Rand Paul Did Not Accept Any Bribes From The Drone Makers-- But Some Of The Other Filibusterers Are Totally On The Take

Aqua Buddha refused bribes from drone makers but his comrades in arms were all soliciting bribes

Buck McKeon isn't and never will be a U.S. senator. He's in the House and he's chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and the founder and chairman of the Unmanned Vehicles Caucus, better known as the Drone Caucus. He's responsible for all the legislation allowing drones to fly in Americans airspace, responsible, at least, in terms of introducing it. Obviously, the drone manufacturers' lobbyists wrote it for him. McKeon, who is likely to be a lobbyist for an arms manufacturer himself within just a few years, took more money than any other two Members of Congress from weapons manufacturers in general and he's taken $833,650 from drone-makers specifically. So I thought it odd that Rand Paul never even mentioned McKeon once during his wonderful filibuster against John Brennan, Obama's CIA nominee, Wednesday.

I was delighted to see that Rand Paul hasn't accepted any bribes at all from the drone makers. They've spent millions persuading Members of Congress that drones flying around America is a great idea-- and the sooner the better. So wasn't I surprised when I saw some of the senators who have been bought and paid for my the big drone manufacturers run up to share the stage with ole Rand once his filibuster got red hot and started to capture the imagination of the public!

The biggest drone makers are General Atomic Aeronautical, Northrop Grumman, BAE Systems, Honeywell International, Lockheed Martin, and Raytheon. They've been handing out the checks across the aisle big time and almost all of the filibusterers other than #StandWithRand took exceedingly large amounts of money from these drone makers. Just a quick glance coughed up these big donations to some of today's filibsterers last year. Kelly Ayotte was certainly the hypocrite of the day, but she didn't want for company:

• General Atomic- Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Miss McConnell (R-KY)
• Northrop Grumman- Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Pat Toomey (R-PA). Miss McConnell (R-KY)
• BAE Systems- Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Marco Rubio (R-FL)
• Honeywell International- Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Pat Toomey (R-PA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Miss McConnell (R-KY)
• Lockheed Martin- Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) , Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Miss McConnell (R-KY)
• Raytheon- Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Mike Lee (R-UT), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Pat Toomey (R-PA), Miss McConnell (R-KY)

Congratulations to Rand Paul for refusing any of this blood money-- and for bringing up an important issue that most senators would just rather not discuss in public. Meanwhile, I think Kelly Ayotte, for starters, ought to write checks returning every cent she took from every single big drone manufacturer. Who does she think she is, Buck McKeon?

Buck McKeon (R-CA) took $833,650 in blatant bribes from drone makers