000 maximum, from individuals registered as lobbyists. The total sum refered to averages out to only a few thousands a year over that fifteen year period. This source of money is the most minor identifable one among the streams of funds that inundate the capital. The real money comes from political action committees and such, from which Sen. Kerry has received very little money, by compare to his colleagues. You know enough about the realities of political life to know this to be true, and so it surprises me somewhat to see you retailing this foolishness, as if it had some signifigance beyond being a trial balloon for a reactionary attack line in the fall.

That Sen. Kerry has today energetic fundraisers is a damned good thing; he will need them. Money is to political campaigns what bullets are to battles. It would bother me no end if Sen. Kerry seemed to lack an efficient network for raising funds, just as it would bother me if a force of soldiers were set in motion without a corps of supply following in their train.

As the gentleman's wife is worth on the order of half a billion dollars, which must be invested somewhere, and tele-communications is a coming field for investment, that some small portion of the money, by this account about three percent of the total, is invested in that field neither surprises nor much bothers me. When investing that much money, Ma'am, it is very hard to emerge with any particular special interest: the funds must be spread around so widely that what benefits one field of investment will depress another, and what depresses one will benefit another.

It serves no good purpose at all to try and pretend the criminals of the '00 Coup will not raise on the order of twice the money the Democrats raise this year, and to pretend that those reptiles will not explicitly hand out swag to their cronies in exchange for the boodle they receive, and on a scale Sen. Kerry could not manage if he set himself to rival them in that field.

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"

[David Dunham]

14. Clinton and JFK needed corporate donations to campaign and win.

[Tinoire]

16. You like Kerry so you defend him. I don't like corporate lackeys

I do not like Kerry's pandering to corporate interests over the years or his gutless pandering to the war machine. His ability to raise money from special interests is most unconvincing as an argument to vote for him.

I want an ethical man and Kerry is not that man. If we have to become like the Republicans to beat them, why bother with this troublesome charade?

From that article:
Kerry met a top Predictive executive on 25 July, 2000. A day later Kerry introduced a Senate bill that would allow internet firms to monitor what their consumers were viewing and that Predictive had been lobbying for. Yet we shouldn't be concerned? We should be happy that corporations have found a man to finance? I am not happy!

You may be willing to tolerate & pragmatically excuse that sort of thing; I simply can't. Especially not for a war mongerer. Dean, whose positions I don't all agree with, at least has the saving grace of receiving almost all of his money from the people to whom he will be beholden. Kerry has already shown us to whom he's beholden and it isn't the people.

===
So while it may be true that in that majority of cases the actual outcome of the final passage is not affected by the no vote, the fact is it will not look good in a debate when bush says “Senator Kerry, you missed 63 out of 183 votes in 2003 alone. The American public is not going to look deep enough to really see that it doesn’t matter. All they know is they have to show up for work regardless or they do not get paid.

Everyone is talking about the fact that Kerry voted for the no child left behind act but very few people also know that on 3/11/03, by a slim majority senators successfully tabled the Murry Mmendment #284 to fully fund the NCLB act and reduce debt by reducing tax breaks for the wealthiest taxpayers. The motion to table succeeded by two vote’s. Guess which 2 Senators did not bother to vote. Kerry and Edwards.

The same thing happened on that day with the Murry Amendment #258 to improve the availability of contraceptives for women. It failed by 2 votes. Once again Senators Kerry and Edwards did not bother to vote their mind.

Other important legislation that Kerry did not bother to vote on were:

To prohibit the procedure know as partial birth abortion….no vote

Vote to make Tom Ridge Sec. of Homeland Security….no vote

#S.151 to prevent child abduction and the sexual exploitation of children, clearing the measure for the President ….no vote

Boxer Amendment No. 684, to require a specific plan to help AIDS orphans….. No vote

Gregg Amendment No. 945, to ensure that there is competition in the pharmaceutical industry and increased access to affordable drugs. No vote

Dorgan Amendment No. 946, to provide greater access to affordable pharmaceuticals. No vote

FCC Media Ownership bill: S.J. Res. 17, disapproving the rule submitted by the Federal Communications Commission with respect to broadcast media ownership. No vote

S. 877, to regulate interstate commerce by imposing limitations and penalties on the transmission of unsolicited commercial electronic mail via the Internet. No vote

H.R. 1828, to halt Syrian support for terrorism, end its occupation of Lebanon, stop its development of weapons of mass destruction, cease its illegal importation of Iraqi oil and illegal shipments of weapons and other military items to Iraq, and by so doing hold Syria accountable for the serious international security problems it has caused in the Middle East. No vote

Kyl/Sessions Modified Amendment No. 288, to provide financial security to family farm and small business owners by ending the practice of taxing someone at death. No vote

http://www.uniquesnowflake.com/archives/000585.php

===============

A man beholden to the people doesn't skip out on 59% of this year's votes in the Senate where the GOP enjoys a majority. Here is a list of all the votes that Kerry missed. This list does not include the 2 votes during his 2/12-25/03 surgery and recovery.

