The Boston Herald, Barack Obama, TV $tar

Barack Obama is doling out big bucks for a half-hour, prime-time TV spot on at least two major networks that will air less than a week before the presidential election.

The Obama campaign said it had secured a 30-minute block of time at 8 p.m. on CBS and NBC.

“It’s a luxury to be able to afford that kind of communication,” said Tad Devine, a Democratic media consultant who was a senior adviser to John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign.

Obama has far outspent John McCain in ads, lavishing $3.3 million in TV advertising Monday alone. At that rate, Obama is on track to spend more than $90 million on ads through Election Day. That’s more than all the money McCain has to spend on his entire fall campaign.

Where did he get this money?  By breaking a promise, lying to the public, and reneging on a deal to “limit the corrupting influence of money on the race”

Mr. Obama proposed a novel challenge aimed at limiting the corrupting influence of money on the race: If he won the nomination, he would limit himself to spending only the $85 million available in public financing between the convention and Election Day as long as his Republican opponent did the same.

So Obama will be spending $90 million in the next three weeks, when he promised to limit himself to $85 million over his ENTIRE campaign.

A direct quote from Obama:

OBAMA: Yes. I have been a long-time advocate for public financing of campaigns
combined with free television and radio time as a way to reduce the influence of
moneyed special interests. I introduced public financing legislation in the Illinois State
Senate, and am the only 2008 candidate to have sponsored Senator Russ Feingold’s (DWI)
bill to reform the presidential public financing system. In February 2007, I proposed
a novel way to preserve the strength of the public financing system in the 2008 election.
My plan requires both major party candidates to agree on a fundraising truce, return
excess money from donors, and stay within the public financing system for the general
election. My proposal followed announcements by some presidential candidates that they
would forgo public financing so they could raise unlimited funds in the general election.
The Federal Election Commission ruled the proposal legal, and Senator John McCain (r-
AZ) has already pledged to accept this fundraising pledge. If I am the Democratic
nominee, I will aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to
preserve a publicly financed general election.

So he’s a flat out liar.  His celebrity mentality and ego has a vivacious appetite, and apparently Obama could not resist the power and air time he would wield.
I just don’t see how people can put their trust in a man who has lied and done complete 180 degree shifts on his policy and stance on major issues, demonstrated within just the last several months.  He has no established history to fall back on.  Yes, I know people want change.  But you know what?  Things could be a whole, whole lot worse than they are now.  That’s a form of change too - change isn’t always for the better.  Our financial system is suffering the results from a bill signed into law by our last celebrity president, Democrat Bill Clinton, which removed the regulation from the banking industry that caused our current mess.  Do we really want another superficial man in office, who is concerned more about himself and his image, and being anything and everyone to all people, than someone who at least has decades of established behavior and consistency working for America?

We need a firm president with experience and consistency now more than ever, not a loose cannon that thinks he is some sort of super-hero that can sit down with the leader of the most evil, hate-filled country on earth (Iran), and actually talk them into playing nice, or who makes major international policy blunders, like flat-out saying during the last debate that he would gladly violate Pakistan’s sovereignty and damage our relationship with them by performing unauthorized military strikes within their territory.  Those are simply things you don’t say to the public - a president does what needs to be done, but you do not make statements insulting the sovereignty of a nation, seeding hate and contempt within that country’s people and government against the United States.

Dan go to this link and look at paragraph 11, it shows how Obama raises so much money.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/10/opinion/10brooks.html?em

Some people are asking questions about how Obama receives so much money:

Obama money from abroad could total $3.3 million:

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has raised about $3.3 million from contributors who did not list a home state or who designated their state with an abbreviation that did not match one of the 50 states or U.S. territories, according to records provided by the Federal Election Commission.

Associated Press

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h8DEzWz6rCzXtX4b6fBYSVsV9ADAD93M0K5G0

http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/president/29747254.html?elr=KArks8c7PaP3E77K_3c::D3aDhUeyDiPhD:aUiacyKUU
6 million americans living overseas, $3.3 million donations from overseas,  $3.3 m divided by 6 m=55 cents per person.  Not a problem.

This is the real reason you are complaining!!  10 to 1
http://cbs5.com/campaign08/obama.expat.donations.2.779786.html

The contributions you refer to are not a problem. However, the ones the FEC cannot validate are the ones that are a problem.

Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt told the Times, “We have been aggressive about taking every available step to make sure our contributions are appropriate, updating our systems when necessary.“ But, the Times reports, “...even a contributor who used the name ‘Jgtj Jfggjjfgj,‘ and listed an address of ‘thjtrj’ in ‘gjtjtjtjtjtjr, AP,‘ was able to contribute $370 in a series of $10 donations in August.“

More examples: donations made by “Derty West” and “Derty Poiiuy” with “rewq,“ Maine, submitted as an address; or how about “Qwertyyy” or “Qwerttyyu” for the employer / occupation information. These obviously fictitious donors gave the Obama campaign more than $1,100 dollars in July of this year. And one more: “Fornari Usa” submitted an employer name “Loving” and an occupation of “You.“ This donor gave more than $1,000 to Obama in increments of just $25.

http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977474473

In a letter dated June 25, 2008, the FEC asked the Obama campaign to verify a series of $25 donations from a contributor identified as “Will, Good” from Austin, Texas.
Mr. Good Will listed his employer as “Loving” and his profession as “You.” In total, Mr. Good Will gave $17,375.

Following this and subsequent FEC requests, campaign records show that 330 contributions from Mr. Good Will were credited back to a credit card. But the most recent report, filed on Sept. 20, showed a net cumulative balance of $8,950 — still well over the $4,600 limit.

Unlike McCain’s or Sen. Hillary Clinton’s online donation pages, the Obama site did not ask for proof of citizenship until just recently. Clinton’s presidential campaign required U.S. citizens living abroad to actually fax a copy of their passport before a donation would be accepted.

Oops, Obama.

McCain writes but don’t see the need to follow it.  This bothers me.

McCain campaign exploits donation loophole

WASHINGTON, Sept. 20 (UPI)—The adviser who helped John McCain re-write campaign finance laws is now helping him exploit their loopholes, The New York Times (NYSE:NYT) reported Saturday.

Trevor Potter, a former Federal Elections Commission chairman, helped Republican U.S. presidential nominee McCain, a U.S. senator from Arizona, team with Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., to craft a 2002 law to discourage the influence of big money in elections. But now Potter is helping McCain find ways around it as a presidential candidate, the newspaper said.

As chief of the reform group The Campaign Legal Center, Potter once warned that an FEC ruling allowing some types of private donations to political campaigns that accept public funding would be exploited as a legal loophole, and now the McCain campaign is doing just that in a series of new Web-based campaign ads, the Times reported.

The McCain campaign wouldn’t allow Potter to speak with the newspaper for an interview. McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said in a written statement that the campaign had not yet paid for the Web ads with a special fund set up to comply with the FEC regulations, but says it “reserves the option to do so under this recent, clear FEC precedent.“

McCain has already returned thousands of dollars in donations.

I am sure that both McCain And Obama have returned not thousands but hundreds of thousands, but what does that have to do with “WASHINGTON, Sept. 20 (UPI)—The adviser who helped John McCain re-write campaign finance laws is now helping him exploit their loopholes”  Lets do straight talk.

As far as the loopholes (as you call them)- Every Republican and Democratic president elected since 1976 has used the public financing system to finance their general election races. These include Presidents Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. All of them, except President George W. Bush, also used the system to pay for their presidential primary races.

The FEC, which is supposed to enforce the campaign finance laws, has been the principal enabler for the circumvention of the laws.

Your last paragraph is 1000% correct.  The overiding fact is that McCain hired a former Federal Election Chairman to help find ways around a law that McCain wrote and helped pass.  The lesson from McCain is that if you intend to break the law hire a person who was supposed to enforce the law(but did not)to guide you thru how to break it. Ethics 101.

When McCain is actually charged with any wrong doing you have a case.  Let’s focus on Obama’s lie.

My choice is to focus on McCain’s lies, much, much easier to find because there are so many, many more of them.

Gordy40 - 12 October 2008 11:27 AM

When McCain is actually charged with any wrong doing you have a case.  Let’s focus on Obama’s lie.

Lets have a look at the illegal donations coming from the Palestinians.

“Setting a new record in campaign fund-raising, Barack Obama’s campaign today announced that the Democratic US presidential candidate raised a whopping USD 150 million in donations in September.“

“Obama’s monthly figure pushed his total fundraising to USD 605 million.“

Vote-buying cash.

The thing that impresses me is the fact that the majority of that money came in donations of less than $100.00, thats impressive I don"t care who you are.