Booman Tribune

McCain Fundraiser is "War Profiteer"

by Steven D
Fri Oct 17th, 2008 at 08:24:18 AM EST

John McCain's campaign employs or has employed lobbyists for Saudi Arabia, Saddam Hussein, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the military dictatorship in Myanmar, Exxon Mobil, Shell Oil, conservative televangelist Bud Paxon, every major telecommunications firm including AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, Motorola, SBC Telecommunications, et alia ... well, the list is endless.

And the latest story to come out of McCain's dubious connections with the world of lobbyists, big business and government contractors involves one of his major campaign fund raisers, Harry Sargeant III. Sargeant, a man who has raised over $500,000 for McCain, has been charged with war profiteering by Rep. Henry Waxman in his role of Chair of the House Oversight Committee:

A leading House Democrat alleged yesterday that [Harry Sargeant III] a top fundraiser for Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain has been involved in apparent war profiteering by inflating prices on jet fuel in defense contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars. [...]

Yesterday's allegations came in a letter from Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House oversight committee, to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and pertained to contracts IOTC brokered with the military to ship jet fuel to Iraq for use by aircraft based there.

"I have been conducting oversight of procurement problems in Iraq since the war began over five years ago," Waxman wrote. "The IOTC contracts stand out for the extent of the company's apparent profiteering. Of the $210 million in profits received by the company, at least one third -- $70 million -- appears to have benefited a single individual: Mr. Sargeant."

The McCain campaign's response?

"This obviously has nothing do with the McCain campaign," said McCain spokesman Brian Rogers.

No, nothing anyone connected with the McCain campaign ever has anything to do with John McCain. Funny how all these dubious lobbying connections and contracting activities by McCain staffers, advisers and fundraisers does not reflect on the integrity, honesty or judgment of the oh so honorable John McCain, even though he employs them in major positions in his campaign. Yet William Ayers, a marginal figure at best in Obama's life, a man who has never been an Obama adviser, staffer or worked for his campaign in any way shape or form is somehow indicative of Obama's lack of judgment and honesty.

Will the national media cover this story of a corrupt war profiteer raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for the McCain campaign, tainted money I'm sure McCain does not intend to return? I highly doubt it. You and I both know that Republican scandals never gain much traction in the media. Not even scandals by people bilking our government out of millions if not billions of dollars in connection with the war. Merely serving on a board of a charitable organization funded by the conservative foundation of deceased Republican philanthropist, Walter Annenberg (BFF of Ronald Reagan, whose widow supports John McCain) with a reformed William Ayers, on the other hand, has been must see TV on the cable news shows for months.

And conservatives claims the media is in the tank for Obama? Yeah, right. I wish the media was half as biased against Obama as they supposedly are against McCain. Then maybe coverage of the innumerable McCain big business and lobbyist connections might actually get a little air time.



Display:

Check this out.

I noted before the allegations that Verizon and AT&T gave John McCain special treatment.

Josh Green The Atlantic Monthly has more details with docs -

This Story Doesn't Cell

Yesterday, the Washington Post's James Grimaldi published a fairly damning piece suggesting, with a good deal of evidence, that John and Cindy McCain were beneficiaries of special treatment from Verizon and AT&T--the implication being that the companies had sought to curry favor with the former Senate Commerce committee chairman by erecting cell phone towers at the McCains' remote Arizona ranch.

So is this an innocent mix-up, or did McCain get special treatment from Verizon? The Post piece points out that Verizon's CEO Ivan G. Seidenberg is a McCain bundler who has raised more than $1.3 million, and the company's head Washington lobbyist, Robert Fisher, is a former McCain staffer. That alone is intriguing, but not, of course, evidence of any wrongdoing. But putting up a cell phone tower is a process that entails many legal and regulatory hurdles that create a lengthy public record (some of which Grimaldi draws on for his piece). And the closer you look, the less satisfying McCain's--and especially Verizon's--account of the towers turns out to be. Whatever its motivation, Verizon plainly went to considerable effort and expense to pursue building a permanent tower on the McCains' ranch.



