LOL- NYT cover, above-the-fold: "McCain's Lobbyist-Laden Group"

[npincus]

Flip-FLOP.



http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/28/us/politics/28IRI.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

As Senator John McCain waited to speak at the annual awards dinner of the International Republican Institute, a democracy-building group he has led for 15 years, lobbyists and business executives dominated the stage at a Washington hotel ballroom.

<snip>

The parade of lobbyists and fund-raisers at the dinner is emblematic of Mr. McCain’s tenure at the institute, one of a pair of nonprofit groups — taxpayer-financed and each allied with one of the two major political parties — that were created during the Reagan era to promote democracy in closed societies.

Over the years, Mr. McCain has nurtured a reputation for bucking the Republican establishment and criticizing the influence of special interests in politics. But an examination of his leadership of the Republican institute — one of the least-chronicled aspects of his political life — reveals an organization in many ways at odds with the political outsider image that has become a touchstone of the McCain campaign for president.

Certainly the institute’s mission is in keeping with Mr. McCain’s full-throated support for exporting American democratic values. Yet the institute is also something of a revolving door for lobbyists and out-of-power Republicans that offers big donors a way of helping both the party and the institute’s chairman, who is the only sitting member of Congress — and now candidate for president — ever to head one of the democracy groups.

Operating without the sort of limits placed on campaign fund-raising, the institute under Mr. McCain has solicited millions of dollars for its operations from some 560 defense contractors, lobbying firms, oil companies and other corporations, many with issues before Senate committees Mr. McCain was on.

Recently, he has drawn criticism for involving lobbyists in his presidential campaign; under Mr. McCain, 14 of them have served on the institute’s board, some representing governments or organizations in countries where the group was carrying out programs.

These are sensitive issues for Mr. McCain, who as a champion of campaign finance and lobbying reforms has made a point of eschewing unlimited “soft money” contributions to his political committees. During his Senate investigation of the lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Mr. McCain highlighted the risks of business interests’ use of donations to nonprofit organizations as another way to gain access to a member of Congress.

[Eurobabe]

1. Laden as in Bin??

[leveymg]

2. McCain has his own funding connections to BCCI, bin Laden, and Ahmad Chalabi's INC

See,

leveymg's Journal - McCain Had a Key Role in the Iraq WMD Deception Posted by leveymg in General Discussion Fri Apr 25th 2008, 01:13 PM. Part 1 - John McCain and Charlie Black’s War: How a Senator and a Lobbyist Led the ...
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/leveymg/360 - 57k - Cached - Similar pages

leveymg's Journal - THE CRIMES AND COVERUPS OF JOHN McCAIN, “REFORMER” Posted by leveymg in General Discussion Tue Jun 03rd 2008, 10:47 AM. Part 2: McCain’s 30-Years of Service to Saudi Bank Raiders and Junk Bond Kings ...
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/leveymg/365 - 48k - Cached - Similar pages
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