FEC Report: John McCain's Campaign Finances

  This is an interesting look at the John McCain campaign money trail. So just what is the McCain camp doing with its cash? Follow me...

SUMMER 2007 REPEAT? The McCain campaign’s balance sheet is starting to bleed red ink and look like it did last summer. Spending skyrocketed in June to $27 million, and the campaign spent $4.8 million more money then it took in, including the cash from its joint fundraising committees.

BLOAT SHOWING? The latest filing shows twenty-five staffers (not counting any consultants) taking home more then $7000/month after taxes, likely meaning more $10,000 a month each. Seven are taking home more then $9,000/month after taxes.  More

  Here is just a snapshot of where John McCain is getting his cash from...

   Another $100,000 From Lobbyists, For A Total Of $774,735 From 525 Federal Lobbyists Since 2007. In June 2008, McCain’s campaign collected $99,220. $57,595 of this total was collected by the campaign (from 54 lobbyists, 32 of whom had previously given). $41,625 was directed to the McCain campaign through the Victory Fund; these contributions came from 49 lobbyists, 20 of whom had previously given.       McCainpedia

   Go here here to check out what sectors are giving how much to the McCain clan.

   The following are the top donators to the campaign.

• $191,895 From “Mega-Lobbyists” Representing Multi-National Companies In More Than One Sector.

• $80,426 From Energy Lobbyists.

• $66,530 From Telecom Lobbyists.

• $60,540 From Financial Services Lobbyists.

• $54,832 From Health Care/HMO Lobbyists.

Technorati Tags: John McCain,elections,FEC,lobbyist

McCain Website Targeting Youth

   This will be an interesting effort in futility for the McCain group. McCain's group is going to add a little zest to his website in order to attract the younger group of voters. I take it that John McCain hasn't figured out yet that the youth in the United States are very Internet savoy people and that they have already heard about the crap which has come out of his mouth over the past few weeks. They surely know when he has flip-flopped on the issues and when he has flat out lied about issues.

   But, he may still get some of Mister 30%  young followers, as they have to be either brain-washed or brain-dead to be still supporting a Bush or a McCain.

  Once again, McCain is trying to be like Barack Obama with his website, which will never happen. These are desperate times for the lousy Senator from Arizona as Obama leads McCain in the youth vote by some 22% points in the states of Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania.  Source

    All are must haves for McCain and Obama.

    I wonder what McCain's version of MySpace will look like when the site is up? What a scary thought.

Technorati Tags: John McCain,Barack Obama,youth vote,elections

Bloggers Unite Against FISA Bill Supporters

  Bloggers on both sides of the political isle are uniting against those Senators who voted in favor of giving Bush and his friends in the telecom industry amnesty for their help in illegally spying on us.

  Democrat and Republican bloggers have gone on a money raising campaign in the last weeks to buy TV ads in order to punish political members who voted yes on the bill early in the month.

  One such idiot who voted in favor of this crap was Chris Carney ( D ) from Pennsylvania, who has had an ad run about his vote recently. The ad says:

  "Chris Carney is surrendering to Bush and Cheney the same un-American spying powers they have in Russia and communist China."   Source

  I would note that the ad was bought by some of Carney's fellow Democratic lawmakers, so there is hope maybe for the party yet.

   We still have a long way to go in targeting all of the Democrats who voted for this piece of crap bill, so let us all support the efforts to not only embarrass these people, but to also remove them from office when their elections come up!

Technorati Tags: FISA,Democrats,Republicans,bloggers

Countdown: McCain Makes False Assertion on CBS News

  Keith Olberman busted both CBS News and John McCain on McCain's interview with Katie Couric. This one concerned the " surge " of our troops in Iraq from a comment made by Barack Obama.

CBS Distorts McCain Interview

Technorati Tags: John McCain,Iraq,CBS,Katie Couric,Keith Olberman

Republican Foreign Energy Policy= $4.00 Gallon Gas, And Rising

  Of course you all know that the Republican's have been trying to blame the gas price increases on the fact that the Democrats have refused to let ExxonMobile and the rest of that sorry group drill for more oil in Alaska and on our shores.

  You and I also know that this is just a load of crap and that the Republicans are attempting to pass the buck when they are the guilty party.

  A few comments from our Congress concerning the Republicans and gas prices.

Chairman Markey:“Two Oil Men + Two Terms = $4.00 a gallon gasoline.”

Rep. DeFazio:“The Republicans are saying now, “It’s the Democrats’ fault.” No. We’re living under the failure of the Republican oil industry’s energy policy. There’s actually 164,968,695 reasons why we’re living under that. That’s the amount of money the Republican party has received from the oil industry in the last 18 years. One hundred and sixty four million dollars in political contributions. That’s a pretty big motivation.”

