The diabolical web site behind the latest Hillary smear.

[Comrade Grumpy]

You know, the thread that revealed her career campaign contributions:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026225013

The OP in that thread linked to a questionable site. But here's the real source of that information:

http://www.opensecrets.org/

Our Mission: Inform, Empower & Advocate

The Center for Responsive Politics is the nation's premier research group tracking money in U.S. politics and its effect on elections and public policy. Nonpartisan, independent and nonprofit, the organization aims to create a more educated voter, an involved citizenry and a more transparent and responsive government.

In short, the Center's mission is to:

Inform citizens about how money in politics affects their lives
Empower voters and activists by providing unbiased information
Advocate for a transparent and responsive government

We pursue our mission largely through our award-winning website, OpenSecrets.org, which is the most comprehensive resource for federal campaign contributions, lobbying data and analysis available anywhere. And for other organizations and news media, the Center's exclusive data powers their online features tracking money in politics - counting cash to make change. Our OpenSecrets Blog features news-breaking original reporting about money-in-politics, including the sort of investigative work that won the Society of Professional Journalists' 2013 award for Public Service in Online Journalism.

The Center relies on financial support from a combination of foundation grants, individual contributions and income earned from custom research and licensing data for commercial use. The Center accepts no contributions from businesses, labor unions or trade associations. You can support the work of the Center directly by making a tax-deductible contribution through OpenSecrets.org.

The Center for Responsive Politics
1101 14th St., NW
Suite 1030
Washington, DC 20005-5635
[phone] • fax [phone]
[e-mail] • [e-mail]

---------

Now, what was it we were discussing again?

[djean111]

1. Aw, it is going to take a lot more work, trying to get this source under the bus. Spoilsport!

[MH1]

4. Don't worry, there's lots of room under that very large bus.

And lots of folks here to help lift it up while shoving things under it.

[starroute]

51. And OpenSecrets gets their figures directly off the FEC reports

Funny thing ... The first I ever heard of Goldman Sachs was when I was looking at some of Hilary's Senatorial campaign FEC filings and wondered what this firm was whose employees were donating to her so heavily.

Just a coincidence, I'm sure.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

69. Bottom line: Hillary is in bed with the Wallstreet scumbags that line her pockets. She has no shame.

[HappyMe]

2. I'm putting open secrets in my favorite list.

I think it's important to know about the mighty dollars.

[Yo_Mama]

6. It is VERY important.

It's also important to pass the info on to encourage efforts like this. The regular press does not really do much reporting any more.

[JaneyVee]

3. I think people were referring to freebeacon.

[Comrade Grumpy]

5. Yes. But the information didn't come from the Free Beacon. It came from Open Secrets.

But if there's a message you don't like, it's a nice diversion to attack the messenger.

Now, how about those campaign contributors, huh?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

8. Pretend I'm a political dilettante and please tell me who Barack Obama's #1 contributor was in 2008.

My question isn't to denigrate President Obama whom I genuinely admire but to show she's not playing the game any different than the forty four gentlemen and not so gentlemen who have occupied the Oval Office.

As they say "don't hate the playa, hate the game."

[bigtree]

36. Goldman Sachs, I think

[kairos12]

28. Shoot. I thought that was free bacon.

[KittyWampus]

57. that's what I read. Free Bacon? I"M ALL IN!

[Nuclear Unicorn]

7. Free bacon? I LOVE free bacon!

[winter is coming]

11. I got all excited until I realized no one was talking about free bacon.

[HappyMe]

12. It is sad.

People shouldn't be led on like that. I was all ready for a nice grilled cheese and bacon sandwich.

[ybbor]

23. I just enjoyed a Cuban sandwich

Thick cut bacon, ham, gruyere, and pickles grilled. Mmm! 👍

[HappyMe]

24. Oh that sounds so damn good.

Made at home or did you eat out?

[ybbor]

31. Homemade

I have enough for one tomorrow as well.

Tonight we are having cheese fondue. My wife and daughter requested it. So I will make it for them. Tomorrow French onion soup and eggplant Parma. Presidents' weekend food fest at our house.

[HappyMe]

32. Cheese fondue?

Onion soup?


I'll be right over!

[benz380]

66. Any Cubans on it?

[ybbor]

68. Maybe

But I'm pretty sure the hogs are still domestic. No Cuban pork is allowed in the country yet.
🐷🐷🐷🐷

[Fairgo]

53. Genius!

I can't believe I have gone all my life and never had a bacon and grilled cheese sandwich (runs down stairs to the kitchen).

[HappyMe]

59. You're welcome!

Enjoy!

[Fred Sanders]

43. You get it. The Fox-like Free Beacon makes propaganda out of bits of information to spin tales. Ask Sen. Inhofe.

[benz380]

9. How is it a smear if it's true? nt

[Dragonfli]

10. It is TRUE that a good SMEAR is tasty on a bagel, outside of that I don't think it applies

Claiming something true is a smear on the other hand is a good way to steer the conversation away from an uncomfortably true statement.

[LiberalElite]

25. Actually the smear on the bagel is spelled schmear -

sorry couldn' t help myself.

[benz380]

65. I don't think I want a bagel with anything smeared on it. nt

[merrily]

71. Nice logo!

[Rex]

14. Don't worry the swarm lost their battle against transparency in that other thread.

And this OP is just more evidence of their huge sadz by calling in auxiliary units. HRC gets money from the banksters that were responsible for the 2008 financial crisis. It is amusing watching them pretend people aren't on to their sad plan of denial by censorship. If that was a smear from a RWing rag, then why is it a fact on opensecrets.org? I guess under the bus they go too!

[Rex]

13. Wow looks like someone got a huge sadz over opensecrets.org

Trust us, we all know a few of you don't care where campaign money comes from. We get it loud and clear.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

15. Look what I found!!!

https://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?cid=N00009638


https://www.opensecrets.org/pres04/contrib.php?cid=N00000245

[Rex]

16. Yes I know you don't care where campaign money comes from.

Your friends made that loud and clear.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

17. I want to judge everybody by the same standard.

You strike me as a fair person and I am sure a fair person would agree with that sentiment.

[Rex]

18. I want money to be out of politics, you agree with that right?

That the Third Way or the Koch brothers should not be allowed to buy our democracy? A fair person would agree with both of those statements.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

20. I agree that money should be taken out of politics.

You not only strike me as a fair person but a smart person as well and a smart person would want to raise tons of money to finance his or her campaign so he or she can be competitive with his or her opponent who will certainly be raising tons of money himself or herself.


I want to be able to match the Koch Brothers and their nefarious influence dollar for dollar and then some. If the right has billionaire patrons so should the left. I will see your Koch Brothers and raise them with George Soros.

[Rex]

22. No, that way means that we give up to big money imo.

We need RULES. As in - that is unethical and you can not do that RULES. Both parties must agree to drop the corporate welfare. I understand what you mean, we have to trust companies that have put thousands of families out in the streets with their immoral tactics to gain unethical amounts of wealth. It's about the dumbest thing we could ever do as a living species. But okay, that horse left the barn long ago when Reagan starting cutting up America and selling it off to the Japanese.

I get it. But so do a lot of other people here. I think most do. Someone posted what is the disconnect with DU and the real world. Well one big problem is that we all here are current event junkies. Not reality TV current events. Consequential current events that effect the millions that sit at home and watch the reality TV. They sit at home, not realizing that their best interests are not what matters to a huge corporation. Sure, they matter to the politicians yet they are not the ones in control. We've said it for years now. Nobody disagrees, yet no politician will do anything to change it. Or not enough.

Phone calls seem to not make any difference in the world. We joke about that here too.

Fighting a fire with gasoline won't help. Big money needs to butt out and try to clean up their own messes. How often are we going to have to waste money on a system that broke itself?

I want to feel like my vote counts. That shouldn't be a joke

[DemocratSinceBirth]

27. Can we agree

Can we agree that we are both fair and smart men who would like to see money taken out of politics as long as the bad guys (right wingers) agree to it too?

[Rex]

29. All politicians have to own up and write rules that are fair to the people.

Or is that impossible to do? That money cannot be taken out of politics? I will agree that it might be if we have to depend on the GOP to do it too. You have a good point since I do not think the GOP will ever unattach itself from big biz. So we are doomed, because the GOP will drag us down into their fantasy world of Atlas Shrugged. And the non governing elite will be riding along in first class.

Not feeling all warm and fuzzy over that.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

30. I wouldn't. Because that would mean the lowest common denominator.

Like holding all Presidents to George W Bush's standard, because he was a prior President.

I'd rather actually try to IMPROVE. Not just stay status quo. Shooting for a higher standard is a progressive viewpoint. Going with the status quo standard is the conservative viewpoint.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

34. I'm holding HRC to the same standard as every Democrat I have given my vote to since Jimmy Carter.

They all took money from folks we don't particularly like. To change the rules now, just for her, strikes me as arbitrary and capricious.

[Rex]

37. Who is changing the rules for her? These are rules that will help the people of this nation.

To do less is capricious.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

38. I am all in favor of public financing of elections

But to suggest public financing should only be for she and not for thee strikes me as arbitrary and capricious.

[Rex]

40. Oh I didn't know that poster said just for her. Sorry carry on. nt

nt

[HappyMe]

39. Then when?

When the next president is up for re-election? In 10, 15, 20 years?

This shit needs to be stopped. Rip it off like a band-aid. She'll just have to deal with it.

[Rex]

42. The worst is not actually the POTUS imo.

The absolute worst are the ones that keep saying year after year, 'just wait until the perfect Congress comes along and everything will be fixed'.

Yeah...I heard that in the 80s, try a new line this is 2015.

[HappyMe]

44. I agree.

They are ALL too used to big money getting flung their way. Campaign finance reform goes across the board, for every elected office.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

49. The Pugs will have billions to spend and I want to match those bastards dollar for dollar./NT

[HappyMe]

50. Nope.

Campaign finance reform for Democrats and Republicans across the board. NO exceptions.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

54. That ain't happening.

In fact with the Citizens United decision we're going the other way...


If Satan had a printing press and he was printing money I might even make a Faustian Bargain with him to stop the Republicans.

[HappyMe]

58. Then we are well and truly fucked.

Citizens United needs to be dumped by the wayside. The money should stop for BOTH Democrats and Republicans.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

61. I believe a lot of it is wasted but that's a discussion for another day.

When I lived in FL during the hotly contested 00 election during the waning days of the campaign I would see the same ads for Gore and Bush* multiple times during the same show.

[HappyMe]

63. It is too much already.

I thank god for TCM - no commercials.

I am not personally looking forward to this election season (even though it started almost 2 fucking years ago). Endless phone calls, crap in the mail, crap in my email.....
The emails I can block, the phone calls will be dealt with firmly, but politely. Crap in the mail gets recycled.

They just don't need or deserve that much money. Out here in the real world, we are expected to live within our means. It's time for campaigns to do the same. If candidates can't make it work, then they have no business running an entire country.

[Rex]

56. It's a dam shame the governing elite lost control of the country and seems now the planet too.

And before someone tells me it's always been this way, no not really the Founders even warned us of this happening. Ike warned us not to do this. Every POTUS knows this is bad. All politicians know this is wrong.

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some 50 miles of concrete highway. We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people. This, I repeat, is the best way of life to be found on the road the world has been taking. This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron."

[HappyMe]

64. .....

[DemocratSinceBirth]

45. Why didn't Barack Obama or John Kerry or Al Gore have to deal with it?

That's like the bouncer at a busy night club who only lets in the people he likes the way they look, which is usually young attractive women.

[HappyMe]

48. Boo hoo hoo!

I have wanted this to happen for quite awhile. Hillary's nothing special, that she should be worked around.

You do realize that campaign finance reform also involves republican candidates too, don't you?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

52. I have said in this thread, ad nauseum and ad infinitum I am In favor of public financing

I have said in this thread, ad nauseum and ad infinitum I am In favor of public financing and the removal of big money from politics but not unilaterally.

The Pugs aren't go to agree to public financing and I'm not bringing a pea shooter to a gun fight.

[HappyMe]

55. They may just agree to it.

I don't think many Democrats would agree to it either. They are too used to sucking that big money teat. It's past time for this to be over and done with.

[Rex]

35. Also, when the status quo is fleecing the American population of it's hard earned money

by a few banksters. That should be an issue. I am sorry if that is posted in RT or Newmax or CNN or anywhere else. It sucks when facts are posted by sites we know are RW.

Hey I have an idea!

Maybe we shouldn't allow such actions to happen in the first place. You know, don't let banksters fleece the country and actually practice regulated capitalism. Not saying it would save anything, just might send the message to millions that someone is listening.

[Cryptoad]

19. They must be scared,,,,,

Papa Paul has all his whores working overtime!

[seveneyes]

21. The Magic Bus

Every day you'll see the dust
As I drive my baby in my Magic Bus

[MisterP]

26. support for coups running countries like banana reublics? check

support for neoliberal policy and war even if they harm their own country? check
running a party mostly on accomplishments from 80 or 50 years ago? check
planning to make the party a totally-vacuous machine whose only purpose is to bring in money to elevate members of a conservative political caste? check
constant accusations of plots from every direction that get more ridiculous every time? check

congratulations! the "officialists" are "Liberals" alright

[Spitfire of ATJ]

33. The Right will pitch in a few sheckls because they know many Libs have highly combustible hair.

[Fred Sanders]

41. Open secrets.org accumulates information without political bias...you are barking up the wrong tree.

[HappyMe]

46. Um...that's why Comrade posted it.

Because it is a reliable, non-partisan source.

[Rex]

60. Satire can be hard to spot sometimes.

Comrade did a fine job.

[HappyMe]

62. The Comrade is good at that sort of thing.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

47. But..but...we want the money out of politics! Except when it's our guys cashing in.

[NYC Liberal]

67. The problem is that OP is a lie. The vast majority of donations came from individuals

who happened to work at those companies, not from the companies themselves. That was a deliberate falsehood.

[rhett o rick]

70. Your accusation is unfounded. The results are the same whether the corporation itself

donates or has it's executives individually donate. The money is the same. The expectation of quid pro qo is the same. I think your attempt at making the distinction and then calling the previous OP a "deliberate falsehood" and "a lie", makes the case of this particular OP. If you don't have an argument of substance attack the source .