and the RATS, take another one in the..............................HA ha!!!
Posted on 03/18/2009 5:09:42 PM PDT by jdfromny
When it comes to donating to politicians and filling their coffers, bonus-and-bail-out embattled American International Group Inc.'s Financial Products unit in Wilton has a stimulus record of its own, providing Sen. Christopher Dodd's presidential campaign with more than $103,000 during the 2008 election cycle. AIG's contributions to Dodd outpace the financial firm's $101,000 contribution to President Barack Obama's election bid. Altogether, AIG executives raised $630,000 during the past election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, as the company was coming under fire. At least $120,000 of those contributions were made after September when Congress awarded AIG the first $85 billion of its federal bailout money. Dodd, pledged to go through his list and give back contributions linked to bailout money. AIG has received more than $170 billion in government bailout money.
(Excerpt) Read more at connpost.com ...
Obama is number 2 on the list. Let’s see if he gives his donation back also.
"Gee, sorry folks, after checking my list, none of it turned out to be linked to bailout money, so I'll just have to keep it all".
Oh my, this is a freaking stake in the heart of Obama's effort to stay above the fray.
IF HE DOESN'T ALSO GIVE BACK THE CASH HE WILL GET ASKED WHY NOT!
IF HE DOES GIVE IT BACK ITS A "ME TOO" MOVE AND MAKES HIM LOOK GUILTY!
Damn Dodd might as well have sneaked into the President's Box at Ford's Theater and Pulled the Trigger.
The key word there is PLEDGED.
Who's going to actually follow up to see if he comes through on that pledge.
Maybe somebody who manned the phones at the latest PBS fund drive?
And come out toting a profit no doubt.
Gawd I hate these people.
Correction: If Dodd gives his back, Obama moves to Number 1 on the AIG contributions list.
Do bank robbers get off if they give the money back after being caught????????
Seems to work for Democrats (jefferson,rangel,geitner,daschle,dodd .etc)
and while Dodd is at it he should rope in his little co-hort OthugO and tell HIM to turn his pile o’ cash in, too.
That’ll be a cold day in hell won’t it?
roflmao
Dodd must be wishing for the good old days, when he and Teddy K. stayed out all night drinking and had their waitress sandwiches.
WE are Texas Eagle. We must keep on yelling from the highest rafters.
Folks, demand that everyone on that list give back all the money they’ve gotten from AIG...
Demand that they resign!!!!!
What will it take to wake up those Catholics in the NE that will not vote their faith?
Sorry Dudd, but that kind of contrition won’t work, it’s like letting an accused burglar go free if he agrees to return the stolen property. You need to go to prison, period.
These b—tards only give money back when they’re caught in the cookie jar.
They have no moral compass. Everything is about money, power, and influence. They don’t represent their constituents unless the folks that elected them are disgusting crooks too. And I don’t believe the bulk of citizens are that dirty.
LOL - if we had to hold our breath for "60 Minutes" to take a look, we'd die. Same with the rest of the MSM... if a "D"s by the name, they dump it - if an "R"s by the name, they run with it.
This is so ridiculous... How could the money NOT be linked? If any of the bailout money went towards paying salaries (which I’m sure it probably did) then of course it’s linked (sort of).
The other thing that’s bothering me about this — why should these politicians be forced to give back money that was given to them by private donors just because they worked for a company which received bailout funds? Does this mean that any citizen whose employer benefits from some government program should then not be allowed to contribute to a political campaign?
While I’m concerned about “special interests” and while I obviously see the problems with contributions being used to hide “pay to play” schemes and the like, it also concerns me when people get all up in arms about these individual contributions. Giving a campaign donation can be construed as a part of “freedom of speech” or “association”.
I can understand a politician giving back a donation if that money was found to be “dirty” (i.e. income from illegal means), but if all we’re doing is trying to make appearances LOOK good by demanding these campaigns give back the money then it doesn’t do much.
It’s all sleight of hand. People get ticked about these bonuses, but it’s all a game. What people should REALLY be ticked about was that our money was given to these companies in the first place — especially the money that went to AIG which is now overseas in foreign banks. Glenn Beck was right when he said this AIG bailout was like a HUGE money-laundering scheme.
I know this post may not make much sense because I have feelings on “both sides” of this issue at the moment, and maybe I’m missing something important in looking at this situation so I hope if I am missing a big piece of the picture someone will help me out here...
While I don’t like that these CEOs and such support liberals who put them in this mess in the first place, is it right to demand they not be allowed to give money to ANYONE? If this was you, or I and the candidate we gave to happened to be a conservative wouldn’t we be a little ticked that people are saying WE can’t give to our selected representatives?
It seems that these politician use situations like this to calm the masses “I gave it back, see — no reason to worry anymore” and then nothing really changes...
As I said — feelings on both sides of this and if someone can clue me in if I’m missing part of the big picture here I would appreciate it...
I should add that obviously the money paid to Dodd and ANY candidate AFTER their salaries were being paid for by taxpayers (after the bailout of AIG was announced) is VERY troublesome, and I would definitely support efforts to make them give that money back - but to who? Give it back to the people who gave the contributions so they end up with even MORE money? That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense either...
What a total mess this is...
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