Hi Suzanne

Suz!!!

Suzanne!!! Compadre in music!!

Ah, Arizona strikes again!

g’evening pups

how is everyone doing tonight?

Gnu?

Suz!
Excellent!

Aloha, Suz! Excellent tune!

Melancholy tonight. Wasn’t going to blog anymore after putting up a little piece for Eddy Arnold at my place. And then, driving to the tall timber, I heard Hillary, in her own words, her own voice, playin’ the race card.

Shame, shame, shame.

Did a quick piece about it, if anyone’s inclined to stop by, click my name. Or TPM’s got a piece about it I just discovered awaiting Late Night.

It’s like, well, kinda like discovering the revered Barbara Walters is a trollop /s.

I do think this is a tactic beyond the pale, and I hope there’ll be strong pushback against it.

On to TDS…could use some laughs…

Comadre. !

No better tune could reflect the way I feel tonight.

Oh yeah..hee, hee…

And then, driving to the tall timber, I heard Hillary, in her own words, her own voice, playin’ the race card.

That was a complete disgrace. I know she’s tired, but wow.

Hillary needs to stop now. Actually, a while ago. Sad.

H

i see i’m not the only one feeling the blues this week.

End of this month, right, Suz?

We go from wishing for it to move to the next phase, to waiting out the death-rattle, and praying that it doesn’t catch fire.
Pins & needles.

wedding is the 31st

the bride is starting to panic…

Hello all. I’ve finally decompressed from the great victory we had here in Indiana. It was a lot of work but very enjoyable.

Panic about what? She seemed so composed at the shower…

Digg it!

where’s nahant?

Carlo, congrats! What part did you play?

panic about the wedding in 3 weeks and she’s thinking of all the stuff she still has to do

thanks neuro :)

must feel nice to have all the media leaving, being able to answer your phone and come out of the grocery store without being polled.

This is what not to do if facing a Judge for sentencing…

A former Alaska legislator convicted of taking bribes to push legislation for a major natural gas pipeline was sentenced Thursday to 3 1/2 years in federal prison.

Former state Rep. Vic Kohring continued to proclaim his innocence and read a statement in court repeating his claim that the judge should have removed himself from the case

The Raw Story…

bet ET is gonna have something interesting to say about that.

Yep.
ET will have some things to say about it. He is close to this case.

Canvassing, canvassing, and more canvassing. Plus registering voters by the handful in March. I was part of the Washington Township team. Don’t have figures from the township, but we took Marion County (Indianapolis) 67% to 33 %. Turnout for the Demos was 80% and the Repugs 20%.

newton the user, you owe me a soda

woohoo! most excellent work, carlo

I got called by the HRC campaign just as a canvassee was opening her door. It was quite a humorous moment.

Pepsi, right?

Prolly grumble that I scooped him at the Lake…! ;-)

Speaking of videos, looks like I got my very first Youtube hit!! Hope you enjoy it. 52 seconds of pure bliss.

Hillary – Going Out of Business
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XH0oJzT9WIg

Enjoy.

Suzanne said, “i see i’m not the only one feeling the blues this week”

ET is already on the job …
http://progressivealaska.blogspot.com/

We registered 200,000 voters before the April 8 deadline and will get at least 100,000 more before November.

pepsi

congratulations

Hey Everyybody, I was just reading Time Magazine’s article about the five biggest mistakes that Hillary made and it is astonishing the tenacity of her campaign. It was then I had a cold thought, what if Hill packs up her tent, pulls a Joe Lieberman and moves on to the McCain campaign. McCain-Clinton, the Establishment Dream Team. I feel like a snake just crawled over my foot.

Evening all. So what topic are we avoiding tonight?

I have met the “Blogwars” guy who’s on The Daily Show right now

Great work!

you are so gonna like the late late nite i’ve got in the queue for tonight :)

when it airs here on the west coast, i’ll know who you are talking about

It was then I had a cold thought, what if Hill packs up her tent, pulls a Joe Lieberman and moves on to the McCain campaign. McCain-Clinton, the Establishment Dream Team.

Never happen, IMO. She wants a future. That scenario is the end-of-the-road.

The thought has crossed my mind.

7% of HRC support was from Operation Chaos that told exit pollers they had no intention of voting for her in November. And that is the ones that would admit to it.

No possibility.

the little cottage by the creek in the redwoods is still for sale

I’m with newtonusr on this. Things do not look good for the the Rethugs for the foreseeable future and Hillary is smart enough to see that.

Yep. New York wouldn’t touch her ever again. Pariah in the party, like you-know-who.

Arianna told us she’d be on Colbert tonight. Just a reminder to the pups.

Oh dear. Sorry to hear that. This would not seem like the market to be in. I will keep my fingers, legs, arms, eyes, and anything else I can manage crossed for you.

Evenin’ all !

How’s everyone tonight ?

the mistakes have been big ones

almost makes me wanna put on some tin foil and say her campaign was sabotaged by someone she trusted

sweet, thanks, revdeb

Yo, Petro! How’s it hangin’ up north of the line?

