It strikes me as rather amusing in how the Associated Press is continuing to try and equate Democratic actions with Republican ones. This becomes even more amusing when one actually looks at the facts they give you in these articles. It's like trying to equate a nuclear bomb with an artillery round from the Civil War. It just doesn't work.
Yet, still, they try.
By SHARON THEIMER, Associated Press Writer Tue Jun 10, 3:39 PM ET
WASHINGTON - Barack Obama and John McCain are billing themselves as distant from special interests. It doesn't take a very deep look into their White House bids to see that's false advertising.
Presidential races tap into the same political circles that keep lobbyists employed and the revolving door spinning. Obama and McCain have a long way to go to free themselves of insiders and special interests.
Wow. What a powerful introduction. Sounds like they're both a couple of big fat hypocrites, right?
Wrong. Very, very wrong. Follow the jump for a breakdown.
Ms. Theimer starts by pointing out that about a third of McCain's "Reagan alumni" are registered lobbyists, and points out two particular ones. These are from his national campaign offices. The comparison then swings to Obama, and she names two people from his Nevada caucus organizing group in January. That's all she comes up with at this point. It would seem that John McSame has far more lobbyists, and in higher positions, but maybe, maybe, she's making a legitimate point.
Sadly for her, she blows it with this next section:
McCain's advisory committee on legal issues, announced last month, included at least nine lobbyists, but McCain didn't identify them as such. Instead, his campaign listed them with their former government positions. In addition, the committee has members with lobbying ties, included at least five partners in Washington law and lobby firms who weren't personally registered to lobby and three former lobbyists.
Obama accepted an endorsement from former Sen. Don Riegle of Michigan but never mentioned Riegle also is a Washington lobbyist whose clients include London-based metals merchant Norimet Ltd. and Geneva-based liquor distributor SPI Group SA.
I bolded the Obama part so one could see the distinction, which apparently escaped Ms. Theimer and her superiors at the AP. McCain's committee (that would be a working group within the campaign) has nine registered lobbyists, three former lobbyists, and five lawyers who work in lobbying firms. Obama accepted an endorsement from a former U.S. Senator who now lobbies but, and this is key, doesn't work for the campaign. Perhaps my brain is a little mushy from all the heat and storms pounding the area, but how is that even close to be equivalent to each other?
Again, let's review. John McSame has multiple lobbyists working on his national campaign at this moment. Barack Obama accepted the endorsement of a former Senator who is now a lobbyist. Pardon my French, but WTF?!
This repeats itself further down in the story. It's sick, really sick, how this false narrative gets printed, when anyone with two eyes and a fraction of an IQ can see the difference.
McCain announced in January an ex-aide to presidential brother and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush agreed to help run "Lawyers for McCain" in Florida. Hayden Dempsey is a lobbyist with Greenberg Traurig, whose former star lobbyist, Jack Abramoff, was investigated by McCain when he was chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. Dempsey's state client list includes businesses that also lobby in Washington: the Amerigroup health-care company, MAXIMUS information technology firm and UnitedHealth Group insurance company.
Technology experts who endorsed Obama include Andrew McLaughlin, who lobbied Congress and the Bush administration on trade issues for Google Inc. last year with McCain donor and former McCain Senate chief counsel Pablo Chavez; and Ed Zander, chief executive of Motorola, an Illinois-based communications company that lobbies in Washington.
Again, story demonstrates that McCain has lawyers working for him, one of whom is buddy-buddy with our good friend Jack Abramoff. You'd think that this would be a flashing red light, but then again, that would require a competent media that being concerned with the truth instead of coming up with false equivalence to be "balanced." Being Fox "fair and balanced" is not their jobs, reporting the truth and the facts are, and the facts don't match up with their narrative, but God forbid that facts get in the way of a narrative. Anyways, on with the comparison.
As I was saying, McCain has lobbyists working for him. Obama has been endorsed by other lobbyists. Which is worse? Hmmm.....thinking really hard here.....I know I've got it......DING DING DING! It's the guy who has lobbyists working for him.
We've seen in this primary season that some people, like Obama, receive endorsements they may or may not want, and others, like Johnny McSame, seek out these people to work for them, and only turn their backs on them when it becomes publicly inconvenient to have them around. Yet, the AP, in its desire to be "fair and balanced," simply makes an ass of themselves.
We need to keep demanding more of our media. We deserve better than this tripe from Sharon Theimer.