Wal-Mart heir funding Obama big time

Can we stop pretending that Barack Obama’s candidacy is some grass-roots uprising? Obama’s campaign has outspent Romney’s campaign. The Democratic National Committee has outspent the Republican National Committee. While Romney’s SuperPAC (Restore our Future), has outspent Obama’s SuperPAC (Priorities USA), that $40 million Romney SuperPAC edge doesn’t come close to making up for the Obama campaign’s $180 million edge. There is legally undisclosed spending going on here, and there’s reason to believe Romney benefits from more of it than Obama, but that’s not conclusive, and we don’t know how big Romney’s edge is in that category. Obama argues that his fundraising success comes from small donors, but that’s not really true. One out of every five Obama dollars comes from the campaign’s biggest bundlers, the Center for Public Integrity reports. Those bundlers include the likes of Pfizer lobbying chief Sally Susman and financier Michael Kempner of the MWW group. A full 85 percent of Obama’s SuperPAC money comes from his 20 largest donors (compared to 70 percent of the money raised by Romney’s SuperPAC), according to Russ Choma at the Center for Responsive Politics. My favorite detail, though, is this Washington Times report by data hound Luke Rosiak: Wal-Mart heir Sam Walton has apparently given big to Obama’s SuperPAC. This is at first surprising for a couple of reasons. First, the Waltons tend to be Republican. Second, the conventional wisdom is that megacorps like Wal-Mart are a Republican thing. But Sam Walton gave the maximum $30,800 to the Obama Victory Fund in 2008, and $40,000 to the OVF this election. Policy-wise, there’s plenty of reason for the Waltons to like Barack Obama: Wal-Mart endorsed the employer mandate in ObamaCare, which gives Wal-Mart an advantage by crushing smaller competitors. Wal-Mart has profited from Dodd-Frank, which fixes the price Wal-Mart has to pay banks for processing debit cards. Wal-Mart has lobbied for and profits from higher minimum wage. Wal-Mart is a top beneficiary of eminent domain takings, a government power protected by the types of judges Obama appoints. Big Business generally benefits from Big Government. So, yes, Mitt Romney is cozy with Big Business and big donors. But don’t pretend Obama is any different.

http%3A//washingtonexaminer.com/wal-mart-boss-sam-walton-funding-obama-big-time/article/2511391%23.UIdmg2_A-So



• Hi, GOP troll, and thanks for playing. Anybody with 2 IQ points knows that Washington Examiner is a piece of shit right wing mouthpiece, which doesn't even pretend to be "fair and balanced". I hope they are paying you per post.

• It costs a lot of money to fight stupidity.

• r1, fuck off. Take your paranoia to your shrink.

  OP

• Big money is probably 80/20 for Republicans.

• A lot of Obama's money IS from ordinary citizens chipping in $10-$250.

• Hillary Clinton, whom the GOP liked to paint as a hairy-legged socialist hippie, was on the Wal=Mart board as early as 1992 and possibly earlier. Wal-Mart contributes to many candidates at all levels and have contributed to the GOP AND Democrats. Money and politics go together. This is news? Go back to the your Washington Times and Examiner buffet, they can serve you up some Clint Eastwood you-know-what to spread on your beef jerky.

• r6, Hillary was on staff back when the old guy was still around. Not the same Walmart. Al Franken pointed this out a million times. It was one of the things Obama supporters tried to use against her.

• Hey OP, so what? If the President beats Romney because he took Walmart money and spent it to win - good. I have zero interest in crippling the President's campaign to meet some utopian ideal of campaign contributions while the Republicans rake in millions from their Billionaire Boys Club.

• I love shopping at Walmart

  There%20I%20said%20it

• I hate the Washington Examiner. There I said it.

