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Obaminable
I'm with Ryan Sager—this story really makes a mockery of campaign finance regimes.
"Californians for Obama" boasted an official-looking Web site (www.californiansforobama.com) that was graced by a smiling photo of the candidate. The site pitched a star-studded Obama "Women of Power" cruise for 2,000 to Mexico that attracted donors like a 65-year-old woman from Compton (Los Angeles County), who said she has paid the $2,423 cruise fee believing the funds would help support her candidate.
But a Chronicle examination of the latest Federal Election Commission records on file for the organization for the reporting period ending June 30 shows that while [Emmett Cash III] has raised nearly $10,000 this year, not one dollar has gone to the Obama campaign -- or any other political candidate.
The group's founder is a shameless con artist:
His colorful ventures -- reported in a variety of newspapers over the decades -- have included boasts in 2002 of establishing a new, Hollywood-style movie mecca in Jackson, Miss., and an official announcement in 2000 that his movie firm had signed a historic 12-film deal with the Chinese government.
Identified alternately as a boxing promoter, an Olympics booster and the head of a minority contractor's association, Cash also was identified as director of a 1979 "Miss Black America" contest deserted by judges and lambasted by contestants who complained of living conditions that included cockroaches and meals of salami sandwiches.
On the political front, Los Angeles County voter registration records show that until just last month, Cash was a registered Republican. He has been previously identified as national chair of "Citizens for Powell,'' to draft former Secretary of State Colin Powell for president, and as the "national coordinator" for Perot Voters, a group supporting the presidential campaign of Ross Perot.
Too bad John McCain won't get elected and fix all this.
Episiarch|7.25.07 @ 2:17PM|#
The best part is that his name is "Cash". He's not a con man--he declares what he wants openly!
|7.25.07 @ 2:17PM|#
Snark all you want, Reason writers. Just imagine the corporate control of our electoral process without McCain-Feingold.
|7.25.07 @ 2:19PM|#
Dan T,
Like how it was in the 1990s? I quake, I quake, in my little
America-hating booties.
|7.25.07 @ 2:20PM|#
Now don't come over here and forget everything we talked about
Dan T.
YOU ARE CORPORATE AMERICA. If you don't like what a corporation
does, speak up as a shareholder.
If your views are not shared by a critical mass of shareholders,
then re-examine your beliefs. Don't trash the conduit of so much
wealth and prosperity.
Rhywun|7.25.07 @ 2:24PM|#
The best part is that his name is "Cash".
I wonder if there's any relation to this guy, beyond the
conning, that is.
|7.25.07 @ 2:25PM|#
People like this should not be allowed to defraud their
"customers" into giving them money.
If yuo tell me my money is going to Obama, it better go to Obama
and not into your own pocket.
But I guess government protecting customers from fraud would be
anti-libertarian though.
On another note, something good comes from the FEC--exposing this
guy for the con man he is.
|7.25.07 @ 2:25PM|#
Snark all you want, Reason writers. Just imagine the
corporate control of our electoral process without
McCain-Feingold.
This was not me.
Dammit, I guess it's back to an alias for a while.
|7.25.07 @ 2:30PM|#
Dan T. - if you are being truthful , and I can't see why you
wouldn't be, then this page is hopelessly fucked once fucking
retards start pulling that shit.
Fuck You to whoever is posting under a regular's name and
address.
I will go Kotos on your ass.
|7.25.07 @ 2:37PM|#
Maybe if Dan T. wasn't such a worthless clown people wouldn't
feel the need to post under versions of his name (note, that poster
was "Dan. T").
And no, it wasn't me.
Abdul|7.25.07 @ 2:37PM|#
How is giving money to Emmett Cash any different than giving it to Joe Biden? Either way, your donation is wasted.
|7.25.07 @ 2:40PM|#
From Rhywun's link:
the parent organization for World Changers Church
International, International Covenant Ministries, Creflo Dollar
Ministries, and Arrow Records.
Which one of these things is not like the other?
|7.25.07 @ 2:41PM|#
How is giving money to Emmett Cash any different than giving
it to Joe Biden? Either way, your donation is wasted.
