Kirsten Gillibrand was a lawyer for the tobacco companies!

[BluegrassDem]

It just keeps getting better and better. It turns out she was a big defender of big tobacoo! I'm beginning to think she should be running in Mississippi rather than New York. She loves guns and tobacco companies. By the way, Hillary Clinton was a fierce opponent of the tobacco companies.

"Senator Gillibrand worked for the New York City law firm Davis, Polk & Wardwell for eight years. From 1995 to 1999, while an associate at the firm, she played a central role in defending the world's largest cigarette company, Philip Morris, whose #1 product, Marlboro, is the most popular cigarette among children as well as adults. She represented Philip Morris when it faced several grand jury investigations and possible criminal charges from the Department of Justice."

http://awearnessblog.com/2009/02/senator-gillibrands-big-tobacc.php

[grannie4peace]

1. that's a good reason not to trust her

[Occam Bandage]

5. Nobody's asking you to lend her five bucks. nt

[appal_jack]

42. lawyers are hired guns

The American legal system is modern gladiatorial combat. Gladiators (i.e. - lawyers) who refuse battles don't remain employed for long.

My brother in law is a young corporate attorney and a good guy. He slogs into work every day and defends sometimes nefarious businesses because he's got law school debts and rent to pay (plus some of his work is also defending good businesses from ambulance chasers and parasites). Once the debts are paid off, he wants to shift to more progressive causes: pro-union and pro-environment.

A job is not the sum total of a person. Gillibrand's pro-civil liberties, pro-environment, and pro-choice background carries more water for me.

-app

[wyldwolf]

2. and in the 1990s Al Gore was still taking tobacco money and defending them

[Occam Bandage]

3. No, I'm afraid you're a bit late.

The old complaint about Ms. Gillibrand was that she was an evil right-wing blue dog Dem.

The new complaint about Ms. Gillibrand is that she is a flimsy sell-out flip-flopper who happily dropped her few conservative positions as soon as she was offered a ticket out of her district.

Please try to keep up with the appropriate bandwagon.

[bertman]

45. but, but, but . . . there are so many bandwagons. And so little time.

Very funny, Occam Bandage


:rofl:

[xchrom]

4. the nra and big tobacco. nt

[pleah]

6. OMG! Let's tar and feather her!

:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:

[Sebastian Doyle]

7. Well, I'm not sure about the feathers

But she probably got enough tar working for the death merchants.

[Occam Bandage]

9. If someone once worked in a law firm, and their firm once took on a client you don't like,

then that means you have to hate that person. It's true.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

14. People who don't work in law or politics don't understand that.

And honestly, they never will. They think when you practice law or politics, you only ever work for people that you agree with / trust / like. The reality is that not everyone is so fortunate as to be able to pick and choose their clients or employers, particularly when you're a junior employee. Idealism gives way to pragmatism when you need to pay rent.

[wyldwolf]

8. bluegrassdem, just remember - whenever you use info to tear down a Democrat...

... there will be the same information out there about a Democrat YOU like. Happens time and time again.

In this case, Al Gore was a worse offender in the same period.

[BluegrassDem]

11. At least Al Gore was from tobacco country in Tennessee

Just like in Kentucky, you can make a plausible argument why they'd support tobacco as it's vital to the state's economy and so many workers depends on it. In NYC...err, not so much.

[wyldwolf]

12. So? When he was VP, he represented American, not just Tennessee

[jberryhill]

23. Wow, I didn't realize Philip Morris ran its corporate ops from a farm

Usually that kind of operation is located in a big city... like NYC.

[Occam Bandage]

29. So it's okay to support Evil Corporations if they're in your state and support your state's economy.

Phillip Morris was based out of New York City until 2003. So doesn't that mean that Gillibrand gets a free pass, then?

[WI_DEM]

33. Oh yes, and what is Gore's excuse re: censorship?

Oh, Tennessee, of course. That excuses it.

[depakid]

10. "while an associate at the firm..."

lawyers do what they're told.

Some of the other allegations/relevations cited though appear somewhat more revealing.

We shall see....

[elleng]

13. And Barack Obama befriended Bill Ayers,

attended Rev. Wrights church for 20 years, and bought property from rezco; Ms. Solis husband and Mr. Geithner have tax issues; Al Gore took tobacco money; Caroline Kennedy was born into the wrong family, and everyone worked in a law firm that represented bad guys.

GO IT? NO ONE IS PERFECT!

[ClarkUSA]

16. Is that you, Sarah Palin?

:eyes:

[elleng]

18. And General Clark

was fired from his Saceur post.