• [quote]Wal-Mart has lobbied for and profits from higher minimum wage. Wow, biggest lie ever seen on DL? WalMart does the exact opposite...fight AGAINST raising the minimum wage every time it comes up. How stupid would you have to be to believe that walmart PROFITS from paying their employees more money per hour?????

  f%26f%20freeper%20OP

• OP is a true asshole. He thinks this will somehow cause gasps of surprise and turn us away from Barry O'Bama, and you are a supreme fool OP to attemt this. Do you think this compares in anyway to Mr. Adelson & the Koch brothers? Or Karl Rove? Or Dick Cheney? Do you? I wish there was some way we couold spray repellent around DL to shoo away all these pesky freepers! YOu all must think we're as stupid and gullible as you are. Sorry, we are not susceptible. We have been innoculated. Now run along, and quit insulting our intelligence with you transparent ploys.

• Ummm... let's see ALL the ways the Kochs influence the election with their billions, and also how they profit. My guess is their spending is substantially more, particularly in ways that aren't all that ethical. So don't even start with slamming how Obama's policies help Wal-Mart, so that's why they support him. If that were the case for Wally World, then it would be the case for any corporation, so why the hell support a vile Republican? Never mind the fact that people have more money to spend when there's a Dem in the White House, so why ANY corporation wouldn't want people to be better off is beyond me.

• OP may as well link to Drudge as post Wash. Examiner drivel.

  Seriously

• Yawn. We all know that Obama is a Wall Street and Defense contractor dupe. He's just the much lesser of two evils.

• What r8 said

• Sam Walton gave $40,000...Adelson, Koch & Koch gave HOW MUCH?

• What this means is that maybe I CAN shop at Walmart after all.

• $30,800, $40,000...who gives a shit? Agreed with R8.

• Sorry OP, my dislike for Mitt Romney far outweighs my dislike of Walmart. Nice try, though.

• OP/R3, you're hilarious. Your post reeks of paranoia. There is no doubt that more individual donors gave to the Obama campaign in 2008 particularly among groups that had historically not donated to presidential campaigns in the past, at least since the days of union contributions. Of course corporate money is essential to the campaign as are SuperPACs to counter the same on the Republican side. Why are you such a hormonal mess about this issue?

• Actually, if it's true that the Walmart folks are supporting Barry, I am SO THERE! I hate Walmart and never shop there, but I will re-evaluate that position! I am also a dedicated Costco shopper! Yaay for Us! (Dems.)

  NotFatEnoughForWalmart

• Forty grand is chicken feed, honey. Although where you're from chicken feed is probably a big deal. Are you in high school there?

• Really, OP?

• Amateurs! All of them amateurs! [quote]The many motives of a mega-donor [quote] has joined Romney during the candidate’s visit to Israel this summer, attended presidential debates and gotten together with Romney so often that their wives have become friends, according to confidants of the two men. [quote]Although Adelson, 79, has said he will give $100 million to help Romney and quash President Obama’s “socialist-style” approach to the economy, he remains skeptical, believing that politicians don’t deliver on promises and can’t be trusted. [quote]“Many people who give very significant donations to political campaigns come to me afterwards very frustrated that they don’t get what they wanted once the person is elected,” says Morton Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, which Adelson has supported for years. “Sheldon doesn’t expect people to change. He’s very realistic about politics.” [quote] Adelson — whose gambling operations span the globe from Las Vegas to casinos open or planned in Macau, Singapore and Spain — tells friends he finds the way U.S. elections are funded to be abhorrent, putting too much power in the hands of a wealthy few. So as one of those wealthy few, why would he pour more money into a campaign than 65 average Americans will earn in their combined lifetimes?

  http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/decision2012/sheldon-adelson-casino-magnate-mega-donor-is-a-man-of-many-motives/2012/10/23/926d031e-0744-11e2-858a-5311df86ab04_story.html%3Fhpid%3Dz4

• When the election is over, can we get rid of political threads? They're taking over the board

• Political threads tend to go away after an election, sweetheart.

• I hate to be one of those people, R26, but how about you ignore them? I mean I have to constantly stare at threads -going on lord knows how many years- involving lunatics obsessed with some couple from a teen vampire movie.

• [quote]Can we stop pretending that Barack Obama’s candidacy is some grass-roots uprising? Who is pretending (other than the voices in OP's head)?

