EXCLUSIVE: Debunking the myth of Obama's "BP cash"

[Political Tiger]

On Sunday's Fox News Sunday, Fox News contributor Sarah Palin ludicrously attempted to tie BP to the Obama administration by suggesting that President Obama was beholden to the corporation because of campaign donations he has received. She wondered why no one was asking "if there's any connection with the contributions made to President Obama and his administration and the support by the oil companies to the administration -- if there's any connection there to President Obama taking so doggone long to get in there, to dive in there and grasp the complexity and the potential tragedy that we are seeing here in the Gulf of Mexico."

Like clockwork, media outlets seized on Palin's accusation and cited Center for Responsive Politics' calculation that Obama had received $71,051 in BP-linked contributions for his presidential campaign. Only problem is, contrary to Palin's and the media's suggestions, all of that money came from BP employees, not BP the company. A spokesman for the Center for Responsive Politics confirmed Monday that "the $71,051 that Obama received during the 2008 election cycle was entirely from BP employees." The CRP spokesman also stated that "Obama did not accept contributions from political action committees, so none of this money is from BP's PAC. And corporations themselves are prohibited from donating directly to candidates from their corporate treasuries."

Why is this an important distinction? Because Obama raised far more money than any other candidate ever has, therefore, it is completely unsurprising that Obama also received the most amount of money from BP employees. Moreover, BP-linked contributions to Obama's campaign are a drop in the bucket when compared to Obama's total campaign haul. In addition to the $71,051 Obama received from BP-linked contributors in 2008, Obama's 2004 Senate campaign raised $6,000 from BP-linked sources, bringing Obama's total BP-related campaign contributions to 77,051. This represents less than .01 percent of the nearly $800 million that Obama raised for his campaigns.

http://mediamatters.org/blog/201005240042

[Arkana]

1. Her fucking husband used to WORK for BP

and she pranced around the country for a year and a half proclaiming that the solution to our energy crisis was "Drill, baby, drill!"

She has NO PLACE talking about someone else being in bed with oil companies. NONE. Sarah Palin has the same political credibility as Bozo the Clown.

[Political Tiger]

2. That woman is an idiot! n/t

[Cha]

4. That's where I heard "BP"

before!!

[RandomThoughts]

7. Why gripe on Bozo? He didn't do anything wrong.

He was not for drilling, and has been making comments about the better things in society for years.

The sad irony is that guy that entertained, and even taught values to many people did more good then most all the oil companies combined.

If your going to insult clowns go after the bad clowns, if a person can even find which clowns are the bad clowns.


And many people in America have been for off shore drilling, and pro oil policies for years.


People laughed at President Carter when he spoke about turning down thermostats and wearing sweaters to save energy, and moving to renewable sources of energy. They thought he was a clown, and he was correct.


So learn your clowns, and who is trying to make a difference, even while people treat them as clowns.


Tears of a Clown.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94kyxG3jY7o

Empathy has both the sharing of love and hurt, hence the motivation to make things better, and part of its good points. To know that things can get better.



Reminds me of the line again from Father Figure,

So when you remember the ones who have lied
Who said that they cared
But then laughed as you cried
Beautiful darling
Don’t think of me
Because all I ever wanted
It’s in your eyes baby, baby
And love can’t lie, no


Interesting thought, the Clown Car is a metaphor for Time Lord Tech, bigger on the inside. Tardis (Time And Relative Dimension(s) In Space) Although I think that is a metaphor and do not believe in temporal lore.

[DesertFlower]

3. i was arguing with some guy on facebook

the other day. he brought up the contributions. he also mentioned obama's social security # -- something i hadn't heard before.

anyone hear or read anything about it? it seems it's coming from the birthers.

[Arkansas Granny]

8. I read something about this the other day. Supposedly, the first three

digits of you SSN signify the state in which you were born. Wrong! While there is some relation between numbers and states, the number signifies the state in which the SSN was issued. When I was younger, it was not mandatory to have a SSN unless you were working, so many people have SSN issued in states other than their state of birth.

[Arkana]

9. Wrong indeed! My father and I were both born in MA

and yet the first three digits of our SSNs aren't the same.

[LiberalFighter]

14. The area numbers for those having their SSN issued from within MA are from:

010 to 034

If MA only had one area number assigned to everyone in MA such as 010 there would only be 10 million possible assignments.

