Dean's largest campaign contributor is CNN parent AOL/TW

[anti-bush]

OpenSecrets.org Campaign Contributions

If Dean's biggest amount of contributions come from AOL/Time Warner then why would CNN have any incentive to bash him or treat him unfairly?

Can CNN's coverage be considered fair when they have this many contributions?

[Hawkeye-X]

1. Have you considered that these are individual contribution

not a corporate contribution?

Many employees work for AOL/Time Warner.

Hawkeye-X

[BobbyJay]

2. CONSPIRACY!!!!!

:eyes:

[anti-bush]

4. Sure

And maybe it's just a coincidence. It sure looks like pure coincidence to me.

[Auntie Bush]

15. message from Anti Bush to anti-bush

Hey! I was here first! Hope you're a Clark supporter because people will surely get us mixed up.

[anti-bush]

18. Ooops

didn't know about the name thing. Hmmm. Is there a way to change my name? Would do it if I could.

And I'm an ABB supporter, but John Edwards is my preference.

[liberalnurse]

6. Here ya go Hawkeye....

from the linked page by the poster....

<snip> from opensecrets.org.

Because of contribution limits, organizations that bundle together many individual contributions are often among the top donors to presidential candidates. These contributions can come from the organization's members or employees (and their families). The organization may support one candidate, or hedge its bets by supporting multiple candidates. Groups with national networks of donors - like EMILY's List and Club for Growth - make for particularly big bundlers.

[a_random_joel]

3. Caveat

Quoted from the site:

"The organizations themselves did not donate, rather the money came from the organization's PAC, its individual members or employees or owners, and those individuals' immediate families. Organization totals include subsidiaries and affiliates."

[anti-bush]

5. So you're saying

That this could have come from AOL/TW's PAC? That makes me feel better.

[a_random_joel]

7. Key words:

its individual members or employees or owners, and those individuals' immediate families

I did not know that AOL/TW has a PAC. This is a general statement, it does not mean every company or org listed has a PAC. Perhaps you can find out before you jump to conclusions.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[indigo32]

10. look at the overview page

basically 100% of his money comes from individual contributions. Money from PACS is negligable. I have NO idea why there is so much money from AOL/Time Warner... but it's true alot of people work for that company.

[Oreegone]

9. This is hilarious....take a look at Bushs in comparison

Wow his largest contribution a whole whopping $61,975 that oughta buy alot compared to the following GW Contributions....LMAO....This looks like something my Republican relatives would post to prove that Faux TV is the only Real news.


Merrill Lynch
$368,200

UBS Americas
$269,000

Credit Suisse First Boston
$212,050

PricewaterhouseCoopers
$209,800

Lehman Brothers

$199,500
Goldman Sachs
$198,725

MBNA Corp
$194,500

Blank Rome LLP
$192,900

Bear Stearns
$165,000

Union Pacific Corp
$161,500

Microsoft Corp
$159,750

Haynes & Boone
$154,400

Ernst & Young
$147,250

Winston & Strawn
$144,000

Vinson & Elkins
$135,750

SBC Communications
$125,750

Citigroup Inc
$121,350

Ameriquest Mortgage
$120,300

United Technologies
$110,250

Morgan Stanley
$106,750:eyes:

[Lefty48197]

19. Interesting that Dean-Whitter isn't on that list

Wonder where their Wall St. money is going?

[kerry-is-my-prez]

23. Dean and Bush both recieved money from the same 4 companies

What togetherness...

Microsoft Corp
IBM Corp
Goldman Sachs
Citigroup Inc

[Hep]

11. PLEASE

make the effort to understand the information before posting it.

When you make a campaign contribution they ask for your employer. Then they compile the information by company and post it. That's all it is. You ought to know that before making these kinds of assertions.

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[anti-bush]

16. And if you notice

I asked a question about whether or not this was idicative of anything. I know it comes from more than one contributor. There is a $2000 cap for individual contributions. But with his biggest contributor being AOL/TW, there is a possibility that some of the contributors work for CNN, right?

Obviously people who work for AOL/TW have contributed, and are thus interested in him winning. I'll ask again.

