Keith Olbermann: Is the Chamber of Commerce working against America

[ProSense]

Video: Is the Chamber of Commerce working against America

Transcript excerpt:

good evening from new york. this is wednesday, october 20th, 13 days until the 2010 midterm elections. and the question democrats are raising today is, what exactly do the secret big money bags behind hundreds of millions of dollars worth of attack ads against democrats want from the republicans they are trying to help? most of those democrats supported bailouts to save the economy, especially after the chamber threatened to punish anyone who voted against the bailouts. so why is the u.s. chamber of commerce now funneling big bucks to support tea party and other republican candidates campaigning against those bailouts? what do they want that these democrats will not give them? in our fifth story tonight, would you believe sending american jobs overseas, how-to symposiums sponsored by the chamber, starring officials of the chinese government. outsourcing, just one of the republican priorities spotlighted in a new national democratic ad that explains exactly what the secret money behind the chamber and other groups expect from the republicans they will elect next month.

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if there were any doubt that the chamber supports outsourcing along with republicans who consistently voted for outsourcing this year, a new revelation from think progress should end those doubts, because at events like this the 2008 gathering, the chamber actively helps american companies outsource their jobs by bringing them together with chinese officials and companies, american companies, like bee china bee, which specializes in outsourcing. that's not the only way the chamber is pursuing agendas harmful to america's future. it's distributing this educational guide to 100,000 classrooms around the country to educate american kids about, quote, energy, like gasoline represented not by an oil well or oil slick but by this nice, clean drop. telling students, quote, oil is the leading energy source for transportation in the united states. find out more about this vital energy source. asking them questions like, what do you think could happen if one of our energy sources was unavailable? eg, power plant maintenance, government curb on production, et cetera. all kids know what eg means. and what about the ads themselves. the plum line blog has tracked just how many of these ads paid for by the secret big-money backers behind the chamber, karl rove's groups and others are lies. not according to the plum line or this show. rove's ad claiming pennsylvania senate candidate joe sestak voted to gut medicare. a wild exaggeration, according to factcheck.org. his ad against jack conway, misleading says factcheck. ads against barbara boxer, both ads are untrue. rove's ad hitting harry reid on the stimulus, false says politifact.com.

and here's what rove and the chamber and their big money backers will not tell you, the bailouts begun by president bush and continued under stricter terms under president obama, bloomberg news today reporting that the money that the government put into t.a.r.p., the troubled asset relief program was actually a good investment. how good? it has made taxpayers $25 billion. that is an 8.2% return, better than treasuries, high-yield savings accounts, or money market funds. the stock market also performed better. it is possible that that would not be the case without the t.a.r.p. investment in the first place. democrats are not hitting back only on tv. one of them even took it right to the chamber's doorstep. henry waxman yesterday in ta chamber. in a summit on israeli relations, the only example they would offer the world, quote, without proper transparency and disclosure, it is hard for the chamber to be a role model for corporate citizenship in america and around the world. the unanswered question, of course, is whether voters care.

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[HughMoran]

1. Yes, the Chamber is anti-American worker & anti-small business

They must be destroyed.

[Bitwit1234]

2. The question is not IF voters care the real question is

do the voters really know. This has cunningly been kept from them by the media. The media who only reports the lies that the republicans tell them to.

[Kdillard]

3. Yes but do the American people realize exactly how much is the real question.

[otohara]

4. The US Chamber of Outsourcing

greedy, secretive and anti-American!

[Supersedeas]

5. Is outsourcing good for America? Whose America?