Thank you. :)

hey suz, pups

drive by–wanted everyone to know bill moyers is on charlie rose tonight on pbs……at least he’s scheduled for here tonight, assume it’s the same all over…..

g’nite, have fun!

thanks, dmac

Monte Montgomery — Little Wing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31QQ1gNpAaY

((( DrD )))

Unseasonably cool but at least I can see the green grass … *g* … talk of meeting some friends for spicy Indian cuisine tomorrow …

Still daylight here, Petro…! ;-)

(((PETRO)))

It looks to me like she planned to have a down and dirty fight with the Repugs and this was the only game plan they prepared …

OUCH! that forking hiccup hurt

Here is a little something I received via email today from Eddie Vale @ progressivemediausa.org and thought you might like to get a history of McSame:
Contact:

Eddie Vale 631-334-8191
PHOENIX NEW TIMES – “Haunted By Spirits – John McCain derives his wealth from his marriage to Cindy Hensley McCain”
An investigation by the Phoenix New Times found that McCain’s political fortunes are intertwined with Cindy’s money – See article below
Cindy McCain Said She Would Never Release Her Tax Returns, Even As First Lady. During an appearance on NBC’s Today Show, McCain said, “My husband and I have been married 28 years and we have filed separate tax returns for 28 years. This is a privacy issue. My husband is the candidate.” Ann Curry asked, “So you’ll never release, you’re saying? Even if your First Lady?” “No,” McCain answered, adding, “I’m not the candidate.” [NBC, “Today Show,” 5/8/08]
McCain’s Campaign “Gave Itself An Advantage By Using A Corporate Jet Owned By A Company Headed By His Wife.” The New York Times reported, “[O]ver a seven-month period beginning last summer, Mr. McCain’s cash-short campaign gave itself an advantage by using a corporate jet owned by a company headed by his wife, Cindy McCain, according to public records. For five of those months, the plane was used almost exclusively for campaign-related purposes, those records show. Mr. McCain’s campaign paid a total of $241,149 for the use of that plane from last August through February, records show. That amount is approximately the cost of chartering a similar jet for a month or two, according to industry estimates.” [The New York Times, 4/27/08]
LINK to full article
Haunted By Spirits
John McCain derived his wealth from his marriage to Cindy Hensley McCain, whose father started his road to riches as a bootlegger. As a politician, the senator has remained beholden to the liquor industry and the family business.
By John Dougherty, Amy Silverman
Published on February 17, 2000
Would United States Senator John McCain be a presidential contender if it weren’t for his marriage to Cindy Hensley McCain, heiress to the Hensley liquor fortune? Its doubtful.
The senator’s wife and — more important — his father-in-law, James Willis Hensley, are very wealthy people.
Like his father and grandfather before him, McCain was a career Navy officer. His earning power and his inheritance were modest. At its peak, his pay as a captain was about $45,000.
But he retired from the military in 1980, divorced his first wife, wed Arizona native Cindy Lou Hensley and moved here to plunge into the world of politics. His first job in Arizona was as a public affairs agent for Hensley & Company, one of the nation’s largest beer distributors. He was paid $50,000 in 1982 to travel the state, touting the company’s wares. But he was promoting himself as much as he was Budweiser beer. A better job description might have been “candidate.”
In 1982, Cindy drew more than $700,000 in salary and bonuses from Hensley-related enterprises as her husband was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in his first political campaign.
Today, McCain is ranked the 26th wealthiest member of Congress by Roll Call magazine. There are 535 members in the House and Senate.
From Day 1, Hensley money has enabled McCain to be a full-time politician, free from financial concerns.
[snip]
By now, many Americans know John McCain’s family story. His best-selling memoir, Faith of My Fathers, chronicles the lives of the senator’s father and grandfather, distinguished admirals. The book takes readers up through John McCain’s own military service, including his five and a half years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. But Faith of My Fathers ends there, a few years short of John McCain’s marriage to Cindy Hensley and the advent of his political career.
That’s only half the family story.
The rest could be called “Cash of My Father-in-Law,” a tale of how beer baron James W. Hensley’s money and influence provided a complement to McCain’s charisma and compelling personal story and launched him to a seat in Congress — and perhaps to the White House.
Although Hensley wealth has helped propel McCain’s political career, the senator will never get his hands directly on the Hensley fortune because of an antenuptial agreement he signed before his 1980 marriage.
A centerpiece in McCain’s remarkable and sudden rise to national prominence is his promise of campaign-finance reform.
Yet McCain has relied heavily on the financial contributions from big corporate donors — with the liquor and beer industry near the top of the list. McCain won — one could say bought — his first election to the House of Representatives in 1982 with lavish sums of Hensley beer money.
In a rare 1988 interview, James Hensley gave a glimpse of his political savvy.
“The neo-prohibitionists are real active about trying to dry us up all the time,” he told the Phoenix Business Journal. “They’re a constant battle. They’re going after us in different ways now than they did in those days, trying to ban advertising, things like that…. We’re legislatively involved very heavily…. It’s a way of life to protect our industry.”
Since 1982, Hensley & Company employees have donated almost $200,000 to federal political candidates and campaigns. Since 1996, they’ve given Arizona state-level candidates more than $18,755.
McCain himself has received more than $60,000 from James Hensley and his employees — and tens of thousands more from other beer-related interests.
John McCain benefits from James Hensley’s money.
James Hensley benefits from John McCain’s political power.
While McCain blasts his colleagues for falling prey to the influences of campaign contributions, the senator’s record reveals his quiet support for the business that launched and has helped maintain his career. McCain declined to be interviewed for this story.
[snip]
The Hensley & Company stock is only part of the McCain clan’s wealth. According to Senator McCain’s financial disclosure statement for calendar year 1998, Cindy McCain controls more than $1 million worth of Anheuser-Busch stock that generated between $15,000 and $50,000 in dividends. Cindy McCain and her children also report owning real estate in Mesa, Sedona and Yuma worth more than $2.5 million
The report indicates that despite receiving more than $1 million in dividends from Hensley & Company stock in 1998, Cindy McCain had 12 personal loans outstanding worth at least $1.24 million — including a Bank One loan that exceeded $1 million and an American Express card tab between $15,000 and $50,000 running at 18.4 percent interest. Most of her loans were advances from the Hensley & Company.
While John McCain enjoys a posh lifestyle, the only asset he reports as personally owning, in addition to his $136,700 Senate salary, is his Navy retirement pension, which totaled $49,668 in 1998. The senator and his wife agreed to keep sole and separate property when they signed an antenuptial agreement in 1980 prior to their marriage.
Senator McCain’s personal wealth is tied completely to his wife.
And Cindy McCain remains beholden to her father.
At the top sits James Willis Hensley.

