Jun 19, 2008 2:55pm
ABC News Video: Obama in 2006 Said Public Financing Saves Taxpayers Money
EmailAt a breakfast for constituents in 2006, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, said public financing saves taxpayers money in the long run.
"What folks don’t understand is you’re paying for the lack of public financing," Obama said. "Because all those, you know, pork projects you read about and all the shenanigans that take place around here, you would save significantly as a taxpayer by paying what would probably end up being five dollars per person per year to finance every federal campaign."
Watch HERE. So does that mean Obama’s decision to forgo public financing will cost taxpayers money? No, he says, because he argues he has created a new system.
- jpt
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Yes he has created a new system that is not causing tax payers directly any money. It is you the tax payer that decides what you want to give him.
Posted by: vuzous | June 19, 2008, 3:01 pm 3:01 pm
This is the same candidate that said of NAFTA: “devastating” and “a big mistake” when he was going after the white-collar vote.
BUT NOW in an interview with FORTUNE he said in response to those statements: “Sometimes during campaigns the rhetoric gets overheated and amplified”. He is now backing off of those statements.
In other words – what he says is subject to change in order to further his own ends. Hope – Change – and Change again…
Posted by: smartprimate | June 19, 2008, 3:02 pm 3:02 pm
i want to see how the media and mccain will try to convince the american people that citizens contributing 5, 10 ,100 dollars to Obama’s campaign is worst than government giving out 160 million dollars that they do NOT have.
Posted by: johnosahon | June 19, 2008, 3:03 pm 3:03 pm
Obama: Hope, change, then just pocket change.
Posted by: beebop | June 19, 2008, 3:03 pm 3:03 pm
Well…he has.
Posted by: Steve | June 19, 2008, 3:07 pm 3:07 pm
Why would I want to pay to fund his campaign? Whoever wants to do it can do it. I’m not interested in a socialist election system; to think that such a system reduces “peddling” of influence is naive.
Posted by: 1percenter | June 19, 2008, 3:08 pm 3:08 pm
Obama is really taking public financing. He isn’t taking any money from PAC’S or lobbyists. The vast majority of the money is from individual donors.
Furthermore, he is saving the tax payer $80 million.
So I really don’t think it is that big of a deal.
Posted by: Reba | June 19, 2008, 3:11 pm 3:11 pm
Isn’t Obama SAVING tax payers $80 million?
What’s the big deal?
Posted by: Sandy | June 19, 2008, 3:13 pm 3:13 pm
Does anyone honestly believe that Obama’s entire campaign is funded by Mom and Pop donations of $100? Apparently so…
Posted by: HoosierSue | June 19, 2008, 3:23 pm 3:23 pm
will there be video of McCain, showing that he was against the tax cuts, he is for now, that he was against the enron loophole that he supports now, that he was against the torture he is for now?
Posted by: Louis | June 19, 2008, 3:23 pm 3:23 pm
It’s hard to pull off self-righteous against the conservative 527s when moveon.org is running their 527 ads to benefit Obama.
Posted by: HoosierSue | June 19, 2008, 3:25 pm 3:25 pm
HP Boston
Obama has well over a million donaters…
it will chances are be well into the 8 figure mark of voters when it is all said and done…
yeah and that has to be verified…duh.
Posted by: dl | June 19, 2008, 3:33 pm 3:33 pm
sorry not 8 figure…duh on me…
well into the 7 figure mark of donaters when it is all said and done
so yeah Obama has to verify his donations…
they’re called election laws.
Posted by: dl | June 19, 2008, 3:35 pm 3:35 pm
When someone doesn’t know what they are talking about they utter confusing statements, talk in circles and fool no one but themselves.
Posted by: this election counts | June 19, 2008, 3:44 pm 3:44 pm
You guys STILL think obama will win the general election?
The media cant keep hyping him if he has no new ‘hype’ material and keeps making idiot mistakes like this. He is sinking like a stone.
He is unelectable.
