Super PAC-men: Obama’s bundlers gone wild!
Super PAC-men: Obama’s bundlers gone wild!
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2012
The White House didn’t blow a dog whistle for deep-pocketed liberal donors on Monday. No, the administration whipped out a supersized vuvuzela. Blaring message: Let loose the campaign finance-bundling hounds of super PAC war!
President Obama’s campaign manager, Jim Messina, who served as White House deputy chief of staff for operations before assuming 2012 re-election duties, announced the super PAC super-flip-flop in a mass e-mail to supporters and a blog post published on the left-wing Huffington Post website. In a related conference call to major campaign finance bundlers, Messina encouraged these high-dollar donors to start funding Priorities USA Action. That’s the Democratic super PAC founded by former White House staffers Bill Burton and Sean Sweeney.
Super PACs and campaigns are barred from coordinating with each other. Nevertheless, Messina said that “senior campaign officials as well as some White House and Cabinet officials will attend and speak at Priorities USA fundraising events.” Of course, they “won’t be soliciting contributions.” Wink-wink, nudge-nudge.
This brazen about-face for Team Obama is a goldmine of campaign lies, contortions and epic hypocrisy. Let us count the ways.
– A bundle of contradictions. “Bundling” is the rustling up of aggregate contributions from friends, business associates and employees, a practice to circumvent individual donation limits that Obama has long condemned. When he announced his presidential intentions in 2007, candidate Obama decried “the cynics, the lobbyists, the special interests who’ve turned our government into a game only they can afford to play.” He indignantly singled out “the best bundlers” who get the “greatest access” to power.
Last week, Obama acknowledged raising at least $74 million through his team of big-time bundlers who have been showered with access, tax dollars and plum patronage positions. This elite group of Hollywood celebrities (such as open-borders actress Eva Longoria), political cronies (such as Chicago bagman Louis “The Vacuum” Susman) and politically correct businessmen (such as bankrupt Solyndra investor George Kaiser) now totals a whopping 445 gold-card members.
– The roar of the revolving door. In his Monday announcement, Messina bragged about how the White House has enacted “sweeping” reforms to “close the revolving door between government and lobbyists.” In truth, the administration has widened the carousel and removed the brakes. The Obama-cheerleading Fishwrap of Record (The New York Times) itself identified at least 15 bundlers “involved in lobbying for Washington consulting shops or private companies.”
Moreover, “at least 68 of 350 Obama bundlers for the 2012 election or their spouses have served in the administration in some capacity; at least 250 of the bundlers visited the White House, and another 30 have ties to companies that conduct business with federal agencies or hope to do so in the future,” according to a recent iWatch News report. Several first-time 2012 bundlers already have snagged administration posts:
– Norma Lee Funger, of Potomac, Md., who raised between $50,000 and $100,000 for Obama, was appointed last month to the board of trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
– Glenn S. Gerstell, of Washington, D.C., who bundled the same amount, was appointed to the National Infrastructure Advisory Commission last fall.
– Richard Binder, of Bethesda, Md., another $50,000 to $100,000 bundler, was appointed to the Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health last spring.
And note: The most transparent administration ever still refuses to disclose recusal orders involving the nearly 100 lobbyists and ex-lobbyists on its payroll.
– Super PAC super-hypocrisy. “Super PACs” are federal political action committees that only make independent expenditures in support of, or in opposition to, candidates. Their birth and growth were fueled indirectly by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission (FEC) ruling in 2010. The decision overturned severe campaign finance restrictions that essentially criminalized certain forms of political speech. As Chief Justice John Roberts put it during oral arguments: “We don’t put our First Amendment rights in the hands of FEC bureaucrats.”
Until this week, the Obama administration vehemently condemned the Citizens United decision and vowed to eschew super PACs. The entities are a “threat to our democracy,” Obama railed two years ago. The ruling would “open the floodgates for special interests,” he warned. And last July, Obama campaign press secretary Ben LaBolt kept talking the anti-super PAC talk. “Neither the president nor his campaign staff or aides will fundraise for super PACs,” he asserted. Now? President Obama and his wife won’t fundraise for the democracy-undermining super PACs. But countless other Cabinet members and advisers, partying with Obama bundlers gone wild, will.
In 2007, Obama lambasted rival Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards for criticizing independent expenditures while raking in big PAC bucks: “So you can’t say yesterday you don’t believe in them, and today you have three quarters of a million dollars being spent on you. You can’t just talk the talk.”
Obama 2012 campaign motto: Empty talk? Yes, we can!
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Guess all those illegal foreign funds hasn’t started coming in for bho’s re-election yet, have they? bho has ticked off almost every business and human in the US and I’m surprised anyone will give money to that snake!
L
Hey, hey hey, this is manifestly unfair to real actresses everywhere. Celebrity yes, but actress…?
Obowmao: (rubbing hands together) It’s Boodlelicious!
Pasadena Phil has a link on another thread to Reich actually complaining about Obama’s flip-flip on Super PACs.