________________________________________
In the late 1970s, John McCain was at a crossroads, both personally and professionally. His marriage to his first wife, Carol, was falling apart; the two were in the midst of a number of trial separations. And McCain, who would never fully recover from injuries he sustained in Vietnam, finally accepted the fact that he would never fly again. He liked his job as the Navy’s liaison to the U.S. Senate, but it had done more to whet his appetite for politics than satisfy his career goals.
Then he met Cindy Lou Hensley. She was 25, he was 42. As Robert Timberg describes it in his book John McCain: An American Odyssey, the two were instantly smitten when they spotted one another at a political reception in Honolulu. McCain was there for business, Hensley for pleasure — a vacation with her parents, James and Marguerite. They courted long-distance. She’d told him she was three years older than she was; he said he was four years younger. The real age difference: 17 years.
In his book, Timberg acknowledges — then dismisses — a popular theory explaining the McCain-Hensley romance:
“McCain’s detractors, and some of his friends, would later say that he saw Cindy as the ultimate target of opportunity and locked on to her with single-minded, even cynical calculation. It was fine that she was young and beautiful, so it was said, but the real attraction was that she was the daughter of a rich, well-connected businessman from a state that seemed to offer opportunities to someone with McCain’s emerging political ambitions.
“… The scenario is hard to take seriously. Was it even remotely possible that the impulsive, hot-blooded McCain who used to take his Navy pay in cash had suddenly been reborn as a gold-digging manipulator, coolly mapping out a marriage of convenience?”
Further, Timberg argues, McCain had to divorce Carol, who had been seriously injured in a car accident before John returned from the war, and who was still debilitated. What would that do to his political aspirations in a conservative state like Arizona?
But John did divorce Carol in February 1980, married Cindy that May and took a job in public affairs at Hensley & Company. John and Cindy could hardly survive on his $31,000 Navy pension, after all, and the marriage and job granted McCain instant entree into Arizona’s business, social and political circles — although insiders tell New Times that McCain was miserable in his new job, biding his time until he could run for office.
It didn’t take long. McCain had banked on the fact that a new congressional district being created in Arizona would be located in metropolitan Phoenix — as a newcomer, he could hardly take on a strong incumbent. That didn’t happen; the new district ended up in Tucson. But McCain got lucky. Longtime U.S. Representative John Rhodes announced his retirement in January 1982, leaving McCain a clear shot at the state’s 1st Congressional District, which includes Tempe, Mesa and parts of east Phoenix. Even before Rhodes made his official announcement, the McCains had found a new home in Tempe.
The 1982 Republican primary was crowded. McCain deftly deflected the “carpetbagger” label by noting that as a Navy brat, he’d never lived in one place longer than the five and a half years he spent in Vietnamese prison camps.
His friendship with Arizona Republic and Phoenix Gazette publisher Darrow “Duke” Tully gave McCain a free platform to deliver his campaign messages via a series of columns that appeared in the Gazette. (Tully was enamored of McCain’s fighter-pilot experience. Tully resigned as publisher of the newspapers in 1985 after it was revealed he had fabricated a military background as a highly decorated fighter pilot.)
As much as his quick tongue, heroic story and free positive press, it was his father-in-law’s funds that helped first get McCain elected.
In 1982, John and Cindy McCain reported an income of $801,056. Of that, the only amount unrelated to Hensley was McCain’s $31,038 Navy pension.
McCain lent $167,000 to his campaign — a huge chunk of the $569,545 it took to get him elected that year. (Another major contributor that year was Charles H Keating, a former Navy fighter pilot who later ensnarled McCain in the biggest scandal of his political career.)
In addition, James and Marguerite Hensley and their employees donated $11,000 to McCain’s first campaign; Anheuser-Busch’s PAC gave him $1,000.
McCain easily won reelection in 1984. Fortune — or McCain’s foresight — smiled again when Senator Barry Goldwater announced his retirement in 1986. McCain was the perfect candidate to succeed the straight-talking Goldwater, who was also a retired military pilot.
McCain jumped for — and won — the Senate seat.
Every election season, contributions from Hensley & Company and other liquor interests continued to fuel McCain’s electoral triumphs — victories McCain was beginning to take for granted.
In October 1986, just days before McCain was elected to the Senate, the Associated Press broke a story that the McCains had been quietly remodeling Cindy’s childhood home — a $500,000 spread still owned by Jim Hensley and located in north central Phoenix, outside of Congressional District 1 — so they could relocate after the election. The project was kept so quiet, the AP reported, that modifications to the house were being made under the name “Smith,” rather than McCain. As it turned out, Smith is Marguerite Hensley’s maiden name. The building plans the AP obtained showed that McCain was adding “Jacuzzis, a cabana, a ramada, a swimming pool, fountains and a barbecue.”
To this day, Jim and Marguerite Hensley live just around the corner. Cindy drives a Suburban with the license plate “Ms Bud.”

In John McCain’s early years in public office, he didn’t enjoy the reputation he does today as a crusader, a maverick who rails against the evils of special interests. His only notable attribute was a grasp of foreign affairs.
Yes, he voted against pay raises for members of Congress, and donated his honoraria from speaking engagements to charity, but McCain’s critics charged that was painless for a guy whose wife was a multimillionairess. It wasn’t until the ’90s, after he was embroiled in the Keating Five scandal (he returned more than $112,000 in contributions from the savings and loan mogul after being accused of improperly intervening with federal regulators on Keating’s behalf), that McCain became a champion of campaign-finance reform. In fact, early in his political career, McCain voted against measures like the one he now proudly sponsors.
The same is true with tobacco and guns. McCain took tens of thousands of dollars from tobacco companies before 1998, when he infuriated the industry by pushing reform legislation. He has taken money from the National Rifle Association and its affiliates, and voted their way, although last year he supported a measure to ban gun shows.
McCain is reaping the benefits of his maverick act today, as scores of Democrats across the country are reregistering to vote for him in GOP primaries.
But there is one area where it is unlikely that John McCain will ever emerge as a champion of reform: alcohol.
When he was elected to Congress, McCain swore he’d recuse himself on all votes related to the alcohol industry, given his father-in-law’s and wife’s business. A New Times analysis of McCain’s voting record since 1983 reveals that he has in fact recused himself on the two dozen or so alcohol-related bills that required a voice vote on the floor of the House and then the Senate, while McCain has served in those respective bodies. The bills examined dealt specifically with alcohol: examples include legislation to toughen drunken-driving laws and lower alcohol excise taxes.
But such votes are relatively insignificant when compared to other powers endowed on a senator — particularly a senior senator who chairs an influential committee.
Particularly if the senator is John McCain, the committee is the powerful Senate Commerce Committee and the issue is alcohol.
The Senate Commerce Committee has a number of alcohol-related issues in its purview, including the labeling of alcoholic beverages and alcohol advertising. But you wouldn’t know it from looking at the committee’s agenda since McCain took its reins three years ago.
John McCain’s influence regarding alcohol-related legislation comes from his inaction, rather than action. As a committee chairman, McCain has the unilateral power to kill a bill simply by refusing to put it on a committee agenda or schedule hearings.
And since McCain was elected chairman of the committee in January 1997, that’s exactly what has happened.
In the summer of 1996, Joseph E. Seagram & Sons rocked the alcohol and broadcasting industries by announcing it would take to the airwaves, in violation of a longtime voluntary ban on broadcast advertising of distilled spirits.
For decades, there’d been an uneasy truce between the distilled spirits lobby and those who want to ban alcohol advertising entirely: Print ads were okay, but broadcast was out. When Seagram reneged on the agreement, the liquor community took note. It wasn’t just the distilled spirits lobby that was concerned. Seagram’s unilateral actions could result in a severe backlash for all alcohol-related industries.
Beer and wine interests, whose products are advertised on the airwaves, feared that Seagram had opened a Pandora’s box that could lead to tougher restrictions on beer and wine broadcast advertising as well.
In late 1996, members of the Senate Commerce Committee decided to hold hearings. A date was chosen, February 11, 1997, before Republican Senator Conrad Burns’ communications subcommittee. (Burns’ press office did not return calls.)
But before the hearings could be held, two important events occurred. First, the beer and wine industries mounted a strong lobbying effort to scuttle any committee action that might address liquor advertising.
Second, Senator John McCain was elected chairman of the Commerce Committee in January 1997 after former chairman Larry Pressler of South Dakota lost his November 1996 reelection bid.
Even before McCain’s ascension, Pandora’s box was flung open — the beer and wine lobbyists could see that this wasn’t just about hard liquor ads on TV. The distilled spirits folks also were jockeying for parity with the beer and wine industry, including equal excise taxes (taxes currently are based on the percentage of alcohol in a beverage) and the ability to advertise during sports broadcasts, the most lucrative shows.
The beer and wine lobbies don’t want any of that.
The hearings portended a showdown between a divided liquor industry — with the beer and wine industries trying to maintain the status quo while some hard liquor producers were trying to make inroads not only in broadcast advertising, but taxing issues as well. Another hot-button issue was alcohol advertising aimed at teens. The hearings likely would have broached that volatile topic.
The stakes were high and so were the campaign contributions. The Christian Science Monitor reported that hard liquor and beer and wine industry contributions doubled during that session of Congress.
Mounting contributions and intense lobbying paralyzed the committee as the hearings were postponed a couple of weeks.
Then, in mid-February, the committee announced it would not delve into the beer and wine industry’s role in alcohol advertising. News of the committee’s capitulation to special interests made the trade journal Advertising Age in a February 17, 1997, article.
The beer and wine lobbies had prevailed.
By mid-spring, it was evident the hearings wouldn’t take place at all.
Clearly, the pressure the beer and wine lobby brought to bear on many members of Congress had something to do with the decision, but observers also wonder about the coincidental timing of John McCain’s ascent to the chairmanship of the Senate Commerce Committee.
George Hacker was particularly disappointed that the hearings were derailed. Off and on since 1982, Hacker has run the alcohol policies project of the Center for Science in the Public Interest. He says it’s very hard to get alcohol-related legislation heard in Congress, and more difficult since McCain took the helm of the Senate Commerce Committee.
“Having someone with no interest and who really refuses to take an interest in alcohol is a serious problem in the Commerce Committee,” Hacker says.
But does mere indifference actually benefit the liquor industry?
“Well, sure,” Hacker replies. “If the chairman has a problem dealing with these issues, he’ll go on to something else.”
In fact, three alcohol-related bills have been assigned to McCain’s committee since he became chairman, and none has been taken up. All three were sponsored by Senator Strom Thurmond, a South Carolina Republican.
Thurmond has fought for alcohol industry reforms for decades. He first introduced legislation to require health warnings on alcoholic beverages in 1967. He was finally successful in 1988, although he’s still not satisfied. Ironically, Thurmond’s daughter was killed in a drunken-driving accident in 1993 — prompting the Senate Commerce Committee to hold hearings that year; that’s the last time such hearings were held.
The three Thurmond bills that have been before McCain’s Commerce Committee all deal with alcoholic beverage labeling. They would transfer authority for the labeling from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to the Department of Health and Human Services. Another measure would prohibit the alcohol industry — particularly the wine industry — from claiming benefits from its products on labels. (This bill has been introduced twice while McCain has been chairman.)
John DeCrosta, Thurmond’s press secretary, says the alcohol industry doesn’t want to be in the legislative spotlight.
“The…industry looks at what’s happening with the gun industry, tobacco industry, the lead-paint industry, and they know they have a problem,” he says. “This is something people consume, they get behind the wheel of a car, they cause deaths. They develop cirrhosis of the liver. They develop breast cancer. They develop hypertension. How long before somebody goes after them?”
Asked about McCain’s ignoring of his boss’s bills, DeCrosta offers a halting response: “It’s obviously Senator McCain’s prerogative as to whether or not he calls these up for a hearing. And you know, yeah, I don’t want to say that we have problems, but that’s his prerogative, and these are not issues or pieces of legislation, unfortunately, that generate a lot of support as far as co-sponsors.”
But, DeCrosta adds, “This is an issue that we’re just gonna keep fighting. Next Congress, we’ll probably introduce these bills again and try to get some support for them.”
And then there’s the matter of bills that don’t fall into the category of “alcohol-related,” per se, but would definitely have an impact on the industry.
One such bill would have forced consumers to pay a 10-cent beverage container deposit, as an incentive to recycle. The alcohol industry — particularly the beer industry, which sells its beverages in individual units — hates it.
On January 28, 1997, the National Beverage Container Reuse and Recycling Act was introduced and referred to the Senate Commerce Committee. The National Beer Wholesalers Association identified the bill as one of its prime targets.
The bill languished, untouched, until the end of that session — and died.
It’s not the first time McCain has watched that recycling bill die.
In 1992, McCain came under fire in Mother Jones magazine, which noted that the Senate Commerce Committee refused to hear a similar measure the day after McCain (then just a member of the committee) purchased between $250,000 and $500,000 worth of Anheuser-Busch stock for one of his children. (This purchase was likely made by his wife.)
One Anheuser-Busch pet issue that has received a great deal of attention from McCain is boxing. Since McCain became chairman, the Senate Commerce Committee has held numerous hearings on bills designed to reform the boxing industry, to keep it safe — and popular. Meanwhile, McCain has attacked so-called “ultimate fighting” promotions, which could be construed as competition for boxing.
Anheuser-Busch is the single largest corporate sponsor of professional boxing.

________________________________________
An analysis of contributions to John McCain’s ‘98 Senate campaign and current presidential campaign, through last December, reveals he’s taken at least $103,363 from alcohol-related political action committees and employees of the alcohol industry.
(By contrast, he’s taken more than $1 million from the telecommunications industry, $98,000 from maritime interests and $59,000 from trucking interests — other industries with business before his committee. Trucking issues are important to Hensley & Company, which operates a fleet of 300 delivery trucks.)
McCain’s recent alcohol money comes from a variety of sources — hard liquor, wine and beer interests — but from the beginning of his political career, James Hensley and his associates have been very good to John McCain.
Since 1982, McCain has received the following contributions:
%u2022 Hensley & Company employees: at least $61,063
%u2022 National Beer Wholesalers PAC: $21,000
%u2022 Anheuser-Busch employees and PAC: $33,100
George Hacker, of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, was surprised to hear that McCain accepts beer money.
That raises a question: Why would alcohol interests donate money to McCain if he recuses himself completely from their issue?
Hensley and the National Beer Wholesalers Association did not answer requests for comment. But Anheuser-Busch released this statement, from Stephen Lambright, general counsel:
“Anheuser-Busch has a long tradition of active and responsible corporate citizenship. Like many corporations, we participate in the political process in many ways, including through making contributions. In doing so, we support candidates from both sides of the aisle who best represent the views of our community, our employees, our consumers and our shareholders.”
Hacker has another answer: “My guess is they give money because… he can help by being absent, he can help by passing the buck, he can help by not passing the buck.”

________________________________________
Budweiser is the King of Beers — both in the cooler and on Capitol Hill. Anheuser-Busch is the top-selling beer manufacturer in the world. Last year, Forbes magazine ranked the company among its “Super 100.” Gross sales in 1999 hit $13.7 billion, with profits of $1.4 billion.
Anheuser-Busch has long spread that wealth among political parties and elected officials, continually ranking near the top of campaign finance watchdogs’ contributor lists. A New Times analysis reveals that between 1979 and 1999, Anheuser-Busch employees and its PAC contributed more than $1.6 million to political campaigns. Since 1993, the company has donated more than $2 million in soft money to committees on both sides of the aisle.
In addition to campaign contributions, Anheuser-Busch spends hundreds of thousands of dollars each year on lobbyists who work the Hill. A recent hire: Kevin Curtin, former staff director for the Senate Commerce Committee under former chairman Ernest “Fritz” Hollings, a South Carolina Democrat.
The company is backed by a strong beer-industry lobby. The Beer Institute is a force to be reckoned with on the Hill, and the National Beer Wholesalers Association is a huge contributor: The NBWA PAC donated more than $7 million to campaigns since 1982 and more than $100,000 in soft money contributions.
Anheuser-Busch has a lot to protect. No alcohol company has had worse press regarding its advertising practices. There’s even a group called “Anheuser-Busch Shareholders for Advertising Reform,” which holds protests at the company’s annual meetings.
In 1996 — months before the Senate Commerce Committee hearings were scheduled and then canceled — the Center for Alcohol Advertising released a study that showed that children between 9 and 11 were more likely to recognize the Budweiser frogs than Kellogg’s Tony the Tiger, the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers or Smokey the Bear.
Only Bugs Bunny was better known than the frogs.
Like the rest of the alcohol industry, Anheuser-Busch has interests that go beyond the alcohol votes McCain avoids. For example, McCain led the charge to normalize relations with Vietnam at the same time Anheuser-Busch was preparing to enter that market. (A deal the company had to co-own a factory eventually fell through because of copyright problems. A Czech beer called “Bud” is already sold in Vietnam.)
A recent lobbyist disclosure revealed Anheuser-Busch’s many interests (along with alcohol, the company owns amusement parks): “The company lobbied on issues related to alcohol abuse and prevention, tobacco abuse prevention, advertising, labeling, and taxation. Anheuser-Busch also worked on endangered species issues, clean air act, recycling, product liability, national tobacco settlement, and transportation spending, as well as international trade including China’s Most Favored Nation status and federal budget and deficit decisions.”
Despite his claim, it’s impossible for Senator John McCain to recuse himself completely from important issues facing his family’s business.
Last month, Anheuser-Busch announced it would once again serve as the primary sponsor of the four official presidential debates to be held this fall — the last one in St. Louis, the company’s hometown. The cost of the local debate, $550,000, was released, but the total amount Anheuser-Busch will spend to sponsor the events was not made available.
Unless George W. Bush delivers a powerful counterpunch to McCain’s swelling bandwagon, John McCain will be standing on the Republican party podium for the debates paid for by the King of Beers.
At his side will be Ms. Bud.
Back home in Phoenix, beer baron James Willis Hensley might smile about the fabulous return on his political investment.
And all three will hope the bright lights will continue distracting voters from a persistent croaking sound echoing from history’s murky but noisy swamp.
“Boot.”
“Leg.”
“Er.”

Fantastic vid!

Yeah, well I’m watching Colbert and an amazing guest right now … *g*

((((( Loo Hoo )))))

please do not post huge comments that like.. it creates quite a load on the servers when ya do

in the future, can you break large comments up into several comments please

A little something, nahant!!??

Hey Suzanne! Moving into the pre-midnight hours. Congrats!

hey tex

Uh-oh, who’s the culprit?

the culprit knows

Plus it might be in violation of intellectual property laws…. linking and small sections are within the law but posting the whole post without permission could be a violation.

Besides…. that hiccup did hurt

Dang, nahant! Quite the comment!

OMG, me too!

