Democracy Has Prevailed.

April 17, 2008

Two Phone Messages

When I got home from work today, there were two (count 'em TWO) phone messages on my phone machine.

The first was from Franco Harris letting me know of an upcoming TAILGATE PARTY at the Heinz Field parking lot.

Details here.

The other was from the Clinton Campaign. Here's the text:

Hello, this is Hillary Clinton for President calling.

In his TV ads, Barack Obama sounds like he'll take on the oil companies. What he doesn't tell you is that he voted for the Bush/Cheney energy bill - a bill that's been called "the best energy bill corporations could buy."

Every gallon of gas takes over three bucks out of your pocket so why would Barack Obama vote for a Bush Cheney energy bill that has put $6 billion in the pockets of Big Oil?

Enough talk. It's time for action. Hillary Clinton will take on Big Oil and she has the experience to get it done.

I was struck by the completely different tones the two messages. One was an invitation to a party, the other a negative ad. I also got curious about that "Bush/Cheney energy bill" that second caller mentioned. Twice.

I did a little googling and found this at factcheck.org:

Clinton faults Obama for voting for the 2005 energy bill, which she calls "the Bush Cheney energy bill." But the compromise Obama voted for was supported by most Senate Democrats and lacked many of the administration's original proposals. As we've said before, it resulted in a small net tax increase on oil companies.

Ah, we're getting somewhere. The bill in question is the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Now we all know how a bill becomes law. Here's a primer:

Ok. One of the things the cartoon leaves out is that if the House and Senate versions of a bill are different enough, it goes to a committee made up of both House and Senate members. Their job is to come up with a bill that both Chambers can agree on. Then it gets voted on again in each chamber and then if it passes, it goes to the President for a signature.

Well, guess what happened to this law?

July 29, 2005: After it returned from the conference committee, it passes the Senate 74-26.

June 28 2005: Before being sent to the conference committee, initially passes the Senate by a vote of 85-12.

The Junior Senator from New York, Hillary Clinton.

Why would Hillary Clinton vote for a bill that would but billions of dollars in the pockets of Big Oil?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Did you see the official Hillary mobile that in saw yesterday in front of the Jonnette Building Monroeville headquarters?

They got a beat up old pickup truck, rust primer paint and all, and soaped onto the rear window messages like "I am not bitter."

Honest to God.

They also tried to have me arrested for standing on the intersection corner on William Penn Highway, far away from there office, as I waved my white 'Obama'O8' and blue "Change We Can Believe In" sign in front of a 5 foot by 7 foot Hillary placard.

They actually called the police on me and outright lied to them, saying that I was kicking their sign. This was after someone came out and called me a racist and issued a physical threat.

The cops came and just laughed, whenever they saw me eliciting honks of approval from the rush hour traffic.

I guess there was not enough human power in the office to show travellers they cared as much I do about our candidate. I see 3 people leave as the office closed.

Bram Reichbaum said...

Nice hit, Dayvoe. At the end of the day, she's got very little on him.

Maria said...

Geez, Hillary was in such bad company in her final vote against the bill that The Washington Post called "a piƱata of perks for energy industries" -- horrible people like: Biden, Boxer, Dodd, Feingold, Kennedy and Kerry -- real DINOs, huh?

And, most if them voted for it with Hillary the first time, so I guess you'd have to ask them that question too, right?

Anonymous said...

Most of those perks in the 2005 bill went to renewable energy (as I have pointed out before).

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/292/

Kim

Anonymous said...

Retired Millhunk says:
Please do not post entries on this blog like this. There's too many facts involved. Maria hates facts. She'll criticize your sentence structure or punctuation. Please only post items that support Hillary. The less factual the better.

Anonymous said...

Maria -

Sorry to say, but you missed the point. It's not about who voted against the bill in it's final go-round. It's about Hillary's hypocrasy in criticising Obama for voting for a bill that she ALSO VOTED FOR.

Should I even bother with the "She voted for the bill before she voted against it." line??

Not-Shitrock