Obama biggest recipient of BP cash

Obama biggest recipient of BP cash

www.politico.com

While the BP oil geyser pumps millions of gallons of petroleum into the Gulf of Mexico, President Barack Obama and members of Congress may have to answer for the millions in campaign contributions they’ve taken from the oil and gas giant over the years.

BP and its employees have given more than $3.5 million to federal candidates over the past 20 years, with the largest chunk of their money going to Obama,

(visit the link for the full news article)

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. The Obama administration has been good to BP

www.washingtonpost.com...

Lets see how much press this gets. Anybody think that this will get the same press as the Bush/Cheney "Big Oil" reports?



www.politico.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

I wonder if he'll donate that money for disaster relief in the Gulf.

reply to post by dolphinfan


You're missing a key point. It only matters if the politician in question is a Republican. Since Obama is not a Republican, it doesn't matter. Everyone else does it, so its OK if he does, too. That's pretty much the standard excuse for everything he does. Its alright, everyone else is just as bad.

[edit on 5-5-2010 by vor78]

reply to post by dolphinfan


I doubt it will get any press. With as much of a stranglehold this administration has on the media , the only people that will probably report on it is FOX, I know people hate to hear that 4 letter word but, once again, objectivity is key here, not the news outlet.

Also notice how people havent been screaming about how long it took him to react to this disaster..........apparently hes not Bush and this isnt Katrina hmm?

Why should anyone be surprised by this.

There isn't anything he could do to surprise me at this point.

The American people got this guys number.

Originally posted by justinsweatt
I wonder if he'll donate that money for disaster relief in the Gulf.

HAHHH!!! Now that's funny! It should be a skit on SNL.



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[edit on Wed May 5 2010 by DontTreadOnMe]

reply to post by dolphinfan


Well taking into consideration how the game is played in this nation, our politicians are bought and sold by the big interest running the nation.

Oil is the number one money giver, followed by big pharma and third comes insurance company.

With that said, don't expect anything that will be done against the big three.

Occurs the financial system in the last few weeks has increased their spending for the whores in congress by 75% since the financial reform started

Edit: Correction. This money came from the EMPLOYEES of BP. NOT a PAC or the company itself. See this post.

reply to post by dolphinfan


Good for Politico for reporting it. Lobbies should be illegal. This is sickening! I mean, the election process is all messed up.

How does the White House get away with denying this?



[edit on 5/5/2010 by Benevolent Heretic]

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic


Im not sure man, but theres corruption to the core.

We HAVE to get this government under control and get these guys out of there, ALL of them, Republicans, Democrats, the whole lot.

The corruption runs SO deep, that it doesnt matter if you had jesus christ as the president, hed be tainted by the time he walked through the front door of the whitehouse...

Its like a plague that eats away at everything it touches.......the corruption is a virus that needs to be stopped before we will ever have any hope of having an administration who will be TRULY for the people instead of power and money........

Originally posted by vor78
reply to post by dolphinfan

 

You're missing a key point. It only matters if the politician in question is a Republican. Since Obama is not a Republican, it doesn't matter. Everyone else does it, so its OK if he does, too. That's pretty much the standard excuse for everything he does. Its alright, everyone else is just as bad.

[edit on 5-5-2010 by vor78]

If your Republican, everything a Republican does is ok.
If your Democrat, everything a Democrat does is ok.

Life goes on.

Well, here's what I find interesting. There's NO listing for "BP" in OpenSecrets for Obama.

MANY companies take their employee's contributions to a candidate and bundle them together. Couldn't this be what the $$77,051 was? Contributions from employees? I mean, what huge oil company would give a measly 77K? That doesn't make sense.

The OP source states:

During his time in the Senate and while running for president, Obama received a total of $77,051 from the oil giant and is the top recipient of BP PAC and individual money over the past 20 years, according to financial disclosure records.

WHOSE financial disclosure records?

The second paragraph states:

BP and its employees have given more than $3.5 million to federal candidates over the past 20 years, with the largest chunk of their money going to Obama, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Donations come from a mix of employees and the company’s political action committees — $2.89 million flowed to campaigns from BP-related PACs and about $638,000 came from individuals.

So, 3.5 million has gone to federal candidates. These donations come from a mix of employees and PACs. $638K came from the employees. Couldn't the 77K that Obama received have all come from BP employees?

I'm not defending him, I just want to understand. I want the truth. I mean, let's see the records, not just an article that doesn't give the whole story.

[edit on 5/5/2010 by Benevolent Heretic]

I went to the Open Secrets page and did a look up on Obama's donors and put BP in the EMPLOYER space (all the INDIVIDUALS who worked at PB who donated) and added them all up and it came to $87,201. So, it was the EMPLOYEES of BP who donated to Obama, not a PAC and not the company, itself.

