President’s Nominee for Trade Rep, a Lobbyist in 2008, to Take Advantage of Loophole in Anti-Lobbyist Regs

I see lobbyists will now be a primary focus of Jake’s. I don’t recall concern about the lobbyist filled campaign of McCain or lobby influence with the Bush administration.

“Mr. Kirk will of course follow the administration’s ethics rules for former clients which require that he recuse himself from certain matters in which Merrill Lynch is a party for a period of two years.”
Oh: “of course”. Riiight.
From the Opaka von Loophole administration, how could anyone expect er less?
What’s Mr. Kirk’s take-home? And why … Dallas?

jpt quotes The CHANGEling:
“firm rules of the road”
“Firm” … sooo manly and decisive-sounding, much better than “infinitely adjustable” or “floutable”!
Firm rules for negotiating the second-crookedest street in the world, the one that winds through the “Obama” organization’s Labyrinth of the Lobbyists.

Ron Kirk has never been a registered federal lobbyist
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Last checked, kat records indicate our Smartest Clueless PB0 has never been a registered boneheaded phony hypocrite either. He is.

As someone who voted for Pres. OBAMA I am thoroughly disgusted with the parsing
of words. He said he would not have any
former lobbyists in his administration..
…he lied ! He is using more lobbyists
than any past president. This is wrong

Like everything else in Obama-world, rules are for everyone else.

On the other hand Jake the EU is looking
at $25 trillion dollar bail out of the Banks. Not to be out done by the Banks they are looking at bailing out whole countries that are going into default. If you think that this country is going to escape any outflow from that you are mistaken.
I find you little comments, and drivel absurd facing the enormity of the problem before us.

You will find that Obama will not keep his word about many of his campaign promises. After all, he won. he got what he wanted. So much for “change”.

WOW! Our Savior is just so honest and ethical…I mean, gosh, of course lobbyist’s has a different meaning in my book than yours. As for Tx. & Washington, hell, it’s just a zip code! But remember kids, it’s do as I say, not as I do–and NEVER, question my decision. REMEMBER, I WON!

4 exceptions for how many post jake? I feel as if I am missing some information

Fox News Light: I feel as if I am missing some information
=
The information missing is why Obama chose to make the empty “no lobbyists” promise in the first place.

“It has now dawned on many Americans that not only is this poor man in way over his head, he cannot be trusted about anything he says.”
Yeah: it’s all going bad. When it penetrates the public mind at large that the “Obama” organization is protecting the Bush administration to extend its own executive privilege, escalating the wars, denying rights to the detainees at Bagram, and continuing the Bush robo-war in Pakistan, it’s going to get waaay worse.
He lied about everything, about so many things it would be simple to say He took office under false pretenses. If there’s REALLY a new Congress in 2010, he could wind up impeached before His term is up.

Tapper, I hope you give these guys hell as one of the few MSM journalists I actually respect and admire, even when you occasionally go a little to liberal par isan vs. completely objective. You’re one in a handful that I think has integrity and I am a registered Independent and it’s hard to find truth in this age of info where everyone is in the tank for someone. I work with children and part of it has to be to stay a step ahead and figure out which child you can trust and turn your back on. From the first democratic debate, I have not been able to trust this man. There is complete truth in the art of an expression and facial muscles that meaningless will always override meaniless words. I have occasionally been completely disgusted when watching this man. I’m puzzled by the complete blind adoration. This is my adopted country and I must say, having lived in a country where government is everything, the citizens of this country need to open their eyes and ears and do some serious thinking as to which direction they want their future to go. Granted everyone is basing their info on knowledge provided, but I don’t think that the media or anyone is doing anyone any favors. For example, NY Times just had a huge monetary injection from a Mexico billionaire. WATCH and see how much their agenda will become pro-mexico, illegal immigration, etc. They have always been and will become increasingly the voice for this man’s agenda. That’s not helpful to people who need to base a decision on honest info vs. an agenda. This is very frightening and it’s not about the boogyman, it’s understanding that things are quickly becoming out of control and the damage irreversible. This stimulus, perfect example, once you instill certain programs, they are permanently there-it is extremely difficult to go back once it’s become a habit…this is an unhealthy course. No one WANTS our country to fail but this is bringing out a culture of “i’m entitled” Do we really want our kids to live in a world no striving for GREAT! Jake, please, for your child and the GREAT she could be and is entitled to from this amazing country and all the wonderful things it can offer, do your job as an unbiased journalist (I don’t mean get kicked out of Gibbs and BHO’s press conf) and keep trumpeting as loud as you can for and w/ the truth. Check out a few books on lie recognition, although you seem pretty good at it already..