Suzanne was replying to nahant’s comment which no longer exists, it appears

Ota

yeap. fair use is generally deemed to be 250 words or less

I won’t be a spoiler, but Pups, do NOT miss The Colbert Report tonight.

That was extraordinary !

The Doctor has the cure…!

Suz thats the way I received the email and didn’t think to break it up. and it was sent to a very large public list so No there should be no issues with sharing it!!

Wow. I refreshed the page, and nahant’s comment appeared…

We are amazed! And I clapped like a madwoman.

Hardly the point…

Only Stephen could play right along with his schtick …

is why i commented about its effect on the servers initially

Arianna is on Colbert now (in CDT)

Oops, looked like the aliens have landed … *g*

what if Hill packs up her tent, pulls a Joe Lieberman and moves on to the McCain campaign. McCain-Clinton

Then hundreds of thousands of us quit the day job and work dawn to dusk for their defeat.

I view it as unlikely but need to consider the possibility.

Who’s next in the Bush administration? This is getting fun.

hey eg

Oh, you are so right. I’m so proud!

Sorry :< ( but I did think everyone would want to read it. It shows just who the Rethuglians are trying to make president…</p>

Mwahahahahaha — Ariana on Colbert:

McCain has replaced his brain with George Bush’s brain…

The idea that a Clinton would be accepted at the RNC Convention and on a joint ticket is just silly. The wingnuts, the Repugs have spent more than 16 years in their Clinton hate and the whole purpose of Operation Chaos is to defeat a Clinton…. Hillary is the Repugs rallying cry….. the only thing that could pull THAT party together…… if you think they would accept her with open arms then I have a bridge to sell ya…

no colbert spoilers please

the woman the GOP loves to hate

I’m done. Don’t miss it!

Yep, and many in her own party aren’t that fond of her any more …

OK, I am off to bed. should finish the grading tomorrow and then I will be free for the summer. Except of course for the MA theses and Ph.D. proposal defenses I have coming up in the next two weeks. *&#$@^! gradual students.

i sure hope the olympics are shown simultaneously (assuming of course, they are shown, not boycotted, etc etc etc)

its going to be real hard to avoid spoilers if there are time zone delays

g’nite dr (pause) dick

I for one, will never, ever, ever touch Bud again..not that I do now, but I will never buy it. Ever. Love the Clydesdales, but I’ll be daggummed that I’ll support McBush and especially McCindyLou.

yegads man, whatcha try’n to do? google bomb? lol

The word from someone who might know [Elmore]…. it will be taped delayed and shown in prime time. I am not sure if it will be the same across the country of time zone rated (yet)

Currently China is not allowing live broadcasting from the venues. Very happy to have him sit this Olympics out…

How many defending?

I was a gradual student…it took me 7 years to gradually earn my BA

I’d posted this earlier…! ;-)

2 MA theses and 2 Ph.D. dissertation proposals/comps. Gonna be a busy start to my vacation.

Boy, I’ll say. That’s a lot on your plate.

Great minds … *g*

I’m going to read your blog …

Nothing here to see, move along.

From NYT’s

Senator’s Ties to Real Estate Draw Criticism

By ERIC LIPTON and ERIC LICHTBLAU
Published: May 9, 2008

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — He has made millions as a title insurance executive, landlord and real estate developer in this college town, where the economy, despite trouble nationwide, is still growing nicely. Now, as a United States senator, with the mortgage mess fueling a national economic slowdown, Richard C. Shelby has more say over the revamping of housing finance laws than almost anyone else in Congress.

…

fork, that means time zone delays

thanks, in the news queue

Yep.

Hardworking white American here.

Former HRC supporter. Now supporting Sheikh bin al BitterBaraBlackHusseinHamasMadrassaOsamaBama.

McCain is very upset that Obama raised the issue that he “may have lost his bearings”. He says it’s discriminatory to those that might be handicapped and that Obama shouldn’t pick on his…mental health age.

Episode II: Obama says that McCain has “flipped his wig”. McCain: “Why is he pickin’ on us baldies!”

Episode III: Obama: “This is increasingly looking like a village is missing it’s idiot.” McCain: “Now he’s showing he’s an elitist…there must be thousands of villages across the US…and each, Mr. Obama, has an idiot like me!”

707

Heh, on an earlier thread, Mi Amigo, but, please do visit M&C…! ;-)

Judicial Watch filed another FEC complaint against McBush ….from that fund raiser in London…
McCain fundraiser raising eyebrows

Judicial Watch has announced it has filed a formal complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging that Senator McCain’s (R-Arizona) campaign may have accepted an in-kind contribution from foreign nationals in contravention of federal election laws. The complaint is very similar to the one filed in connection with a concert performed in early April by entertainer Elton John for Senator Hillary Clinton’s (D-New York) campaign.

What is that Sesame Street thing….. what one thing sounds just like another?

LOL !!!

rolmfao

Gotcha … do you also think she’s trying to bully her way onto the ticket ?

We Claire McCaskill types don’t like Hillary playin’ Heathers.

Colbert is sublime tonight. Stewart aces, too. The BlogWars author guested there. Validation. This is the moment of transition when bloggers officially pass by the “journos”==they just don’t realize it yet.