• Wow, a study from The Washington times! I will have to unwrap the fish, and read it!

• Republicans should not be allowed on the internet.

• I also love Walmart but think their employee wages and treatment of employees plus not paying for health care is shit. There's a ghetto WM near me and a very nice one. I always go to the nice one.

• [quote]There's a ghetto WM near me and a very nice one. I always go to the nice one. R32 dressed for the superior WalMart:

  http://cdn.obsidianportal.com/images/276878/Lucille_Watson.jpg

• Over the years Rupert Murdoch has contributed to Hilary, Check Shumer, John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, Anthony Weiner (!) and a few other Democrats so none of this is surprising. Well, maybe it would be to the Faux Noise audience.

• r33 - haha that is me! Ty and I think it's hilarious.

• Ironic that one of the most hated companies by liberals is supporting their candidate. Strange bedfellows indeed.

• [quote]Ironic that one of the most hated companies by liberals is supporting their candidate. Strange bedfellows indeed. What's at all remarkable about this? That a WalMart heir whose father was worth $23B might give $30,800 or a further $40,000 to the Obama campaign, and his wife a further $30,800? Look at that $70,000 or $100,000 drop in a bucket in relationship to these figures from an ABC News story of June, 2012 and then get back to us about how ironic that reviled WalMart turns out to be such a bastion of liberal causes: [quote]The Walton family, which owns Walmart, has already donated $624,100 to Republican candidates and Super PACs this cycle, according to disclosure data analyzed by the Center for Responsive Politics. Ninety percent of those donations went to support GOP presidential candidates. [quote]Jim Walton, the son of Walmart founder Sam Walton and the eighth richest man in America according to Forbes, initially put his money behind Jon Huntsman. The billionaire gave $2,500 to Huntsman’s campaign and $100,000 to Our Destiny PAC, which supported Huntsman. But after Huntsman’s campaign floundered, Walton switched his support to Romney, dumping $200,000 into the pro-Romney Super PAC Restore Our Future and another $2,500 into the Romney campaign. [quote]Walton’s sister-in-law Christy split her campaign contributions among two GOP contenders, both of which were among the first four candidates to drop out of the race. In November she showed some billionaire love for Jon Huntsman, giving $50,000 to the Super Pac supporting him and $2,500 to his campaign. Days after then-candidate Herman Cain was accused of sexual harassment, Walton donated the legal maximum of $2,500 to his campaign. [quote]Alice Walton, the daughter of Sam Walton, has kept all of her donations fixed on Romney, giving the maximum $2,500 to his campaign and an additional $200,000 to the Super PAC supporting him.

  http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/06/walmart-cuts-funds-to-conservative-group-flow-to-gop-continues/

• Exactly r7. While O supporters were attacking Hillary's Walmart days, they conveniently ignored that Michelle was on the board of Treehouse Food Inc., a Walmart vendor. She only resigned after he announced his candidacy. Obama supporters were so obnoxious back in 2008.

• Agree with R18. I'm glad to hear that I can start shopping at WalMart again!

• [quote]they conveniently ignored that Michelle was on the board of Treehouse Food Inc., a Walmart vendor. I dont understand how that would be a bad thing or how being associated with a company that sells to Walmart (and probably a lot of other stores as well) is the same as being associated with Walmart directly.

• r40 it's not a bad thing but Obama supporters made any association with Walmart a bad thing. They used everything to knock HRC. In the '80s when HRC was the first and only woman on the board, Walmart was not this giant it is now. That wasn't good enough for O supporters. When Michelle was at Treehouse in 2007, Walmart was its biggest customer. You don't think it's such a bad thing (and neither do I), apparently Michelle did because she resigned soon after. This is all water under the bridge and all has been forgiven (but not forgotten). r7's post just reminded me of how much O supporters hated her and Bill.

• I hope this news isn't going to have people saying we should all start shopping at Walmart.

• Poor wingnuts. I guess we truly are in the "throw everything against the wall and pray that it sticks" phase of the campaign.