IS HILLARY'S CAMPAIGN ALL ABOUT DEFENDING LOBBYISTS NOW?

We knew. You didn't?

Remember that wingnut windbag-- not Inhofe the other lunatic senator from Oklahoma... ah, yes, Coburn, what a kook!-- saying he absolutely, guaranteed he would not run again if ethics reform passed? I'm not sure if that was the incentive or not, but the bill passed overwhelmingly in the Senate, Coburn joined by only 13 diehard ethics haters to oppose it. Anyway, this weekend Coburn was backing off his promise to not seek re-election. Gosh, what a surprise!

Of course, some people say the law is so weak and filled with loopholes that Coburn and the 13 other the corrupt, ultra-reactionary, Republican senators who voted against it don't have much to fear. On CNN this morning when I woke up, around 4am, they were babbling about how it's just as corrupt under the Democrats as it is under the Republicans. I think they're missing something-- the systemic nature of the way DeLay and Frist had organized the nature of corruption, but CNN couldn't see passed the earmarks.

I had a hard time seeing past Senator Hillary's pro-lobbyist comments at YKos-- defended again tonight, somewhat more obliquely-- at the AFL-CIO debate. The lobbyists certainly ate her comments up-- even if she was totally disingenuous... or maybe because she was.

Brian Pallasch, who heads the American League of Lobbyists, said he was so thrilled with Clinton's unexpected defense of the profession, he sent news accounts of her remarks to his group's board.

"It's true!" Pallasch said of Clinton's "real Americans" rejoinder. "She's absolutely dead on."

Pallasch said the lobbying profession has taken it on the chin in the days since the Jack Abramoff scandal sunk into the public consciousness. When Obama and Edwards announced they would avoid money from Washington lobbyists (though at times accept the money from the special interests those lobbyists represent), Pallasch said his inclination was to stay out of it. "Our folks just decided to lay low."

Here, watch what we're going to be buying into:



Gag me; I don't need a spoon. I just can't see voting for her. "Nurses," "regular people," "real Americans"... She has as much contempt for the American voter as Bush does."Regular real Americans" don't hire lobbyists to bribe legislators; billionaires and huge corporations do. Not only should any politician who takes these bribes not be voted for; they should be thrown in prison. I'd start with the entire Republican Party and then move to both senators from New York, Rahm Emanuel, Steny Hoyer, and a good hefty chunk of Inside the Beltway Democrats. Would that cure the ills that ail this country fast!