Look who controls John McCain...
Republicans wanted to play the "guilt by association game". They huffed and they puffed about evil preachers, until the public realized their candidate, John McCain, had two evil preachers of his own. One he called his "spiritual advisor", he courted for a year to win his support and endorsement, and one that is such a radical warmonger he actually said in a sermon that "we get off on war".
Suddenly Republicans had to switch gears and start claiming their evil preachers are not as bad as other evil preachers. After almost seven years of George W. Bush the Republicans should certainly be in good practice excusing away, rationalizing and justifying outrageous positions. They've elevated hypocrisy to an art form.
But their candidate, John McCain has other problems in addition to his "guilt by association" with evil pastors.
McCain's campaign leadership is comprised almost exclusively of lobbyists. These are not benevolent individuals, fueled by a passion for their candidate. They want something in return. They give and they expect something in return. That's precisely what lobbyists do. But it goes beyond that. John McCain has chosen to surround himself with top level advisors that have shameful and despicable backgrounds.
Here's a portion of an article released by MoveOn.org. You may or may not like the messenger, but the facts are documented and the sources stated. The article simply states the truth.
Two of John McCain's senior campaign staff were forced to resign this week after revelations that their lobbying firm was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to represent Burma's brutal military dictatorship. (1)
And it gets worse—turns out this goes all the way to the top. Charlie Black, McCain's campaign chairman, ran a lobbying firm that represented brutal dictators like Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines and Mobutu Sese Seko in Zaire—along with terrorist rebel Jonas Savimbi in Angola. Together, these men have been responsible for massive human suffering. (2)
And for good measure, Charlie Black has represented war profiteer Blackwater Worldwide and Iraqi fraudster Ahmed Chalabi. (3)
JOHN MCCAIN'S LOBBYIST CONNECTIONS TO DICTATORS, OIL REGIMES, AND CHILD ENSLAVERS THE WORLD OVER
Last week, two McCain staffers resigned after it was reported that they had performed extensive lobbying on behalf of the Burmese junta. However, Doug Goodyear and Doug Davenport are the not the only lobbyists on McCain's campaign staff with ties to unsavory international figures.
Three other lobbyists, Charlie Black, Tom Loeffler, and Peter Madigan, and their firms' clients, have generated at least $3.5 million in campaign donations to Sen. McCain over his career, according to Campaign Money Watch analysis of campaign finance data provided by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics (hyperlink: www.opensecrets.org). DCI Group, which employed Davenport and Goodyear, and their clients provided less than a quarter as much campaign money -- $817,685 — to McCain's elections.
Charlie Black, McCain's senior counsel and spokesman, began his lobbying career by representing numerous dictators and repressive regimes
Black's firm represented the governor of Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos. According to a 1985 report, the firm Black, Manafort & Stone earned $950,000 plus expenses for its work to provide "advice and assistance on matters relating to the media, public relations and public affairs interests."1
Black's firm lobbied on behalf of Mobuto Sese Seko of Zaire, earning $1 million a year for his efforts.2
Black's firm lobbied on behalf of Somali dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.3
Black's firm represented Nigerian dictator Ibrahim Babangida, earning at least $1 million for his efforts.4
Black's firm has represented Equatorial Guinea, an oil-rich state "best known for the outlandish brutality of its rulers."5
Black represented Angolan rebel and "classical terrorist" Jonas Savimbi, a job that earned him $600,000.6 "We have to call him Africa's classical terrorist," Makau Mutua, a professor of law and Africa specialist told the New York Times. "In the history of the continent, I think he's unique because of the degree of suffering he caused without showing any remorse."7
In recent years his client list has also included the Iraqi National Congress8, Friends of Blackwater9, and the China National Off-Shore Oil Corp.10
Since 2005, BKSH has received more than $700,000 in fees from foreign entities.11
Thomas Loeffler, co-chairman of McCain's campaign, has represented the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia paid the Loeffler Group "a whopping $7.9 million from December 1, 2005, though November 2006 -- the largest fee collected from a foreign government by any lobbying firm in 2006," according to National Journal.12 The Washington Times reported that "Mr. Loeffler's firm has received more than $10 million since 2006 from the Saudi Embassy and the Ministry of Commerce & Industry of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia."13 Much of this work was centered on gaining admission for the Kingdom to the World Trade Organization.14
Since 2005, according to the Washington Times, "the Loeffler Group reported more than $11 million in fees from foreign lobbying clients."15
Peter Madigan, a leading McCain fundraiser, lobbies on behalf of the king of Dubai
Madigan has earned upwards of $800,000 to improve the United Arab Emirates' reputation in the face of a class action lawsuit over the enslavement of boy camel jockeys.16
1. "PR firm is linked to Marcos," The Globe and Mail, December 20, 1985.
2. Steve Burkholder, "On the Town With Jonas Savimbi," Common Cause Magazine, Winter 1993; Department of Justice FARA database, accessed February 26, 2008.
