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Friday, June 20, 2008
The Small Donor-Fallacy: Don’t believe the hype!
Posted by Justin Jeffre
I’ve written a lot about the undue influence of big money and how it nullifies honest elections. This election year, people are excited because more candidates are getting small donations, but are these small donors really changing things? In the best democracy money can buy, small change brings a modicum of change and campaign finance reform is still too important to be left to corporate politicians.
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04 Jul 2008 at 06:58 am | #
When I learned that the Obama campaign counts people who buy campaign swag like key chains and bumper stickers among their “contributors” I almost puked. Yes, they’re giving money to the campaign. But it’s not like they’re making the effort to write a check and mail it in, or contribute online. They’re buying crap at rallies. not the same thing.
04 Jul 2008 at 05:27 pm | #
They arent Mailing Checks or contributing online Urbanists II?Quit being delusional! Here again is a list of your main mans top contribution list!
Obamas Top Donations
Goldman Sachs $571,330
University of California $466,410
UBS AG $364,556
JPMorgan Chase & Co $364,157
Citigroup Inc $360,304
National Amusements Inc $322,050
Lehman Brothers $319,147
Harvard University $315,624
Google Inc $309,714
Sidley Austin LLP $294,445
Skadden, Arps et al $278,163
Time Warner $264,977
Morgan Stanley $260,376
Jones Day $249,375
Exelon Corp $236,211
Latham & Watkins $220,865
Wilmerhale Llp $220,230
University of Chicago $219,707
Microsoft Corp $206,942
General Electric $206,579
He also has taken a check from every ceo and wife of every major oil company.. Are these small donors to you urbanist II? I bet these people didnt even care if they got a bumper sticker or not do you?
This can all be seen at opensecrets.org Wake up to Reality
04 Jul 2008 at 05:31 pm | #
Maybe I should add the top part in as well for Urbanist II
Barack Obama (D)
Top Contributors
This table lists the top donors to this candidate in the 2008 election cycle. The organizations themselves did not donate , rather the money came from the organization’s PAC, its individual members or employees or owners, and those individuals’ immediate families. Organization totals include subsidiaries and affiliates.
Because of contribution limits, organizations that bundle together many individual contributions are often among the top donors to presidential candidates. These contributions can come from the organization’s members or employees (and their families). The organization may support one candidate, or hedge its bets by supporting multiple candidates. Groups with national networks of donors - like EMILY’s List and Club for Growth - make for particularly big bundlers.
Goldman Sachs $571,330
University of California $466,410
UBS AG $364,556
JPMorgan Chase & Co $364,157
Citigroup Inc $360,304
National Amusements Inc $322,050
Lehman Brothers $319,147
Harvard University $315,624
Google Inc $309,714
Sidley Austin LLP $294,445
Skadden, Arps et al $278,163
Time Warner $264,977
Morgan Stanley $260,376
Jones Day $249,375
Exelon Corp $236,211
Latham & Watkins $220,865
Wilmerhale Llp $220,230
University of Chicago $219,707
Microsoft Corp $206,942
General Electric $206,579
04 Jul 2008 at 05:59 pm | #
I can understand what you are saying Urbanist Im sorry.. you are saying that there are small people that are buying bumper stickers and they are counted as “contributors”.. Obama likes that because he wants everyone to believe his money is coming from ordinary people that have no “special interest” Even though he is making people that do that count, How can he ignore the facts of the enormous donations that have been made by special interests?? How can Obama keep bragging that he doesnt accept that kind of money?? It is Sick!
05 Jul 2008 at 12:25 pm | #
It’s been clear that big business has tested the winds and that they are hedging their bets with Obama. They’ve been comfortable with him and he’s moving to the right to secure their support.
Obama’s getting more Republican money than McCain. As Noam Chomsky says, We have a “fake democracy in which the public is hardly more than an irrelevant onlooker”. He says the major candidates are much farther to the right than public opinion. He says, the public is now Irrelevant.
My friend sent me this article about Obama’s shift to the right. The NY Times calls it “a pragmatists shift to the center”. My friend said, “By “the center,” of course, they don’t mean the political center among the people. On things like the war, health care, etc., that “center” is way too radical for the Big Money that counts in America. They mean “the center” in terms of those with the wealth and power to count. After all, the presidency is an office set up for them.”
05 Jul 2008 at 01:44 pm | #
Obama has hidden alot of his stances on major issues by simply voting “present” instead of yes or no in the senate. He has done this with calculation towards the presidency. He didnt want anyone to know where he stood so he could “change with the popular wind of the time” when he ran for his long planned run for president.
It is a shame he does not have a backbone and has been allowed to get away with this because of the Illinois Law,, I at some point in this election he is going to be exposed for what he truely is as some point. Obama thinks he is playing the system and the American people like fiddles and at some point it is ALL going to catch up with him. He is going to slip up on something he said before and it will surface just like it did with John Kerry.(FlipFlop) When you have no backbone you tend to forget things you have said in the past! (Im not saying Mccain doesnt have any of these either) I just have a huge problem by the way Obama has tried to hide who he really is by voting “Present”