Posted by: ned | June 19, 2008, 3:50 pm 3:50 pm
Louis – McCain explained about why he was against the tax cuts and now is for them, he thought and rightfully so the liberals would not cut spending which they did not. but he also saw that the tax cuts helped the poor and brought in more revenue to the government then ever before. So he was not hypocritical.
You are hypocritical when yousay you are going to do something and for political reasons you do not, like Obama who now wants his elitist billionaire friend who say we should eat cake to finance his run!!
The Obama slogan We want to change to Marxism!!
Posted by: spock | June 19, 2008, 3:51 pm 3:51 pm
You guys STILL think obama will win the general election?
**************
Absolutely. Without a doubt. Next.
Posted by: Concise | June 19, 2008, 3:54 pm 3:54 pm
Edit.
I have no idea how Obama wins. He is an empty suit. But I am hoping anyways.
next
Posted by: Concise | June 19, 2008, 3:56 pm 3:56 pm
Why would he want a paltry 85M when he has sugar daddy George Soros? And all kinds of other slimy business buddies….
Report on the state of our democracy.
Posted by: SadStateOfAffairs | June 19, 2008, 4:20 pm 4:20 pm
For those interested in knowing, not guessing, on who is donating and from where just go to the Federal Election Commission web page.
Posted by: 1percenter | June 19, 2008, 4:33 pm 4:33 pm
Perhaps all that savings to the government could be spent on helping the flood victims along the over-flowing rivers. Looks worse than Katrina to me.
Posted by: Mary | June 19, 2008, 5:40 pm 5:40 pm
Obama has a new system, Coming to a theater near you this fall. Obama takes 500 million dollars from the poorest of the poor and spends it on defending his slimy past and loses the election in a landslide.
That’s change alright!!
Posted by: Jay | June 19, 2008, 11:11 pm 11:11 pm
ObaMA IS THE BIGGEST FLIP FLOPPER I have ever seen. The dnc has totally destroyed the Democratic party that I knew and there is no way on God’s green earth that I would vote for him.
Posted by: pAT jOHNSTON | June 19, 2008, 11:16 pm 11:16 pm
Obama Follows The Money, Not Principles – Hides Behind “Broken System” Cop Out
Obama opts out of campaign finance system from AP reports that Senator Barack Obama is not going to take public financing as he promised he would if his GOP rival did – choosing money over principles as he looks to
Posted by: PAXALLES | June 20, 2008, 12:47 am 12:47 am
Barack Obama is a typical lying politician. No difference at all.
ALL TALK, NO WALK.
Posted by: McCain in 08'/Hillary in 12' | June 20, 2008, 5:03 am 5:03 am
Obama is going to get killed on this flip-flop at every debate.
Can you say President McCain?
Posted by: Jack | June 20, 2008, 5:04 am 5:04 am
My, my, my delusional or just a shyster in rare form. He has created a new system? Has anyone asked him to detail what that system is? I bet he won’t say money donated to his campaigned by people that dead, are illegal immigrants, are foreign nationals or or have multiple computers servers in basement operations….
Posted by: rw | June 20, 2008, 8:00 am 8:00 am
Why, yes, and Obama’s system of campaign finance is far better. The individual, grassroots donations receive matching federal funds, which will groundswell voters. But then if you’re of the old guard and prefer political power among the chosen and few, then Obama’s finance dream can be viewed of as a nightmare.
Posted by: kat | June 20, 2008, 1:08 pm 1:08 pm
Mccains involvement in the Keating Five scandal that cost elderly retired Arizonans billions of dollars of their life savings has convinced me that he doesn’t care about anyone but himself and his rich much younger wife. He could be his wifes father, who’s own father was a convicted felon. Who also had ties to organized crime when he bought Ruidoso Downs, the horse track. He didn’t disclose silent owners who were bookmakers and connected to organized crime.
I don’t want a president like John McCain.
Posted by: Woodpecker | June 21, 2008, 12:05 am 12:05 am