3. Burkholder, 1993.
4. William Safire, "The Age of Access, The New York Times, February 17, 1986; Department of Justice FARA Database, accessed February 26, 2008.
5. Ken Silverstein, "The Crude Politics of Trading Oil," The Los Angeles Times, December 6, 2002.
6. Evan Thomas, "The Slickest Shop in Town," Time Magazine, March 3, 1986.
7. Nicholas D. Kristof, "Our Own Terrorist," The New York Times, March 5, 2002.
8. Kate Zernike, "'Steady Hand' Helps McCain On a New Path," The New York Times, April 13, 2008.
9. Felicia Roberts, "Food Offerings a Big Part of MultiFest," Charleston Daily Mail, August 5, 2005
10. Tory Newmyer and Kate Ackley, "K Steet Files," Roll Call, July 18, 2005.
11. Jim McElhatton and Jerry Seper, "McCain Advisers Tied to Foreign Lobbying," The Washington Times, April 11, 2008.
12. James A. Barnes and Peter H. Stone, "Batten Down the Hatches," The National Journal, April 7, 2007
13. McElhatton and Seper, 2008.
14. Ibid.
15. Ibid.
16. Peter H. Stone, "Persian Gulf Connection," The National Journal, December 1, 2007.
As outrageous as that is, there's more. In addition to selecting lobbyists with shameful backgrounds to join his inner circle of advisors, John McCain has actually had a terrorist working in his campaign, a fund raiser on his finance committee.
The absolute cornerstone of John McCain's campaign, and the one hope he has to lure voters during the general election is his self-claimed strong position on terrorism. He frequently attempts to bind that with, what he hopes voters will consider, is his good judgment. Both took a serious beating last week.
John McCain removed a man from his finance committee that was labeled as a supporter of Hezbollah, and "a key agent of the terrorist group in the Detroit area". Those allegations did not come from the Democrats. They came from Debbie Schlussel, a Republican and conservative writer. Apparently John McCain took the allegations seriously, since his campaign promptly removed the man from his position. It's hardly an asset to have a terrorist helping you raise funds. It certainly doesn't give the appearance of good judgment to employ a member of Hezbollah, an organization the US State Department labels as a "terrorist organization", as a key fund raiser.
So you want to be president of the United States and you want people to think you're strong on fighting terrorism and exercise good judgment, then it's discovered you've actually hired a terrorist to go out help raise money for you. That ought to drag in the votes. It would also be very interesting to know where this alleged terrorist went to get the money he brought into John McCain's campaign. Did any of McCain's new campaign funds actually come from other terrorists? It will be interesting to see if John McCain uses that money or disposes of it. It might not be a good thing for McCain to simply return it, especially if it actually came from other terrorists. This should help keep the elderly candidate wide awake for a while as he attempts to find a way to wiggle away from this one.
George W. Bush in 2000 insinuated that John McCain was probably not mentally fit for public office since he'd been a P.O.W. during the Vietnam war, and might have been brainwashed. Now this story surfaces and it sounds like a Hollywood plot for a re-make of "The Manchurian Candidate". However, this is not a fictional account. The individual in question did work for John McCain and his campaign parted ways with him only after his previous remarks, already in the public domain, got reported. That's hardly the position a presidential candidate would like to find himself, but this latest alliance may be far more serious than the ties between McCain and John Hagee. It certainly doesn't help.
While the Democrats continue their primary process, frequently we hear from some members of both camps, that they may not support the other candidate if their favorite doesn't secure the nomination. Stop it! We all have a preference, but consider the background and political debts and judgment of John McCain, followed by the eight year disaster of George W. Bush and this isn't the time to be petty or juvenile. Our nation is in crisis on virtually all fronts and we're at a crossroads. Problems need to be addressed and fixed, not expanded with a third term for Bush's policies.
Republicans also need to come to terms with the fact their party became hijacked by the neo-cons. They have to take steps to bring it back to reasonableness. John McCain has flip-flopped on virtually every position and is willing to change again to further his chances. That's not strong leadership. You don't have to admit it, but we know you understand this path is a certain course to more peril. Continuing and expanding what hasn't worked for eight years is folly. It's time for a change, a real change. George W. Bush was such a colossal incompetent that only second tier candidates showed up to run, and, not by selecting the one you wanted, but by eliminating the ones you could tolerate less, John McCain emerged as your candidate.
It's been observed that we can get a preview of the type of leadership a candidate would bring to the presidency by viewing how they manage their campaign. In John McCain's case, he's surrounded himself with lobbyists representing brutal governments, child slavery, warmongering preachers, even terrorists. Then he combines that with a platform of wanting to continue the Bush policies that only 19% of Americans approve of.
If that isn't a case made for needing a radical change in Washington, then nothing will prove the point. John McCain does not deserve to even represent his political party, much less expect to become our next president. That may be unpleasant for some to hear, but it's still the truth.
