Exposed: McCain Team Includes 83 Wall Street Lobbyists

[tekisui]

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/McCain_team_includes_83_Wall_Street_0917.html

As Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) rails against Wall Street while concurrently benefiting from its largesse, some journalists are getting tired.

David Corn -- an investigative reporter formerly with The Nation and currently reporting for Mother Jones -- has printed a list of 83 Wall Street lobbyists he says are working for or have bundled contributions for McCain. The Democratic National Committee has previously accused McCain of using 177 lobbyists either as campaign aides, advisers or fundraisers.

Corn notes that former Sen. Phil Gramm, the Arizona senator's onetime campaign chairman and economic adviser, slipped into law a provision that kept credit default swaps unregulated, dramatically kindling to the current financial fires.

"Of those 177 lobbyists, according to a Mother Jones review of Senate and House records, at least 83 have in recent years lobbied for the financial industry McCain now attacks," Corn writes. "These are high-paid influence-peddlers who have been working the corridors of the nation's capital to win favors and special treatment for investment banks, securities firms, hedge funds, accounting outfits, and insurance companies. Their clients have included AIG, the newest symbol of corporate excess; Lehman Brothers, which filed for bankruptcy on Monday sending the stock market into a tailspin; Merrill Lynch, which was bought out by Bank of America this week; and Washington Mutual, the banking giant that could be the next to fall.

"Among these 83 lobbyists are McCain's chief political adviser, Charlie Black (JP Morgan, Washington Mutual Bank, Freddie Mac, Mortgage Bankers Association of America); McCain's national finance co-chairman, Wayne Berman (AIG, Blackstone, Credit Suisse, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac); the campaign's congressional liaison, John Green (Carlyle Group, Citigroup, Icahn Associates, Fannie Mae); McCain's veep vetter, Arthur Culvahouse (Fannie Mae); and McCain's transition planning chief, William Timmons Sr. (Citigroup, Freddie Mac, Vanguard Group)."

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[FrenchieCat]

1. Shit......that's like a long ass list!

:wow:

[ellacott]

2. That list could be longer

He dismissed a lot of lobbyists during the summer.

[progressoid]

3. Let's see a TV ad with that info in it!

Of course, there are so many things to make ads about, it's staggering.

[Bjorn Against]

4. This needs to be in an ad

I sure do see the names Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and AIG in that list several times. This needs to be plastered all over the place, the American people need to know that John McCain's team is the same team that was working for the banks that caused this mess.

[tekisui]

6. move on has a very good "my friends" ad, have you seen it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLp96Upm4vU

[Bjorn Against]

7. Thanks...

I haven't seen it yet, and YouTube isn't working right now (the site says it is under maintenance). I will make sure to watch it when I have the opportunity. Thanks for the link.

[Earth Bound Misfit]

12. OMG, that is FAN-FRIKKIN-TASTIC

Thanks for the link!!!:patriot:

[progressiveforever]

5. Now that's the kind of sugar Papa likes....

an ad in the making...oh yeah.

[WhiteTara]

8. what a crap weasel

:kick:

[Kablooie]

9. That's not so bad. It could have been 84.

[catgirl]

10. McCain lacks integrity

This is just another example.

[berni_mccoy]

11. K&R!

[Earth Bound Misfit]

13. Mid-afternoon KICK n/t

[WillyT]

14. Big K & R !!!

:kick: