Bush and Clinton shared advocate: Bob Johnson worked for Bush first

[beachmom]

I am truly flummoxed by this. After Johnson made his derogatory remarks about Obama, I am amazed to read that he worked for Bush first.

http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=3ecbba91-f447-455b-98a3-d92f522a4814

Robert L. Johnson came to the Bush administration's attention when it needed him most. The cause of the White House's duress was an annoyingly munificent collection of millionaires, headed by Bill Gates Sr., who had banded together to oppose President Bush's plan to abolish the estate tax. In newspaper ads and press conferences, they held forth on the obligation of the wealthy to give back to society. So effectively did they seize the moral high ground that even the most fervent opponents of the estate tax resigned themselves to it. ...


Evidently this didn't sit well with Johnson, the billionaire founder of Black Entertainment Television (BET), whose family stood to gain millions if Bush succeeded. Johnson is not a man with a deep sense of social obligation. Not long ago, when an interviewer prodded him for his views on philanthropy, Johnson scoffed, "$(B$)eing a very wealthy person is not something that I wake up in the morning and say, 'Gee, I got all this money. How do I give it away?'" There is, however, an important exception to this every-man-for-himself ethos: society's duty to aid extremely wealthy African Americans. This social obligation Johnson takes very seriously.

Wow, nice guy full of compassion. So what was his campaign for the White House?

Almost no one--not even the White House--had thought to frame the issue this way. And for good reason: It is a bizarre inversion of the truth. "Elimination of the Estate Tax," Johnson's ad argued, using extraneous capitalizations for emphasis, "will help close the wealth gap in this nation between African American families and White families." But the estate tax is paid only by people who inherit large fortunes, and black people, as one might suspect, are far less likely than white people to do so.


The Estate Tax was repealed.

[leftchick]

1. why are you amazed

I think it is pretty apparent by now the clintons are honorary members of the BFEE.

[beachmom]

3. True, yet I still am oddly amazed that they would be so blatant about it.

Ugh.

[leftchick]

6. why not?

she keeps that slime Mark Penn on her payroll. They get away with it because the average voter/TV viewer will never find out about it. It pays to have the Corporate media in your pocket.

[Mass]

2. How do you dare attack the Clintons? You must be a Republican?

:sarcasm:

And yes, I knew that Bob Johnson was not exactly a progressive, no surprise there.

[beachmom]

4. But blatantly helping BUSH? That is beyond the pale, as is the

Clinton campaign for using him as their attack dog. Which party are they with?

[DJ13]

7. Which party are they (Clintons) with?

The Elitist Party.

Only us peons think in terms of Democrat or Republican.

The Elitist Party represents the basic power behind both parties, and every once in awhile they get scared of a rise in populist candidates (Obama and Edards) that could threaten their gravy train and they forget that certain puppets are supposed to represent one party or another, not switch sides while spouting the same old lines as they did in the past.

[burythehatchet]

5. I just now saw the Johnson clip, what a scumbag!

why the hell don't they (CLintons) denounce the comments?