Video Shows McCain Putting Lobbyists First, Jobs Second
WASHINGTON, Aug 10, 2008 -- With John McCain embarking on a so-called "jobs tour" aimed at hiding his job-killing record, the Democratic National Committee today released a new web video called "Job- Killing John" that highlights his pattern of putting his lobbyist friends ahead of Americas' workers. The video comes days after the leak of an internal McCain campaign memo that shows McCain will attempt to distort the record by falsely portraying Senator Obama as a "job killing machine." In reality--from opposing Buy American rules to supporting unfair trade deals that have cost America hundreds of thousands of jobs--John McCain has repeatedly supported policies that outsource American jobs.
Now, recent reports show McCain has repeatedly intervened on behalf of his lobbyists friends at the expense of American workers. Last week, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that McCain intervened on behalf of a DHL-Airborne Express merger that now threatens the jobs of more than 8,000 Ohio workers. McCain's campaign manager earned $185,000 lobbying in favor of the merger. Earlier this year, reports revealed that McCain helped steer a $35 billion Air Force tanker deal away from Boeing and towards a European defense contractor that seven of the lobbyists running and raising money for his campaign lobbied on behalf of.
"John McCain's claim that he'll put 'jobs first' is laughable in light of his history of putting his lobbyist friends ahead of America's workers at every turn," said DNC spokeswoman Karen Finney. "After seven years of a Republican president who puts his special interest friends ahead of America's working families, Americans simply cannot afford Job-Killing John's promise of more of the same."
To see the DNC's new "Lobbyists First" video, click here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYLZ9NUMRNA DNC Video:
"Job Killing John"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYLZ9NUMRNATEXT: Times Are Tough For Americans ... American Jobs Are Threatened ... John McCain And The Lobbyists Who Run His Campaign Have Helped Send American Jobs Overseas ... 8,000 DHL Jobs In Ohio Are Threatened Because Of McCain and His Campaign Manager
* McCain Objected to Efforts in the Senate to Hold Up DHL Deal.
"McCain, of Arizona, and fellow Republican Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi objected, saying it would be unfair to keep the Pentagon from using an air carrier it might someday need. McCain, then the chairman of the Commerce Committee, also objected to using a spending bill to set military policy." (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 8/6/08)
* Campaign Manager Rick Davis Lobbied for DHL Deal.
"In 2003, Davis lobbied the Senate to accept the proposal by DHL to buy Airborne Express for $1.05 billion. Airborne Express at the time ran the airport and package- sorting facility in Wilmington. Filings in the Senate show Davis' lobbying firm, Davis Manafort, was hired to help both companies deal with Congress, where objections over DHL's foreign ownership arose. Davis and a partner earned their firm $185,000 for the DHL-Airborne Express work that year, records show. They earned $405,000 more from Deutsche Post for work on other issues in 2004 and 2005, Senate records show."
GRAPHIC: Cleveland Plain Dealer Headline: McCain had role in original Wilmington DHL deal, August 5, 2008
QUESTION: "My question is, how do you intend to keep American businesses in America and to make America more self sufficient?"
MCCAIN: "I'm not going to keep them all in America." (CNN Live Feed (New Orleans, LA), 4/24/2008)
TEXT: 14,000 American Jobs Are At Stake Because of John McCain and His Lobbyist Advisors
* 14,000 American Jobs Are At Stake Because of John McCain and His Lobbyist Advisors. According to a June report by the Economic Policy Institute, awarding European-based EADS the $35 billion aerial refuel in that could have been generated in the United States if the contract had gone to Boeing," found the EPI, "will not be created" if EADS receives the contract. (Economic Policy Institute, "Bailing out on America: Air Force Tanker Decision Will Ground at Least 14,000 U.S. Jobs," -- EPI Briefing Paper #218, 6/5/08 (
http://www.epi.org/briefingpapers/218/bp218.pdf)
MCCAIN: "I'm not going to keep them all in America." (CNN Live Feed (New Orleans, LA), 4/24/2008)
TEXT: John McCain The Wrong Choice On Jobs
http://www.democrats.org/