Obama Beats McCain in Defense Contributions
Until war profiteers are forbidden from making contributions to political campaigns, we will always have wars. Despite widespread opposition to the surge in Iraq and now the escalation in Afghanistan, politicians of both parties fight the American people tooth and nail to give military contractors the fuel contracts, bombs and spare parts, and replacement contracts for every hideously expensive piece of hardware blown up (helicopters, Humvees.) This is not to mention the immeasurable human cost. The following is how the top contributions from the "defense" industry breaks down, according to the citizen watchdog Maplight.org:
Defense/aerospace, from maplight.org
Top 10 Recipients
Recipient Amount
Barack Obama $422,281
Christopher Dodd $296,200
John Murtha $275,200
John McCain $248,796
Ike Skelton $248,700
Joseph Lieberman $238,800
Daniel Inouye $204,500
Richard Shelby $200,094
John Kerry $192,750
Kay Granger $190,750
Defense electronics, from maplight
Top 10 Recipients Funded
Recipient Amount
John Murtha $700,875
Barack Obama $304,328
James Moran $265,550
John McCain $247,372
C. W. Young $234,750
Richard Shelby $212,400
Ike Skelton $195,434
Bill Nelson $193,550
Jerry Lewis $188,200
Steve Israel $188,020
The money is spread out among both Democrats and Republicans. The wars keep rolling on.
"War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small 'inside' group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes." - General Smedley Butler, USMC, Double Medal of Honor Winner
- History of General Smedley Butler, USMC
- Butler's book online, "War is a Racket"