There's so many illicit affairs going around the conservative circles, it's hard to keep up with who's screwing who? But I'm sure you can figure it out just by listening to the media.
The latest I heard was the major fucking a reputable journalist received. It appears a geriatric maverick walked in on the journalist and a third party. The maverick soon jumped to conclusions and impulsively became enraged. Third party panicked so the only thing he thought to do was to bend over and grab his ankles to make 'nice' to the maverick. Guess being fucked by a maverick with no scruples turned him on more than some silly old journalist.
Ever wonder why the media has become lazy in doing their job lately? It's about power, money and greed.
"I respect you, I admire you", "I will not take a backseat to anyone", "I've fought the lobbyists", "I'm going to fight for you."
This coming from a person whose entire campaign is funded by lobbyists and special interests groups.
McCain likes to use other politician's phrases because he has none of his own.
These phrases were all spoken by previous Democrats.....Truman, Kennedy and Al Gore.
"do-nothing congress", "get this country moving again", and "I will fight for you"
I think one of the things that we would have expected perhaps least would be that John McCain would be quoting Al Gore.
I think McCain is beginning to believe his own lies or he really has lost his bearings.
McCain professes to have 'fought' the lobbyists. How exactly did he fight them when they currently finance his presidential campaign? McCain had more federal lobbyists than any presidential candidate running for president in this election!
Meet some of McCain's lobbyist buddies currently with the campaign.
Robert Wood Johnson IV, the billionaire heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune and owner of the New York Jets has personally given more than $1 million to Republican candidates and committees over the years.
But this year, he emerged as perhaps the party’s most coveted donor. In May, after turning his office into a war room for more than a month and making sometimes 50 calls a day, he orchestrated a fund-raiser in New York City that brought in $7 million in a single evening for Mr. McCain, by far the largest amount collected up to that point by a campaign that had been struggling to raise money.
Charlie Black, chief adviser. One of the pioneering figures in the burgeoning Washington industry that combines campaign consulting with big-time corporate lobbying. He has worked in every presidential campaign since 1976, earning a reputation as a master strategist and developing contacts. Last year, according to a tally by the Center for Responsive Politics, his firm, BKSH & Associates, reported income of $8.1 million from a client roster that included AT&T, General Motors, General Electric, JP Morgan Chase, Lockheed Martin, Occidental Petroleum and gaming-industry giant GTECH. He also has represented numerous foreign governments. Black severed his ties with the lobbying firm in March.
Kirk Blalock, fundraiser. Blalock is chairman of Young Professionals for McCain. In the 2000 race, he became a Pioneer in the Bush campaign by raising at least $100,000. He later became the White House director for business outreach, working to rally support for the president's tax-cut bills. In 2002, he joined the firm of Fierce, Isakowitz. The firm's client list includes the Business Roundtable, which since 2003 has paid $1.2 million in fees; defense contractor EADS, which since 2005 has paid $900,000; and the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, which since 2006 has paid $810,000. The firm also lobbies for Peru, Vietnam, and the Korean International Trade Association.
Carlos E. Bonilla, campaign economic adviser. Bonilla is a lobbyist with The Washington Group, a large firm that touts its ability to work with Democrats and Republicans. After a stint as an economist with the House Budget Committee, he joined the George W. Bush White House, serving as special assistant to the president for economic policy. Since joining The Washington Group in 2003, he has lobbied on behalf of such clients as Time Warner, Motorola and National Public Radio. The Washington Group's revenues in 2007 were $4.82 million.
Kirsten Chadwick, fundraiser. Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper, described Chadwick as "a prolific fundraiser." She is finance director of Young Professionals for McCain. As a special assistant to the president, she worked in the Bush White House on trade issues, promoting the Central American Free Trade Agreement. She lobbies with the lobbying firm of Fierce, Isakowitz & Blalock, whose 2007 revenues were $7.4 million. She recently lobbied the White House and the U.S. trade representative on behalf of defense contractor EADS North America. Her clients have also included Time Warner, Motorola and United Parcel Service.
Bryan Cunningham, fundraiser. An attorney, Cunningham worked for Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., as a staffer on the Republican High Tech Task Force in 2003. He later became a lobbyist for Cisco Systems. In 2005, he joined the powerhouse lobbying firm Barbour Griffith & Rogers as director of legislative affairs for technology and telecommunications. According to a tally by the Center for Responsive Politics, the firm's income doubled to $21 million between 2000 and 2006. Its clients have included Qwest Communications, Bell South, Lockheed Martin, Daimler Chrysler and Phillip Morris.
Rick Davis, campaign manager. With partner Paul Manafort, who held positions in the Ford and Reagan administrations, Davis built his lobbying business, Davis Manafort, even as he continued to consult on political campaigns. While many lobbyists approach a variety of federal agencies, forms that Davis filed for his work on behalf of such clients as SBC Telecommunications, Bell South and Verizon show that he lobbied only the Senate. Davis took a leave from the firm in 2006. He also managed McCain's 2000 presidential campaign. He was deputy campaign manager in Bob Dole's 1996 campaign.
Christian Ferry, deputy campaign manager. In 2004 and 2005, Ferry and Rick Davis lobbied on behalf of Scottsdale-based Preserve Luke Air Force Base LLC. They received $125,000 in the lobbying effort, which aimed to keep Luke off the Defense Department's list of bases recommended for closure. Ferry worked from 2003 to 2005 at Davis Manafort, where his clients also included SBC Telecomm, Verizon and Airborne Express.
Timothy P. McKone, fundraiser. In 1996, McKone took a leave of absence from his post as chief lobbyist for SBC Communications Corp. (formerly Southwestern Bell) to serve as director of government affairs for the 1996 Republican convention in San Diego. In 1998, as a partner in the Davis Manafort firm, he lobbied for SBC and Comcast on telecommunications issues and Fruit of the Loom on trade issues. He is now a lobbyist for AT&T, which reported spending more than $15.5 million on its 2007 lobbying efforts.
Peter Madigan, fundraiser. Partner in the lobbying firm of Johnson, Madigan, Peck, Boland & Stewart, which had revenue of $5.9 million in 2007. The company's Web site boasts that he has "a proven track record of assisting corporations with removal of congressional barriers for merger and acquisition" efforts of clients. A Washington veteran, Madigan in the 1980s was a congressional staffer and then an official in the Office of Management and Budget. After the 2000 elections, he worked on the Bush/Cheney transition team as chief of staff to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick.
Mike Meece, fundraiser. After stints as a deputy chief of staff at the Commerce Department and as a special assistant to the president in the George W. Bush White House, Meece in 2006 started his own small lobby firm. The Meece Group had $1.4 million in revenue in 2007. There, his clients have included Qualcomm and Comcast, as well as the Coca-Cola Company. Last year, he was joined by Laura Pemberton, who had been a policy adviser to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
James L. Pitts, fundraiser. During the Reagan administration, Pitts did advance work for the president's trips. Then he served on the staff of Vice President Dan Quayle, and in 1992 became political director of the Bush-Quayle campaign for re-election. Together with Bill Kristol, he launched The Weekly Standard in 1995, a conservative magazine, where he served as publisher until 1997. He joined Mike Murphy, senior strategist in the 2000 McCain campaign, in founding DC Navigators, a lobbying and communications firm.
John Timmons, fundraiser. Timmons has lobbied on behalf of America West Airlines, AT&T, Time Warner and other corporations with business before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. He has held the positions of legislative counsel to Sen. McCain, deputy assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Transportation, and minority counsel to the Senate Commerce Committee. He is a founding partner of The Cormac Group, a small Washington lobbying firm whose revenues have grown from $780,000 in 2001 to $2.4 million in 2007, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Sources: Center for Responsive Politics, CQ MoneyLine, lobbying disclosure forms, lobbying firm Web sites, Republic research.
Simply the best government that money can buy. Is this a "Who's Who" of special interests or a Rogues Gallery of swine at the trough?
Eric Burgeson, former energy policy adviser. Resigned after revelations that he was the leader of the energy lobbying effort at the firm of Barbour Griffith & Rogers. That put him at odds with the new McCain campaign rule prohibiting volunteers from providing advice on issues involved in their lobbying. He is a former chief of staff to Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman. Barbour Griffith & Rogers had $21 million in revenue in 2006.
Doug Davenport, former regional campaign manager. A DCI Group lobbyist with an extensive political background. Resigned his campaign spot. While his name has been removed from the DCI Web site, in the past it reported that he worked as deputy political director of the 1996 Republican National Convention in San Diego. It also reported that he served on the political staff of Republican presidential candidate and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole and in the re-election campaign of George H.W. Bush. DCI Group had $3.08 million in revenue in 2007.