;-(

[ClarkUSA]

21. What has that got to do with your repeating Sarah Palin's Rovian attacks against the POTUS?

I could give a shit about General Clark's being fired as SACEUR right now, especially as you seem to be excusing
Gillibrand's corporate whoring for Big Tobacco and using this OP as an excuse to repeat Sarah Palin's general
election lies about President Obama.

You're obviously still not over the primaries. Is this going to be your bitter ender MO for the next eight years?

Move on.

[dionysus]

25. here, take a supply of these...

i like passing them out to people from Club Bitter who get the vapors;

[ClarkUSA]

27. lol! Thanks.

:rofl:

[elleng]

28. ClarkUSA, you seem to miss my point entirely; sorry.

My point is SIMPLY that NO CANDIDATE, or POTENTIAL CANDIDATE, is perfect.

[ClarkUSA]

31. Sure I did....

:eyes:

[Occam Bandage]

30. The point is obviously that the OP is the exact same type of bullshit as all of that.

It's true that Obama knew Ayers and Rezko. It's true that Clark was fired. It's true that Gillibrand worked for a law firm that took on a tobacco company. So fucking what? None of that means anything.

[elleng]

34. Thanks.

.

[ClarkUSA]

36. No, the OP is highlighting the pro-Bush tax cut Sen. Gillibrand's recent corporate whoring.

Gillibrand's recent past employment record is a window onto how she evolved her DLC pro-Big Business principles,
just as Barack's three years of $10K a year community organizing is a revealing window onto the evolution of The
Community Organizer-In-Chief's liberal/progressive principles.

[Occam Bandage]

39. So working for a law firm is now "corporate whoring?" If that's the case,

the term "corporate whoring" now means absolutely nothing whatsoever. I don't expect lawyers to quit their jobs and start selling apples from carts on the street the first time they're assigned to a morally dubious client.

If she actually approached Phillip Morris about a job, then yes, there might be a point. If she decided to take a job that was offered by Phillip Morris, then there might be a problem, sure. But since she was working at a law firm, and then worked on the case to which she was assigned rather than quitting her job in a fit of moralistic pique, well, I don't really see much of a problem.

[ClarkUSA]

43. As per the OP, she worked on behalf of Big Tobacco for a law firm.

She picked a law firm specializing in corporate whoredom, unlike Barack Obama after he got out of Harvard Law School.
Coupled with her pro-Bush tax cut stance and other DINO policy positions (at least the ones she hasn't pulled a
Mitt Romney 'bout-face on in the past week or so since she was plucked out of Chuck Schumer's DLC hat via Gov.
Patterson), I'd say once again, past is prologue.

[Occam Bandage]

44. I have to hand it to you there:

that was the most inane-buzzword-dense post I've read in a long while. I can't even imagine how one could cram more vapid labels in such a short space--"blue dog," maybe, but I can't see a place to put it without increasing the volume of empty talking points to the point where the whole post collapses into a parody of itself. "DLC hat" is particularly impressive; I would never even consider the possibility of attaching a political epithet to the word "hat," nor would I have been able to tie that hat to two unfavored-by-DU politicians, using only one word's separation.

I mean, your post doesn't actually bring up any substantial points, but I have to give you a 10/10 on style. Well done indeed.

[wyldwolf]

48. there needs to be an online generator to create posts like that

Enter in a few names and organization, click "enter," and admire the results.

[Lilith Velkor]

58. I suspect there already is.

[ClarkUSA]

50. Only someone who's a DINO cheerleader would refer to "pro-Bush tax cut" as an "inane-buzzword"

:eyes:

[wyldwolf]

53. the DLC opposed the Bush tax cut

http://www.ndol.org/ndol_ci.cfm?contentid=3023&kaid=131%26subid=192

http://www.ndol.org/ndol_ci.cfm?kaid=86&subid=84&contentid=3750

http://www.ndol.net/ndol_ci.cfm?kaid=131&subid=192&contentid=3368

http://www.davidsirota.com/2005/09/dlc-gets-it-right-on-tax-cuts.html

[PBS Poll-435]

54. ...

:popcorn:

[Lilith Velkor]

60. ...

:beer:

[ClarkUSA]

55. Then you've just proved that Gillibrand has gone beyond DLC into DINOland on that point.

[wyldwolf]

56. what I just proved is the oddness of your phrase "DLC denier."

And further exposed your already well known thin knowledge of things you rant and rave about.

