MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell gives platform for Trent Lott, John Breaux to shill for big oil today

[flpoljunkie]

Breaux and Lott are partners in a newly formed bipartisan lobbying group. Breaux has already talked about how hard health care reform will be to get done--especially with him shilling for the health care industry.

They've said they won't lobby fellow members of Congress, but help clients 'navigate the system." Unfortunately, this is why we have so little influence in Washington when there are influence peddlers like Breaux and Lott in abundance.

Big Oil is, no doubt, very grateful today to Andrea Mitchell. Perhaps I missed it, but I did not hear Andrea identify Breaux and Trent as lobbyists.


THE BREAUX LOTT LEADERSHIP GROUP
607 14TH STREET, NW
SUITE 520
WASHINGTON, DC 20005

Their "Practice Areas"...

http://www.breauxlott.com/practice.htm

[loveable liberal]

1. Andrea Michell is a whore.

[burythehatchet]

6. she needs to stick to tea-bagging Alan.

[yardwork]

2. Andrea Mitchell....now, who's she married to again....

[annabanana]

3. She's been workin' it all friggen day

Most of the Dems she's encountered have been pretty good at knocking back the memes.

[jobycom]

4. Not to defend either one, but both are from states that rely on offshore drilling.

Breaux is from Louisiana, which has a lot of drilling on and offshore, and Lott is from the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, which, even though it's offshore drilling is technically located in Louisiana, still gets a lot of revenues from oil. Some of the rigs are closer to Mississippi than Louisiana, and a lot of coasters work offshore. My dad did for many years.

So they are not only big oil lobbyists, but they've been dealing with big oil their entire careers. It makes sense to have them as represent big oil. It doesn't make sense to not identify them as lobbyists or give equal time to the opposition, though.

[flpoljunkie]

7. Their 'practice areas' run the gamut, including healthcare.

Practice Areas

Agriculture

Commerce, Science and Technology

Defense and Homeland Security

Energy and Environment

Finance

Health Care

International relations

Maritime

Space

Telecommunications

Transportation and Shipping

http://www.breauxlott.com/practice.htm

[jobycom]

8. Again, all of those are major industries in their regions.

Healthcare and finance, maybe less, but Mississippi's and Louisiana's economies are heavy in those other industries.

[flpoljunkie]

9. Lobbyists like Breaux and Lott have undue influence on legislation. Money talks in Washington in

our system of legalized bribery where lobbyists are allowed to hold fundraisers for members of Congress. This overwhelms the people's voice and concerns.

[jobycom]

10. Wasn't arguing in favor of lobbyists or Lott and Breaux.

Just saying, they have dealt with legislation on the oil industry and several of these industries for their whole careers.

If you want an argument for or against lobbyists, I'll say I agree with your point, but lobbyists also inform Congresscritters on issues facing legislation, and it isn't only the lobbyists who are to blame for the decisions made by those critters. PETA, the Sierra Club, most consumer advocacy groups, victim advocacy groups, etc, all use lobbyists, because a politician can't know all of the intricate details of every bit of legislation that he or she sees in a day. Even corporate lobbyists have good points at times, as a piece of legislation drafted by some congressional underlying might have unintended consequences that only an industry authority would notice.

So while I despise the undue influence that corporate lobbyists have on politicians, at the same time I am aware that if all lobbyists disappeared corporations and the wealthy would still exercise undue influence on politicians, and probably even moreso since groups like the Sierra Club would no longer have as much access. Money does that. Lobbyists are a symptom of the eternal problem of all political systems, but they aren't the cause.

The solution is a better media (meaning more media regulation so that corporations don't control the media), and better politicians. Not that I'm against tighter restrictions on lobbyists and corporate donations and soft money and all of that--the more strict, the better. But money is always going to run things, and the only way we can really counter that is by electing politicians with integrity.

Screw Lott and Breaux. Just sayin'.

[flpoljunkie]

11. They have a perfect right to lobby for Big Oil, even though the revolving door for Congress smells--

but they should be identified as lobbyists--lobbyists with powerful connections to their former colleagues.

[Pirate Smile]

5. Earlier, I heard her going on and on about how much McCain has been beaten on

re Iraq, etc. so how can his and Obama's polling #'s be ....

She kept saying that over and over. "McCain has taken such a pounding on ..."

WTF is she talking about - Obama had the long time primary where he was taking hits all the time. McCain had a little break for months on end. The press certainly hasn't been pounding on McCain.

:wtf:

[KamaAina]

12. I'm sure Breaux will be pleased to learn that "not a drop of oil was spilled during Katrina"

at least, so saith his new BFF the Mississippi Hair Helmet, thusly:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3622151&mesg_id=3622151

[flpoljunkie]

13. And, Andrea, true to form, let it go unchallenged.