‘night, pups.

wicked evil laugh

i am so looking forward to his being drummed out of the senate when he is indicted on campaign fraud charges

But McBush’s eyebrows remained remarkably static…botox and all ya know…

I think she’s trying to recoup her $6.4 million loan…!

I keep getting to add things to his Full Christian Name, LOL! Maybe Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will find its way in. Then I won’t have to buy any fucking vowels.

Aloha, PS!

B- bu- but, who will save us from the evil Dems ? /s

g’nite prairie

jeb

Crawford is still missing it’s idiot…! ;-)

707 … don’t forget ‘Farrakhan’

After this genius, the closest any Bush will get to the White House is in the Rose Garden !

Not this weekend…..it is the big wedding weekend…. so we can kiss any real news goodbye

OH, Yes!

Hmmmm…

Sheikh bin al BitterBaraBlackFarrakhanHusseinAhmadinejihadHamasMadrassaOsamaBama

dayam

BobbyG, what about Wright?! ;-)

Heh, 10 of the 15 questions Dana Peroxide fielded today concerned Jenna’s wedding…!

i bet we get a lotta friday nite news dumps

Carlo,

I’m astounded at how organized the Obama campaign is in so many respects. I participated in some phone calls (I’m in California) and chatted with prospective voters in Indiana on a bank of toll-free lines. We had numbers in certain areas and encouraged them to get out and vote, just letting them know how important the race was and enunciating several important issues and Obama’s stands on them.

I think that he must have some great people at “guerilla marketing”. It’s gonna be something that he’ll need in the Fall. I’m sending Axelrod some suggestions about how to broaden that approach against McCain…re. College Radio Stations and further registration outreach. He should leave no state untouched.

Geez…now I have to sage smudge my whole house…invoking the J name that should forever remain nameless..its been unleashed….Arghhhhhh

gawd bless.

Great minds think alike:

Sheikh bin al BitterBaraBlackFarrakhanHusseinAhmadinejihadHamasMadrassaOsamaBama-SharptonWright.

Carlo, did you register the voters by going door-to-door? Or how?

They’re gettin’ the weddin’ outta the way so they can attack Aye-ran…right after the honeymoon at Sand*ls…

Sheikh bin al BitterBaraBlackFarrakhanHusseinAhmadinejihadHamasMadrassaOsamaBama-SharptonWright-NotHardWorkingWhite.

gonna have to stick a hyphen in there at some point or else the margins are gonna protest

there ya go ;-)

Stop…that is so hilarious…

Oh, yeah…and Jesse Jackson too…

OK, yeah, that thought crossed my mind as well.

How about the angry black man….. that Morning Joe keeps pushing

and Willie Horton

OT but very informative.

Col. Lang has an interesting thread about Lebanon at his blog:

Sic Semper Tyrannis.
-G

like this:

Sheikh bin al BitterBaraBlackFarrakhanHusseinAhmadinejihadHamasMadrassaOsamaBama – SharptonWright-NotHardWorkingWhit

O.M.G….I’m laughing so forking hard…it feels good…

Hey, you forgot…Malcolm X, Bobby Seale,…

Hey, LL! Ya snuck in the back door, eh? ;-)

LOL!

But…I thought The Sheikh WASN’T BLACK ENOUGH?

Has Senator Clinton bought David Dukes’ mailing list yet?

-G

Aloha CT, I bin-lurkin’ ;-)

Local news said today that McBush is putting together a panel of doctors for some kind of review/release of medical info.

As a nurse for over 35 years, I would like to see the actual records, things like pathology reports and staging for his cancer. The Tumor markers and prognosis.

That will be right along with MrsCindyLou McBush’s tax returns….

hehehehehe

It’s been a quiet week. Something’s gotta emerge…

You’ll have to think up the names to demonize his “white, blue collar American worker side”…

707

;-)

dam commies!

OK, I see I’ve started some shit here, LOL!

I’m fixin’ to crash. Love all ya Firepups. Long day. Still reelin’ from my Dad’s death Tuesday morning. Brought my Ma to the house today from the nursing home. It was good. She is so enervated as well. She took the news OK, but, you could tell, the sinking in was hard.

He needs a “panel”…??? Yeah, I would imagine he would…

Sounds grrreat.

?

So what kind of natural disaster caused that?

Oouch!
All better now…

(((bobby g family)))

Are we back?

OUCH!!!! that one hurt longer

Gotta happen on your shift, eh Suz? ;-)

what can i say, ct, i’m double irish yanno

all i got was a blank white page. i thought fdl had been taken over

“Forbidden

You don’t have permission to access / on this server.

Additionally, a 403 Forbidden error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.”

Goooooolllly….don’t ya think they could be a little more Poelight?

LOL

(((bobbyg)))

It matters not how old you are, losing a parent is the pits.

Bush Losin’ The Base! Gallup has Bush down 20% amongst Republicans since January (from 80% to 60% approval) and if you look at the curve it’s not bottoming out for awhile!

That was cut and pasted. “Forbidden” was in “huge” scary letters…bitter letters…it yelled at me…Whaaaaaa

Hey Ct do you still need XP? You haven’t answered my email? I picked up

faster and more please

CDs