February 3, 200422 yr i've been wanting to post this for a couple days, so i figured today's a good day. this clown is running for president of the united states. he claims to never "take a dime" from special interests. let's look at a breakdown of his campaign contributions as of the most recent disclosures, care of opensecrets.org. here are his presidential campaign contributions by sector totals: JOHN EDWARDS (D) Contributions by Sector in case you're wondering, such lopsided funding from one sector is UNHEARD OF. now let's look at the top industries that have given to his campaign: JOHN EDWARDS (D) Top Industries 1 Lawyers/Law Firms $7,467,840 2 Retired $438,715 3 Securities & Investment $326,350 4 Misc Business $243,155 5 Business Services $233,500 6 Health Professionals $226,200 7 Real Estate $214,375 8 Education $178,124 9 TV/Movies/Music $169,125 10 Misc Finance $138,550 11 Civil Servants/Public Officials $124,935 12 Retail Sales $70,040 13 General Contractors $69,580 14 Printing & Publishing $62,200 15 Computers/Internet $56,200 16 Commercial Banks $54,900 17 Insurance $51,025 18 Misc Services $50,300 19 Accountants $45,000 20 Construction Services $42,500 now look at his top contributors (good for a hearty laugh): JOHN EDWARDS (D) Top Contributors 1. Goldman Sachs $86,350 2. Baron & Budd $79,400 3. Girardi & Keese $63,600 4. Beasley, Allen et al $63,070 5. Weitz & Luxenberg $50,285 6. Simmons Firm $49,000 7. Robinson & Cole $48,200 8. Robinson, Calcagnie & Robinson $38,250 9. Morris, Haynes & Hornsby $38,000 10. Koskoff, Koskoff & Bieder $37,500 11. Wilkes & McHugh $36,000 12. Fieger, Fieger et al $34,500 13. Morgan Stanley $34,050 14. Watts Law Firm $32,000 15. Cotchett, Pitre et al $32,000 16. Edwards for President $31,170 17. Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer $30,500 18. Paul, William & Beltz $30,250 19. Lopez, Hodes et al $30,000 20. Baker, Keener & Nahra $30,000 look at the percent of donations each candidate received from SMALL donors ($200 or less), also courtesy of opensecrets: Candidate No. of $200+Contributors No. of $2,000+Contributors % from Donorsof $2,000+ % from Donorsof $200 or less Kucinich, Dennis 2,141 179 11% 65% Dean, Howard 18,364 1,554 13% 56% Larouche, Lyndon H Jr 2,064 61 5% 45% Clark, Wesley 2,938 512 31% 35% Kerry, John 12,717 4,362 55% 12% Lieberman, Joe 9,885 2,938 52% 9% Sharpton, Al 209 78 64% 9% Bush, George W 48,918 29,803 73% 12% Edwards, John 10,985 4,396 65% 3% yes, that's a THREE percent. even bush has him beat. here's what a recent new york times article had to say: Mr. Edwards tells audiences, "I've never taken a dime from a Washington lobbyist and I never will."? That might be literally true ? not many lobbyists give dimes these days ? but Mr. Edwards has accepted at least a few contributions from current and former lobbyists, and his campaign manager was a registered Washington lobbyist in 2002. Mr. Edwards has also accepted millions of dollars from lawyers, including members of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, a trade group that wields enormous influence on tort reform. An ex-president of the group, Fred Baron, is a financial co-chairman for Mr. Edwards's campaign. The new president of the group and all four executive officers, have each given $2,000. Fifty-five percent of Mr. Kerry's money has come from donors giving $2,000. For Mr. Bush, the comparable figure is 73 percent, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The center's analysis shows that small donors, those giving $200 or less, have provided 12 percent of Mr. Kerry's campaign money, the same percentage they provided for Mr. Bush. Mr. Edwards collected even less, 3 percent, of his campaign money from contributions of $200 or less, the analysis showed. In his stump speech about "the two Americas," Mr. Edwards promises to protect ordinary citizens against the wealthy and the powerful. But 65 percent of the money in his campaign has come from Americans who are able to donate $2,000 or more, chiefly lawyers, according to the research group. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/31/politics...&partner=GOOGLE john edwards goes on about "the two americas," his humble roots, and that he hasn't taken "a dime" from special interests, unlike his opponents. mind you, 86% of his contributions from his last senatorial bid came from trial lawyers, and easily half of his money for his presidential campaign has come from them. from a completely non-partisan perspective, i give john edwards my award for biggest hypocrite of the 2004 election. bravo!
February 3, 200422 yr not a surprise to me. Also, Kerry has recieved more special interest money than anyone on capitol hill in the past 15 years I believe
February 4, 200422 yr Author not a surprise to me.? Also, Kerry has recieved more special interest money than anyone on capitol hill in the past 15 years I believe he sure has. out of the primary candidates, edwards is tops for percent of money coming from one special interest, but yes, they're both unbelievable hypocrites. edwards is just a bigger one, since he uses his opposition to special interests as the cornerstone of his entire freaking campaign. it's a shame that the media had to (help) kill dean's candidacy. he would've been awesome.
February 4, 200422 yr shows what one scream remixed a million times will do to your campaign I guess. I'm still voting Dean, assuming I get the chance to.
February 4, 200422 yr Author shows what one scream remixed a million times will do to your campaign I guess. I'm still voting Dean, assuming I get the chance to. you live in arizona... you better leave for your nearest precinct ASAP!!!
February 4, 200422 yr ehn ... this reminds me of that Simpsons where Ed Begley, Jr. drives a car powered by his own sense of self-satisfaction. If only we could truly harness that energy supply.
February 4, 200422 yr in march. dean still has my vote. he has to win michigan though. the huge states are still out for grabs. the media can goto hell for the most part. dean by far has the highest percentage of contributors from every day people out of those that are serious candidates. what i heard is that dean still leans in the 'huge' states in terms of delegates.
February 4, 200422 yr You know theres a reason Deans numbers slipped. And his scream speech didn't start any of it, in fact it more or less ended it. Dean's numbers slipped nationally around the country before the Iowa Caucases because people were beginning to respond to the positive messages that Sen's Kerry and Edwards were displaying. And is it any coincedince that its Kerry and Edwards (mainly Kerry) that are the 2 with the best shots at the nomination? Edwards is a hypocrite in the terms of general special interests, but the special interests we at the Edwards campaign speak of are the special interests that president Bush takes in. And also Alkazoid you've said that your not mean to anybody, but I think that your the hypocrite in this case is yourself. You jump at every opportunity to mock myself, my candidate for president that I campaign for (Sen. Edwards), the sports teams I like and anything else I seem to support, you just won't come outright and say it like Sals. Alkazoid just come right out and say it instead of trying to bash me around by bashing my beliefs (political and sports). And also there must be a reason Kerry and Edwards are both polling ahead of Bush and none of the others including the Dean Meany are. Deans the biggest phony in this election. The fact that he had the nomination locked up and lost it because he was running a negative campaign is almost unprecedented. Yes I will admit that target on Deans back that almost all candidates but Edwards shot at was huge. You have to admit that of all the candidates Edwards has been by far the most positive and really focuses on his campaign and not whats wrong with the others. I'm proud to say that Dean is toast and by February 17 will be back in Vermont telling people to..."Say ahh..." And that Edwards will be in Wisconsin campaigning for the oval office. And remember that almost all politics is run by special interests whether you want to admit it or not.
February 4, 200422 yr shows what one scream remixed a million times will do to your campaign I guess.? I'm still voting Dean, assuming I get the chance to. you live in arizona... you better leave for your nearest precinct ASAP!!! I actually live in New Mexico. And I voted for the Dean-meister in the caucus yesterday.
February 4, 200422 yr And also Alkazoid you've said that your not mean to anybody, but I think that your the hypocrite in this case is yourself. You jump at every opportunity to mock myself, my candidate for president that I campaign for (Sen. Edwards), the sports teams I like and anything else I seem to support, you just won't come outright and say it like Sals. Alkazoid just come right out and say it instead of trying to bash me around by bashing my beliefs (political and sports). If you're out working the trail like you say, you have to learn not to be such a soft little boy. Buck up and be a man already. People don't always agree, that's life son. You seem like you are getting involved in politics and that's good that you back somebody (I hope you're informed enough though) but you have to learn to counter facts, like the ones alkazoid presented and not curl up and cry like you are.
February 4, 200422 yr Author shows what one scream remixed a million times will do to your campaign I guess.? I'm still voting Dean, assuming I get the chance to. you live in arizona... you better leave for your nearest precinct ASAP!!! I actually live in New Mexico. And I voted for the Dean-meister in the caucus yesterday. albuquerque, new m... sorry, i'm an idiot. you guys rule, btw. you got dean his only delegates of the night.
February 4, 200422 yr Author And also Alkazoid you've said that your not mean to anybody, but I think that your the hypocrite in this case is yourself.? You jump at every opportunity to mock myself, my candidate for president that I campaign for (Sen. Edwards), the sports teams I like and anything else I seem to support, you just won't come outright and say it like Sals. Alkazoid just come right out and say it instead of trying to bash me around by bashing my beliefs (political and sports). dude, i despised john edwards before i even knew you liked him, and i assure you my posts about him have nothing to do with you. i'm almost positive that i've made posts about my distaste for him on this board before you even knew he existed (that is, before the iowa caucuses and new hampshire primary, when he was merely asterik in opinion polls). i have nothing against you. i have never bashed or said anything negative about the packers, since i have no reason at all to dislike them. i've never bashed any of the "sports teams [you] like," and i challenge you to find a post where i do that. i could find dozens of posts in which you trash the teams i like, but i could care less since disagreement doesn't bother me at all. i called you out when you started posting about how the dolphins need to work on their defense this offseason (lol) because, quite frankly, you didn't know what you were talking about. i called you out when you dubbed philip rivers the best quarterback in the draft (yes, ahead of eli, big ben, and losman) because, again, you didn't know what you were talking about. none of this is personal, and i really hope you understand that. i apologize if you've taken offense to my disagreement, but you must realize that discussions on message boards typically contain disagreement, especially when someone takes an "out there" sort of stance. me trashing john edwards, however, has nothing to do with anything you've said. i disagree with your view of him. that's all. i dislike--no, i despise--john edwards more than any other candidate in the entire field.
February 5, 200422 yr I've actually supported Edwards since he announced his candidacy back last year in Late April early May.
February 6, 200422 yr Sen. Edwards is another Washington insider who accepts and thrives on special interests. If you look at my campaign its being funded by the people. Help join me in Taking Back America for America.
February 7, 200422 yr Sen. Edwards is another Washington insider who accepts and thrives on special interests. If you look at my campaign its being funded by the people. Help join me in Taking Back America for America. :blink: That is why you are out of money, because the people on the whole do not want you.
February 7, 200422 yr If George Bush dares bring up money in campaign contribution, he needs to be blasted. Its funny you point to those percentages from small groups because they are blatantly misleading. I wont get into the concept of small amounts can yield higher percentages. Bush supporters explain to me this: http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/special/p.../fec/index.html Why does GWB need 100 million dollars for a presidential campaign? The average American struggles in a recession and he is going to spend his way to re-election? The closet Dem is so far behind. B supporters know where he has gotten most of the money. Special interest and the wealthy. And what is he going to spend his money on? BS like this: http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/02/02/...s.tm/index.html Im sick and tired of this president. All he talks about are his Christian values and his character. Thats a bunch of BS. He has no character and is a pawn of the special interests and republican party heads. And I love the trial lawyer/tort reform bashing. Ask any logical academic who has studies the issue and they will point out that tort reform is a movement created by conservatives to blind the average America. Its spin at its worst. I dont know what everyone's views are, but Democrats need to unite.
February 7, 200422 yr btw, Alkazoid, I didnt mean to accuse you of misleading. I just wish the presidential campaign was about America and the issues.
February 7, 200422 yr Author Its funny you point to those percentages from small groups because they are blatantly misleading. I wont get into the concept of small amounts can yield higher percentages. blatantly misleading? how so? at the time of those figures, edwards had $14 million collected--hardly a meager sum. compared to the rest of the democratic field, edwards received 3% of his contributions from small donors ($200 or less)--far less than any of his democratic competitors. compared to the rest of the democratic field, edwards received 65% of his contributions from large donors ($2000)--far greater than any of his democratic competitors, and second only to bush's unfathomable 73%. "small amounts can yield higher percentages" is entirely a rhetorical explanation for edwards' dependence on wealthy contributors, and it is meaningless to even state such a thing when considering edwards' money in the context of the entire democratic field. And I love the trial lawyer/tort reform bashing. Ask any logical academic who has studies the issue and they will point out that tort reform is a movement created by conservatives to blind the average America. Its spin at its worst. actually, in my experience, it's quite the opposite. most logical academics can grasp the societal benefit gained from tort reform in medical malpractice lawsuits. almost without exception, the few educated people i've encountered who are fervently opposed to tort reform for malpractice claims are either: A) in the legal field, or B) very liberal. the less educated people who are opposed to it cite the convoluted data spun by trial lawyer groups to attempt to explain it doesn't work. anyways, i'm not in the mood to debate tort reform for the nth time (i've had this discussion far too many times on political message boards), and this isn't the thread to discuss it, so i'll politely pass. Bush supporters explain to me this: http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/special/p.../fec/index.html Why does GWB need 100 million dollars for a presidential campaign? The average American struggles in a recession and he is going to spend his way to re-election? The closet Dem is so far behind. B supporters know where he has gotten most of the money. Special interest and the wealthy. If George Bush dares bring up money in campaign contribution, he needs to be blasted. i am by no means a bush supporter, and this isn't even a democrat vs. republican thread (it's an "edwards is a hypocrite" thread, or more subtly a "dean kills edwards/kerry" thread), but i think it's pretty safe to say dubya would be the last person to ever disavow taking special interest money. who knows, at the pace this election is going, he might just shatter all records of political hypocrisy and do it. :thumbdown
February 8, 200422 yr Exactly flying mollusk appears to see what I see. Special Interests will play a role in any campaign. YES INCLUDING the "Dead Dr. Dean" Who is also a huge hypocirte. But unlike some people here when I throw my support to someone I throw it to whose best on the issues. And hands down Edwards covers the issues. Go to his website, and you'll see that J.E. is the only candidate that says the following 3 things every time he talks about an issue... 1. Whats Wrong 2. How he plans to fix it 3. How he'll pay for it. Every other candidate says the first 2. Dean is a doctor and Governor from Vermont who claims he knows how to balance a budget, I'm sorry Mr. Dean, thats Vermont. Balancing Vermonts Budget must be as astronomical as figuring out if someone ordered French Fries or Onion Rings at a Burger King Drive Thru. Lets see him offer whats wrong with the economy, how he wants to fix it, and how he'll pay for it. He offers only the first 2 options. Also Dean has a reputation as a raving lunatic when he's mad. Every good president we've had has been level headed and cool. Dean however has never been that. And his campaign is toasted anyways. Senator Kerry says he's in touch with the common Americans, well I guess like Bush the common Americans drive BMW's as their trash car, Rolls Royce's on casual fridays, since Kerry is worth $800 million. But I'd rank Kerry as distant 2nd on the issues behind Senator Edwards. But Kerry has a Napoleon Complex and cockiness about him, that is earily reminiscent of that of Pres. Bush's that says to the world "Screw you, and kiss me." Gen. Clark, this man is the biggest hypocrite in the race. Back in March on the 2nd day of the war in Iraq I was taping CNN because I figured this was American History so I taped it. And as I was watching it a few weeks ago, I noticed Gen. Clark was one of the Generals hired by CNN, MSNBC, and Fox to explain what we're doing, and what we plan on doing. And during that he said and I quote.... "President. Bush has done a fantastic job as President and I believe that this is the right thing to do as a far as going to war is concerned. I support both the President and his reasons for war 100%." then I was watching the 10 o'clock news later that night and noticed Clarks add saying that... "He (Clark) never supported the War in Iraq." and also... "I (Clark) have never at any point since early 2002 supported the President. I (Gen Clark) believe that he has been a poor president and he needs to go." I don't want a 2 face in office. Alkazoid I encourage you to find something about Sen. Edwards that will matter after November if he's President. Special Interests money runs politics, mainly political races. But it has NEVER influenced any of his decisions policy wise while in the Senate. And also thats why consistently in his 6 years in Senate he's always been ranked as one of the 10 most productive Senators on the hill. Edwards has taken S-I money from Lawyers and Lawyer Unions. Care to explain all the Money Dean got from Workers Unions? Just find something on Edwards that will matter how he makes decisions on the issues once he's elected and then and only then will I shut up. Just watch, if Senator Edwards takes the next 3 states, (Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin) he'll take Kerrys momentum and ride it to the White house. Though it is unlikely that will happen, Senator Edwards is in 2nd place in all of those states in the polls. Virginia is within the Margin of Error. And Wisconsin is just out of the margin of error for Senator Edwards. Tennessee Edwards is in a statistical dead heat with a 3% lead over Clark at 23%. Until then, I have to go door to door, make phone calls, and send e-mails to the good people of Wisconsin on Senator Edwards behalf.
February 8, 200422 yr Its misleading in the sense that he has lower amount raised so the percetage of every donation is higher. I pointed it out mainly since you pointed out that Bush seems to have more small donations yet misses on Bush's contribution reputation. Lets say Edwards has raised 10 million and 6 million is from trial lawyers. Then Bush has raised 100 million and 30 million is from the pharmaceutical industry. Of course it would seem that Edwards gets high percentage from trial lawyers. But I see what your point is in that Edwards seems like a hypocrite. The thing is you have to realize that Edwards is himself a trial lawyer(truley believing in his crusade too) so he naturally shares the same tort reform views as those who would donate. Plus I wonder how many are close collegues who want to see him succeed. I myself would like to see money OUT of politics. Special interest groups control way too much of what happens on both sides. It becomes so hard to accomplish anything without money. Id like to see major campaign finance reform big time. But that wont happen. In regards tort reform itself, I also could get into it for a long long thread. I am staunchly on the other side of this having studies with Professor Stephen Daniels of Northwestern University, author of Civil Juries and the Politics of Reform. There is a lot I can say but this isnt the thread to do so. My opinion of Bush is very harsh. Frankly I hate him and Im not liberal. I could list off hundreds of things but in my mind his bait and switch approach to policy is the worst.
February 8, 200422 yr Phlub, I agree with you that I wish things would stay with the issues. Edwards picked up so much momentum and did so well in Iowa because he talked to the people there about their lives. He talked to them about healthcare and education and what they need and what America needs. George Bush is already prepping up his character campaign over the issues. His dad's famoud Willy Horton campaign basically made Dukakis look like he supported criminals and murderers. That distracts people from the actual issues which irritatates me. Bush will do the same to make people forget about the economy. In my mind it isnt right. Right now for me, I will vote for anyone but Bush. I want the democratic vote united against this man. I have no strong inclinations towards any of the candidates. I dont care about Kerry, or Edwards or Deans flaws. I just want them to beat Bush. I think to stretch out possible flaws isnt following the right direction.
February 8, 200422 yr Author Its misleading in the sense that he has lower amount raised so the percetage of every donation is higher. I pointed it out mainly since you pointed out that Bush seems to have more small donations yet misses on Bush's contribution reputation. Lets say Edwards has raised 10 million and 6 million is from trial lawyers. Then Bush has raised 100 million and 30 million is from the pharmaceutical industry. Of course it would seem that Edwards gets high percentage from trial lawyers. you're correct. bush takes much, much, much more special interest money. it wasn't my intention to bash edwards in the context of the general election, since bush by far beats everybody in special interest money. in the context of the primary race, edwards relies more heavily on wealthy donors and gets very little support from common people... which is why i find it so amusing that he goes on about "the two americas" and interrupts debates to "talk about the issues... like why 30 million americans live in poverty." he makes me laugh so much :lol
February 8, 200422 yr Author But unlike some people here when I throw my support to someone I throw it to whose best on the issues. And hands down Edwards covers the issues. Go to his website, and you'll see that J.E. is the only candidate that says the following 3 things every time he talks about an issue... 1. Whats Wrong 2. How he plans to fix it 3. How he'll pay for it. \ Every other candidate says the first 2. john edwards is the weakest on detailing the issues out of the big three. john edwards is like a little teddy bear with a string in the back. when you pull the string, he spouts pre-recorded rhetoric and gives you a couple well-memorized phrases. edwards is dead last on the issues and actually telling you what he's going to do. oh, and i've read the "issues" on edwards' website. he doesn't outline how he's going to pay for things more than any other candidate, and he's not going to balance the budget if he's keeping the tax cut. as far as budget goes, dean is the only one who is committed to balancing the budget. it's central to his campaign. he's a very honest guy who's known for being a tightwad, so i have no reason to believe he wouldn't live by his promise. if nobody else gives you #3, dean most certainly does. Senator Kerry says he's in touch with the common Americans, well I guess like Bush the common Americans drive BMW's as their trash car, Rolls Royce's on casual fridays, since Kerry is worth $800 million. But I'd rank Kerry as distant 2nd on the issues behind Senator Edwards. hahhahahahahahahaha you're implying that edwards is in touch with the common man...lololol Alkazoid I encourage you to find something about Sen. Edwards that will matter after November if he's President. i've given you plenty, my friend. And also thats why consistently in his 6 years in Senate he's always been ranked as one of the 10 most productive Senators on the hill. lololol!!! the only thing he's been vocal about during the past 6 years is his opposition to malpractice reform. that was his only goddamn issue!! there's no such thing as a "productivity ranking", and if there were, the senators in the minority power would be in the bottom half.... lol. Edwards has taken S-I money from Lawyers and Lawyer Unions. Care to explain all the Money Dean got from Workers Unions? dean has gotten much, much less money from unions than edwards has taken from trial lawyers and trial lawyer assocaitions. and unions are not on par with the american trial lawyers association as far as special interests go. Until then, I have to go door to door, make phone calls, and send e-mails to the good people of Wisconsin on Senator Edwards behalf. i'm impressed that, at the age of 14, you've decided to help your parents on a political campaign. when i was 14, i didn't know a whole lot about politics other than what my parents fed me. the fact that you're helping your folks in actually getting involved impresses me a lot, and i'm sure by the time you're in college, you'll be quite the poly sci whiz. do you mind if i ask you what your parents do for a living? again, i'm not trying to be mean or imply anything, but i'm curious as to what sort of people decide to volunteer for john edwards.
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