Dems To McCain: Won't You Join Obama In Cracking Down On Foreign Lobbying?
Call it the Embarrass Rick Davis Act of 2008.
Rick Davis, of course, is John McCain's campaign manager, and has taken a hit for doing business with companies with ties to Iran. Now Barack Obama has signed on as a co-sponsor of a bill to subject American lobbyists like Davis to tighter disclosure requirements if they work on behalf of foreign entities.
During a conference call with reporters, Sen. Chuck Schumer insisted the bill wasn't primarily influenced by Davis, but instead by some lobbying activities by the Iraqi government that were discovered in recent weeks. However, he said, Davis would be affected by the bill.
Schumer invited McCain to sign on as a co-sponsor of the bill -- a pretty aggressive throwing down of the gauntlet, since it puts McCain in the tough spot of either signing on, and making life difficult for all the lobbyists on his campaign, or refusing, and ceding the reformer high ground to Obama.
No comment yet from the McCain camp.
Not a day goes by when the Obama campaign doesn't do something that makes me think, "Wow, what a deft, shrewd politician he is."
And to quote Phil Hartman's "Victor Kiam" character: "When I say 'politician,' I mean it in a GOOD way!"
June 12, 2008 4:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
Of course I meant PARAPHRASE, not QUOTE.
RIP Phil, you're missed.
June 12, 2008 4:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
You know what, I'm a horrible chess player, I'm impatient, I'm constantly falling for traps that your normal person would recognize. But as soon I saw Obama campaign both take the high road in terms of not taking lobbyist money and having all money run through them(thus eliminating all 527's) - even I saw that chess move a million miles away. If no one on Team McCain saw this coming, John doesn't need to become anyones president.
June 12, 2008 4:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
*snicker*
I couldn't agree more muso.
The Dem party is really surprising me in this election(in a good way). Boxed McCain in - nicely.
Expect more of these types of bills to surface.
June 12, 2008 4:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is why we have to suffer with Lieberman for another seven months! If we kicked him out, we'd lose our majority and our ability to bring up bills in the Senate and force votes that would embarrass McCain.
Well played, Sanator. Well played!
June 12, 2008 4:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
John McBush couldn't have aided and abetted the Iranian enemy of the United States any more if he tried.
Therefore, he must have.
June 12, 2008 4:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wasn't that him out yelling at a cloud earlier today?
June 12, 2008 4:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's weird seeing the Democrats display coordination.
June 12, 2008 4:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes. Very disorienting. But fun, too!
June 12, 2008 4:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
I know, it's weird, isn't it? They seem to have something like...a plan, or something. I'm not used to this. It's freaking me out.
June 12, 2008 10:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bush McCain have pissed $2.7 Trillion down
their Iraq Hole. They have charged it to their Chinese Credit Card.
Bush McCain wants to continue pissing trillions more down the same Iraq Hole, and yet he claims that it is not having a negative effect on our economy.
http://money.cnn.com/2008/06/11/news/economy/iraq_war_hearing/index.htm?cnn=yes
June 12, 2008 4:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
"No comment yet from the McCain camp."
I am looking forward to a snide yet ineffective comment from so-called Tucker Bounds.
June 12, 2008 4:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
The McCain camp held a conference call with the press late Thursday to say, "Bill Ayers?"
June 12, 2008 5:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
I hope we'll see a parade of these bills, not just to expose McCain, but to highlight all the good stuff that we can't get passed unless the voters give us more Democratic senators. I've been waiting for this since January '07.
The best part is that they aren't just election-year "gotchas" like the idiotic GOP flag-burning amendments (that they only push in election years because they don't really want them to pass, they want to be able to use them again and again.) These are measures that we actually believe are good for the country, and that we will pass if we get the votes.
June 12, 2008 4:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
I looked into flag-burning vs. cross-burning a while back. There's maybe a 10-1 ratio of crosses burning per burnt flag. And yet the Republiqueens don't seem to want to outlaw that - maybe because it will alienate a good chunk of their base?
June 12, 2008 4:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obama and the Dems are hot right now....Tsssss
June 12, 2008 4:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Man, the Obama team in full court press mode -- what a spectacle!!
June 12, 2008 4:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
I have a feeling the McCain camp will not respond at all. Just try to ignore it and hope it goes away.
June 12, 2008 4:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Good government scares them. They don't know how to respond to that.
June 12, 2008 10:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Lick my chocolate bottom, Johnny.
June 12, 2008 5:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
What you do the think the over-under is for St. John's inevitable on-camera explosion? 10 days? A month?
June 12, 2008 5:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
I can't wait to see how the McCain camp responds to this one. This was a smart play, and it shines the spotlight directly onto the McCain campaign staff.
June 12, 2008 5:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, I've been waiting for comment. So far, nothing. I bet this has the McCamp scrambling....
hee hee hee hee.
This makes me think I would NOT want to play chess with Obama. Check!
June 12, 2008 5:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
CNN just did a full segment on "Why lobbyists get a bad rap". Basically, it was a repeat of Clinton's "Lobbyists Are People Too", in cable news format. And you wonder why they're pushing the "Clinton for VP" meme so hard.
You got to love when the media that we are supposed to be relying on to keep us informed are instead busy making excuses (in advance, no less) for the type behavior that we as voters should be wary of. Corporate media rocks!
June 12, 2008 5:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
I wrote it earlier today, I'll write it again, CNN is crap.
June 12, 2008 5:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
HuffPo has a great look at Mr. Rick "Undermining National Interests" Davis -
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/12/mccain-lobbyist-scandal-c_n_106832.html
June 12, 2008 7:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Imagine a world where the upper echelons of both John McCain's and Hillary Clinton's campaign staffs can no longer find work in any capacity related to politics and government . . . Where their single ability to impact political discourse is their personal vote at their local polls (provided their access to the right to vote has not been suspended due to a felony conviction).
Why do I have an urge to listen to John Lennon cds?
June 12, 2008 9:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
The GOP and McOld is in for a ride of their life... there's a new leader in town and he has deployed his army!
Go after the old man Dems! Lets see him decline to saponsor this bill that goes right after the manager of his campaign. The kingpin himself, Davis Rick.
Kudos dems! Keep it up...
June 12, 2008 10:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
One more thing, the democratic party has earned my monthly contributions... this is GREAT!
June 12, 2008 11:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
mcsame is stuck promising to do things as presnit that he will NOT DO right now as a US Senator ???
and Barack Obama is rubbing his face in that ???
fucking Democrats, they're the only people who would make a political argument out of politics
why is punkinhead's death the only news that is being reported ??? is this about us, or the media, cuz I don't care about punkinhead
June 13, 2008 5:45 PM | Reply | Permalink