Week 6 – Joshua

Tobacco lobby prefers McCain over Obama (if it must pick one)

By Carol Eisenberg   |   July 28, 2008 at 9:55am   |   0 

Sen. Barack Obama may be the only smoker running for president, but the occasional snapshot of him with a cigarette dangling from his mouth has not done much to endear him to the powerful tobacco lobby.

Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, received $78,656 from Big Tobacco since 2007 – more than three times Obama’s $25,745, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Comparatively speaking, though, neither man has been a major beneficiary of the industry’s largesse – at least not on the scale of, say, George W. Bush, who received $171,145 to John Kerry’s $20,000 in 2004.

One reason: both support far more regulation of the tobacco industry than the Bush administration, which has opposed efforts to give the FDA regulatory authority over tobacco, or to increase taxes on cigarettes to finance children’s health care.

The No. 1 recipient of tobacco money during the 2008 campaign to date was former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who received $108,750 during the campaign season, according to the Center for Responsive Politics

No. 2 was Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd, who received $61,450; New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton got $51,300; former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was No. 5 with $37,000. Obama came in sixth, followed by former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson, who got $9,900 and Sen. Joseph Biden, who got $4,000.

“The fact that all the remaining presidential candidates are strong supporters of giving FDA authority over tobacco distinguishes them from the current administration,” said Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

Both Obama and McCain are co-sponsors of a potentially historic piece of legislation wending its way through Congress that, if passed, would give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authority to control nicotine levels, dictate warning labels and regulate marketing and advertising by the industry. McCain had supported an earlier, unsuccessful version several years ago.

Like Obama, McCain was once a smoker, but at the urging of his second wife, Cindy, McCain quit smoking at the time of their marriage in 1980.

Ten years ago, he took on the tobacco industry and members of his own party when he led an ultimately unsuccessful effort to give FDA authority to regulate tobacco, according to the Boston Globe’s Michael Kranish. He also supported a $1.10-per-pack tax on cigarettes to fund programs to cut underage smoking.

Those positions made him enemies: In 2000, his presidential campaign collapsed after he lost to George W. Bush in the South Carolina primary, where he faced a barrage of negative ads funded in large measure by tobacco companies and their allies, according to Media General News Service.

McCain has since modulated some of those positions, at least when it comes to boosting cigarette taxes. Last year, he sided with the Bush administration against a children’s health insurance bill that would have been funded in part by a tax hike on cigarettes. It may be significant that his senior advisor, Charles Black, once lobbied for Philip Morris (although he has not done work for the company since 2001).

“We are trying to get people not to smoke, and yet we are depending on tobacco to fund a program that’s designed for children’s health?” he said by way of explanation. “I can’t buy that.”

Obama supported children’s health insurance bill, and is also a longtime advocate of tobacco regulation despite his apparent inability to kick his own habit.

He has not, however, weighed in on the latest controversy surrounding the tobacco regulation bill involving its exemption of menthol from its proposed ban on flavored cigarettes. The menthol exemption has become politically contentious since an estimated 75 percent of black smokers choose mentholated brands (as opposed to slightly more than a quarter of white smokers).

As an Illinois state lawmaker, Obama also sponsored or voted for several bills to increase cigarette taxes, increase the age to buy cigarettes and restrict advertisements, according to a review by the University of Michigan’s Tobacco Research Network.

 
Tobacco contributions to presidential candidates, 2007-2008 

Rank	Candidate	Party	Amount
1	Giuliani	R	$108,750
2	McCain	R	$78,656
3	Dodd	D	$61,450
4	Clinton	D	$51,300
5	Romney	R	$37,000
6	Obama	D	$25,745
7	Thompson	R	$9,900
8	Biden	D	$4,000
9	Paul	R	$2,900
10	Edwards	D	$2,300
11	Richardson	D	$1,250
12	Vilsack	D	$500

Source: Center for Responsive Politics

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Here is why Joshua picked this…

This article made me wonder how bad is in congress. Normally Senator’s lobby towards something that can benefit them. Obama is known as an average smoker but its ironic that Mccain is taking in three times the amount of money from big tobacco over Obama. This is just one incident of the lobbying problem in Congress. People normally say the democrats don’t lobby. It is obviously a problem on both sides.

Week 6 – Cathi

By CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press Writer Sat Oct 4, 6:35 PM ET

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – Democrat Barack Obama sharply criticized Republican John McCain’s health care proposals Saturday, saying they could force millions of Americans to struggle to buy medical insurance.

Turning to an issue that has faded somewhat during the economic crisis, Obama gave an unusually detailed outline of his own plans in a 40-minute speech to thousands of sun-soaked Virginians at a waterside park in Newport News. He would make coverage more affordable to most Americans, he said, paying for the subsidies largely by canceling the Bush administration’s tax cuts for people making more than $250,000 a year.

In a sign that the presidential campaign’s final month may have a nastier tone, Obama called McCain’s health plan “radical,” and Republican officials accused Obama of lying.

Wearing a dark suit and speaking from a TelePrompTer, Obama told the Virginia crowd he would reduce premiums for most people by “as much as $2,500 per family.”

He would save money in the health care system, he said, by holding drug and insurance companies “accountable for the prices they charge and the harm they cause.” He also said he would outlaw “insurance company discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions.”

Medicare would be allowed to negotiate with drug makers for cheaper prices, and his administration would place greater emphasis on preventing illnesses, he said.

“The time has come to solve this problem, to cut health care costs for families and businesses, and provide affordable, accessible health insurance for every American,” Obama said.

He devoted at least half his speech to criticizing McCain. The Republican nominee has proposed to tax the health benefits that 156 million people get through the workplace as income. In exchange, McCain would give tax credits to help pay for insurance — $2,500 for individuals and $5,000 for families, paid directly to the insurer they choose.

The criticisms that Obama made here are echoed by his campaign in four new television ads, four separate mailers targeted to swing state voters, radio commercials and events in every battleground state.

“On health care, John McCain promises a tax credit,” an announcer says in one of Obama’s new ads, over images of families examining their bills. “But here’s what he won’t tell you: McCain would make you pay taxes on your health benefits, taxing your health care for the first time ever, raising costs for employers who offer health care so your coverage could be reduced or dropped completely. You won’t find one word about it on his Web site.”

It’s true that McCain doesn’t mention that he would tax health benefits on the section of his Web site where he describes his plan. But the Obama ad omits some important context — the tax credit McCain plans to offer would be more generous than the current tax break, at least for most families for the first several years, according to an analysis by the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan group.

However, the center also concluded that McCain’s plan would increase the deficit by $1.3 trillion over 10 years. McCain disputes the center’s analysis on that point.

Obama said Saturday that under McCain’s plan, younger, healthier workers would buy cheaper insurance outside the workplace, leaving an older, sicker pool to drive up the cost of the employer-based system.

“As a result, many employers will drop their health care plans altogether,” Obama said. “And study after study has shown, that under the McCain plan, at least 20 million Americans will lose the insurance they rely on from their workplace.”

He called McCain’s plan “so radical, so out of touch with what you’re facing, and so out of line with our basic values.”

Doug Holtz-Eakin, McCain’s senior policy adviser, said the Republican’s plan to offer a tax credit in exchange for taxing employer-paid health benefits would be a net plus for all but the most wealthy Americans.

An assessment by health care economists published last month in the journal Health Affairs projected that McCain’s plan would lead 20 million people to lose their employer-sponsored insurance. But it also found that 21 million people would gain coverage through the individual market.

Republican National Committee spokesman Alex Conant responded: “Barack Obama is lying about John McCain’s plan to provide more Americans with more health care choices. Obama’s plan only offers more government, while McCain’s plan offers more choices.”

Obama’s speech was more loaded with policy than most, and he seemed to realize that many in the crowd wanted a pep rally more than a detailed examination of health care practices.

“You still with me?” he said halfway through.

Lyndon Johnson was the last Democratic nominee to carry Virginia. But Obama is making an all-out push here, encouraged by growing numbers of Democratic voters in the Washington suburbs and the near-certainty that former Gov. Mark Warner will win the Senate seat being vacated by Republican John Warner.

Newport News, near Norfolk, is home to many military families, and McCain hopes to do well in the area.

Polls show Obama has taken a lead in the national race, fueled by voters’ increasing confidence that he would be better equipped to handle the struggling economy. Campaign aides said they long planned to focus on economic issues in these final weeks of the race, but the debate over the government’s $700 billion financial bailout focused voters on such concerns more than they could have imagined.

The push on health care is an opportunity to raise the debate on a pocketbook issue that voters rank near the top of their concerns. According to an AP-Yahoo News poll taken last month, 78 percent of voters rate health care as at least a very important issue, which puts it behind the economy in a group of second-tier issues along with Iraq and terrorism.

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Associated Press writer Nedra Pickler contributed to this report

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Here is why Cathi chose this…

I chose to share this article because I think health care is one of the most important things in this election. There are so many families that don’t have insurance provided to them by their employer. They have to pay for it out of pocket. With the rising costs of everything else some can’t afford the insurance. Which just causes more and more debt to pile up. It  just seems like a vicious circle that won’t end. We need to find a solution to this.

Week 5 – Will H

McCain pledges balanced budget, criticizes Obama

By PHILIP ELLIOTT – 17 hours ago

BETHLEHEM, Pa. (AP) — Republican presidential candidate John McCain promised Wednesday to balance the federal budget despite the nation’s deepening economic distress.

McCain said he would “confront” the massive federal debt and would balance the annual federal budget by the end of his term in office, without specifying whether he meant in four years or perhaps eight years should he be elected twice.

McCain has long promised to balance the budget but this was the first time he renewed the pledge since the enactment of a $700 billion bailout this month of troubled financial institutions which could complicate such an effort. Many presidential candidates have promised to balance the budget but the last to do so was Democrat Bill Clinton, who had four budget surpluses beginning in 1998. That was the first surplus since 1969 and the first string of surpluses since one that ended in 1930.

In delivering this pledge, McCain committed a verbal bobble, which quickly made its way onto YouTube.

“Across this country, this is the agenda I have set before my fellow prisoners and the same standards of clarity and candor must now be applied to my opponent,” said McCain, who often speaks about his time as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. His prepared remarks said “fellow citizens,” not “fellow prisoners.”

Speaking to a rowdy crowd of supporters in this eastern Pennsylvania town, McCain and his running mate, Sarah Palin, both challenged Democrat Barack Obama’s campaign claims. Dismissing Obama as just “a guy who’s just tried to talk his way into the White House,” vice presidential candidate Palin said the Democrats’ ideas are stale and dangerous.

“He’s not willing to drill for energy, but he’s sure willing to drill for votes,” Palin said, eliciting cheers of “Drill, baby, drill” from the crowd, which often interrupted the candidates during their joint appearance.

McCain’s remarks about Obama were interrupted with shouts of “socialist,” “terrorist” and “liar.” At another time, a man in the bleaches shouted “No more ACORN,” referring to a group that registers poor voters.

“We’ve all heard what he’s said. But it’s less clear what he’s done, or what he will do,” McCain said.

The crowd replied with chants, “Nobama.”

Similarly, Palin said there were too many questions about Obama’s past: “John McCain didn’t just come out of nowhere. The American people know John McCain.”

Advisers say the Republican ticket will continue this forceful tone as the campaign enters its final months. Obama leads in national and state polls; McCain is looking for a way to change that.

McCain is trying to move Pennsylvania and its 21 electoral votes out of the Democratic column; President Bush lost the state to Democrats in 2000 and 2004. Obama has one extra advantage this year: Democratic voter registration surged by 13 percent while Republican ranks shrunk by 1 percent as a record 8.6 million Pennsylvanians registered to vote in this presidential election.

Statewide, Democrats outnumber Republicans by nearly 1,170,000 voters, almost twice the edge they had a year ago.

“Which candidate’s experience, in government and in life, makes him a more reliable leader for our country and commander in chief for our troops?” McCain said. “In short, who is ready to lead?”

McCain’s speech centered on policies that would help the working-class voters in this region where the race is close. Obama lost Pennsylvania’s Democratic primary to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and has struggled to connect with the white, working-class voters he once said cling to guns and religion in times of economic uncertainty.

“What Sen. Obama says today and what he has done in the past are often two different things,” McCain said.

Citing taxes, health care and energy, McCain appealed to voters’ pocketbooks and lingering doubts about Obama.

“Who is the real Sen. Obama?” McCain said, repeating a line he debuted on Monday in New Mexico, another state he needs to win White House. “Is he the candidate who promises to cut middle-class taxes, or the politician who voted to raise middle-class taxes?”

Later, at a campaign stop in neighboring Ohio, Palin noted that only one presidential candidate had been a member of the U.S. military.

“We all need to remind Sen. Obama that Sen. McCain served our nation in uniform for 22 years,” Palin said during a rally in the Cleveland suburb of Strongsville.

She also alluded to Michelle Obama’s comment earlier this year that she was “really proud” of our country this year. Said Palin: “John McCain is always proud to be an American.”

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Here is why Will picked this…

 

I chose to share this article because I think it is unbiased article on McCain. It gives enough room to form your own opinion. I also thought the part about McCain’s campaign in eastern Pennsylvania reminded me of the excerpt we read from Nineteen-Eighty Four by George Orwell. The Two Minute Hate part in particular. Obama is comparable to Goldstein.

Week 5 – Nicole Brunetti

June 30, 2008

 

 

Tax plan face off: Obama vs. McCain

WHITE HOUSE RACE | Whoever wins, you’ll probably pay less

BY ABDON M. PALLASCH Political Reporter/apallasch@suntimes.com

The rich would pay more under Barack Obama’s tax plan, and the poor and middle-class would pay less, a nonpartisan analysis finds. Under John McCain’s plan, the rich would pay much less than they do now, the poor and middle-class would pay a bit less, and the federal deficit would grow, the study found.

Each individual’s tax situation is different, so it’s hard to say for sure how much more or less you would pay under the presidential candidates’ ever-evolving tax proposals.

» Click to enlarge image

Under the tax plan of John McCain (left), the rich, poor and middle-class would pay less. Under the plan of Barack Obama, the rich would pay more while the poor and middle-class would pay less.
(AP)

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And at this point that’s all they are — proposals that may or may not get through Congress. They don’t take into account wars, whether the president will sign an expensive social program into law, or the world economy.

With those caveats, here are highlights of how the candidates’ proposals to change the tax code would impact you:

Obama says he would hike several taxes on people making more than $250,000, including the amount they pay on capital gains. Currently, the top income tax rate is 35 percent. Under Obama, that would go back up to 39 percent. Obama’s staff told the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center he would raise the rates for people in the top two brackets — about 2.5 million filers out of 100 million-plus. People in those high tax brackets would see the tax rate on their capital gains hiked from the current 15 percent to 20-28 percent.

Obama started his campaign saying his plans would not increase taxes for people earning less than $250,000. But he found himself in an apparent contradiction by saying he would tax all income to fund Social Security, not just income up to $102,000, as is now the case. So now, Obama’s plan calls for no Social Security tax on income between $102,000 and $250,000, but all income above $250,000 would be taxed for Social Security.

The 95 percent-plus of the American population that earns less than $250,000 would see the following tax breaks: A $500-per-worker tax credit for people who earn less than $150,000 and do not itemize, and a $4,000 credit per child in college. Seniors who earn less than $50,000 would pay no income tax.

The Tax Policy Center notes seniors could end up paying more if corporations respond to Obama’s proposed increase in the corporate tax rate by passing those costs along to consumers.

McCain would make permanent most of the tax cuts President Bush has already enacted, including those that benefit the middle class, such as elimination of the marriage penalty and the increase in child credits. He would also keep cuts that benefit the wealthy, such as the elimination of the highest tax brackets. Obama would keep the breaks for the middle class but not the ones for the wealthy.

McCain would also double the dependent exemption from $3,500 to $7,000, benefitting big families of all incomes.

Obama would leave the top corporate tax rate at 35 percent. McCain would cut it to 25 percent.

The two candidates differ widely in their approach to the estate tax, which the Republicans call the “death tax.” McCain would set it at 15 percent for estates above $5 million. Obama would set it at 45 percent for estates above $3.5 million.

Both candidates favor extending a “patch” that would keep the Alternative Minimum Tax from encroaching on middle-income families.

Largely because his tax proposals would leave tax breaks for the wealthy in place, McCain’s plan would cost the U.S. Treasury more than Obama’s, the Tax Policy Center found.

The precise cost depends on whether you assume the current tax breaks would be renewed or would expire.

Assuming they would have been renewed anyway, Obama’s plan would bring in an additional $700 billion in taxes over the next 10 years, while McCain’s would cost the Treasury $600 billion. Assuming legislators would have let the tax breaks expire, Obama’s plan would cost the U.S. Treasury $2.7 trillion and McCain’s $3.7 trillion.

The center uses various assumptions both campaigns quarrel with. Each campaign also accuses the other of not being honest with the numbers.

“Obama raises taxes in a way that’s detrimental to the economy,” said McCain adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin. “The John McCain plan is a jobs-first plan that keeps small businesses in the game.”

Obama’s Brian Deese said the $600 million deficit the study pro- jects McCain’s plan would create “doesn’t count impact of current Iraq war spending. If McCain’s plan drives the deficit up and puts upward pressure on interest rates, that increases costs for families and could force really Draconian, across-the-board spending cuts.”

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Here is why Nichole chose this…

 

This article is about Obama and McCain’s tax plans.  I like Obama’s plan because he wants to raise the tax for people who make $250,000 or more and lower it for people who don’t, the middle class. McCain’s plan would cost more then Obama’s would.  I thought this article was worth sharing because I think it’s safe to say that most, or all of us, are middle class and we deserve a break from taxes, why would the rich get a break when they have no problem affording it?  With the way our economy is, many of us middle class people are struggling and Obama’s plan is to help us.

From James – re what he was saying in class today

I said I little in class today about Palin and the way she spoke about Global warming.
He're the exact quote from the debate: 

"I don't want to argue about the causes of global warming, I want to argue about, is how
are we going to get there, to positively effect the impacts?" 

Exactly, argueing about the CAUSES of climate change, is keeping us from impact,
positicely effecting. She then went on to state that our next coarse of action would be
to "clean up this planet... we gotta reduce emitions."

The message is clear, the only way to clean up this mess, is to reduce what she wont say
is causing it.

Week 3 James Wright

TimesPeople

March 27, 2008

Finding Political News Online, the Young Pass It On

 

By BRIAN STELTER

 

Senator Barack Obama’s videotaped response to President Bush’s final State of the Union address — almost five minutes of Mr. Obama’s talking directly to the camera — elicited little attention from newspaper and television reporters in January.

But on the medium it was made for, the Internet, the video caught fire. Quickly after it was posted on YouTube, it appeared on the video-sharing site’s most popular list and Google’s most blogged list. It has been viewed more than 1.3 million times, been linked by more than 500 blogs and distributed widely on social networking sites like Facebook.

It is not news that young politically minded viewers are turning to alternative sources like YouTube, Facebook and late-night comedy shows like “The Daily Show.” But that is only the beginning of how they process information.

According to interviews and recent surveys, younger voters tend to be not just consumers of news and current events but conduits as well — sending out e-mailed links and videos to friends and their social networks. And in turn, they rely on friends and online connections for news to come to them. In essence, they are replacing the professional filter — reading The Washington Post, clicking on CNN.com — with a social one.

“There are lots of times where I’ll read an interesting story online and send the U.R.L. to 10 friends,” said Lauren Wolfe, 25, the president of College Democrats of America. “I’d rather read an e-mail from a friend with an attached story than search through a newspaper to find the story.”

In one sense, this social filter is simply a technological version of the oldest tool in politics: word of mouth. Jane Buckingham, the founder of the Intelligence Group, a market research company, said the “social media generation” was comfortable being in constant communication with others, so recommendations from friends or text messages from a campaign — information that is shared, but not sought — were perceived as natural.

Ms. Buckingham recalled conducting a focus group where one of her subjects, a college student, said, “If the news is that important, it will find me.”

A December survey by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press looked broadly at how media were being consumed this campaign. In the most striking finding, half of respondents over the age of 50 and 39 percent of 30- to 49-year-olds reported watching local television news regularly for campaign news, while only 25 percent of people under 30 said they did.

Fully two-thirds of Web users under 30 say they use social networking sites, while fewer than 20 percent of older users do. MySpace and Facebook create a sense of connection to the candidates. Between the two sites, Mr. Obama has about one million “friends,” Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, his rival for the Democratic nomination, has roughly 330,000, and Senator John McCain, the presumed Republican nominee, has more than 140,000. Four out of 10 young people have watched candidate speeches, interviews, commercials or debates online, according to Pew, substantially more than people 30 and older.

Young people also identify online discussions with friends and videos as important sources of election information. The habits suggest that younger readers find themselves going straight to the source, bypassing the context and analysis that seasoned journalists provide.

In the days after Mr. Obama’s speech on race last week, for example, links to the transcript and the video were the most popular items posted on Facebook. On The New York Times’s Web site, the transcript of the speech ranked consistently higher on the most e-mailed list than the articles written about the speech.

The way consumers filter their news is being highlighted now that a generation of Americans is coming of age in the midst of a campaign that has generated intense interest and voter involvement. Exit polls in 22 states estimate that more than three million voters under the age of 30 participated in Democratic primaries this year, up from about one million four years ago.

In three of the most populous states — California, Texas and Ohio — the share of voters under 30 who turned out for Democratic primaries increased to 16 percent, up from less than 10 percent in 2004, according to exit polls by Edison/Mitofsky. In the Republican primaries, the increases in most states have been less striking but still visible.

“Young people are particularly galvanized in this campaign, and they have a new set of tools that make it look different from the enthusiasm that greeted other politicians 30 years ago,” said Lee Rainie, director for the Pew Internet and American Life Project. “They read a news story and then blog about it, or they see a YouTube video and then link to it, or they go to a campaign Web site, download some phone numbers, and make calls on behalf of a candidate.”

Media companies are benefiting from the heightened interest. CNN, which drew about 60,000 viewers ages 18 to 34 a night in February 2007, drew 218,000 on an average night this February, numbers that were increased by coverage of several presidential debates. Fox News and MSNBC also posted gains among young viewers last month, with both networks averaging more than 100,000 young viewers in prime time, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Although some college seniors may say they learned about Mr. Obama’s speech about race on CNN, more are likely to have seen it on YouTube, where it has been viewed almost 3.4 million times, or on Facebook, where it remains among the most shared links.

Candidates are capitalizing on this social development, and so are their supporters. A youth-minded music video called “Yes We Can” has been perhaps the biggest beneficiary. A musical version of Mr. Obama’s campaign speech made by the singer will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas and a bevy of celebrities, it was released on YouTube three days before the series of coast-to-coast nominating contests on Feb. 5. Counting hits on YouTube and other sites, the video has been viewed more than 17 million times.

To a lesser extent, videos of Mrs. Clinton and Mr. McCain have also been traveling through the online networks. A video of Mr. McCain asking citizens what issues matter most in the election has been viewed 300,000 times.

Rather than treating video-sharing Web sites as traditional news sources, young people use them as tools and act as editors themselves.

“We’re talking about a generation that doesn’t just like seeing the video in addition to the story — they expect it,” said Danny Shea, 23, the associate media editor for The Huffington Post (huffingtonpost.com). “And they’ll find it elsewhere if you don’t give it to them, and then that’s the link that’s going to be passed around over e-mail and instant message.”

Marjorie Connelly contributed research.

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Here is why James wants us to see this article…

I like the article because it has a lot to say about this assignment itself. What are we doing here but reading articles that our peers post on our blog and the reasons that they think it’s important? I wonder if Ms. Casson had this in mind when she assigned it; trying to reinforce a good way young students can get information about the campaign. Or, if she was mearly feeding off an already pre-existing culture that she saw would fit the curriculum. Either way, it is clear why Obama has the upper hand with young voters, as his myspace page alone has about 7 times the users of his competition. Likewise, if you’re having trouble finding articles to summarize: check the social networking sites!