1: Procedural Motion - Adjourn to Time Certain
2: FY 2003 Approp.s - Homeland Security
3: FY 2003 Approp.s - Homeland Security
4: FY 2003 Approp.s - Education Block Grants
5: FY 2003 Approp.s - Education Funding
6: FY 2003 Approp.s - Rural Antidrug Program
7: FY 2003 Approp.s - Spending Reinstatement
8: FY 2003 Approp.s - Foreign Cruise Ships
13: Ridge Nomination - Confirmation
14: FY 2003 Approp.s - Unemployment Ins.
15: FY 2003 Approp.s - Drought Relief
16: FY 2003 Approp.s - Drought Relief
17: FY 2003 Approp.s - African Famine Relief
18: FY 2003 Approp.s - US AirPension Plan
26: FY 2003 Approp.s - Prohibit Quotas for Job Priv.
31: Adams Nomination - Confirmation
32: Otero Nomination - Confirmation
33: Junell Nomination - Confirmation
36: Procedural Motion - Require Attendance
37: Procedural Motion - Require Attendance
39: Pledge of Allegiance - Adoption
44: Frost Nomination - Confirmation
45: Partial-Birth Abor. Ban - Emer. Contracep.s
46: Partial-Birth Abor. Ban - Health Exception
47: Partial-Birth Abor. Ban - Motion to Commit
49: Partial-Birth Abor. Ban - Health Exception
50: Quarles Nomination - Confirmation
51: "Partial-Birth" Abortion Ban - Passage
52: Varlan Nomination - Confirmation
53: Estrada Nomination - Cloture
54: Bybee Nomination - Confirmation
55: Breen Nomination - Confirmation
60: FY 2004 Budget Res. - Education Funding
109: Coalition Member Support - Adoption
110: Military Tax Breaks - Passage
111: Selna Nomination - Confirmation
112: Springmann Nomination - Confirmation
114: Estrada Nomination - Cloture
115: FY 2003 War Supplemental - Port Security
116: FY '03 War Supp. - Nat'l. Guard & Reserves
117: FY '03 War Suppl. - Aircraft Missile Def.
118: FY '03 War Suppl. - Ind. Member Projects
119: FY '03 War Suppl. - Counterterror Funding
120: FY '03 War Suppl. - Homeland Security
121: FY 2003 War Supplemental - War Costs
122: FY '03 War Suppl. - First Resp'r. Funding
123: FY '03 War Suppl. - First Resp'r. Funding
124: FY '03 War Suppl. - Iraqi Food Assistance
125: FY 2003 War Supplemental - Passage
126: Carney Nomination - Confirmation
132: Protections for Children - Conf. Report
133: Swimmer Nomination – Confirmation
135: Sutton Nomination - Confirmation
139: Cook Nomination - Confirmation
140: Estrada Nomination - Cloture
141: Altonaga Nomination - Confirmation
145: FISA Warrants - Feinstein Substitute
146: FISA Warrants - Passage
147: Tax Reductions - On-Budget Surplus
180: Global AIDS Relief - Abstinence Programs
181: Global AIDS Relief - Drug Pricing
182: Global AIDS Relief - AIDS Orphans
183: Global AIDS Relief - Aid to Carib. Nations
184: Hicks Nomination - Confirmation
185: FY '04 Def. Auth. - Reservist Health Care
186: FY '04 Def. Auth. - Nucl. Weapons Study
187: FY '04 Def. Auth. - Nucl. Weapons Study
188: FY '04 Def. Auth. - Nucl. Weapons Study
189: FY '04 Def. Auth. - Nucl. Penetrator Weapons
192: FY 2004 Defense Auth. - Overseas Abortions
193: FY 2004 Defense Auth. - Defense Contracts
194: FY 2004 Defense Authorization - Passage
195: Callahan Nomination - Confirmation
202: Debt Limit Increase - Passage
203: Energy Policy - Ethanol Requir. Exclusion
204: Energy Policy - Ethanol Requir. Exclusion
205: FY 2004 Defense Authoriz. - Base Closures
206: Energy Policy - Ethanol Requir. Exclusion
211: Chertoff Nomination - Confirmation
216: Greer Nomination - Confirmation
217: Kravitz Nomination - Confirmation
218: Energy Policy - Energy Commodity Trading
219: Energy Policy - Indian Energy Projects
220: Myanmar Sanctions - Passage
223: FY 2004 FAA Reauth. - Pilot Age Requirements
224: FY 2004 FAA Reauth. - Foreign Repair Stations
225: FY 2004 FAA Reauthorization - Passage
226: Pate Nomination - Confirmation
227: Prescription Drug Benefit - Benefit Within Medicare
228: Prescription Drug Benefit - Drug Cost Disclosure
