Crush Liberalism

Obama a shill for oil companies?

Capt. Ed shines the light of truth in Osamabama’s face:

Barack Obama has started getting some major-league vetting from the media, and so far he looks like a AAA prospect brought up a season or two too early. After releasing a TV ad saying that he doesn’t take money from the oil industry, ABC News calls shenanigans. Jake Tapper notes that Factcheck did what its name implies, and like Jed Clampett, found some bubblin’ crude in Obama’s neighborhood:

When my family back in Pennsylvania turns on the TV these days, they may see this Barack Obama TV ad where he’s standing in a gas station saying the following:

“Since the gas lines of the ’70s, Democrats and Republicans have talked about energy independence, but nothing’s changed — except now Exxon’s making $40 billion a year, and we’re paying $3.50 for gas.

I’m Barack Obama. I don’t take money from oil companies or Washington lobbyists, and I won’t let them block change anymore. They’ll pay a penalty on windfall profits. We’ll invest in alternative energy, create jobs and free ourselves from foreign oil. I approve this message because it’s time that Washington worked for you. Not them.”

Factcheck.org today takes a look at Obama’s claim to not take money from oil companies and concludes that the statement “misleading” since according to the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics Obama has taken more than $213,000 from individuals (and their spouses) who work for companies in the oil and gas industry — not to mention that two of Obama’s top fundraisers are top executives at oil companies”.

And as Tapper points out, nobody takes money from oil companies, or any other kind of corporations, because it’s illegal to do so. At best, Obama issued a deceptive non-sequitur, and at worst, flat-out lied about his funding. Shall we now get into a debate over the word “companies”, akin to Bill Clinton’s parsing of the word “is”? 

Barry O’s “New Politics” sure bears a striking resemblance to the “Old Politics” to which we’re accustomed, n’est-ce pas?

April 2, 2008 - Posted by crushliberalism | hypocrisy, Obama, oil