Take note of this story today--and remember the context: Barack Obama claims to be in favor of campaign finance reform. Indeed, in 2007 he said he'd go with public financing of his campaign. But he reneged on that. And now look what his campaign is doing:
"In an effort to cast himself as independent of the influence of money on politics, Senator Barack Obama often highlights the campaign contributions of $200 or less that have amounted to fully half of the $340 million he has collected so far. But records show that one-third of his record-breaking haul has come from donations of $1,000 or more: a total of $112 million, more than Senator John McCain, Mr. Obama’s Republican rival, or Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, his opponent in the Democratic primaries, raised in contributions of that size. Behind those larger donations is a phalanx of more than 500 Obama “bundlers,” fund-raisers who have each collected contributions totaling $50,000 or more. Many of the bundlers come from industries with critical interests in Washington. Nearly three dozen of the bundlers have raised more than $500,000 each, including more than a half-dozen who have passed the $1 million mark and one or two who have exceeded $2 million, according to interviews with fund-raisers."
So what do Obama's big fund-raisers say about this? Are they glad about the access they may have bought? From the article:
"His fund-raisers invariably say their support for him is not rooted in any kind of promise of access, but rather their belief in him. “This is about Barack Obama and changing the direction of our country,” said Jonathan B. Perdue, a business consultant in Mill Valley, Calif., who has raised more than $250,000 for Mr. Obama’s campaign."
Hah! That's hilarious. Why? Because that's exactly what corporation heads and other big money men say when it comes to their donations...to ANY political candidate or cause. And what do Obama folks say about that? They laugh. They claim such statements aren't to be believed.
But I imagine they'd claim such statements from their own donors ARE to be believed.
Fundamental: call them on this obvious inconsistency and departure from principle.
