Republicans Hit Obama Over Oil Contributions
It appears the McCain campaign has gotten a bit of a break in the energy wars, with OpenSecrets.org issuing a new report that says Obama has received more from execs and employees at the very biggest oil companies than McCain has...
While McCain has raised considerably more money from this unpopular industry, CRP was surprised to notice that it's actually Obama who has received more from the pockets of employees at several of Big Oil's biggest and most recognizable companies. Tallying contributions by employees in the industry and their families, we found that Exxon, Chevron and BP have all contributed more money to Obama than to McCain.
The RNC quickly rushed out a statement hammering Obama over the report. "Barack Obama's attacks on John McCain demonstrate very poor judgment on his part, given that he voted for the 2005 energy bill and John McCain did not, and given that he has taken the most money from Big Oil's very biggest," emailed RNC spokesperson Liz Mair.
It isn't every day that the Repubs use the phrase "Big Oil" -- are we seeing mockery of Dem rhetoric, or the appropriation of it?
The methodology of the study is worth noting: It tallies up the contributions of people at three of the biggest companies (and their families), finding they were more generous to Obama. But at the same time, the study notes that overall, McCain has hauled in three times more money from the industry than Obama has.
Late Update: The Dems respond with a bit of mockery, issuing a statement from the "Exxon-McCain campaign."
Our political opponents can try to muddy the waters if they want, but Big Oil has steered more than $2 million to the Exxon-McCain 08 campaign for a reason. John McCain's promise of more of the same reckless giveaways and tax breaks for Big Oil and obstruction of alternatives to oil is exactly what Big Oil is looking for, which is why Exxon-McCain is their ticket this November.
Late Late Update: It's also worth noting that the sort of contributions included in this study from low-level employees at, say, Exxon is hardly comparable to the sort of exec bundling for McCain that went on at Hess.
Let me guess... they include anyone who puts down that they work for Exxon even if they are just a gas station worker.
August 7, 2008 5:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
That is how the information is tallied. We need to take look at donation sizes. Were there 2300 people giving an average of $50 or 50 giving an average of $2,300? What do you bet Obama has an ad out tomorrow.
August 7, 2008 5:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
ExACTLY!!
August 7, 2008 5:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
to make it short: Obama gets money from the working class and McCain gets it from the fat cats.
August 7, 2008 6:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
The thing, Obama is going to end up getting more money from every industry. Because at the end of the day, he'll probably raise 10x as much money as McCain. If I were Obama, I'd twist it around and point out (as he undoubtedly has) that it's people making small-dollar contributions funding his campaign, while John McCain relies on millionaire oil executives funneling money through the Republican money machine.
August 7, 2008 6:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oooooops!
Greg: I honestly think you should be reposting from Commentary Magazine here. This site has a serious problem understanding the Republican mindset and those guys have a way of explaining it in a few paragraphs in the blogs. I've been watching for since The Tour and so far everything they said has materialized.
August 7, 2008 5:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
not sure what you mean...as in, they anticipate what the Repubs are gonna do in advance?
August 7, 2008 5:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
They are republicans.
Jennifer Rubin has an excellent blog, that reads like a full-blown script of an upcoming jab at Obama.
Preview: "“America is …, uh, is no longer, uh … what it could be, what it once was" followed by New Michelle debating Old Michelle
August 7, 2008 5:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Advice to Obama: ignore this. The idea that McCain is the candidate of big oil after 8 years of Bush is something the American people will absolutely believe in, so I hope he keeps out there hammering McCain.
http://strategy08.wordpress.com
August 7, 2008 5:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
I guess that I am unimpressed by the premise of the attack that contributions from employees of an industry equals contributions from that industry. When Exxon funds a PAC to give money to candidates, that is clearly an indication that Exxon likes that candidate and a voter is legitimately entitled to regard that information as casting a pall of suspicion over the decisions that said candidate later makes vis-a-vis Exxon's industry. When an accountant at Exxon gives money to a candidate, however, it is not so clear to me that this has anything to do with the accountant's concern for the company that employs him. It could be that the accountant likes the candidates plan for public schools, or individual income taxes, or stem-cell research (etc and so forth).
I just cannot see my way from the premise "Sen X took a lot of money from airline employees" to the conclusion "Sen X is in the pocket of the airlines." Employees are not PACs.
August 7, 2008 5:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Exactly. 4 simple words that cut through the BS. Rinse, lather, repeat -- over and over.
August 7, 2008 5:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Or, "Employees are not Employers." De-unionization has guaranteed that.
August 7, 2008 8:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hi
It's Paris again. I'd like to say a few things about the wrinkly white haired guy who picked on me.
Well have any of you heard about the horrible names he has called his wife . Or the joke he has told about the gorrila rapping a women and she liked it.
Well that old white haired wrinkly guy can't get away with treating me like he does his wife.
I have set up a web site www.oldwhitehairdwrinklyguy.com
outlining in stark detail these past comments along with others where he jokes about beating his wife among other things.
I'm a straight talking broad as he might call me. Well here is some straight talk for that old guy.
You just shouldn't have got me mad.
Paris
August 7, 2008 5:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
This garbage is so inane. Comparing contributions from oil companies and from employees of oil companies? Give me an effing break.
August 7, 2008 5:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well the Hess office manager was just an employee...
August 7, 2008 5:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
Enough with the "Honesty and facts" routine...back in line...Give me an "O"...!!! Give me a "B"...!!!
August 8, 2008 8:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
The article seems to go out of it's way to try and link Obama to oil. Cherry picking facts and figures to make it's argument work. Of course that was all McCain needed and now can run an add "Opensecrets.com says Obama gets more from Big Oil than McCain"...
August 7, 2008 5:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
...and McCain gets more from Medium oil and Small oil...still running the numbers on Tiny and Nano oil...
August 8, 2008 9:07 AM | Reply | Permalink
Those motherfuckers -
Which means there is not one honest goddamn thing about their conclusion.
August 7, 2008 5:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
pretty much...
August 7, 2008 5:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thats how I see it. Study is meant to be anti-Obama while clearly McBush is the one who got the benefit.
Its meant to make Obama look bad. In fact Obama should come out with an ad saying so that McCain got 3 times more money and say that he would tax the companies despite their support to him.
August 7, 2008 6:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Simple rebuttal:
"Oil companies themselves bankroll Sen. McCain's campaign because they believe Sen. McCain will do what is best for oil companies. Individual people who work at oil companies contribute to Sen. Obama because they believe Sen. Obama will do what is best for individual people."
Can anyone distill it even more for a better slogan?
August 7, 2008 5:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's good, right on!
August 7, 2008 6:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think combining it with LuxVeritas's point is best to show that while the companies themselves (through their PACs) are giving to McCain who then changes his positions to fit their best interests while individual employees are giving to Obama because his positions are in their best interests just like most other working Americans.
or some variation on that theme.
August 7, 2008 6:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Slightly improved as noted:
"Oil companies themselves bankroll Sen. McCain's campaign because they believe Sen. McCain will do what is best for oil companies. Your gas station attendants and other individual people who work for oil companies and their families contribute to Sen. Obama because they believe Sen. Obama will do what is best for individual people."
If there is time, the ad or surrogate can point out that McCain has a stellar track record of delivering for what the oil companies pay him for (use the Hess corruption as an example.)
Anyone have the Obama campaign hotline number? :)
August 7, 2008 6:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Heh. Distill usually means reducing stuff. Lemme take a crack at it. I love ripping stuff out. Maybe I'm just a frustrated editor at heart :-)
It's shorter. Dunno if it's any sweeter.
August 7, 2008 7:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
I was not distilling it into a slogan :) I think the change to "people who pump gas" is obfuscating a bit. We happily acknowledge that oil industry employees and their families are contributing which is what this "story" was about.
August 7, 2008 8:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Gotcha. Maybe this is better:
People who pump gas...
->
Ordinary people who work there...
August 8, 2008 12:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
You can make that argument and it has some impact. It's really inside baseball for most of the population.
But Obama's hefty support from oil company employees should raise some eyebrows with people who understand the larger scheme of things and how the system really works. It isn't lost on Obama's people how much oil money is flowing into the campaign and the same is true for other industries.
What Obama will constantly need to be reminded of is that it was the little people and their little contributions that got him where he is. If he is elected, all those millions of little people will not have one single lobbyist knocking on his door arguing for their interests, but you can be assured there will be an army of them from big oil reminding him of the support he received from their employees.