229: Prescription Drug Benefit - Premium Cap
230: Prescription Drug Benefit - Drug Patents
231: American History and Civics Academies - Passage
232: Prescription Drug Benefit - Drug Importation
233: Prescription Drug Benefit - Third-Party Coverage
234: Prescription Drug Benefit - Open Enrollment Period
235: Prescription Drug Benefit - Canadian Price Equity
236: Prescription Drug Benefit - Cost Sharing Extension
237: Prescription Drug Benefit - Congressional Coverage
238: Prescription Drug Benefit - Two-Year Fallback Plan
239: Prescription Drug Benefit - Benefit Availability
240: Prescription Drug Benefit - Drug Cost Coverage
241: Prescription Drug Benefit - Employer Compensation
242: Prescription Drug Benefit - Health Centers
243: Prescription Drug Benefit - Drug Advertisements
244: Prescription Drug Benefit - Premium Reduction
245: Prescription Drug Benefit - Durbin Substitute
246: Prescription Drug Benefit - Cost-Effectiveness Studies
247: Prescription Drug Benefit - Disability Services
248: Prescription Drug Benefit - Drug Advertisements
249: Prescription Drug Benefit - Cancer Care
250: Prescription Drug Benefit - Cancer Patient Coverage
251: Prescription Drug Benefit - Asset Test
252: Prescription Drug Benefit - Alzheimer's Subsidy
253: Prescription Drug Benefit - Additional Disease Treatment
254: Prescription Drug Benefit - Premium Reduction
255: Prescription Drug Benefit - Experimental Drug Coverage
256: Prescription Drug Benefit - Immigrant Coverage
257: Prescription Drug Benefit - Retiree Coverage
258: Prescription Drug Benefit - Medigap Policies
259: Prescription Drug Benefit - Retiree Fallback Plan
260: Prescription Drug Benefit - Alternative Plan
261: Prescription Drug Benefit - Means Test
262: Prescription Drug Benefit - Passage
263: Campbell Nomination - Confirmation
264: Medical Malpractice - Cloture
265: Wolski Nomination – Confirmation
266: Child Tax Credit - Motion to Proceed
267: FY 2004 State Dept. Reauthorization - Mexico City Policy
269: FY 2004 State Dept. Reauth. - Unemployment Insurance
270: FY 2004 State Dept. Reauthoriz. - HIV/AIDS Funding
272: FY 2004 Legislative Branch Appropriations - AmeriCorps
273: FY 2004 Legislative Branch Appropriations - Passage
274: FY 2004 Military Construction Appropriations - Passage
275: Der-Yeghiayan Nomination - Confirmation
276: Suko Nomination - Confirmation
277: FY 2004 Defense Appropriations - Troop Deployments
278: FY 2004 Defense Approp.s - Cost of Iraq Operations
279: FY 2004 Defense Appropriations - Military Detainees
280: Myanmar Sanctions - Passage
281: FY 2004 Defense Appropriations - Iraq War Costs
282: FY 2004 Defense Appropriations - Military Health Care
283: FY 2004 Defense Appropriations - Iraqi Reconstruction
284: FY 2004 Defense Approp.s - Iraqi Intel. Commission
285: FY 2004 Defense Approp.s - Unauthorized Approp.s
286: FY 2004 Defense Approp.s - Overseas Military Funding
287: FY 2004 Defense Appropriations - Intelligence Funding
288: FY 2004 Defense Appropriations - HIV/AIDS Funding
289: Duncan Nomination - Confirmation
290: FY 2004 Defense Appropriations - Passage
291: FY 2004 Homeland Sec. Approp.s - Approp.s Increase
292: FY 2004 Homeland Sec. Appr. - Law Enforcement Costs
293: FY '04 Hom. Sec. Appr. - Emer. Mgmt. Planning Grants
294: FY 2004 Homeland Security Approp.s - Port Security
295: FY 2004 Homeland Security Approp.s - Explosive Device
296: FY 2004 Homeland Sec. Approp.s - Firefighter Grants
297: FY 2004 Homeland Sec. Approp.s - Chemical Plant Sec.
298: FY 2004 Homeland Sec. Approp.s - Canadian Border Sec.
299: FY 2004 Homeland Sec. Appr - First Responder Funding
300: FY 2004 Homeland Security Approp.s - Maritime Security
301: FY '04 Homeland Sec. Appr. - High-Threat Urban Areas