Rep. Hodes:“Let us remember that we have two oilmen in the White House, and $4 dollar a gallon gas today. Let us remember that we have an energy policy that was made in secret by the Vice President, by the oil companies, for the oil companies, and of the oil companies, and today we are reaping the benefits of that secret energy policy on which we have been stonewalled time and time again.”  Source

  Of course, the Republicans have had more than a few of the Democrats on the oil company payrolls, but it is basically George Bush and Dick Cheney who have a major hand in our price at the pumps irregardless of supply and demand and the rest of that hocus pocus.

Technorati Tags: Republicans,oil market,gas prices,George Bush,Dick Cheney,ExxonMobile

More Of John McCain's Past Votes On Issues

  I am bringing you small bits of the votes that John McCain has taken in the past on such things as worker rights, minimum wages increases, and on and on. So look at a few of these, will you?

McCAIN OPPOSED A MINIMUM WAGE INCREASE

McCain Voted Against a Clean Minimum Wage Increase for Working Families. McCain voted with the Republicans in 2007 to stall a clean minimum wage increase for working families—before bowing to public pressure and voting to pass the final bill that included tax breaks for businesses. He even voted to completely repeal the minimum wage laws in 45 states and allow the other five states to opt out of any future minimum wage increases above $5.15 an hour. [H.R. 2, Vote #23, 1/24/07; Vote #24, 1/24/07; Vote #25, 1/25/07; Vote #37, 1/31/07; Vote #39, 1/31/07; Vote #42, 1/31/07; S. 2766, Vote #179, 6/21/06; S. 256, Vote #26, 3/7/05]

McCain Called Connecting the Minimum Wage Debate to Senate Pay Raises ‘A Clever Ploy.’ When the Senate was debating a minimum wage increase in 2006 and the Senate’s many pay raises over the past decade were brought up, McCain called the comparison “a very clever ploy.” He defended his opposition to the minimum wage increase, saying he had foregone Senate pay raises, “…sometimes to the dismay of my family.” However, McCain’s 2005 personal financial disclosure reported that his family held assets worth between $27 million and $42 million, which generated income between $1.8 million and $4.6 million. Clearly his situation is not comparable to that of working families making the minimum wage. [ABC News, 7/2/06; McCain 2005 Personal Financial Disclosure Statement]

OVERTIME

McCain Voted Against Protections for Workers’ Overtime Rights. McCain voted against protecting workers’ overtime pay from Bush administration rules that threaten the overtime rights of 6 million workers. [S. 1637, Vote #79, 5/4/04]

WORKERS’ HEALTH AND SAFETY

McCain Opposed Worker Safety and Ergonomic Standards. McCain voted to block the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) from issuing, implementing or enforcing standards to protect workers from ergonomic injuries. [H.R. 4577, Vote #143, 6/22/00]

McCain Voted to Gut the Family and Medical Leave Act. In 1993, before finally voting for the Family and Medical Leave Act, McCain voted to jeopardize leave for millions of workers by gutting the bill. He voted to suspend the act unless the federal government either certified that compliance would not increase costs for business or provided financial assistance to businesses to cover any costs associated with implementing the law. [S. Amdt. 16, S. 5, Vote #7, 2/4/93; H.R. 1, Vote #11, 2/4/93]

  The above comes from the AFL-CIO

Technorati Tags: John McCain,worker rights,minimum wage

John McCain's Views and Voting History

  Let me introduce you to a site that I ran across this morning. It is called Working Families Vote 2008 and the section that the link points to concerns Senator McCain and his views/votes on healthcare. There are many other issues on which McCain has voted for you to take a look at if you wish.

  Just a small sample of info on

             HEALTHCARE

     John McCain’s health care proposal is similar to President Bush’s failed plan. Like Bush’s, McCain’s plan undermines existing employer-based health care and pushes workers into the private market to fight big insurance companies on their own. It will reduce benefits, increase costs and leave many with no health care at all.

New Tax on Working Families. McCain wants to shift the burden from employers to workers. He will make health care premiums part of taxable income, essentially creating a new tax for working families.

Leaves Workers at the Mercy of Big Insurance Companies.McCain’s efforts to “eliminate the bias” toward employer-based health care will encourage employers to stop offering health care, pushing workers into an unregulated private insurance market to fend for themselves. Big insurance companies will be free to weed out people with health care needs, charge excessive premiums and limit benefits.  more here

Technorati Tags: John McCain,healthcare,Working Families

Nancy Pelosi Calls Bush a "total failure"

     As if House Speaker Pelosi has any room to talk. That's for another day though.

     Bush has been giving the Congress hell as of late because our " do nothing " Congress has yet to pass even one single government spending bill and the Congress has only 26 days left of this session.

    Pelosi was on CNN on Thursday and this is what she had to say about Bush after his remarks.

    "You know, God bless him, bless his heart, president of the United States, a total failure, losing all credibility with the American people on the economy, on the war, on energy, you name the subject," Pelosi replied. She then tsk-tsked Bush for "challenging Congress when we are trying to sweep up after his mess over and over and over again."

  President Bush's approval rating is now at 28%, while the Congress enjoys a much lower 18% rating. It was at 23% just one month ago.

Technorati Tags: Nancy Pelosi,Congress,George Bush,elections