[LiberalFighter]

13. They indicate the state where the person made their application.

Prior to about 1985, if they live in a city on the border and the nearest SS office is across the border of another state then it would indicate that state. Most likely applicants do so for job purposes when they are about 16 to 18.

About 1985 and after it should indicate the state of birth. There may be a few situations that this might not apply.


If one goes to the SSDI they will see that it provides a header of "Issued" which shows the state that it was issued from.

[Sheepshank]

57. 5 in our family

every single one of us applied for a number in Utah (really, there are not *that* many people here). The first 3 numbers the adults have are close numerically speaking. The kids (just 3 years apart) are all over the map. It may have started out with some sort of state representation, but I can't see any rhyme or reason to that state tie-in any more.

[LiberalFighter]

65. Check this out

http://www.socialsecurity.gov/employer/ssnweb.htm

[kestrel91316]

63. Correct. I was born in NV, but got my SS# assigned in CO, when I was 11 or 12.

I think it either had to do with my dad's year in Vietnam in 1969 and us being dependent minors, or the fact that I started babysitting and earning money then.

So I have a CO number starting with 5--.

[DesertFlower]

44. my husband and i were both born in

new york and our first 3 numbers are not the same. i think i got my card when i was about 14. my son was born in '61 and it was not mandatory.

[madmom]

56. That is wrong, my hubby and I were born in different states but the first three numbers on our

SS cards are the same. Yes, we did get them from the same state, because we both applied for them in the same state.I didn't apply for mine until I needed it for work, later in my teenage years.

[BklnDem75]

10. Social security # is Birther Mythology

Just call him a birther and move on. Their disease is incurable.

[DesertFlower]

45. he was annoying. not even my friend, but a

friend of a friend. he bugged me with stupid shit for 24 hours. i finally blocked him. told his friends to tell him he was blocked.

[FrenchieCat]

15. I'm confused about the SS# thingie too. Back in the days Obama was born,

children were not required to even have a Social Security number. That came later, like only in the last 23 years or so. Obama is 48, so a social security could have been issued at anytime way after his birth and would have nothing to do with proving anything about anything and so I don't get it.

[DesertFlower]

46. my son was born in '61 like obama.

it was not mandatory then.

it's just more shit for them to come up with.

i wonder what's next?

they all say it's not about race, but then i say "why do i never see a black, brown or yellow face at these tea rallies"?

[jberryhill]

48. Actually, it is not "mandatory" now, but...

...you can't claim the deduction for anyone older than something like one year, unless you include a social security number.

That's when people started getting them for their children.

Before that, it wasn't normal for kids to have them.

[jberryhill]

17. The SSN thing is a birther spinoff theory

...and goes nowhere.

[kestrel91316]

62. How have birthers become privy to Obama's SS#? Just curious.

I mean the man's an attorney and public figure. He probably keeps that private to prevent identity theft, like the rest of us.

Birthers have fanciful imaginations.

[DesertFlower]

82. here's one of the links.

http://theweek.com/article/index/203021/birthers-new-fixation-obamas-social-security-number

i wonder what these people will come up with next.

[Enrique]

5. it's a legitimate observation

it's perfectly newsworthy to report those contributions.

If Palin is drawing some conclusion about the contributions, that can be safely ignored, it's worthless.

But the contributions themselves, we need to know about that, including how they are reported, how they include donations mostly from employees of those corporations. Go to a site like Opensecrets.org, they are very clear what the numbers are.

[mkultra]

19. "how they include donations mostly from employees of those corporations"

What exactly does this mean in this context? We all know that political donations come from either people, companies, or PACS. We also know that most of the people who donate have jobs.

[jberryhill]

35. Did you look at the donation form?

You are asked to identify an employer when you donate.

Try a search here, and take a look at what you come up with in your zip code, for example.

http://www.opensecrets.org/indivs/index.php

COKER, JAMES
DUNCAN,OK 73533 HALLIBURTON/TOOL TECH 7/29/08 $1,000 Obama, Barack (D)
ENSIGN, PHILO
DENVER,CO 80209 HALLIBURTON/GEOPHYSICIST 6/7/08 $500 Obama, Barack (D)
GREENE, FORREST
DENVER,CO 80210 HALLIBURTON COMPANY/PROGRAM MANAGER 8/6/08 $250 Obama, Barack (D)
GREENE, FORREST
DENVER,CO 80210 HALLIBURTON COMPANY/PROGRAM MANAGER 9/29/08 $250 Obama, Barack (D)
GREENE, FORREST
DENVER,CO 80210 HALLIBURTON COMPANY/PROGRAM MANAGER 8/20/08 $250 Obama, Barack (D)
GUMMATTIRA, KAVERIAPPA
KATY,TX 77450 HALLIBURTON COMPANY/FINANCE & ACCOU 10/17/08 $250 Obama, Barack (D)
GUMMATTIRA, KAVERIAPPA
KATY,TX 77450 HALLIBURTON COMPANY/FINANCE & ACCOU 10/17/08 $250 Obama, Barack (D)
GUMMATTIRA, KAVERIAPPA
KATY,TX 77450 HALLIBURTON COMPANY/FINANCE & ACCOU 10/17/08 $250 Obama, Barack (D)
KILLOUGH, JOHN
HUMBLE,TX 77338 HALLIBURTON/RESEARCH FELLOW 2/6/08 $250 Obama, Barack (D)
LINDQUIST, GRETCHEN
HOUSTON,TX 77007 HALLIBURTON/IT ANALYST 6/4/08 $250 Obama, Barack (D)
NELSON, DAVID
CENTENNIAL,CO 80112 HALLIBURTON/SOFTWARE DEVELOPER 4/28/08 $1,050 Obama, Barack (D)
NELSON, DAVID
CENTENNIAL,CO 80112 HALLIBURTON/SOFTWARE DEVELOPER 3/5/08 $1,000 Obama, Barack (D)
NELSON, DAVID
CENTENNIAL,CO 80112 HALLIBURTON/SOFTWARE DEVELOPER 8/23/08 $500 Obama, Barack (D)
NELSON, DAVID
CENTENNIAL,CO 80112 HALLIBURTON/SOFTWARE DEVELOPER 8/23/08 $500 Obama, Barack (D)
NELSON, DAVID
CENTENNIAL,CO 80112 HALLIBURTON/SOFTWARE DEVELOPER 11/3/07 $250 Obama, Barack (D)
NELSON, DAVID
CENTENNIAL,CO 80112 HALLIBURTON/SOFTWARE DEVELOPER 8/23/08 $-500 Obama, Barack (D)
ROBERT, SHOCK
BRIGHTON,CO 80601 HALLIBURTON/SOFTWARE DEVELOPER 9/2/08 $250 Obama, Barack (D)
SHOCK, ROBERT
BRIGHTON,CO 80601 HALLIBURTON/SOFTWARE DEVELOPER 2/10/08 $250 Obama, Barack (D)
SINES, LAURIE
HOUSTON,TX 77077 HALLIBURTON/SOFTWARE PROJECT MANAGE 1/29/08 $250 Obama, Barack (D)
SINES, LAURIE
HOUSTON,TX 77077 HALLIBURTON/PROJECT MANAGER 8/31/08 $200 Obama, Barack (D)
SINES, LAURIE
HOUSTON,TX 77077 HALLIBURTON/SOFTWARE PROJECT MANAGE 4/29/08 $200 Obama, Barack (D)
THURMAN, MONICA
HOUSTON,TX 77021 HALLIBURTON/HUMAN RESOURCES ATTORNE 2/4/08 $500 Obama, Barack (D)
THURMAN, MONICA
HOUSTON,TX 77021 HALLIBURTON/HUMAN RESOURCES ATTORNE 2/24/08 $500 Obama, Barack (D)
THURMAN, MONICA
HOUSTON,TX 77021 HALLIBURTON/HUMAN RESOURCES ATTORNE 3/29/08 $409 Obama, Barack (D)
THURMAN, MONICA
HOUSTON,TX 77021 HALLIBURTON/HUMAN RESOURCES ATTORNE 6/6/08 $250 Obama, Barack (D)
THURMAN, MONICA
HOUSTON,TX 77021 HALLIBURTON/HUMAN RESOURCES ATTORNE 1/22/08 $250 Obama, Barack (D)
THURMAN, MONICA
HOUSTON,TX 77021 HALLIBURTON/HUMAN RESOURCES ATTORNE 1/22/08 $250 Obama, Barack (D)
THURMAN, MONICA
HOUSTON,TX 77021 HALLIBURTON/HUMAN RESOURCES ATTORNE 6/6/08 $250 Obama, Barack (D)
THURMAN, MONICA
HOUSTON,TX 77021 HALLIBURTON/HUMAN RESOURCES ATTORNE 6/6/08 $-250 Obama, Barack (D)
VELAZQUEZ, MARTIN
CARROLLTON,TX 75007 HALLIBURTON/ENGINEER 9/10/08 $201 Obama, Barack (D)
WILLIAMS, SHERRY
HOUSTON,TX 77006 HALLIBURTON COMPANY/ATTORNEY 10/24/08 $600 Obama, Barack (D)
WILLIAMS, SHERRY
HOUSTON,TX 77006 HALLIBURTON COMPANY/ATTORNEY 9/12/08 $300 Obama, Barack (D)
WILLIAMS, SHERRY D
HOUSTON,TX 77006 HALLIBURTON/VICE PRESIDENT 3/2/08 $300 Obama, Barack (

[mkultra]

54. yeah, im aware of that.

I run a search in my zip code and the results are very normal. My point is that EVERYONE who donates has a job. You are making a false assumption.

[Enrique]

58. what I'm saying is that...

is that many of the dollar amounts you read, when it says Obama got x dollars from BP for example, it means that he got x dollars from BP employees, not from BP the company. That needs to be clear, and OpenSecrets and almost all news reports do make that clear.

[DatManFromNawlins]

59. Sure, but you can't ignore the fact that...

... companies use employees to donate to political campaigns all the time. I know of a guy who is a multi-millionaire around here, who is the biggest racist jerk on the planet (Doug Stanhope even blogged about what a pathetic ass this guy was after meeting him while tailgating before the Superbowl), but he donates primarily to Democratic causes because the Democratic party in Louisiana is the one who greases his wheels. He's got single-parent receptionists making $25K a year donating large amounts to local politicians.

[Enrique]

60. I totally agree

I assume that's why you have to report your employer when you donate, and why sources like OpenSecrets adds donations up that way and reports them that way. I think it's totally fair to say Obama got a lot of money from BP, as long as they say what exactly that means.

[mkultra]

61. If they say it, they must say that it is from employees

Otherwise, its slant. Assuming that employee donations are bought is pretty assumptive considering that the PACs can give almost unlimited funds.

[jberryhill]

83. Yeah, and in that context 70K would be chicken feed

The "accurate" reports are calling these "BP-linked contributions", as if there was some connection between a pump jockey paying $50 and the corporate prerogatives of BP.

It is silly.

[Cha]

6. Thanks Political Tiger!

Haven't seen you around here lately..good to see you.:)

[Political Tiger]

11. Hi Cha! Good to see you too!

I had to take a break from DU, it was just too depressing to login and see the endless, nonsense oriented whining and moaning about Obama. I see not much has changed, but I think the break did me good.

[Cha]

12. I took a break yesterday and

it did me good(I can imagine your's). I have the BOG as my Home Page and a lot of Ignores so I have my own way of dealing.:)

[Dr Fate]

16. Good. Then he should have no trouble returning every penny of it. Or better yet...

...putting it towards the clean up effort.

Then he could go in front of the cameras & challenge Palin, plus every Republican & Blue Dog to do the same.

Should not be a problem, since we just identified the exact amount & original sources with such pin-point accuracy.

I know, I know, he cant/wont do that b/c (insert excuse here.)

[jberryhill]

18. WTF?

Why should he return any donation made by someone who happens to work for BP?

Some minimum wage dude pumping gas on the turnpike donated $50, and this should be disowned for some reason?

Post your make not sense does.

[Dr Fate]

20. If BP money to doesnt matter, then WTF is the point of the OP?

If Obama took ZERO dollars from BP, ZERO dollars from their CEOs, ZERO dollars from organizations they fund, etc.-then he needs to make that clear. He needs to state it in certain terms.

"I have taken ZERO dollars from BP. Period."

If he took money from them, then I'm just saying it would be good PR & a great way to build political capital to give to the clean up effort, then challenge the GOP & Blue Dogs to do the same.

Now comes the part where you make an excuse for why he wont do that.

[geek tragedy]

22. There is no need to 'excuse' him from offering to return

money he did not get.

[Dr Fate]

29. The article says he got over $71K

In addition to the $71,051 Obama received from BP-linked contributors in 2008, Obama's 2004 Senate campaign raised $6,000 from BP-linked sources, bringing Obama's total BP-related campaign contributions to 77,051. This represents less than .01 percent of the nearly $800 million that Obama raised for his campaigns.

[Number23]

23. Wow. This post makes less sense than your first one

[geek tragedy]

24. Obama should offer to return all that money he never got,

and only an Obamabot sheeple would disagree!

[Dr Fate]

27. The article says he got over $71K

In addition to the $71,051 Obama received from BP-linked contributors in 2008, Obama's 2004 Senate campaign raised $6,000 from BP-linked sources, bringing Obama's total BP-related campaign contributions to 77,051. This represents less than .01 percent of the nearly $800 million that Obama raised for his campaigns.

[geek tragedy]

36. $71K from employees, not the company.

He's supposed to say "fuck you" to the gas station manager?

[Dr Fate]

40. No- he donates it to the clean up effort, then challenges the GOP/Blue Dogs to do the same.

No need to cuss out some gas station manager.

If the gas station guy a good DEM and a good Liberal, he would support such an effrot.

[jberryhill]

43. It's a campaign fund, not a personal slush fund

The money can't be donated to something else just because the candidate feels like it.

[Dr Fate]

66. I'd love to see Obama challenge the GOP & the Blue Dogs to return their Big Oil contributions.

But he cant issue such a challenge unless he does it first.

I've never heard of the law that says a politician cant put tainted campaign funds towards some charitiable effort.

I'd love to see someone bring a legal challennge against Obama for doing so- Obama would win out in the court of public opition on this one.

BUT- instead, we will just make excuses.

[Dr Fate]

25. So the public would oppose Obama if he gave the $75K to the clean up effort...

...and then challenged the GOP & the Blue Dogs to do the same- to donate their Big Oil contributions to the clean up?

I'll bet the public & the average voter would find some sense in it.

[Number23]

32. Yikes.

[mkultra]

64. again with the smear

Its not a "big oil contribution" it was from individuals.

[Dr Fate]

67. I'd love to see Obama challenge the GOP & the Blue Dogs to return their Big Oil contributions

But he cant issue sucha challenge until he returns his $76K or whatever it is.

Better yet, he should donate this amount to the clean up effort, and challenge others to do so.

[mkultra]

78. or just make BP pay for it.

[Dr Fate]

80. What is wrong with doing both? I might add he should promise to oppose any tax breaks or subsidies..

...to BP, or any other corporation connected to this-ever again.

Anything less means WE pay for it throught the back door.

Soemthing tells me that I should not hold my breath for any of it- and I'll be very suprised if BP pays for all of.

The fact that politicians take so much money from big oil, etc. is why I think this. It's why the average American has this perception as well. Most Americans realize that the tax payer is not going to get out of this unscathed & un-billed.

[mkultra]

81. two people cant pay for the same frickin thing

If he pays , then that's less they must pay.

[Dr Fate]

84. So you dont think Obama should come out against subsidies & tax breaks for BP?

And start by giving the amount he got from BP to the clean up effort?

I'll bet the majortiy of Americans, even many conservatives would disagree with you.

[Name removed]

88. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Fruittree]

53. I think the point made is that he took money from

BP employees. When you donate - there's a line that asks who your employer is - It doesn't mean your employer is donating. It's just some federal rule that you have to identify your employer. What you're saying makes no sense..

[Dr Fate]

68. I also made the point that Blue Dog DEMS are taking money from Big Oil...

...and that said Blue Dogs seems to hold sway over Obama at certain points.

I'm arguing that Obama should make an effort to oppose the culture DEMS taking money from big oil.

You guys seem to be arguing that he should maintain the status quo.

If he gave back his BP money, then he would have standing to challenge others to either give it back or stop taking it- or give it to the clean up effort.

I'll bet voters and the average American, even many conservatives would like my idea, and it would make Obama look good.

[mkultra]

21. because its stupid.

I work for a company and if he returned my donation i would be offended. My corporation does things i wish it didnt. For starters, its against net neutrality. But I give my money where i choose.


This entire promise if not ignorant but stupid. Everyone who donates has a job.

[Dr Fate]

28. His DEM donors would be offended if he gave his BP money to the clean up efforts...

...and then challneged his GOP & Blue Dog rivals to do the same?

LOL! Any DEM I know (besides a few on DU, apparently) would be standing in their chair & cheering if he did this.

[emulatorloo]

47. His "BP Money" was from individual DEMOCRATS who work for BP

I think you are missing the concept.

As an individual I donate money.

I have to say who I work for.

I work for XYZ company.

Open Secrets reports the donation from Me/XYZ corporation.

It is not XYZ's money, it is my money.

[Dr Fate]

71. So BP executives & CEOs are Democrats? My guess is they gave to both parties.

He should give the money to the clean up effort- I dont care if some BP board member claims to be a DEM or not.

[NutmegYankee]

87. How do you know it was a board member? Seriously?

You don't, so you just keep spouting the shit instead. If not, PROVE IT!

[NutmegYankee]

50. Just you.

I'd be pissed if my contribution was put into relieving the burden from BP. They should pay 100%. No need to raid a private citizen's donation to the campaign to relive BP.

[Dr Fate]

73. If Obama challenged the GOP & the Blue Dogs to give up their Big Oil contributions....

...I think the the Majority of Americans would be standing up and cheering.

The first salvo would be Obama giving up any of his BP money-giving him 100% standing to make the challenge.

Everyone but you and a few people on this thread would love it- his poll #s would sky rocket.

[NutmegYankee]

86. Sorry, I live in a reality based world.

[mkultra]

55. nah, thats ridiculous and petty.

It would say that my money is no good to him just because i work for a jackass company.

[Dr Fate]

75. I'd love to see Obama challenge the GOP & the Blue Dogs to return their Big Oil contributions.

And you would be one of the very few Americans who would describe such an effort as petty or silly-most Americans would be saying:

"About time someone took the lead on opposing all this big money influence on congress. Damn-this guy really means business- this really is change..."

[Political Tiger]

26. What part of.......

....."contrary to Palin's and the media's suggestions, all of that money came from BP employees, not BP the company. A spokesman for the Center for Responsive Politics confirmed Monday that "the $71,051 that Obama received during the 2008 election cycle was entirely from BP employees." The CRP spokesman also stated that "Obama did not accept contributions from political action committees, so none of this money is from BP's PAC" do you not understand?

[Dr Fate]

30. So you are saying that no BP CEOs or top executive's donations...

...figure into BP money in Obama's coffers?

It's all just from working stiffs pumping gas & stuff? Could be- but the article is not very clear on this.

I'd love to know how much BP's top stock holders gave as well.

Either way- it would be a great way for him to challenge conservatives if he gave any money connected to BP to the clean up effort, then challenge his rivals to do the same.

If anything, it would high light how little he supposedly took, and how much more his rivals took. But I realize that we will come up with excuses for why he should not do this.

[Political Tiger]

31. Who cares?

As Media Matters points out, the money he received from BP employees "represents less than .01 percent of the nearly $800 million that Obama raised."

Even if some of that money came from some executives or stock holders (and I don't think stock holders, or executives for that matter, usually count as "employees") so what? The $71,000 raised is small drop in the bucket and proves nothing, and no matter what Obama says or does, the cons are still going to continue to spout their lies as they always do.

[Dr Fate]

38. So our excuse is "We cant do the right thing b/c the GOP will do the wrong thing."

Not the best excuse I've ever heard, but at least it's an excuse!

Keep 'em coming. We are gonna need 'em.

Besides- I also suggested that he needs to challenge Blue Dogs to give back the cash and stop lying- not just "cons."

Also, I'm not convinced that Blue Dog DEMs who also took money from BP are not influencing Obama. They certainly held sway over him when it came to opposing the public option, the war, etc.

If he gave his money back, then challenged the Blue Dogs & the GOP to do the same- would this make Obama more popular or less popular? I think it would make him more popular.

Who cares if DEMS took money from BP CEOs etc? Who cares about perceived or actual conflicts of interests? Apparently a lot of people, enough for there to be articles about it, efforts to debunk, water cooler & online discussions, media commentary, etc., etc etc.

Seems like a lot of people care to me.

[jberryhill]

33. Yes

The individual contribution limits are fairly low.

No "top executive" could donate any more than the $2500 some working stiff put together.

These are all searchable data, though, so why don't you come up with a list of these executives and their contributions.

Oh, I forgot, you won't see that, because that blows the whole story.