302: FY '04 Homeland Sec. Appr. - High-Threat Urban Areas
303: FY 2004 Homeland Sec. Appr. - Federal Advisory Boards
304: FY 2004 Homeland Security Approp.s - Transit Security
305: FY 2004 Homeland Sec. Appr.s - Lobbying Restrictions
306: FY 2004 Homeland Security Appropriations - Passage
307: Yeakel Nomination - Confirmation
308: Owen Nomination - Cloture
309: Energy Policy - Fuel Economy Standards
310: Energy Policy - Fuel Economy Standards
311: Energy Policy - Price Manipulation
312: Estrada Nomination - Cloture
313: Energy Policy - Utility Mergers
314: Energy Policy - Standard Market Design
315: Energy Policy - Internal Transactions
316: Pryor Nomination - Cloture
317: Energy Policy - Passage
318: U.S.-Singapore Trade - Passage
319: U.S.-Chile Trade - Passage
320: Cohn Nomination - Confirmation
321: Montalvo Nomination - Confirmation
322: FY 2004 Labor-HHS-Edu. Appr.s - Hispanic Edu. Prog.s
323: FY 2004 Labor-HHS-Education Approp.s - Impact Aid
324: FY 2004 Labor-HHS-Edu. Approp.s - IDEA Funding
325: FY 2004 Labor-HHS-Edu. Approp.s - Job Training
326: FY 2004 Labor-HHS-Edu. Approp.s - Rural Edu. Grants
327: Colloton Nomination - Confirmation
328: FY 2004 Labor-HHS-Edu. Appr..s - Bioterr. Workforce
329: 2004 Labor-HHS-Edu. Approp.s - School Construction
330: FY 2004 Labor-HHS-Edu. Approp.s - Title I Funding
331: FY 2004 Labor-HHS-Edu. Approp.s - Higher Education
332: FY 2004 Labor-HHS-Edu. Appr.s - HIV/AIDS Funding
333: FY 2004 Labor-HHS-Education Approp.s - Head Start
336: FY 2004 Labor-HHS-Edu. Approp.s - LIHEAP Assist.
339: FY 2004 Labor-HHS-Edu. Approp.s - Fin. Aid Eligibility
340: FY 2004 Labor-HHS-Edu. Appr.s - After-school Progr.s
341: FY '04 Labor-HHS-Edu. Appr. - Safe Child./Fam. Prom.
342: FY 2004 Labor-HHS-Edu. Appr.s - Education Funding
343: FY '04 Labor-HHS-Edu. Appr. - Teacher Quality Progr.s
344: FY 2004 Labor-HHS-Edu. Appr..s - After School Progr.s
345: FY '04 Lab.-HHS-Ed. App.. - W. Nile/Mosquito Control
346: FY 2004 Labor-HHS-Edu. Approp.s - NIH Funding
347: FY 2004 Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations - Passage
348: Media Ownership Rule Disapproval - Passage
349: FY 2004 Energy/Water Appr.s - Adv. Nucl. Weapons 350: FY 2004 Energy and Water Appropriations - Passage
351: Partial-Birth Abortion Ban - Disagree to House Amend.
352: Proctor Nomination - Confirmation
353: Feuerstein Nomination - Confirmation
354: Conrad Nomination - Confirmation
355: Floyd Nomination - Confirmation
356: FY 2004 Interior Appropriations - Indian Health Service
357: Gibson Nomination - Confirmation
358: FY 2004 Interior Approp.s - National Mall Ad Ban
359: FY 2004 Interior Appr.s - Judicial Review of Timber Sales
360: FY 2004 Int. Appr.s - Competitive Sourcing Annual Rept.
361: FY 2004 Int. Appr.s - Compet. Sourcing Rev. Prohibition
362: FY 2004 Interior Appr.s - Indian Health Service Funding
363: Burns Nomination - Confirmation
364: FY 2004 Defense Appropriations - Conference Report
365: Do-Not-Call Registry - Passage
366: Sabraw Nomination - Confirmation
367: Mosman Nomination - Confirmation
368: Bea Nomination - Confirmation
369: Crone Nomination - Confirmation
370: White Nomination - Confirmation
371: FY 2004 Suppl. for Iraq/Afghanistan - Iraqi Reconstruc.
376: FY 2004 Suppl. for Iraq/Afghanistan - Safety Equipment
377: Genetic Nondiscrimination - Passage
378: FY 2004 Supp. Iraq/Afghanistan - Iraqi Lib. Medal
379: FY 2004 Supp. Iraq/Afghanistan - Domestic Spending
380: FY 2004 Supp. Iraq/Afghanistan - Reconstr. Financing
381: FY 2004 Supp. Iraq/Afghanistan - Mil Res. Retire. Age
382: FY 2004 Supp. Iraq/Afghanistan - Add'l Army Personnel
383: FY 2004 Supp. Iraq/Afghanistan - Congressional Report
384: FY 2004 Supp. Iraq/Afghanistan - Removal Of Saddam
398: FY 2004 Supp. Iraq/Afghanistan - Cong. Approval

