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Update! Clinton Camp: Obama Oil Ad a Crude Lie
By Tommy Christopher
Mar 31st 2008 4:36PM
Filed Under:eBarack Obama, 2008 President
The Hillary Clinton campaign responded to Barack Obama's new ad, below, with a statement characterizing the ad as "false advertising":
Phil Singer: "It's unfortunate that Senator Obama is using false advertising to explain why he can be trusted to do something about energy prices. Senator Obama says he doesn't take campaign contributions from oil companies but the reality is that Exxon, Shell, and others are among his donors. I wonder if they'll fix the ad."
The Obama campaign has not responded to the memo at this hour.
Check out the ad, and after the jump, a little more of Phil Singer's memo, and we'll see just whose pants are on fire here.
Update: At the end of the article, the Obama campaign's response.
Singer's memo goes on to explain:
A new ad by Sen. Obama running in Pennsylvania falsely claims that Sen. Obama does not accept money from the oil industry. In the ad, Sen. Obama says, "I'm Barack Obama and I don't take money from oil companies or lobbyists and I won't let them block change anymore."
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Sen. Obama has received over $160,000 from the oil and gas companies. Two major bundlers for his campaign -- George Kaiser and Robert Cavnar – are oil company CEOs. Sen. Obama has accepted money from Exxon, Shell, BP, Chevron and just about every other major oil company. Just last month, Sen. Obama accepted another $8,400 from ExxonMobil, $12,370 from Chevron and $6,500 from British Petroleum.
A perusal of Obama's fundraising data from the Center shows that neither party possesses the aforementioned blazing apportements, but a case could be made that they each emit a whiff of smoke. Obama's ad clearly states that he doesn't take money "from oil companies," and according to the center's chart below, he doesn't take money from any companies. All but $250.00 are from individual donors.
On the other hand, Singer's memo mentions the practice of "bundling," tying individual donations together into a larger package. While it is true that this practice allows for the appearance of less influence than there actually is, his claim of "false advertising" fails to acknowledge that, under our current system, the characterization is appropriate, and any candidate would make it. If 4,000 waitresses donate $100.00 each, is he in the pocket of "Big Restaurant?" As usual, the truth lies somewhere in the middle.
Update: Response from Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor, via email:
"Senator Obama is the only candidate in the race who doesn't accept campaign contributions from special interests PACs and Washington lobbyists, and that includes oil companies and oil lobbyists. The energy bill that Senator Clinton has already been criticized for misrepresenting -- one that Clinton supporters Representatives Murtha and Kanjorski also backed -- actually raised taxes on oil companies and made the largest investment in renewable energy in our nation's history. Instead of continuing with the negative and misleading tactics that voters everywhere are rejecting, Senator Clinton should get behind the Obama plan to ease the burden of rising gas prices on working families."
I'm in the car right now, so I can't exactly vet this response right now, but check back later after I've had a chance to check it out.
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