August 8, 2008 12:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
That makes no sense, oleeb. "Our people gave money to you, the guy we did NOT support, so you better do what we say"?
August 8, 2008 6:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
So? Obama obviously isn't letting it affect his positions, whereas McCain CLEARLY flip-flopped for cash:
http://www.thepersonalispolitical.com/2008/08/mccains-oil-money-surge-his-vote-bought.html
August 7, 2008 6:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
McCain: Oil executives first!
August 7, 2008 6:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Straight from the Mark Penn playbook.
August 7, 2008 6:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
wait a minute, obama is funded by the oil industry and yet he supports a windfall profits tax. that's a very principled position.
August 7, 2008 6:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
excellent point...let see McFuddle's campaign answer that one! Kudos!
August 7, 2008 6:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
If it is a lot of small donations from low level employees then Obama needs to get those facts out straight away. You know McCain and Co are going to make an attack ad out of this regardless, however what Obama needs is the truth out and on his side maybe so the MSM can do their jobs and call the McCain camp out like they did on the troops/photo ad.
Opensecret.org really and to play with facts in order to support the conclusion they wanted to make. It's actually scandalous. The fact that McCain still has a 3:1 donations advantage, and a lot of those donations came after his 180 on off-shore drilling is an afterthough in this article.
August 7, 2008 6:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Seems to me if Obama is in the pocket of big oil, they didn't get much for their contributions. Obama favors a windfall profit tax on big oil. Obama does not generally favor offshore drilling, except as part of compromise to pass more alternative energy legislation.
McCain, got money from big oil, changed his position on offshore drilling and favors giving more tax breaks to big oil.
Run this by me again as to who is in the pocket of big oil...
August 7, 2008 6:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oooooo -
"ExxonMcCain '08"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Who said that - I want to put them on the short list of people I want to waltz across Texas with...
August 7, 2008 6:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
www.exxonmccain08.com
August 7, 2008 6:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Lets try that again -
http://www.democrats.org/page/content/exxon-mccain/
August 7, 2008 6:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
My goodness, Jonze, I could grow to be fond of you if you keep this up.
;)
Thank you - that is awesome.
August 7, 2008 6:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
OpenSecrets.org reading a box score:
Team A 000 010 100 2
Team B 201 001 020 6
It might look like Team B won this game. But if you only add up runs scored in the fifth and seventh innings, Team A won.
August 7, 2008 6:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Exactly they wanted their man-bites-dog story and cherry-picked facts in order to fit this desired narrative. It's actually a really shoddy piece.
August 7, 2008 6:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's also worth noting that the sort of contributions included in this study from low-level employees at, say, Exxon is hardly comparable to the sort of exec bundling for McCain that went on at Hess.
Glad you made that distinction. =)
August 7, 2008 6:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
So how many of the Obama contributions came after a private meeting with executives at the these oil companies? How many contributions were for the same amount and delivered on the same day?
August 7, 2008 6:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
If the Republicans want to go there than I say let them. What that will do is allow the DNC to really HAMMER McCain about Hess and company since the media isn't.
August 7, 2008 6:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
my friend work for exxon as an engineer and an obama supporter but she's not an exec. with powers....................
August 7, 2008 6:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey,
I don't post too much, but this report I really felt compelled. I've been telling people that OpenSecrets is a great resource, provided you know how to read it.
Here's something I posted over at their end because their report is actually misleading...
I often ask people to check out OpenSecrets, with the caveat that they understand what they are seeing. I never thought that I would have to give the writer of this report the same lesson, but it seems obvious you actually have trouble understanding your own data. Either that, or it is just intellectually dishonest.
you are comparing INDUSTRY contributions, such as PACs, to individual contributions from people in that industry and giving them equivalency.
For example, you say CHEVRON favors Obama. Really? Or do people who work at Chevron favor Obama? I know when I contribute, I have to put down my employer (I give smaller donations, btw). Therefore, my contributions can be parsed as part of "my company". It does not necessarily follow that I am donating on behalf of my company or its interests.
I am not saying this is IMPOSSIBLE -- but unless you expect all candidates' contributors to be unemployed, then this standard every candidate receives from "companies".
The data you provide in your spreadsheet doesn't break down whether it is 50 contributors giving $2300, or 2300 contributors giving $50. It makes a difference.
And repeat after me: EMPLOYEES ARE NOT PACS.