http://www.gop.com/RNCResearch/Read.aspx?ID=3073

I welcome you to take this list with a grain of salt since it is from a Republican Web-site (which means they are already making an issue of it as am I because it calls into question Kerry's dedication & integrity about representing the people) but it is easily verifiable by going here:
http://capwiz.com/c-span/dbq/issuesdbq/votesearch.dbq?command=member2&searchlast=Kerry&party=DEM&chamber=S&congress=1082&state=&submit.x=10&submit.y=3
It is interesting to note that no votes affecting the Telecommunications Industry were missed.

[Egnever]

19. More feul for the Fire burning inside me

!!!!

Great post and also teribly demoralizing.

When I think of all the time and effort I spent this year trying to help take the power away from these people in power decoted to the almighty dollar and I think of the choice I will be left with after all that effort.

Everything inside me wants to rail against the corporate machine!

I know deep in my heart that bush needs to go but there is a growing part of me that does not want to validate the alternative we are being handed by any means. It becomes a tougher choice with each passing day wether to go against the scorched earth policy of the bush administration or to rail against the corporate take over of the democratic party!

My hopes fopr america are shrinking each day. I am getting to the point where I think it will take 4 more years of shrub to wake america back up!

[MurikanDemocrat]

15. Not such tough questions. Kerry will do fine.

Bush is the LAST person who wants to call attention to special interests. LOL!

Oh, and Dean also uses bundlers.

[Tinoire]

17. Oh. So because Bush is in the hands of special interests, that's ok?

Sounds like reasoning from the DLC, the Republican wing of the Democratic Party. Not surprising. Especially not to defend Kerry-the DLC's golden boy.

Oh and about Dean... Sorry. Most of Dean's money comes from ordinary people in average contributions of $75 but nice try.

Individual contributions 100%
$41,217,507

PAC contributions 0%
$24,300

Candidate self-financing 0%
$0

Other 0%
$22,965


Kerry (what a nice chunk coming from lawyers and lobbyists!)

Individual contributions 71%
$19,907,895

PAC contributions 0%
$73,784

Candidate self-financing
$2,887,966
10%

Federal Matching program 0%
$0

Other 19%
$5,339,696


http://www.opensecrets.org/presidential/sector.asp?id=N00000245&cycle=2004

[notbush]

18. Kerry can't say

he's against the special interests, that he claims control the opposition, and be one of the largest recipients of bundled special interest money himself.
Kerry ain't no Dean

[kaitykaity]

20. Gee, according to the vocal contingent of Kerry supporters,

Kerry has already suffered the slings and arrows of attack politics. So this article must be misleading, since it implies that the worst of the scrutiny is yet to come.

Right? Right? Right?

:eyes: