Clinton bucks the trend and rakes in cash from the US weapons industry
By Leonard Doyle in Washington
Published: 19 October 2007
The US arms industry is backing Hillary Clinton for President and has all but abandoned its traditional allies in the Republican party. Mrs Clinton has also emerged as Wall Street's favourite. Investment bankers have opened their wallets in unprecedented numbers for the New York senator over the past three months and, in the process, dumped their earlier favourite, Barack Obama.
Mrs Clinton's wooing of the defence industry is all the more remarkable given the frosty relations between Bill Clinton and the military during his presidency. An analysis of campaign contributions shows senior defence industry employees are pouring money into her war chest in the belief that their generosity will be repaid many times over with future defence contracts.
Employees of the top five US arms manufacturers – Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop-Grumman, General Dynamics and Raytheon – gave Democratic presidential candidates $103,900, with only $86,800 going to the Republicans. "The contributions clearly suggest the arms industry has reached the conclusion that Democratic prospects for 2008 are very good indeed," said Thomas Edsall, an academic at Columbia University in New York.
Republican administrations are by tradition much stronger supporters of US armaments programmes and Pentagon spending plans than Democratic governments. Relations between the arms industry and Bill Clinton soured when he slimmed down the military after the end of the Cold War. His wife, however, has been careful not to make the same mistake.
After her election to the Senate, she became the first New York senator on the armed services committee, where she revealed her hawkish tendencies by supporting the invasion of Iraq. Although she now favours a withdrawal of US troops, her position on Iran is among the most warlike of all the candidates – Democrat or Republican.
This week, she said that, if elected president, she would not rule out military strikes to destroy Tehran's nuclear weapons facilities. While on the armed services committee, Mrs Clinton has befriended key generals and has won the endorsement of General Wesley Clarke, who ran Nato's war in Kosovo. A former presidential candidate himself, he is spoken of as a potential vice-presidential running mate.
Mrs Clinton has been a regular visitor to Iraq and Afghanistan and is careful to focus her criticisms of the Iraq war on President Bush, rather than the military. The arms industry has duly taken note.
So far, Mrs Clinton has received $52,600 in contributions from individual arms industry employees. That is more than half the sum given to all Democrats and 60 per cent of the total going to Republican candidates. Election fundraising laws ban individuals from donating more than $4,600 but contributions are often "bundled" to obtain influence over a candidate.
The arms industry has even deserted the biggest supporter of the Iraq war, Senator John McCain, who is also a member of the armed services committee and a decorated Vietnam War veteran. He has been only $19,200. Weapons-makers are equally unimpressed by the former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Despite a campaign built largely around the need for an aggressive US military and a determination to stay the course in Iraq, he is behind Mrs Clinton in the affections of arms executives. Mr Giuliani may be suffering because of his strong association with the failed policies of President Bush and the fact he is he is known as a social liberal.
Mrs Clinton's closest competitor in raising cash from the arms industry is the former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, who raised just $32,000.
"Arms industry profits are so heavily dependent on government contracts that companies in this field want to be sure they do not have hostile relations with the White House," added Mr Edsall.
The industry's strong support for Mrs Clinton indicates that she is their firm favourite to win the Democratic nomination in the spring and the presidential election in November 2008. In the last presidential race, George Bush raised more than $800,000 – twice the sum collected by his Democratic rival John Kerry.
Mr Edsall's analysis of the figures reveals that, over the past 10 years, the defence industry has favoured Republicans over Democrats by a 3-2 margin, making Mrs Clinton's position even more remarkable.
i think she's a reptileis she a flying shapeshifting reptile allied with the illumnati who helped build the pyramids and currently control the worlds banks along with 8 jews that live part time underground in a bunker and part time on mars?
i think she's a reptile
is she a flying shapeshifting reptile allied with the illumnati who helped build the pyramids and currently control the worlds banks along with 8 jews that live part time underground in a bunker and part time on mars?
is she a flying shapeshifting reptile allied with the illumnati who helped build the pyramids and currently control the worlds banks along with 8 jews that live part time underground in a bunker and part time on mars?
http://youtube.com/watch?v=0qoaUQLeHhY
undeniable proof
I changed my political affiliation just so I can vote against her in the primary next year. She strikes me as far too cold, calculating, and manipulative. I'll vote for Obama or Edwards instead.I've honestly thought about registering as a democrat just to do this
I've honestly thought about registering as a democrat just to do this
but I've also thought the reverse to help keep romney from getting the republican nomination
I havent decided what I'll do yet (but I better soon :-\)
I've honestly thought about registering as a democrat just to do this
but I've also thought the reverse to help keep romney from getting the republican nomination
I havent decided what I'll do yet (but I better soon :-\)
Just another reason why the current US party structure is completely ineffective.Wtf!? You get TWO whole options!
Wtf!? You get TWO whole options!
Not just one.
TWO.
I wonder if anyone likes Hillary. Her only qualification seems to be "Not a Republican."Exactly. I definitely hate Bush, but I don't think Hillary would improve anything just because she's not of the same party affiliation. I would hate to see another republican, but I'd hate to see Hillary in office as well.
A long time ago I signed up for Obama's newsletter, so I still get emails from him. The guy really, really hates Hillary. It's cool that he's not accepting any funding from corporations, so his campaign is funded entirely by the people. Hillary doesn't care where her money is coming from.I'm pretty sure his campaign is funded by AIPAC (American-Israel Public Affairs Committee).
So if Obama does make it to the final round, I'd vote. But I really doubt he will.
A long time ago I signed up for Obama's newsletter, so I still get emails from him. The guy really, really hates Hillary. It's cool that he's not accepting any funding from corporations, so his campaign is funded entirely by the people. Hillary doesn't care where her money is coming from.
So if Obama does make it to the final round, I'd vote. But I really doubt he will.
I'm pretty sure his campaign is funded by AIPAC (American-Israel Public Affairs Committee).
A Fox News Neo-con audience which was most likely selected based on their views. Come on, do you really think that Fox news, part of the world's largest media empire is actually going to have a non biased audience? The man is a top-tier candidate and his momentum is only getting stronger.
Also, Obama could still be taking contributions of PAC members and be listing them as individual donations. The results can be skewed and unless you go over all of his records, which I doubt most people have the patience to do, then you don't know who exactly gave him money and who they are affiliated with.
I imagine the only thing that gives people the illusion that Ron Paul is significant is the internet? I don't know for sure, but in my experience people generally don't even consider him an option when discussing political candidates. he has less a chance at winning the presidential election than these guys (http://www.nazi.org/) imo
Also he gets laughed at cause his views are so radically different then the other members of his party (he has good views but Kucinich is better imo).
The Darfur Accountability and Divestment Act - HR180 - 2007 - 110th Congress
Summary: This bill simultaneously prevents any federal government employee or agency from entering into or renewing a contract with any person or organization doing business with the government of Sudan, and authorizes state and local governments to do the same. This bill does not establish any economic sanctions or other restrictions on the business activities of private individuals; it is solely an act of divestment by the United States government itself.
Representative Ron Paul voted Nay on HR180.
New Bill to Repeal Military Commissions Act in Househttp://www.jbs.org/node/6030/print
By JBS Staff
Created 2007-10-22 21:21
Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) recently introduced a bill that would restore the Constitution's system of checks and balances, as envisioned by our Founding Fathers. Titled the American Freedom Agenda Act of 2007 [1] (H.R. 3835), the bill would restore habeas corpus by repealing the Military Commissions Act of 2006.
The following is an excerpt from the American Freedom Agenda Act:
(a) The Military Commissions Act of 2006 is hereby repealed.
(b) The President is authorized to establish military commissions for the trial of war crimes only in places of active hostilities against the United States where an immediate trial is necessary to preserve fresh evidence or to prevent local anarchy.
(c) The President is prohibited from detaining any individual indefinitely as an unlawful enemy combatant absent proof by substantial evidence that the individual has directly engaged in active hostilities against the United States, provided that no United States citizen shall be detained as an unlawful enemy combatant.
(d) Any individual detained as an enemy combatant by the United States shall be entitled to petition for a writ of habeas corpus under section 2241 of title 28, United States Code.
The American Freedom Agenda Act of 2007 has been referred to the Committee on the Judiciary as well as the Committees on Armed Services, Foreign Affairs, and Intelligence.
Click here [2] to take action on the American Freedom Agenda Act of 2007.
My plan also allows for a limited number of U.S. troops to remain andAlso not to mention that Obama lies.
prevent Iraq from becoming a haven for international terrorism and reduce
the risk of all-out chaos. In addition, we will redeploy our troops to
other locations in the region, reassuring our allies that we will stay
engaged in the Middle East. And my plan includes a robust regional
diplomatic strategy that includes talking to Syria and Iran – something
this Administration has finally embraced.
hey steel theres this thing called private messages maybe you should use them instead of degenerating every topic KK4 posts in into crap, just ignore his posts maybe???
i know hes dumb and stuff but you're kind of bugging up topics that actually have discussion with other members, thats not cool dude!!
as for the topic on hand, I'm all Obama. Hilary doesn't appeal to me, espically since I think she's using the whole "My husband was the president!" deal to kind of luck out on her (people voted for Bill, therefore they'll vote for me) maybe???
After floating around the various internet groups for a while I slowly came to realize that the people who adhered to that message were fucking stupid. No one is going to talk to a person who is openly declaring themselves an enemy and no problems would ever get solved. It's the politics of division, and I decided that I was not going to take part in it because it was counter productive. Also, although I was concerned for the well being of my race, I like people of other races, and can't hate someone just because they're different. That's just ignorant as hell, and once again, I was not going to participate in ingnorance. I'd like all people to have an open and free discussion of honest problems, and racism, from alll sides (racism is not just a flaw in white individuals, will just degrade any open discussion into a shouting match, or much worse violence, which also doesn't solve things,
Also, after I began to distance myself from the views I began to learn that Hitler and the 3rd Reich was funded by the US establishment. I had originally been of the belief that Hitler was an individual who rose to power by force of will alone and rebuilt a shattered empire into a vast army it took the entire world to defeat. I was wrong. I found that Hitler was set up and funded by the very establishment, the globalist crime syndicate, which I was opposed to, and that WW2 was another needless bloodbath with the GCS funding all sides in order to bring about their plan for global government.
In addition, I began to learn that the hate movements were being run by the federal government through organized Zionist groups such as the ADL, Southern Poverty Law Center and other groups. Why? So they can have a hated enemy for their dialectic to work. I will discuss this further if asked.
Ron Paul opposes mandatory vaccinations, even in the case of national emergencies such as smallpox outbreaks.