If you want MORE WAR, vote for who the defense industry backs...Hillary

[mod mom]

FROM HUFF PO:

Defense Industry Embraces Democrats, Hillary By Far The Favorite

October 17, 2007 11:07 PM


The defense industry this year abandoned its decade-long commitment to the Republican Party, funneling the lion share of its contributions to Democratic presidential candidates, especially to Hillary Clinton who far out-paced all her competitors.

An examination of contributions of $500 or more, using the Huffington Post's Fundrace website, shows that employees of the top five arms makers - Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop-Grumman, Raytheon and General Dynamics -- gave Democratic presidential candidates $103,900, with only $86,800 going to Republicans.

Senator Clinton took in $52,600, more than half of the total going to all Democrats, and a figure equaling 60 percent of the sum going to the entire GOP field. Her closest competitor for defense industry money is former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney (R.), who raised $32,000.

Insofar as defense workers making political donations reflect the interests of their employers, the contributions clearly suggest that the arms industry has reach the conclusion that Democratic prospects for 2008 are very good indeed. Since their profits are so heavily dependent on government contracts, companies in this field want to be sure they do not have hostile relations with the White House.

The strong support for Clinton indicates that a majority of defense industry executives currently believe Clinton is a favorite to win the Democratic nomination and, in November, 2008, the general election.



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/10/17/defense-industry-embraces_n_68927.html

[bryant69]

1. It could be, as the article suggests, that the Defense industry has concluded that Hillary

will win, whether they want her too or not, and they had better do what they can to have warm relations with her.

Bryant

[skipos]

2. Oh please don't interrupt Hillary Hatefest #2453

Hillary is my last choice for 08, but it is no secret that much of big business is investing in Dems this time around. Then again, it is no secret that Dem presidents are better for the economy and better for the stock market.

http://www.americanprogressaction.org/site/pp.asp?c=klLWJcP7H&b=131769
http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/columnist/krantz/2005-12-02-presidents_x.htm

[ShortnFiery]

5. You ain't seen nothing yet - the right wing hasn't even fired up the "wood chipper" yet.

:wow: :nuke:

[TwilightZone]

7. They fired it up 15 years ago.

It's been running ever since.

[mod mom]

9. "Hatefest"? I believe the article is based on facts regarding donations. The DLC

has direct connections to PNAC-see my post below.

If you would rather spew rovian labels that confront the facts, thats your problem but you are not doing your country any good. Research for yourself.

[bryant69]

11. Did Hillary Clinton sign the PNAC letter?

Is this an attempt to connect her to a LIHOP/MIHOP scenario (it may well not be, but I do hear that organization referenced early and often by the MIHOP faithful)?

I am not sure I see the connection.

I also don't know if it's ideal to label those who don't see the connection as rovian.

Bryant

[mod mom]

13. Wow what a stretch from connecting DLC to PNAC (true) to making a suggestion

to MIHOP/LITHOP.

No Hillary Clinton did not sign the PNAC (very expedient) but look at who she SURROUNDS HERSELF with.=

MARK PENN
JAMES CARVILLE
AND THE MEMBERS OF THE DLC WHO DID SIGN PNAC LETTERS.

Aren't you bothered by these connections? I am. this isn't about the rovian label of "hate" but it's about getting the facts out so that they can be examined before choices are made.

[mod mom]

17. Sticking to the facts on her associates-MARK PENN (CEO of Bursom Marsteller)

Penn, who had previously worked in the business world for companies like Texaco and Eli Lilly, brought his corporate ideology to the White House. After moving to Washington he aggressively expanded his polling firm, Penn, Schoen & Berland (PSB). It was said that Penn was the only person who could get Bill Clinton and Bill Gates on the same line. Penn's largest client was Microsoft, and he saw no contradiction between working for both the plaintiff and the defense in what was at the time the country's largest antitrust case. A variety of controversial clients enlisted PSB. The firm defended Procter & Gamble's Olestra from charges that the food additive caused anal leakage, blamed Texaco's bankruptcy on greedy jurors and market-tested genetically modified foods for Monsanto. PSB introduced to consulting the concept of "inoculation": shielding corporations from scandal through clever advertising and marketing.

In 2000 Penn became the chief architect of Hillary's Senate victory in New York, persuading her, in a rerun of '96, to eschew big themes and relentlessly focus on poll-tested pothole politics, such as suburban transit lines and dairy farming upstate. Following that election, Penn became a very rich man--and an even more valued commodity in the business world (Hillary paid him $1 million for her re-election campaign in '06 and $277,000 in the first quarter of this year). The massive PR empire WPP Group acquired Penn's polling firm for an undisclosed sum in 2001 and four years later named him worldwide CEO of one of its most prized properties, the PR firm Burson-Marsteller (B-M). A key player in the decision to hire Penn was Howard Paster, President Clinton's chief lobbyist to Capitol Hill and an influential presence inside WPP. "Clients of stature come to Mark constantly for counsel," says Paster, who informally advises Hillary, explaining the hire. The press release announcing Penn's promotion noted his work "developing and implementing deregulation informational programs for the electric utilities industry and in the financial services sector." The release blithely ignored how utility deregulation contributed to the California electricity crisis manipulated by Enron and the blackout of 2003, which darkened much of the Northeast and upper Midwest.

Burson-Marsteller is hardly a natural fit for a prominent Democrat. The firm has represented everyone from the Argentine military junta to Union Carbide after the 1984 Bhopal disaster in India, in which thousands were killed when toxic fumes were released by one of its plants, to Royal Dutch Shell, which has been accused of colluding with the Nigerian government in committing major human rights violations. B-M pioneered the use of pseudo-grassroots front groups, known as "astroturfing," to wage stealth corporate attacks against environmental and consumer groups. It set up the National Smokers Alliance on behalf of Philip Morris to fight tobacco regulation in the early 1990s. Its current clients include major players in the finance, pharmaceutical and energy industries. In 2006, with Penn at the helm, the company gave 57 percent of its campaign contributions to Republican candidates.

-snip

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070604/berman

WOW NOW THERES A STRATEGIST FOR PROGRESSIVES!

[bryant69]

18. I am bothered by those connections - although not to the extent you are

It's not a stretch, I just asked for clarification. I've had many a talk with MIHOP/LIHOP proponents and one of the tools they pull out at every opportunity is the PNAC letter.

That said, this doesn't necessarily connect with the O.P. In other words, I don't think Hillary is getting money because the defense industry has determined that she's most likely to continue the war machine and putting money in their pockets - I think they are giving her money because they think she's most likely to win in 2008.

Bryant

[mod mom]

19. More info on associates: JAMES CARVILLE:

Did Carville Tip Bush Off to Kerry Strategy (Woodward)


By M.J. Rosenberg | bio




On page 344, Woodward describes the doings at the White House in the early morning hours of Wednesday, the day after the '04 election.

Apparently, Kerry had decided not to concede. There were 250,000 outstanding ballots in Ohio.

So Kerry decides to fight. In fact, he considers going to Ohio to camp out with his voters until there is a recount. This is the last thing the White House needs, especially after Florida 2000.

-snip

"Carville told her he had some inside news. The Kerry campaign was going to challenge the provisional ballots in Ohio -- perhaps up to 250,000 of them. 'I don't agree with it, Carville said. I'm just telling you that's what they're talking about.'

-snip

http://www.tpmcafe.com/blog/coffeehouse/2006/oct/07/did_carville_tip_bush_off_to_kerry_strategy_woodward

[leftchick]

20. I am! and I am also am bothered by her war mongering for IRAN!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-gareth-porter/does-hillary-support-war-_b_68540.html


Even more serious, she told the same audience Saturday that the Iranians "are supporting sending weapons into Iraq right now that are used against our troops". That tortured formulation tells us that Clinton cannot be counted to exercise any independent judgment about the facts surrounding the administration's case for war.

That is why Clinton's co-sponsorship of the Webb amendment requiring the president to seek congressional approval before any military action against Iran should not be taken seriously. Some bloggers have viewed that move as a hopeful clarification of Clinton's Iran policy. But calling for a vote on the issue is not an indication that Clinton is opposed to war with Iran. She has carefully avoided saying anything about her views on that issue except insofar as they can be inferred from her acceptance of the administration's rationale for war.

Her campaign and her Senate office have carefully refrained from issuing any statement about the Webb amendment, much less the bigger issue at stake. The reason for her reluctance to have the spotlight shown on her position is clearly that she is unwilling to state flatly that she is opposed to war with Iran.

In fact, of course, she is one of the leading supporters in the Senate of the Bush administration's policy of threatening war against Iran. In a speech last February 2 to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), Clinton said, "U.S. policy must be clear and unequivocal: We cannot, we should not, we must not permit Iran to build or acquire nuclear weapons," she said. "In dealing with this threat ... no option can be taken off the table."

The rhetoric of "no option" being taken "off the table" is, of course, the signature of the Bush administration's approach to Iran. It means nothing more or less than that the administration asserts the right to attack Iran unilaterally and without provocation, should it decide that it is necessary in order to deal with an alleged nuclear threat from Iran. It posits no requirement that the intelligence community has reached a conclusion that Iran is actually on the verge of building nuclear weapons and that there is no possibility of reaching a diplomatic agreement with Iran to avoid a confrontation. That policy line reflects the views of the most extremist leadership the United States has ever known and would expose this country and the entire world to what could be the most incalculably dangerous sequence of events known since World War II.

[TwilightZone]

26. "That is why Clinton's co-sponsorship of the Webb amendment...should not be taken seriously."

How convenient.

[mod mom]

28. Even though non binding, her vote on Kyl Lieberman Amendment gave backing to

bu$h's crazed notions of war with Iran.

I recall Webb's very moving speech before the vote on Kyl/LIEberman warning of the precedent it sent, but Hillary chose to cast her vote in favor of declaring the Iranian Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization (thus setting the groundwork for a * remix for going to war w Iraq-now pointed at Iran.

[leftchick]

29. convenient for whom?

Hillary? Indeed. She is the most ruthless warmongering Democrat I have ever heard. Oh, except for her pal Holy Joe. :eyes:

[TwilightZone]

33. Convenient for the author of the article.

Pick what you want, ignore what you don't.

[leftchick]

36. that is interesting

because that is exactly what hillary supporters do. They completely ignore her major flaw, WARMONGER!

[TwilightZone]

37. Funny, I'm not a Hillary supporter.

I haven't chosen a candidate yet. I'm just tired of the silly garbage that passes for logic where Dems are concerned.

I'm sure George McGovern, John Lewis, and Wesley Clark are supporting Hillary because she's a warmonger. Yeah, that must be it.

[leftchick]

38. pick and choose

:eyes:

[TwilightZone]

40. Funny, that's exactly what the people claiming she's a warmonger do.

Thanks for agreeing with me.

[leftchick]

41. you are very entertaining today

you are so misguided you actually believe I agree with you. You are projecting.....

[TwilightZone]

44. No, we really do agree.

You believe that picking and choosing "facts" to support an assertion is problematic, right?

Exactly my point.

[mod mom]

21. more info on close associates: HOWARD WOLFSON

A bevy of current and former Hillary advisers, including her communications guru, Howard Wolfson, are linked to a prominent lobbying and PR firm--the Glover Park Group--that has cozied up to the pharmaceutical industry and Rupert Murdoch.

-SNIP

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070604/berman

[mod mom]

24. another close Clinton associate: WILL MARSHALL (and yes he signed PNAC!)

In the introduction to the 2006 book With All Our Might: A Progressive Strategy for Defeating Jihadism and Defending Liberty, editor Will Marshall, president of the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI), promotes what he calls “progressive internationalism” as opposed to the “conservative unilateralism” of the George W. Bush administration. He argues that the Iraq War is part of a larger strategy for “building a world safe for individual liberty and democracy,” and that the “Bush Republicans have been tough but they have not been smart” in directing the course of the war in Iraq. Part of being smart is “using our strengths,” says Marshall. “Democrats must be committed to preserving America's military predominance, because a strong military undergirds U.S. global leadership.”

-snip

A core member of a neoconservative-like vanguard within the Democratic Party establishment, Marshall has been instrumental in creating organizations that have worked to move the party to the right on everything from foreign to economic policies. With Al From, in 1985 Marshall cofounded the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC), an important bastion of center-right Democrats that was once chaired by Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-CT). In 1989, Marshall founded the PPI, a think tank that is affiliated with the DLC. Marshall and From were both staffers for Rep. Gillis Long (D-LA), who was the chairman of the House Democratic Party Caucus in the early 1980s. Marshall served as Long's speechwriter and policy analyst and was also senior editor of the 1984 House Democratic Caucus policy blueprint, “Renewing America's Promise.”

-snip

Marshall was one of 15 analysts who co-wrote the PPI's October 2003 foreign policy blueprint, “Progressive Internationalism: A Democratic National Security Strategy.” Using language that closely mirrors that of the neoconservative-led Project for the New American Century (PNAC), the PPI hailed the “tough-minded internationalism” of past Democratic presidents such as Harry Truman. Like PNAC, which in its founding statement warned of grave present dangers confronting America, the PPI strategy declared that, “Today America is threatened once again” and is in need of assertive individuals committed to strong leadership. The authors' observation that, “like the Cold War, the struggle we face today is likely to last not years but decades,” echoes both neoconservative and Bush administration national security assessments. As the “Progressive Internationalism” authors explain, the PPI endorsed the invasion of Iraq “because the previous policy of containment was failing, because Saddam posed a grave danger to America as well as to his own brutalized people, and because his blatant defiance of more than a decade's worth of UN Security Council resolutions was undermining both collective security and international law.”



http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/1295

[cali]

12. LOL! n/t

[skipos]

27. The title of your OP is in the vein of the Hillary Hatefest that has been going on for months now

and, in my opinion, the reason she keeps going up in the polls. She is my last choice for 08, I really wish you people would stick with the facts and nix the hysterical "Hillary is a Republican!!111!!" and "if you want more war, vote for Hillary!!!11!!"

[mod mom]

32. Read the information on the people she surrounds her self with. Better yet research

it for yourself. Why does she surround herself with associates close to the war mongering neocons? and Republican corporate interest? What she says and who she takes advise from are very different. I don't believe our country and the world can take a chance especially after the Kyl/Lieberman vote.

[TwilightZone]

35. Like that warmonger Wes Clark? George McGovern? John Lewis?

Mr. Clark's warmonger web site: http://stopiranwar.com/

Then, there's that well-known warmonger George McGovern.

And that other guy that wants to nuke Iran, John Lewis.

[mod mom]

43. They might have endorsed her in hopes of a place on her team should she win.

They have to know about our election system and see the push by corporate media to annoit her (think of her being the only Dem to get coverage on 5 network on one Sunday alone). They are not her strategists.

Research the close strategists I listed in upper case. Are those the tyical Dems you would want surronding your candidate of choice? I wouldn't.

[skipos]

42. I have researched it. She is my last choice for 08

My problem is with the "want more war, vote for Hillary!1!!!1" hyperbole that people like you are spewing that is driving Hillary's numbers up. I think it would be better if you presented the facts without all the name calling and mania.

[Moochy]

25. The hatefest is scheduled after the teach-in

[mod mom]

4. Sorry but knowing of DLC's ties to PNAC, this backing scares the sh@# out of me:

Al From is founder and chief executive officer of the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC), a dynamic idea action center of the "Third Way" governing philosophy that is reshaping progressive politics in the United States and around the globe. He is also chairman of the Third Way Foundation and publisher of the DLC's flagship bi-monthly magazine, Blueprint: Ideas for a New Century.

As a founder of the DLC -- birthplace of the New Democrat movement and the Third Way in America -- and its companion think tank, the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI), From leads a national movement that since the mid-1980s has provided both the action agenda and the ideas for New Democrats to successfully challenge the conventional political wisdom in America and, in the process, redefine the center of the Democratic Party.

-snip

http://www.dlc.org/ndol_ci.cfm?kaid=86&subid=191&contentid=1131



Will Marshall, the head of PPI signed PNAC letters.
(Called "Bill Clinton's idea mill," the Progressive Policy Institute was responsible for many of the Clinton administration's initiatives...)
Starting right after 9/11.
***************************
Along with such neocon stalwarts as Robert Kagan, Bruce Jackson, Joshua Muravchik, James Woolsey, and Eliot Cohen, a half-dozen Democrats were among the 23 individuals who signed PNAC's first letter on post-war Iraq. Among the Democrats were Ivo Daalder of the Brookings Institution and a member of Clinton's National Security Council staff; Martin Indyk, Clinton's ambassador to Israel; Will Marshall of the Progressive Policy Institute and Democratic Leadership Council; Dennis Ross, Clinton's top adviser on the Israel-Palestinian negotiations; and James Steinberg, Clinton's deputy national security adviser and head of foreign policy studies at Brookings.

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0522-10.htm

More about Will Marshall
Note the PNAC link to the left.
http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/1295

[ShortnFiery]

3. Yeah, and General Clark may be this "iron lady's" running mate ...

How's that for a double dose of endless warmongering?

I guess Halloween is coming a little earlier for us this year?

[TwilightZone]

8. Warmongering? You have absolutely no clue what you're talking about.

http://stopiranwar.com/

[cali]

10. Don't bother. Some people love to claim

tenaciously to their own ignorance.

[TornadoTN]

22. Indeed - Clark is not a warmongerer by any stretch

Interesting that despite all of his hard work for stopping the war in Iraq and using Diplomacy rather than force in world affairs, that the moment he backs Hillary Clinton all of the love disappears for him.

I'm not particularly enamored with Hillary, but the characterizations I see sometimes of her on here is just downright silly at best.

[ShortnFiery]

46. Yeah? Just wait for IT! Methinks Gen (Ret.) Clark is not all that you perceive. n/t

[TwilightZone]

47. He helped numerous Democrats get elected in 2006, including Jim Webb.

What did you do to help get Dems elected? Rant and rave about them on a web site?

Thanks for your opinion on Mr. Clark. Pardon me if I give his actions more weight than your words. I think that he's exactly what I perceive.

[ShortnFiery]

48. Wait for it? n/t

[TwilightZone]

6. That must be why she co-sponsored Webb's bill to prohibit funds for use in Iran

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x3616896

[TornadoTN]

23. Shhhh! Logic has no place in a Hillary-hatefest

I grow tired of the endless Hillary bashing, and she's not even my candidate!

[mod mom]

34. PLEASE the debunk the Huff Po article, debunk the info on her associates. Instead

of applying the rovian label, provide readers of this post with facts. You supporters of her should be attempting to win us over with rational arguments. Instead all we get is the usual name calling.

[TwilightZone]

39. Her supporters also include George McGovern, John Lewis, and Wesley Clark

Your assertion that she's a warmonger simply based on her associations tends to break down when you bother to look at others who are supporting her.

[mdmc]

14. She is our own little neo-con

God Bless Her! Go democrats! :woohoo:

[leftchick]

15. what is no to love about her? She is a hawk's hawk!

with backing from AIPAC/the DLC/and the NEOCONS a forever war in the Mid-east is just what Defense wants!

[msongs]

16. $100K out of 70 MILLION = dupe of the military industry? nt

[madrchsod]

30. the third way?

it`s a blending of the neocon and neoliberal another shining example of pouring old wine in old bottles.

the only good thing i can say is that maybe i`ll live long enough that after 36 years of bushs and clintons running the government maybe someone else will get a chance.

[mod mom]

31. unfortunately with the problems associated with Climate Crisis accelerating, we don't

have the luxury of waiting while corporate/defense politicians work on what's best for their clients.

I would have never brought children into this world if I knew then what I know now, but since I didn't I am willing to put up with all the name calling in order to get the information out on the disastrous choice of selecting another candidate of the corporations instead of the people!

[madrchsod]

52. i`ll agree with you on that...

[Swede]

45. Senator Clinton took in $52,600,they own her now!

nt

[mod mom]

49. Use OPENSECRETS to see how corporate interest is donating:

Lobbyists -Hillary # 1

http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/select.asp?cycle=2008

Oil & Gas _Hillary # 4 (although TOP DEM)

http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/select.asp?Ind=E01

Pharm/Health Products-Hillary # 3 (TOP DEM)

http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/select.asp?Ind=H04

I THINK THIS COUNTRY IS IN NEED OF A POPULIST PRESIDENT-ONE WHO WORKS FOR THE PEOPLE NOT CORPORATE INTEREST.

[Rhythm and Blue]

50. OMG $52,600 SHE IS THEIR PAWN

Or, you know...it could be that, as the article says, they see her as the presumed winner and want to get on her good side.

[bagrman]

51. We need a Statesman not a corporate schill.

[bvar22]

54. We need a President,

not a Homecoming Queen for the GIANT Corporations.

The Democratic Party is a BIG TENT, but there is NO ROOM for those
who advance the agenda of THE RICH (Corporate Owners) at the EXPENSE of LABOR and the POOR.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

53. Yawn

DSB

[TimBean]

55. Shut up, she has a D next to her name

so she is immune.

[mod mom]

56. Either you forgot the sarcasm notation or you believe Dems should fall into

line like good lil' republicans. Sorry I'm a "principle over party" kind of Dem. Blind faith in leadership (even if they have a D after their name) is dangerous.