But then how will they arrange the next green energy “loan”?
What did anyone expect? This is the same guy who in August 2008 had millions come in on non-verified credit cards.
He will use anything and everything, especially right now when his contributions are lagging. Guido and Rocko will be visiting a lot of past donors.
Don’t forget the Chinese! Dems love to get illegal donations from the Chinese. In fact, as a favor to Obama, Al Gore is on a bicycle in a rice paddy right now, looking for Rice Paddy Girl.
Easy, they just happen to meet in a coffee shop around the corner from the WH … at the same time … on a regular basis … and discuss their personal affairs “among friends” …
WaPo has one of those informal polls on its website’s opinion page. The question: “Does President Obama’s decision to endorse a pro-Democratic super PAC undermine his criticism of the ‘Citizens United’ decision?”
Of just over 4500 respondents,
39% say yes.
61% say no.
Can most WaPo readers even spell “hypocrite”?
Yeah, break out the video from the 2011 SOTU where Oflipflopper disses the Supremes for that decision and pair it up with this flipflop and run that commercial ad nauseum until Nov 6.
All I can say is karma sucks.
Bundling.v.intr.
To sleep in the same bed while fully clothed, a custom formerly practiced by engaged couples in New England and in Wales.
An early example of pay-for-play!
Like taking a cold shower in sea water after kissing your sister, er..um..or so I’ve heard.
Care to bet whether that will happen again?
Question. Was the post on huffingtonpost written by the campaign manager? If so wouldn’t that make the huffingtonpost officially part of the Obama re-election campaign effort and have to file an FEC report?
Well they had to close the revolving door to make room for the high speed rail way between government and lobbyists.
The only reason Obama used to decry the Super PACs were because the rules did not apply to the biggest Super PAC of them all….the Unions.
Money can’t buy morals, values or integrity. It will buy corruption.
Oh great, now you tell me! (looking in empty wallet)
LOL,rogue! thanks.
Money also won’t buy happiness.
I have found it quite alright for renting happiness, however.
The really sad thing is that there are STILL a really STUPID people out there who will believe the horsecrap that the Jackass-In-Chief is going to put out there, PACs or not!?! I mean, just look at how stupid Florida was about RINO Romney’s $17 Million in lies and inuendo about Speaker Gingrich!!! If any one of those people in Florida had just done a LITTLE research on their own, they would have come to the conclusion that Willard (from the RAT movie of the same name) and his PACs were just LIARS trying to steal a primary, but NO… WILLFUL IGNORANCE EQUALS STUPIDITY!!!!! Nice goin’, STUPID Party!?!
All you have to do is look. See where the bag men are heading overseas…forums, annual greenie conventions, Arab recovery and democratization meetings, etc. That’s where they’ll make the pitches for foreign contributions.
But…no one will be watching, and no one will be drawing the lines connecting the trips by these bundlers, and their unlimited worldwide odyssey’s to the money with which they return.
When the person in power “has your back,” why fear detection or prosecution, eh?
You can put the blame for this newly created heavy influx of unidentifiable campaign contributions right at the feet of the 5 Supremes who ruled that Corporations were people. It’s obvious that the two who will benefit the most will be Romney and Obama.
Some will connect the dots and some will file complaints and once the FEC board rules on them it will come down to a 3-3 split seeing as the board consists of 3 D’s and 3 R’s who decide if it is a violation or not.
Michelle,
Here is another bundler to add to Obama’s list:
I bet you and 123 could tell some stories. You guys should hang out.
Uh….No.
Rogue, if I’ve done something to offend you, I apologize.
But as Rhett Butler pointed out…”it can buy some remarkable substitutes!”
Hollywood has gone from John Wayne, Humphrey Bogart, and Clark Gable …..
….to Toby Maguire, Ben Affleck, and Matt Damon.
Washington D.C. kind of mirrors the trend, don’t you think?
{A big “Oooooooooooo” from Peter Hughes in 5…4…3…2…1…..secs.}
Obama benefited from a “heavy influx of unidentifiable campaign contributions” in 2008, well before the Supremes got involved. Is your mind clouded from all the kool-aid you’ve been drinking?
Nah, just playin.
Yep, Hollywood has gone to the dogs like most everything else. Back then the execs went to all lengths to hide scandal. Today it’s part and parcel of the industry. I can say I haven’t paid to see a single thing coming out of that stink hole for many years.
stuckinIL4now
The juvenile Kool Aid retort? Really? That’s the best you got to support that claim?
Time to face reality. If anyone but Romney gets the nomination, you may as well get used to 4 more more years of Obama. The others have no chance of winning the 10 states that always determine who wins the Presidency.
Surprised? Why? Protection and bribery to get a piece of the action come to mind.
Excellent column.
I love it when a Newt fan calls him “Speaker” Gingrich.
That shyte cracks me up.
Does anyone recall that in 2008 he broke a pledge to run on public funds and then refused them?
Everything he says is a lie. Eventually.