[Dr Fate]

39. Cool. So why cant he give the $75K to the clean up effort then?

And then challenge Blue Dogs & the GOP to give back everything they got?

Seems like the public would support such an effort.

Who exactly would oppose it?

[jberryhill]

42. For a couple of reasons

First of which is that campaign donations can be used for the campaign. They are not some personal "free parking" kitty to pay for anything the candidate wants.

Secondly, what is the relevance of the fact that any out of thousands of BP employees made a personal contribution to the campaign?

Have you done your homework?

Go here:

http://www.opensecrets.org/indivs/index.php

Pick any large company, say, Halliburton.

Put in "obama" in the recipient field.

Put that in the employer field, pick "all election cycles" and hit search.

You'll find a list of Halliburton employees who donated to Obama's presidential campaign.

For example:

VELAZQUEZ, MARTIN
CARROLLTON,TX 75007 HALLIBURTON/ENGINEER 9/10/08 $201 Obama, Barack (D)

You think that the Obama campaign should give Martin Velazquez back his $201 donation, simply because he is an engineer who works with Halliburton?

Why?

[Dr Fate]

69. I'd love to see Obama challenge the GOP & the Blue Dogs to give up their Big Oil contributions.

But he cant do it until he gives up his $76K to the clean up effort.

I'm trying to think of ways for Obama to challenge the culture of DEMS taking money from big Oil- while you guys are strainging yourselves to make excuses for why he should not.

I'd love to see Haliburton or BP try to attack Obama or bring a lawsuit against him for giving money to the clean up effort. He would win that PR battle.

[NutmegYankee]

49. Why? Some People at BP are Democrats just like the rest of us.

Why is there money toxic? They are just a citizen like us.

[Dr Fate]

70. I think the American people would support such a effort.

And I think the American people would like to see him challenge the GOP & Blue Dogs to either give up their money or stop taking it.

He has to be the first to set the example.

Also, I'm not sure that BP CEOs and executives are DEMS.

[NutmegYankee]

85. You keep reposting the same text, but fail to address the question

Once again, what the American people want is bunk. Why should an individual Democrat not be angry that his money to elect a candidate was rejected?

[geek tragedy]

34. Top stockholders are usually pension funds. nt

[Dr Fate]

41. I doubt the pension holders would be upset if he gave it up to the clean up effort...

...and then challenged the GOP/Blue Dogs to do the same.

[Jennicut]

72. Legally, I think you cannot take money used for a campaign donation

toward anything but the campaign.

[Dr Fate]

74. And who is going to bring the court case against him- BP? Haliburton? The GOP? LOL!

I would invite such a challenge in the court of public opinion.

How would the media frame it?

"How dare Obama give $76K to the clean up effort, then challenge us to stop taking money from big oil- how dare him!!!"

The point that Obama is 100% opposed to politicians being influenced or bossed around by big oil would be very clear, and I think the American voter would really love him for it.

[Jennicut]

77. Um, letting anyone get away with that would set a precedent and then

everyone could spend donations on whatever they wanted. How about he donates his own money to cleanup efforts? Is that too hard (and legal)?

[Dr Fate]

79. If he has to give the $76K out of his own pocket, I'm fine with that.

So long as he challenges Blue Dogs & the GOP to do the same.


HOW ABOUT OBAMA PLEDGE THAT HE WILL FIGHT TO SEE THAT DEMS NEVER TAKE BP MONEY AGAIN?

Why cant Obama say that he will campaign against any Blue Dog who takes money from BP in the future?

I'm sure we will have all kinds of LAME ASS EXCUSES for why he cant do this either.

[HughMoran]

37. Not one dollar

fucking politics attracts liars.

[merkins]

51. Obama is Top Recipient of Political Cash from BP, Goldman Sachs, Defense Contractors, Pharma

All spelled out for you here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8286680

[boppers]

52. His biggest donor employer: University of California

Those corrupt corporatist.... er.... University Professors!

edit: add word (employer) to subject

[Dr Fate]

76. If University Professors were destroying our ecosystem, you might have a point.

If it appeared that politicians were being influenced by said college professors in a way that hurts the ecosystem, destroys jobs , etc- you would also have a good point.

But none of that happened. So you dont really have a good point.

Contributions from Professors are not the issue- the issue is the public perception (Or perhaps the stark reality?) that Big Oil basically tells congress and maybe even the executive branch what to do.