From noquarterusa.net: "ORIGINAL POST: And I thought he was the candidate for change? Mr. “No More Special Interests”? We already have a President who is completely clueless. Why does Senator Obama want to emulate W? Poor Obama is completely out of the loop and doesn’t realize that his New Hampshire campaign chairman is a lobbyist. A big-time lobbyist for the pharmaceutical industry at that.
BELOW, the rest of the story:
More at The Page.
http://thepage.time.com/2008/01/06/who-is-jim-demers/
From the New York Times’s copy of the debate transcript, here is what Sen. Clinton said to Barack Obama that — as that YouTube video shows you — he responded to by saying “No” and shaking his head:
SEN. CLINTON: … You know, when it comes to lobbyists, you know, Senator Obama’s chair in New Hampshire is a lobbyist. He lobbies for the drug companies. So I think it’s important that all of us be held to the same standards, that we’re all held accountable.
You know, the energy bill that passed in 2005 was larded with all kinds of special interest breaks, giveaways to the oil companies. Senator Obama voted for it. I did not because I knew that it was going to be an absolute nightmare. Now we’re all out on the campaign trail talking about taking the tax subsidies away from the oil companies, some of which were in that 2005 energy bill.
So you know, words are not actions.
And as beautifully presented and passionately felt as they are, they are not action. You know, what we’ve got to do is translate talk into action and feeling into reality. I have a long record of doing that, of taking on the very interests that you have just rightly excoriated because of the overdue influence that they have in our government. And you know, probably nobody up here has been the subject of more incoming fire from the Republicans and the special interests, so I think I know exactly what I’m walking into and I am prepared to take them on.
(Of Note: The NYT transcript failed to note Sen. Obama’s denial, but the YouTube video proves he denied that his New Hampshire co-chair is a big pharma lobbyist.)"