August 7, 2008 6:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, and here's something else. I did my homework. Their spreadsheet is also somewhat misleading, because they give you this whole Excel document, but don't break down the contributions...
So:
I did find the source on OpenSecrets for Chevron's contributions. Let's look at Obama's contributor breakdown, so people can honestly decide whether this represents the company, or people who work for the company, supporting Obama.
Here, I'm looking at (a) who contributed max. amount (which you'd expect from a underhanded "subsidized give") and the relative position in the company of the donor (i.e. upper management vs. the IT guy or clerk):
76 contributors (for $36,557)
- Three (3) $2300 contributions. Individuals could be considered "upper management"
- One (1) $1500 (Engineer)
- Nine (9) $1000 contributions (mainly middle mgmt. and engineering staff)
- Twelve (12) $500 contributions (middle mgmt. mostly, some IT staff and a lawyer)
- Ten (10) contributions between $413-$264 (IT workers, accountants, various middle and floor managers)
- Thirty-Nine (39) contributions between $250-$200 from various positions ranging from IT, to the graphic design staff, engineers, some middle management, and one retired
I'll let you judge what picture this paints vs. a PAC. However, I thought I should fill-in some of the gaps in the report to create a somewhat fairer report.
August 7, 2008 6:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
What a disappointing, sloppy effort from the Center for Responsive Politics (an org that I have supported in the past). They really put the implied vowel into their acronym this time.
Another thing that they should have pointed out - ESPECIALLY since they referenced/linked the Hess Oil bs - is that they were not even counting the $28,500 contributions that oil execs (not many lower level employees doing it) gave TO THE PARTIES' EFFORTS! Count those, and I'll bet the McCain-to-Obama ratio goes from 3/1 to more like 6/1.
August 7, 2008 6:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, and let's not forget to count the oil and gas LOBYISTS'gifts - not even counting the oil and gas lobbyists on McCain's campaign.
By the way, not-really-off-topic (if you read the whole long account) is an article from one of Arizona's best journalists (two-time Press Club Journo of the Year) going over John McCain's history in AZ. (It came out today and I've only read the first page or two.) CHECK IT OUT: http://phoenixnewtimes.com/2008-08-07/news/postmodern-mccain-the-john-mccain-some-arizonans-know-and-loathe/ (By the way, her opening anecdote meshes well with my first impressions of him when I was a young news reporter covering his first campaign for the Senate.)
August 7, 2008 7:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm bookmarking that - it's long, but it's really good.
I did remember Keating, but not in detail - and goddamn doesn't that sound like a very familiar scenario? I mean very very familiar?
Thanks,
August 7, 2008 7:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks. Here's a link to the "print this" version, so that you don't have to keep hitting "next page"!: http://phoenixnewtimes.com/content/printVersion/848709
I've read more of it myself, and that anecdote about how he at one time risked support for the CAP by engineering a pants-ing of our new Governor... and then denied involvement talking to her, is simply outrageous!
August 7, 2008 7:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Axis of Evil = Bush Cheney McCain
August 7, 2008 7:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
I like my response better than the Dems...
August 7, 2008 8:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Surprise!
Big Oil is going to cover all its bases in the only way they know how.
Take their windfall profits, Obama, and let them give to your campaign, too!
Why not?
August 8, 2008 12:02 AM | Reply | Permalink
What a drock. When I have donated the $250.00 in $20 increments to Barack Obama over the past year, I have to list my employment. It makes perfect sense that people employed by the various oil companies would donate to Barack Obama. Geologists, engineers, HR departments, finance departments, technical writers, secretaries--ANYONE working in the U.S. for oil companies would see the writing on the wall and vote against Bush's failed policies and McCain's faulty vision (or lack thereof) with donations to Obama's campaign. What a tempest in a teapot. Give me a break. What you fail to mention is that Barack Obama is not in the pocket of big oil. McCain lines his pocket with light sweet crude. Or, is it crud?
August 8, 2008 7:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
I’m trying to turn the tables on the McCain folks and their stupid tire gauge stunt. I’m having gauges made and selling them on eBay in hopes of raising $2300 for Obama (the max contribution). If you are down, can you please forward this on to other like minded folks. Thanks!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110277515563
August 8, 2008 10:50 AM | Reply | Permalink