Well, "You can't vote for war and disown the results"
by idredit on Fri Oct 17th, 2008 at 10:06:48 AM EST
Harry Sargeant III is white and hasn't bombed the Pentagon, so unless he goes missing, I can't see how he is relevant to this campaign.
by BooMan on Fri Oct 17th, 2008 at 01:07:40 PM EST


Display:
Go to: [ Booman Tribune Homepage : Top of page : Top of comments ]
Menu
Login
. Make a new account
. Reset password





Find textbooks at Alibris!

NOTE: Overstock bests Amazon's prices and is "blue."

THE BOOKS WITH "BUZZ":
______________

Senator Edward M. Kennedy tells his extraordinary personal story:

True Compass: A Memoir
by Edward M. Kennedy.

Read Barack Obama's vision for America:

The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream
by Barack Obama

Boran2 and maryb2004 recommend:

The Big Over Easy: A Nursery Crime
by Jasper Fforde

Must-have information for all presidents-and citizens-of the twenty-first century?

Physics for Future Presidents: The Science behind the Headlines
Richard A. Muller

rae recommends:

Dark Ages America: The Final Phase of Empire
by Morris Berman.

On BooMan’s shelf:

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
by Doris Kearns Goodwin

This looks interesting:

Adventure Divas
by Holly Morris

Here’s a good one from
Elizabeth Gilbert:

Eat Pray Love
by Elizabeth Gilbert

"Crash" * Best Motion Picture, Academy Awards * Only $11.79 at Overstock * 2006 SAG Winner, Best Ensemble

Check out
Powell's new section:
NEW FAVORITES

Selected new arrivals at 30% off

Recommended by Indianadem and ejmw:
The Conscience of a Liberal
by Paul Wellstone

From northcountry’s bookshelf:

The New Golden Age:
The Coming Revolution Against
Political Corruption and Economic Chaos
by Ravi Batra

A novel about contractors in Iraq from the woman that runs The Spy That Billed Me:

Outsourced: A Novel
from RJ Hillhouse.


Great Deals
----- * ^ * -----

Find mystery novels by Nancy Pickard ("Kansas")



Challenging Empire: How People, Governments, and the UN Defy US Power by Phyllis Bennis (interviewed on DN!)


Featured by Keith Olbermann, New (Powell's Sale): Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower by William Blum (whose other books merit serious consideration)


"Explosive" State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration
by James Risen


The book the CIA doesn't want you to read: Jawbreaker: The Attack on Bin Laden and Al Qaeda: A Personal Account by the CIA's Key Field Commander
Larry Johnson's review


BT's all-time best seller:

PERMACULTURE:
A Designers' Manual

$79.95 * Sale: $59.95


Unequal Sisters: A Multicultural Reader in U.S. Women's History (Third Edition)


The Undercover Economist: Exposing Why the Rich Are Rich, the Poor Are Poor And Why You Can Never Buy a Decent Used Car!


The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl
by Timothy Egan


Green Press Initiative
----- * ^ * -----


Journalistas: 100 Years of the Best Writing and Reporting by Women Journalists by Eleanor Mills * NYT review


Bury Me Standing: the Gypsies & Their Journey


1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus



Brokeback Mountain
by Annie Proulx
----- * ^ * -----
Check out Powell's
"At The Movies"


Imperial Ambitions: Conversations on the Post-9/11 World by Noam Chomsky (Power & Terror: Post 9-11 Talks)


The Price of Privilege:

How Parental Pressure and
Material Advantage Are Creating a Generation of
Disconnected and Unhappy Kids

by Madeline Levine


Save 35-70% on
name brand clothing,
footwear, and outdoor gear
at SierraTradingPost.com

:





We listened to PEN American Center's "State of Emergency" and found 1940s books by Curzio Malaparte only at Alibris. (Selection (MP3) excerpted from "The Skin.")

Alibris - Books You Thought You'd Never Find
Banned Books * Are you a fan of Film Noir, Art House, Documentaries or Hong Kong Action? * Searching for a long-lost children's book or a first printing of Miles Davis' Kind of Blue on vinyl? Find it at Alibris!

:
:
www.Patagonia.com


Listed on BlogShares

© 2009 Booman Tribune