Anbody else noticed the appearance of rarely seen posters pushing Romney lately? Karl Rove has friends?
It’s the price of admission, don’t you know? It’s how things are done in DC these days.
Just a hunch but I am guessing that that coffee shop is not open to the general public.
Obeyme: “I never take money from lobbyists as a matter of principle.”
Lobbyist: “Okay, tell me which guy on your reelection team I should give it to.”
Note: Only true devotees of this poor replica of a pResident can possibly believe anything he says…or does.
Why isn’t ILMC on this thread telling everyone how great Obama is?
In support of our president, and in the spirit of fairness, I think that equal amounts of access, tax dollars and plum patronage positions should be made available to candidates running against Obama so that they can provide them to THEIR donors and make everything nice and “fair”.
Yeah, spread the wealth around a little.
There are so many opportunities for the Rs to use crap like this during the campaign against Obumer.
But alas…. they never will.
Mom revoked computer access after the “F’ in Remedial Reading.
What’s with this sudden surge of patriotism? Warms my heart. Of course we can assume that there is no quid pro quo. It’s just altruism by our big corporations, unions and super wealthy contributing billions for “the people” because we can’t afford pay for government this good on our own.
We should adopt a new rule among us voters that would scorch this money, never vote for the guy with the most money. You can assume he is bought and paid for.
There is nothing real about Obummer therefore it’s foolish to believe anything that he says and the Rs can’t and won’t say anything about this or anything else because they are in on the scam and Barky knows it.
House just passed the S.T.O.C.K. bill by 417-2 vote supposedly banning insider trading by Congressmen. The bill is so full of loopholes already that it is meaningless. It is now in conference committee so the Senate crooks can iron out their differences with the House crooks.
Don’t worry, once the GOP retakes the WH and Senate, this will all go away (heh heh heh).
Yup, as in forgotten, ignored, unenforced. Pretty much SOP for anything inconveniencing our stalwart members of CONgress.
LOL. Interesting post at Newsbusters regarding the Left’s backtracking on their gross misrepresentation of the SCOTUS decision on Citzens United. It seems that decision is really pretty cool, now that the Obama campaign wants to exploit it for their own ends.
Former MSNBC GM Slams Chris Matthews, NYT and ‘Media’s Shameful, Inexcusable Distortion’ of Citizens United
I think the country’s goose is already cooked. Have you seen the trend graph of the national debt? A freaking logarithmic explosion.
Isn’t it Flyoverman who keeps reminding himself to buy more ammo?
So long as we keep re-electing the same people over and over again, I’m afraid you’re right. We have no excuses left. They are flaunting their corruption right in our faces and mocking us yet we hold our noses.
If Flyoverman needs more ammo, I’ll sell him some. I have some steel core that can’t use (pre-apocalypse) that I could be persuaded to sell him at a good price.
Will his lowball $ drop below the dollar on the campaign request by this summer? You betcha’!
Obeyme follows the Walmart biz plan.
Let me guess, banned in California?
what does that title even mean?!
Is it like “spaceycakes’ Boutique of Fabulousness and Lovely Little Gorgeous Things”?
Yep.
None of this is surprising.
Being shocked at this change in policy is like the French being “shocked” that Hitler would invade Paris.
Now will either of the front runners…
Santorum, or that guy in second place, Romney, attack Obeyme over this? They need to be relentless in their attacks.
And hey, don’t forget Obama’s other source of revenue. Internet donations. That where he makes it possible for his terrorist supporters in the PLO, Hammas and Syria make campaign contributions.
http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/2012/02/08/96098
Yup, bho has to cave again because a person without principles justifies actions with excuses. Why doesn’t he just say that the devil made him do it? Because there is nothing but evil is spewing from this administration. Everyone be damned, since bho needs to do whatever he needs to do to stay in power. This administration has sewn the seeds of its own destruction.
http://news.investors.com/EditorialCartoons/Cartoon.aspx?id=600581
No one is going to listen to:
(1) Grandma say “but I thought I was voting for Harry Truman” or “I was really voting for Biden” (to say nothing of the so-called conservative family members who make excuses for her despite listening to right-wing radio all the live-long day).
(2)or some young person who started college in 07-08 and was told they could get any car or job with a college degree in fluff and that grades didn’t matter who is now living in his/her parents basement waiting tables who still believes in “hope and change” because of Obama’s race and age.
(3) and the Walker/Kasich turncoats in Ohio and WI who voted these gentlemen in and turned their backs on them because they were worried about what people might think of them at PTA meetings.
This election, the American people will get the government they deserve.
LOL. I thought that same thing.
“Damm. Corzine and Solyndra get all this cash and all I get is this stupid title and secret decoder ring.”
Save that ammo Phil. You may need it one day.
In various states there have already been attempts to make it completely unavailable, not just restricted.
Guns are useless without it and the left knows it. They know they can’t come for the guns, so they will try to cut off the ammo. Wait and see at your own peril. BLOAT (buy lots of ammo today)