So... what's the problem here?

ManBehindTheMask, I agree with you about the corruption in government, but I think it's important to have the truth. And it looks like someone is trying to spin this against Obama...

reply to post by marg6043


Actually, General Electric donates more money to politicians than the entire oil industry combined. One firm.

You want to know why folks in government are pushing these alternative energy solutions that make no economic sense? Its because GE is spiffing these gents.

You can hate "big oil" and "big Pharma" all you want, but in terms of throwing money around, GE has them all beat

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic


Let me ask you this, and feel free to be as honest or dishonest in your answer, but if this had been George W. Bush would have this sort of lassiez faire attitude going on about campaign contributions?

Now the BP donations are chump change compared to the Goldman Sachs donations and here lies my second question? Do you feel the same way about rObama's connections to Goldman Sachs as well? What's the big deal?

Originally posted by justinsweatt
Let me ask you this, and feel free to be as honest or dishonest in your answer, but if this had been George W. Bush would have this sort of lassiez faire attitude going on about campaign contributions?

I'm honest. There's no reason for me to be otherwise.

I don't have a lassiez faire attitude about this. My first post in this thread was pretty irate, if you'll notice. Then I started looking further into it instead of blindly swallowing what the media spews out in order to make me feel one way or the other.

Regarding George Bush, I would have responded initially the same way I did here. With disgust. And I probably wouldn't have looked further, but his supporters probably would have. And if the contributions were shown to come from individuals instead of the corporation, I would have changed my tune, as I did here.

Now the BP donations are chump change compared to the Goldman Sachs donations and here lies my second question? Do you feel the same way about rObama's connections to Goldman Sachs as well?

The same thing holds true. There are 13 pages of Goldman Sach's individual employees who donated. The money did not come from PACs or the corporation, according to Open Secrets.

Source

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).

If you have something to show me that is contrary to this, I'd LOVE to look at it.

God Bless Corporate America!!!

Anyway, Obama was taking money from anyone who would give it. Getting some cash from environmentalists and oil companies at the same time.

He's been playing both sides and catering to mostly just one....the big ass CORPORATIONS.

And both Mr. Hannity and Beck talked about this today btw. I think it was the only time Hannity has ever sad a bad thing, if you can even call it bad, about the oil industry since this whole thing happened.

He sure as hell hasn't mentioned Halliburton.

It's the f'n corporations people!!! Yes, the same wealthiest 400 families (who have wealth equal to the lower 50 percent of our population, 150 MILLION people) that people are defending having their tax increased are the same AHOLES that are pillaging the rest of the country through lies and corruption THROUGH our government.

But NAH, the SUPREME COURT RULING giving CORPORATIONS the rights of a HUMAN BEING was protecting 1st Amendment rights!!! A victory for free speech!!

That was the mantra of many people here on ATS....

[edit on 5-5-2010 by David9176]

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic


Thanks for answering my questions, I appreciate it. Concerning Goldman Sachs, isn't a PAC run with money from the corporation that is being represented by it?

"Most PACs are directly connected to specific corporations, labor groups, or recognized political parties. Examples of these PACs include Microsoft (a corporate PAC) and the Teamsters Union (organized labor). These PACs may solicit contributions from their employees or members and make contributions in the PACs name to candidates or political parties."
Source

From Bob Ostertag at Huffington Post

When Barack Obama pulled out of public campaign financing, I wrote a column about his money machine, noting that despite all the small Internet donors, his campaign is still mostly funded in the most traditional of ways. Numerous readers taking offense at my characterization of Obama's fundraising as dominated by "fat cats." In light of new details on Obama's fundraising which have become available, now would be a good time to revisit this issue. Adding a layer of small Internet donations (45% of Obama's money) on top of all the traditional campaign money (55% of Obama's money) does not change the game of politics and money. It just adds another layer to the same old cake. To really change the game, one would need to replace all that traditional money with small Internet donations. ... Just think through the basics: if on one side you have over a million people giving you little donations that make up 45% of your budget, and on the other side you have a handful of people giving you big donations that make up 55% of your budget, whose telephone calls are you going to take?

source

In essence, I cannot take the rhetoric that Obama espouses concerning campaign finance reform seriously as it has been made painfully obvious that he used "get elected at any cost" tactics that he will be held accountable for at a later date. We're seeing that already with his stall of the Bi-Partisan finance reform bill (that Grayson and Paul have both fought for) to make sure that the Fed remains as secretive and unaccounted for as ever.

OOPS wrong topic LMAO

[edit on 043131p://bWednesday2010 by Stormdancer777]

oops wrong topic, LMAO

[edit on 043131p://bWednesday2010 by Stormdancer777]