Joe Biden on Meet the Press

EXCLUSIVE!

Joe Biden on Meet the Press!

That's funny. Joe Biden is on Meet the Press so often I think he has his own dressing room, but now he's billed as an EXCLUSIVE.

I guess that hype is understandable, given the fact that he's the Democrats' vice presidential nominee. It still seems weird to me to get excited about a Meet the Press appearance by Biden.

Seeing Biden on the set is no change. It's old, old business as usual.

MR. TOM BROKAW: Welcome back to MEET THE PRESS. It's, by our account, your 42nd appearance here.

That's amazing, 42 times.

So Biden was interviewed by Tom Brokaw.

First, it's painfully obvious that Brokaw is no Russert. Tom Brokaw tries, but we could really use Tim Russert in the moderator chair.

Transcript

MR. BROKAW: We want to talk a little bit about both campaigns now describing themselves as an agent of change. Senator Obama has been hard on the case about Washington lobbyists and their influence. Let's share with you and our viewers just some of the ads and the statements that he's made about all of that, if we can.

(Videotape, Yesterday)

SEN. OBAMA: And suddenly, he's the change agent. He says, "I'm going to tell those lobbyists that their days of running Washington are over." Who's he going to tell? Is he going to tell his campaign chairman, who's one of the biggest corporate lobbyists in Washington? Is he going to tell his campaign manager, who was one of the biggest corporate lobbyists in Washington? Who is it that he's going to tell that change is coming? I mean, come on. They must think you're stupid.

(End videotape)

MR. BROKAW: Now Senator Obama is out with an ad as well, pretty much the same theme. Let's listen to that, if we can.

(Excerpt from political ad)

SEN. OBAMA: I'm Barack Obama and I approve this message.

But America is listening, not just Democrats. The Republicans and independents who've lost trust in their government but want to believe again.

I am in this race to tell the corporate lobbyists that their days of setting the agenda in Washington are over. I have done more than any other candidate in this race to take on the lobbyists and I have won. They have not funded my campaign and they will not drown out the voices of the American people when I am president.

(End excerpt)

MR. BROKAW: That is Senator Barack Obama during the primary campaign. He was campaigning in Iowa at the time. In your hometown newspaper this morning, there's a big headline, "Banking on Biden." "As the senator of Delaware's financial institutions find themselves banking on Biden. To some, Joe Biden's makeover as a blue collar warrior is slightly at odds with the blue blood company that he keeps in the corporate state. Not only is Biden a neighbor to wealthy and powerful company titans and DuPont family members, he's thrown his weight behind issues and legislation that benefitted Delaware's big banking interests." This is what The Wall Street Journal had to say about all of this. "Obama's choice of Biden as his running mate is coming under fire from Republicans who are painting him as an old-style insider. They cite his longstanding ties to trial lawyers and lobbyists and a taste for pork-barrel spending...

"Biden ... had collected $6.5 million in campaign contributions from lobbyists, lawyers and law firms since 1989, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. ..."Biden's candidacy also is bringing new scrutiny to his family's business dealings, especially those of his son Hunter, who is 38 years old." And that's a reference to your son being hired right out of law school by a big company here in Delaware that is in the credit card business, MBNA. He got about $100,000 a year, as I recall. You received $214,000 in campaign contributions from the company and from its employees. At the same time, you were fighting for a bankruptcy bill that MBNA really wanted to get passed through the Senate, making it much tougher for everyone to file bankruptcy. Senator Obama was opposed to the bill. Among other things you couldn't, in fact, claim that you had a problem because of big medical bills. You voted against an amendment that would call for a warning on predatory lending. You also called for--you opposed efforts to strengthen the protection of people in bankruptcy. This has been an issue that you're heard about before. Your son was working for the company at the same time. In retrospect, wasn't it inappropriate for someone like you in the middle of all this to have your son collecting money from this big credit card company while you were on the floor protecting its interests?

SEN. BIDEN: Absolutely not.

Biden babbles on and on about not being in the pocket of lobbyists.

MR. BROKAW: But specifically, what would this administration do about K Street and lobbyists, which has begun...

SEN. BIDEN: Well, what, what they would do is they'd stop them from writing the bills. They wouldn't be sitting like Cheney was with lobbyists, writing an energy policy. They'd get to have their voice. Look, there is a thing called free speech. They get to petition their government. But in terms of their ability to be able to set the agenda, write legislation, be these--and my--you know, it's just, it would not--it just a total different atmosphere. A totally different atmosphere, just like it was 25 years ago when it didn't become such a growth industry.

Brokaw gives up.

This lobbyist stuff is important.

Without question, Biden and his relationship with lobbyists is a problem for Barack Obama.

But it's not just Biden and lobbyists.

The bigger problem for Obama is Obama's ties with lobbyists.

He promises change.

Watch Barack Obama in Bristol, Virginia on June 5, 2008.

OBAMA: Throughout my career in Illinois and the United States Senate, I've worked to reduce the power of special interests and the power of lobbyists. I've sent a strong signal in this campaign by refusing to take contributions from federal registered lobbyists and from PACs.

And today, today as the Democratic nominee for president, I am announcing that going forward the Democratic National Committee will uphold the same standard. We will not take a dime from Washington lobbyists or special interest PACs. We're going to change how Washington works. They will not fund my party. They will not run our White House and they will not drown out the voice of the American people when I'm president of the United States of America.

Hmmm.

Sounds like Obama is promising to be an agent of change. He's going to change how Washington works.

It's too bad that's all talk. It's BS. His words belie his actions.

Let's look at Obama's bundlers. (Bundlers are people with friends in high places who, after bumping against personal contribution limits, turn to those friends, associates, and, well, anyone who's willing to give, and deliver the checks to the candidate in one big 'bundle.')

From the Center for Responsive Politics:

While John McCain's campaign posts bundlers' employers and occupations, Barack Obama's campaign does not. The employers displayed for Obama's bundlers are based on CRP research.

The totals listed in this table are based on CRP research and may not match the contributions visible using our Donor Lookup tool, which searches FEC data based on name and state. Bundlers' names and ranges based on information available on the candidate's Web site August 18. Individual contribution data based on data available from the Federal Election Commission on 7/28/08.

The Law Lobby has contributed $11.5 million to the Obama Campaign.

But Obama promised that he wouldn't "take a dime from Washington lobbyists or special interest PACs."

That's slick talk.

When Obama is vowing to bring change, he's really just playing games with words.

Obama says he won't take money from FEDERAL REGISTERED LOBBYISTS, not lobbyists.

People don't hear that when Obama is pontificating.

Obama promises transparency, but he doesn't talk about bundlers.

Worse, "[w]hile John McCain's campaign posts bundlers' employers and occupations, Barack Obama's campaign does not."

Clearly, McCain is being far more upfront than Obama. Obama acts like he has something to hide, because he does.

Bottom line: When Barack Obama promises not to allow lobbyists to fund his campaign and his party, it's not true.

Change? Not at all.