The online activist group MoveOn.org wants Americans to be scared of a country run by another Republican president has produced a video that calls attention to what MoveOn sees as the outrageous positions of the current leading candidates, John McCain, Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee.
Talking metaphorically about the U.S. military presence in Iraq, McCain says Americans don’t care whether it lasts up to 10,000 years. The clip cuts away mid-thought to highlight that statement. Romney is featured defending the military base in Guantanamo, Cuba, that houses terrorism suspects and says it should be doubled. And Huckabee calls for amending the Constitution to fit “God’s standards.”
The video closes with a warning that “We can’t let them win” and an appeal for donations to MoveOn.
Categories: Politics, Lobbying, Mitt Romney, John McCain, AdWatch, Mike Huckabee
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Ten-time World Series of Poker Champion Doyle Brunson doesn’t care much the ban on Internet gambling enacted last year — and he doesn’t understand it much, either, because so many people love poker.
“America wants poker. … All the presidents play poker,” Brunson said in an interview posted online by the Poker Players Alliance. “The Supreme Court justices play poker. The lawyers, the judges. I don’t understand it.”
So does that mean Brunson thinks President Bush and Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts are closet Internet gamblers? It’s tough to say, but he said he was so troubled by enactment of the ban that he briefly stopped playing in poker tournaments. “For the first time, I lost my passion for poker simply because that happened.”
But Brunson has the passion back now that Barney Frank, D-Mass., has the reins of power in the House Financial Services Committee and is pushing legislation to repeal the Internet gambling ban. “I think if there’s any avid poker players out there, call your congressmen and support Barney Frank,” Brunson said.
Categories: Massachusetts, Technology, Barney Frank, Lobbying, Social Policy
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Yesterday’s congressional testimony about the Iraq war by Army Gen. David Petraeus was not well-received in some quarters even before it was given, and online activists are urging the “D.C. establishment” to think twice before listening to Petraeus.
Salon.com blogger Glenn Greenwald introduced a Web site and online petition drive aimed at lawmakers. He called it “a first step to begin pressuring the D.C. establishment to heed the will of the American people with regard to this war.”
Greenwald warned that anything Petraeus says should “be viewed with extreme skepticism” because of his past statements about the war.
“It is indisputably true that claims of great progress from General Petraeus are anything but new,” Greenwald said in a video introducing the Stop the D.C. Establishment campaign. “Quite the contrary, General Petraeus has spent virtually the entire Iraq year, almost four years now, repeatedly assuring Americans that things are going well there and that substantial progress is being made.”
Another online activist group, meanwhile, found itself the target of criticism yesterday over its attack against Petraeus. MoveOn.org ran a full-page advertisement in The New York Times under a headline that suggested Petraeus has betrayed his country by “cooking the books [about the war] for the White House.”
The ad prompted an outcry from Republicans and an editorial of condemnation in The Wall Street Journal this morning.
Categories: Military, Producer's Picks, Iraq, Lobbying
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Arizona Republican John McCain took a break from his presidential campaign today to talk about lobbying and ethics legislation on the Senate floor. On the same day, his presidential campaign released an advertisement about the topic.
“Only by breaking the iron triangle of big money, special-interest lobbyists and the legislation they buy can sovereignty be restored to the American people, integrity be reclaimed for our political syste and our public institutions [be] reformed to better serve the interests of the United States,” McCain said in the ad. “Our democracy is not for sale.”
The Senate passed the ethics legislation by a vote of 83-14, clearing it to President Bush. But McCain voted against it because it would not require online disclosure of “earmarks” for lawmakers’ pet projects when the earmarks are in the House-Senate conference reports to spending bills.
Categories: Arizona, Sen. John McCain, Ethics, Lobbying, John McCain, AdWatch
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The House today passed a lobbying and ethics bill that Democratic leaders said is aimed at eliminating the “culture of corruption” that plagued Congress under Republican rule. The vote was 411-8.
The legislation would force disclosures about the campaign contributions “bundled” by lobbyists, and it would require members to recuse themselves from consideration of any matters where they have conflicts of interest.
The measure also would deny pension benefits to members of Congress convicted of crimes. “There is no reason for taxpayers to subsidize criminal behavior of members of Congress,” said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md.
Categories: Maryland, Producer's Picks, Ethics, Lobbying, Steny Hoyer
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