If the company that employs the people who have contributed more money than employees from any other corportation to Dean's campaign owns CNN, is there a possibility that CNN employees have indeed contributed to Dean, and thus give CNN no reason to discredit him? If those things are true, can CNN be expected to give fair coverage?

[Hep]

20. Why must you keep repeating what you know is wrong?

You AGAIN said that AOL/Time Warner is his biggest contributor, when you know that EMPLOYEES OF AOL/Time Warner are making the contributions? I can't let you take over the language of this debate that way, not when the words you're using are incorrect.

And the answer to your question is that it's ridiculous to just assume that the people making the contributions have any editorial say whatsoever at CNN. AOL/Time Warner has thousands upon thousands of employees across the country. Most AOL/Time Warner employees don't work at CNN. That you automatically think up THIS question from that statistic is beyond my comprehension. It's a logical flight of fancy, and not a sincere concern about Dean by any stretch of the imagination.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

25. Usually it's the top execs who donate (and the big shareholders).

same difference.

[Hep]

26. Usually

but Dean's campaign contributions are nothing if not unusual.

[redqueen]

27. This is a good reason to get more granularity of this information

I'd sure like to know what % of AOL/TW employee contributions came in smaller increments and how much were in huge chunks.

Remember the story about employees of a big pharma company being coerced into donating to Bush?

We really can't afford to brush this off as nothing. The media is and has been working against the people for too long to treat anything related to them lightly.

[Hep]

28. Og God

Why does everything have to be a potential conspiracy or scandal?

[windansea]

12. so that's why they had Dean at -5%

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[robbedvoter]

14. I tried figuring this our eversince AOL/Time was 2nd contributor

Here's my tinfoil hat theory:
http://www.forclark.com/story/2003/11/10/104459/73

[hey2370]

17. OmiGawd!! That's why Dean wants to dismantle FoxNerds!/nt

[kerry-is-my-prez]

21. No wonder all of the www.forclark.com sites got banned in aol!!!

You couldn't send any e-mails that had the "forclark" in the url through aol. (In other words, a site like "http://floridaforclark.com).

We all kept getting our e-mails back with a message like "aol has received complaints about that url, therefore your message cannot go through."

[OKNancy]

22. I hate aol...but

people are harvesting the forclark.com names. I've gotten tons of spam using my forclark name. Don't know if that is what it is about

[kerry-is-my-prez]

24. AOL accounts get lot of spam. Guess they only block the Clark stuff.

n/t

[windansea]

40. oh my god!!

aol sucksssssssssssssss

I hates em!!

[the populist]

29. That explains a lot.

Like how he got to become the anti-war candidate while Kucinich was left in the dirt.

[Hep]

30. No it doesn't

It doesn't at all.

[the populist]

33. Sure, it does.

CNN portrays all the candidates other than Dean like envious rats. It still whores for Bush, but as far as the campaign is concerned it's pro-Dean. I stopped watching cable news altogether because of all of this.

Kucinich is the true anti-war candidate.

[Hep]

34. You're engagin in hyperbole

unless you have a nexus search under your cape.

I like to distinguish between anti-war and anti-THIS-war. I prefer to discuss that issue with others who subscribe to that premise.

[Padraig18]

35. You stopped watching it, yet ...

... you 'know' how they portray everyone? Ummmm....k. :shrug:

[the populist]

37. I assume you don't watch FOX News

yet you know what they're up to.

Anyway I STOPPED watching CNN about a month ago, so I know how they portray everyone. Unless it's changed, which I doubt.

[incapsulated]

31. If it's employee donations...

That makes me even more wary. That includes writers and producers on CNN, too, ya know.

:tinfoilhat:

[Hep]

32. This is unbelievable

There are 90,000 AOL/Time Warner employees around the world. How many of those are writers and producers at CNN?

Can someone point me to where the reasonable discourse is taking place?

[ScreamingMeemie]

36. and my techie neighbor too..

Who answers AOL customer service calls.

[incapsulated]

38. Aren't conspiracy theories fun?

It let's you smear candidates without proof.

I figured it was high time I got it on it, too.

God knows, Clark has been on the recieving end of every kind imaginable.

[democratreformed]

39. Very interesting info

Thanks