Well, sounds like things are moving in the right direction in the Obama administration regarding lobbying, though clearly they’re not perfect.
It’s important to point out Obama’s inevitable failures and hypocrisies, but without seeing the good he’s doing you might be selling him short.
Interesting to note he has job approval ratings near 70% by this focus group called the American people.

This is such a breath of fresh air.
Meanwhile, it seems that alot of people have forgotten the lobbyist-ridden last eight years.
.

Sounds OK to me, as long as they get the job done. But THAT goes for everybody.

Pay attention to what he’s doing to the economy. The markets are reacting solely to his indecisiveness and lack of leadership.
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Yea sure. He is the only one acting, sure isn’t the GOP. The Market is reacting to world events. The market is also aware that there are a number of those banks that are to big to fail that are insolvent. So they have pulled their money out of them. They know that they will be nationalized as it is the best most effective way to rid them of the bad assets they own, and will not write down.

Jake,
Do you recall, that candidate obama clarified his comments months ago from being a categorical no to ANY lobbyist to a more qualified statement. I believe it was the next day.
Do you also recall that candidate obama ALWAYS made a distinction between state lobbyist and federal lobbyist. He was asked about on several interviews when Clinton attempted to diminish his pledge not to take any Fed lobbyist money but not a pledge about state lobbyist?
At the time candidate obama stated that his opposition to lobbyist had to do with their unparalled influence and that state lobbyist had no such influence with federal official due to the nature of their business.
My point: They always made a distinction between state and fed lobbyist because the problem isn’t lobbyist per se, it is their unduly influence in washington. So yes, their is a difference. Is it a loophole? reasonable people can disagree, but does ron kirk violate any of their lobbyist rules, facts say NO. So I ask again, what is the point of this post? are you bored?

Uh, not to put to fine a point on it Kat, but maybe that’s because previous administration’s didn’t say they would not hire lobbyists.
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Yours wasn’t a fine point at all, Peach, but a spin. My posting was clear. I stated I did not recall this kind of concern from Jake with McCain’s campaign staff, which was full of lobbyists. I seriously doubt if there was concern written on the placement of at least 100 lobbyists in regulatory positions- such as oil lobbyists in the interior department and pharmaceutical lobbyists in the FDA.
Obama did not say that they would not hire lobbyists. Did you not read Jake’s report? The three that are in key positions have not met the two year absence from lobbying and have recused themselves on relevant issues, and I certainly hope they’re held to that. I actually like that one of them, the HHS Deputy Secretary has worked as anti-tobacco lobbyist.
If only Bush had been scrutinized as closely by the MSM and its minions as Obama, then the nation and world would most decidedly be a different kind of place.

I seriously doubt if there was concern written on the placement of at least 100 lobbyists in regulatory positions- such as oil lobbyists in the interior department and pharmaceutical lobbyists in the FDA.
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I was referring to the Bush administration and forgot to insert it in the sentence. Lobbyists were the foxes guarding the henhouses in the Bush administration. I welcome the drastic reduction. Obama has obviously made a good effort to keep lobbyists out, and it has been difficult, I’m sure, to find highly qualified people who have been out of lobbying for at least two years.

“To be sure, President Obama’s ethics and anti-lobbyist rules go farther than any of his predecessors’.”
Personally, I think zero tolerance rules are shields for the simple minded who don’t have common sense. I’m more than happy to see a real, drastic change and – frankly – happy to see an administration that is willing to apply common sense over purity to a campaign pledge.

I used to be a Palin supporter until I learned about her abuse of power incidents as governor of Alaska. At first, I found her attractive, personable, and strong , but then discovered her to be ruthlessly ambitious and heartless. I didn’t like how she was egging crowds on, and how they were screaming “kill him” towards Obama at her rallies. I also grew increasingly concerned about all her serious family problems. Parents in seriously dysfunctional families can lead their government in a very similar manner. I feel so very sorry for her daughter, Bristol. Sarah Palin obviously wasn’t there for her in an adequate way.

A loophole by any other name is still a loophole.

Fascist Hyena:
To me it seems that the majority of Americans woke up to the cold, hard reality that John McCain was not sharp enough about the economy to be president, and Obama was the much better choice.

Jan:
Previous articles state this re Obama’s pledge (which he never really means, it just sounds good):
When he was pursuing the Democratic nomination, Obama was broader in his anti-lobbyist pledges.
“When I am president, they won’t find a job in my White House,” Mr. Obama said at a campaign event in Spartanburg, S.C., in November 2007.
“I have done more than any other candidate in this race to take on lobbyists — and won,” Mr. Obama said at his much-praised Iowa Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner speech three days later. “They have not funded my campaign, they will not get a job in my White House, and they will not drown out the voices of the American people when I am president.”
Mr. Obama changed that pledge, however, to the notion that lobbyists won’t “run” his White House.

More lies by the Obama team.
More see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil by the Obamaniacs.