Cue Edward saying the same thing about Ron Paul.
|7.25.07 @ 2:43PM|#
I'm a worthless clown
WAAAAAAAH! SOMEONE POSTED UNDER SOMETHING THAT LOOKS LIKE MY
NAME!!!!!!
WAAAAAAAAAAAAH!11111
I NEED A NEW ALIAS!!!1111
|7.25.07 @ 2:45PM|#
Some of the imposters sound more like Dan T. than Dan does and
that's just Dan D. with me.
;~)
chuck|7.25.07 @ 2:45PM|#
Maybe if jf wasn't such a worthless clown people wouldn't feel the need to post under versions of his name (note, that poster was "j.f").
|7.25.07 @ 2:53PM|#
Dan T. - if you are being truthful , and I can't see why you
wouldn't be, then this page is hopelessly fucked once fucking
retards start pulling that shit.
It happens every so often. Obviously I'm not shy about posting
opinions that will piss people off so there's not much reason that
I'd claim that one of my posts wasn't mine.
Varangian Mouse|7.25.07 @ 3:08PM|#
Spoof posting, or "spoosting," is really, really lame, unless you make it somehow clear that you are not actually the person you are spoofing.
Minion of URKOBOLD|7.25.07 @ 3:09PM|#
Beats the VARANGIAN MOUSE with THUNDERCHICKEN dressed in a MR. STEVEN CRANE costume.
Pro Nerditate|7.25.07 @ 3:16PM|#
Scottish blah blah Star Trek. Blah blah ape suit.
Blah blah Star Trek. Blah blah Scottish.
Jean Bart|7.25.07 @ 3:18PM|#
ROMANS!! ROMANS!! GREEKS! EMBARRASS!
LAWYER. ENGINEER. JOURNALIST. GAY ISRAELI JEWISH WIFE. FRENCH
MARINE.
PIRATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[keed keed]
FeelingWhiny|7.25.07 @ 3:41PM|#
Maybe if this board wasn't already plagued by indecipherable
in-jokes and vitrioloic exclusivity, Dan T's "conversation
starters" could facilitate debate instead of the usual snarky
pile-on.
With apologies to Pro Lib, TWC, and precious few others.
Bryan|7.25.07 @ 3:47PM|#
How does CFR have anything to do with this?
Isn't the Dan T thing pretty similar to what happened here. Someone
using someone else's name?
|7.25.07 @ 4:10PM|#
The "Dan T" post I replied to was either (a) a bad parody, as it
sounds a lot like things the real Dan T often says, or (b) posted
by the real Dan T, and his denial of that is either not true or
posted by a Dan T imposter.
In any event, I may have been replying to a total strawman, but I
do think that anyone who argues that McCain/Feingold has made
things better is seriously wrong. I don't think it's made things
worse, either--within a couple years the money found its way down
the hill again and by 2004 we were right back where we started.
|7.25.07 @ 5:08PM|#
What's wrong, Feelingwhiny?
Been hitting the High Fructose Corn Sweetners again and now your
blood glucose levels have you feeling emotional?
Bryan|7.25.07 @ 6:36PM|#
jb --
I tend to agree with you, although I lean more toward the side that
says it has made things better. Definitely see the side that things
are the same. Don't think its made things worse.
The reason I think its made things better is because candidates are
starting to see that they can/should run broader campaigns to try
to solicit a little money from a lot of donors, as opposed to
soliciting a lot of money from relatively few donors. I think Dean
probably saw that first, although he did it in part through a
reliance on the internet. I think Obama has improved on it a lot. I
he has raised an insane amount of money by going after donors of
all sizes, and not necessarily just through the internet. To me,
the issue was never how much money was in campaigns, but the power
constituted in the hands of the big donors because candidates came
to depend on them. Candidates don't have to depend on them
anymore.
As for how CFR relates to this story, CFR was never intended to
deal with fraud. Its a non-sequitur. The only reason that Wiegle
brought it up is because he lost out on a lobbyist job when so much
of the special interest money dried up.
|7.25.07 @ 7:07PM|#
Returning to the thread already in progress, I think I know how
to guarantee Obama's election to the presidency. It's a
song:
Obamana. Do doo be-do-do.
Obamana. Do do-do do.
Obamana. Do doo be-do-do be-do-do be-do-do be-do-do-doodle do do do-doo do!
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