[ClarkUSA]

59. Your tendency towards uncivil personal attacks is a constant. What a boor/bore you are.

[wyldwolf]

61. Did you not call a DUer "Sarah Palin" earlier in this thread?

waaaaaa.

[ClarkUSA]

62. It's called a descriptive analogy, which happened to fit. How is that a personal attack, pray tell?

[wyldwolf]

64. post #16. Unless there are two ClarkUSA's posting today

[ClarkUSA]

66. lol!

:nopity:

[wyldwolf]

68. I did. So?

[ClarkUSA]

72. Editing your posts again and again after I post answers? Guess I have to do that now, too.

[wyldwolf]

80. your time stamps show you started that little game first. LOL! LOL!

Can you not let your original statements stand?

[ClarkUSA]

86. Only to keep up with you. But now I must go, because only one of us has a life.

[wyldwolf]

87. of course to keep up with me, since my replies keep prompting you to edit your originals

[ClarkUSA]

88. Repeat: Only one of us has a life. Buh bye!

Keep babbling, though; it makes everyone laugh. Plus, kicking this thread will let everyone know what a DLC/DINO
corporate whore "Mitt Romney" Gillibrand really is.

[wyldwolf]

90. how's your life in your mom's basement?

[ClarkUSA]

65. See post #63.

[wyldwolf]

67. first you didn't know what I was talking about, now you do?? LOL

"Do not publicly accuse another member of this message board of being a disruptor, conservative, Republican, FReeper, or troll, or do not otherwise imply they are not welcome on Democratic Underground. "

Last I checked, Palin is a Republican. :)

[ClarkUSA]

78. You are deliberately expressing a falsehood.

"ON EDIT: ClarkUSA post, before he edited it, denied ever calling anyone Sarah Palin."

That is a falsehood; I did no such thing at all. You have no ethics, do you? You really are reaching.

[wyldwolf]

79. two can play your game:

That is a falsehood. You have no ethics, do you? You really are reaching. How malicious of you.

[ClarkUSA]

81. I am playing no games but you are. Now you can go back to playing with yourself.

:rofl:

[wyldwolf]

83. sure you are

make a post, wait for the reply, then edit the post replied to. Your time stamps throughout the thread show it.

[wyldwolf]

69. in response to your edit. ha ha. It's that post edit conspiracy from you again.

[ClarkUSA]

70. What are you talking about now?

[wyldwolf]

71. what are you ranting about now?

[ClarkUSA]

73. Now you're reduced to schoolyard taunting? How predictable.

[wyldwolf]

74. Now you're reduced to playing the victim

[ClarkUSA]

75. How am I "playing the victim" when I am stating the obvious?

[wyldwolf]

76. by being obvious about playing the victim

[wyldwolf]

77. And she'll win big

[ClarkUSA]

82. Talking to yourself again? Get a life.

[wyldwolf]

84. Are you asking if you're me? because I'm replying to you

[dionysus]

20. any chance to get in a dig, right? .... the bitterness, you can smell it over the internets...

:rofl:

[ClarkUSA]

24. You nailed it. It's funny how the smell of bitterness is the same as the stink of 100% bullshit.

It's so easy to spot the bitter enders. They always use Republican talking points to trash President Obama
while defending all those who are DLC corporate whores. :eyes:

[wyldwolf]

85. it's the scent you leave in every thread.

[ecstatic]

57. First off, the relationship was very thin--but even if it wasn't,

are you saying being an associate of Bill Ayers is equal to shilling for a tobacco firm? And spare me the lesson on Al Gore, I'm not a loyal follower of his and have asked many times why he is elevated to messiah status in the blogosphere.

[elleng]

93. My point is that no one is perfect.

.

[Freddie Stubbs]

15. So what? Al Gore owned a tobacco farm

[ClarkUSA]

17. So she is a recent corporate whore on top of being a pro-Bush tax cut DLC shill?

How unsurprising. Boy, can't wait until she "follows in Hillary's footsteps" as she claims she wants to. The DLC must
be creaming in their pinstripes at the idea.

[ErinBerin84]

19. yeah, I already knew that

There were ads run against her for that.

[jberryhill]

22. Wow - I thought she was an associate in a New York law firm

She landed Philip Morris as a client for that firm?

That's pretty amazing for an associate.

Usually, associates in law firms just work for whomever the firm's clients happen to be.

I didn't realize that associates were writing their own ticket these days.

[Occam Bandage]

26. What's more, I hear that as a teenager,

she worked at a McDonalds (a huge corporation responsible for the sad state of American health) where she happily served hamburgers to all sorts of people: big-money lobbyists, ex-felons, pedophiles, and the like.