I’d like to see a poll right now, comparing people’s attitudes regarding Wall St. and Al Queda. It would be very enlightening for certain people who have no clue how badly people are suffering in the real world.

We need to stop electing lawyers to public office. They are trained to use deception – from outright lies, to little “white” lies and hyperbole, to misdirection and evasion, to equivocation and ambiguity, to concealment and omission of relevant information.
Basically, they are taught in the art of espousing rhetoric that is clear as mud.
Lying to me is bad, but I can consent to deceiving others for noble purposes, as artfully decided by myself.

“I think a worse disservice to the American public is to have “news” reported by entertainers”…..Hannity, Rush, etc. don’t purport to be news programs. They are opinion shows. Don’t listen if you don’t like them, but don’t misrepresent them as something they are not.

“I think a worse disservice to the American public is to have ‘news’ reported by entertainers.”
I agree. There is no place for a “reporter” to say they have a thrill going up their leg for a candidate nor should a “reporter” state that his “job is to help make Obama’s Presidency a success”.
At least be honest that the mostly Democratic newsrooms are slanted more towards Obama than against.
The press is erring towards complicity and advocacy with the Obama administration, compared to the antagonistic approach they took towards the Bush administration.
Neither is correct. The truth needs to be reported about all administrations and not be thrown through the prism of the reporter’s personal beliefs and predjudices.
Lawyers are still a major problem in politics. Watch the juicy bones that are going to be thrown to trial lawyers in this administration. AG Holder is already tipping his hand with his “Americans are cowards” speech.

Here’s what lobbyists do. They advocate rules to protect/shield/favor a group they represent. For example, under the Bush administration of Goldman Sachs’ former employees, the hedge fund managers managed to get all rules regarding investment suspended or made inapplicable to them.
Apparently, Bush’s large hedge-fund friends at Goldman Sachs are the biggest recipients of the reduced tax on capital gains. Goldman Sachs (Bush appointed Hank Paulson’s former employer) is number 5 on the list of largest hedge fund managers.
Under Bush, those people’s hundreds of millions dollar incomes were not taxed like ordinary citizens incomes. Why? Because Bush and Paulson allowed them to claim their ordinary income as capital gains!
Also note that hedge fund managers are exempt from the short-selling rules that crushed all the companies Americans made sound investments into. That is the reason hedge fund managers/short-seller create rumors to crash markets. They are exempted from what Bush-appointed former SEC chairman Chris Cox was supposedly protecting investors from — short selling! Short-selling goes hand in hand with rumor-mongering and spreading fear. (Why did Republican Graham decide to proclaim that U.S. banks would be nationalized last week just as the banks values were rebounding?!)
The republican administration’s tax-breaks for the billionaires that stole our money is over! We’re taking back those windfall profits Goldman Sachs and the rest of the Bush cronies stole from us by using politicians to spread short-selling rumors!
Fairness is returning under the Obama administration and I applaud it! I welcome it!
In the words of Sean Hannity, “true Americans” should invest in Allen Stanford’s multi-billion $ scam. Sean Hannity is a lobbyist for the thieving republicans disguised as a “true American”.

Isn’t it fun to watch the Obama worshippers try to justify all of his broken promises?
He tosses them a bone every now and then and they are happy until he breaks the next promise.

wow, i am so confident that our President is abiding by his words… “No Lobbyist will work for my administration”….
the difference between Bush and Obama, Bush never made a big public speech about transparency and then went agaisnt his own words.

Where is this story Jake?
Next up for confirmation trouble, nominee for Labor Secretary Hilda Solis.
The Senate seems to have back burnered this confirmation until the heat dies down . (and you know why)

Softballs,
“Common sense: I don’t listen to Hannity. I don’t listen to Rush. I make up my own mind… Take a deep breath… Mr. Hannity isn’t going to get you. ”
Mr. Hannity got millions of others who invested in Stanford’s ponzi scheme. I would never follow his advice on anything financial or political, so I’m immune to his scams. Hannity/Limbaugh will tell you how to think and respond next week once they post their talking points. Looking forward to good laugh yet again…

Let’s just watch this guy closely, keep track of what he does and nail him at the first opportunity for a serious breach.
Personally, I consider it a *high crime* to employ an admitted tax “forgetter” as (of all things) Treasury secretary, but that’s just me.

Maybe our esteemed White House correspondent can actually drop that continous “gotcha” trail on Lobbyists…Having watched the campaign, I remember Obama making a distinction between “state” and “federal” lobbyist, pretty clear…Only in the gotcha world does this point to a “loophole”…Hey. I’ve got an idea for “good media”…Let’s get rid of all of the snarky “reporters” who look for nonsense to blow up..Gee Jake, do you think YOU would make the “good media” cut??…How about the “Entertainment tonight media” cut??