Doug Goodyear, former convention manager. A Scottsdale resident who had been selected by the McCain campaign to manage the Republican National Convention, he resigned after garnering attention for his work as a lobbyist representing Myanmar's (Burma) military junta. He said he did not want "to become a distraction in this campaign.'' Goodyear is CEO and founding partner of the DCI Group, which has offices in Washington and Phoenix. Since its start in 2001, the firm has lobbied for earmarks on behalf of the University of Arizona and Northern Arizona University. Its corporate clients have included Qualcomm, AT&T, General Motors, Goldman Sachs and Lockheed Martin. Since April of 2005, Goodyear and his wife Carla have donated $51,000 to Republican candidates and organizations, according to the records of the Center for Responsive Politics.
Tom Loeffler, former co-chairman and national finance director. Resigned shortly after revelations that his lobbying firm, The Loeffler Group, had been paid $15 million by Saudi Arabia. A Republican congressman from Texas from 1979 to 1987, Loeffler held fundraising positions in the presidential campaigns of former Texas Sen. Phil Gramm and former Kansas Sen. Bob Dole. Raised more than $300,000 for the 2004 Bush campaign; was designated a "Super Ranger." Last year, Loeffler Group's $3.08 million in revenues from U.S. clients included $180,000 from AT&T; $240,000 from Qualcomm; $240,000 from Southwest Airlines, and $120,000 from the National Association of Broadcasters.
Craig Shirley, former consultant to McCain campaign. A public relations veteran with long ties to Republican causes, Shirley was asked by the McCain campaign to step down because of his work for an independent group that has lampooned Hillary Clinton and is now taking aim at Barack Obama. Participation in such groups, which conduct public campaigns intended to influence federal elections, is sharply restricted under new rules issued by the McCain campaign. Politico.com reported that Shirley's company, Shirley & Banister Public Affairs, did public relations work for the movie "Stolen Honor," which attacked former Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry for undermining the treatment of Vietnam veterans. The film complemented efforts of the group "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth."
Other noted donors:
Clarence P. Cazalot, Jr.: Chief Executive Officer of Marathon Oil Corporation - Total Annual Compensation for fiscal year 2007 was $5,158,000
Ray R. Irani, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Occidental Petroleum. According to Forbes.com, his five-year total compensation between 2001-2005 was $127,447,000
James Mulva, CEO and Chairman of ConocoPhillips Co.,
David O'ReillyChairman and CEO of Chevron/Texaco for eight years. Chevron's market cap has increased by $100 billion on his watch, and its proven reserves have almost doubled.
Andrew Liveris - Chairman and CEO of the DOW chemical company. Liveris serves on the board of directors of Citigroup, the world’s leading financial services company. He is chairman of the board of the US-China Business Council; a vice-chair of the US Business Council; an officer of the American Chemistry Council and the International Council of Chemical Associations; and is a member of the United States Climate Action Partnership. Liveris is also a member of the following organizations: the American Australian Association, the Business Roundtable, the Detroit Economic Club, the National Petroleum Council, and the Société de Chimie Industrielle. Liveris is also a trustee of Tufts University
McKesson Corp:Health Care Services - Annual Revenue: $92,977,000,000
Valero Energy CorpSecond quarter 2008 income-$734 million
The Huffington Post wrote that in 1996, 1997, McCain submitted a bill that would prevent political candidates from paying lobbyists.
A direct quote from McCain:
"Registered lobbyists who work for campaigns as fundraisers clearly represent a conflict of interest," he added. "When a campaign employs an individual who also lobbies that Member, the perception of undue and unfair influence is raised."
How these politicians can possibly think that I, a registered Independent female voter, could ever vote for the nauseating status quo, is beyond me.
McCain and George W. Bush are joined at the hip. No transparency and repeats the same old lies to the american people. It's beyond outrageous but even more outrageous are those people who are willing participants in the takedown of this country. Don't let yourselves be fooled into drinking McCain's koolaid.
Even more sickening is how the lazy ass media is taking a vacation from real press over that of a "country first, family last" pin-up girl from Alaska. I don't buy her bio, not one iota.
Rick Davis quote
..."This election is not about issues," said Davis. "This election is about a composite view of what people take away from these candidates."
That's where you're wrong. Honest, hard working americans do care about the issues. They're wondering if they're going to be able to make their mortgage, pay their utilities, car and medical ins bills, car pymts, and heaven forbid, hospital bills in case an emergency arises.
But you wouldn't know about that, would you Rick? And by looking at the list of coffers, McCain and Palin don't either.
If you don't put the people of America first, there will no country.