She just can't be trusted.

[WI_DEM]

32. I wonder how her voting record will be in the Senate? That's what I'm looking at

not a bunch of stuff from her past. She's the Senator from NY whether we like it or not and I'm hoping she will surprise a lot of people.

[slackmaster]

35. Well, this thread is rapidly turning into a cluster fuck

:rofl:

[karynnj]

37. She received her law degree in 1991

Is it really likely that she played a central role in the firm's major high profile case in 1995?

She did vote yes on SCHIP, which raised taxes on tobacco - that was last week.

I hope that HRC doesn't still have the same positions she had in 1991 on everything - I think she still supported the foreign policy that argued we should support the Contras then - as did her husband and Gore (he actually ran on that in 1988).

I was not thrilled when she was picked, as nearly everyone else mentioned (if not everyone) was to the left of her. It is only fair to wait and judge her on the votes she makes and the work she does.

[treestar]

38. Even tobacco companies are allowed to have lawyers

Just like Ted Bundy was.

It's up to the judge/jury to decide the case after hearing both sides.

[Sebastian Doyle]

51. Ted Bundy often acted as his own lawyer.

And he killed a lot less people than Phillip Morris.

[TheWraith]

40. Please try and get your facts marginally correct!

She was a lawyer at a lawfirm which had Phillip Morris as a client. She didn't get to choose whether or not to work with them, and her work consisted of assembling documents for subpoena requests.

Since she was in Congress, she voted for all three anti-tobacco bills that came up.

[jberryhill]

41. Newsflash: JOE BIDEN DID CRIMINAL DEFENSE

Ummm... gang, prior to getting onto the New Castle County Council, I gather the larger world outside of Delaware doesn't know what Joe Biden did for a living.

[bertman]

46. Well, EXCUSE ME while I dig up some shit on Joe so I can stay current on this cluster ....

[jberryhill]

47. ROFL

One of the funnier things that Freepers recycle on Joe Biden, in reference to the aneurysm which nearly killed him is, "He's had unsuccessful brain surgery."

[Phoonzang]

49. And what are you going to do about it?

She's been picked and she's going to be the Junior Senator from New York. All the DU threads and screaming in the world won't change that.

[snooper2]

52. Well, being a tobacco lawyer is "kind" of like

working on the board of Wal-Mart :rofl:

[eggplant]

63. Oh, ferchristsakes.

Name one piece of legislation she sponsored or voted for that benefitted the tobacco industry, or STFU.

[quickesst]

89. A good example....

..of the type of person I probably couldn't stand being in the same room with for more than five minutes, and I'm not referring to Gillibrand. Quick to judge for kudos to feed the ego usually backfire, like this attempt. Wonder if you guys will ever learn that you're not as genuine as you believe yourself to be. Thanks.
quickesst

[crimsonblue]

91. Fuck Marlboro

I smoke American Spirits. I used to smoke Camels until they got rid of Joe Camel.

[PBS Poll-435]

92. Kirsten Gillibrand Causes Borderline-Insane OUTRAGE at DU

Film at 11.

[wyldwolf]

94. that's SENATOR Kirsten Gillibrand...

:)

[PBS Poll-435]

95. It is almost like you are DUing from DLC HQ

:P

[whistler162]

96. Worse.... Obama smoke(s)(d).........

OH NOES!!!!!

[Danger Mouse]

97. I love my new senator.

:patriot:

[quiller4]

98. It is a huge mistake to assume that lawyers views match

their clients. She was actually third chair in the case you mention--that means she did much of the legal research and little to none of the courtroom presentation. When you put in your time at a big law firm, you don't choose your cases but you do get to learn from some of the best legal minds.

My New York relatives are very happy with Gillibrand. Her positions are popular with upstate residents many of whom are rural.

[dusmcj]

99. she eats babies and does unspeakable things with gun barrels in the privacy of her own home

Oh the humanity !!!

Your piety and adherence to the Big Book of Rules is so admirable, why, if I could, I would, I would, uhhhhhhhh

Drool on Your Saintly Toes !!!!!

That's it, c'mon, send me your addresses so I can come by and slobber on your piggies, I'm savoring it now !!!!!!!!!!

...

I fear for the future of the Democratic Party and how much of the real 'progressive' agenda it may take down the drain with it before the death thrashings of its current self-appointed (well, that should be 'annointed') leadership cease.

We Won We Won We Won!!!!! Yay for Us Us Us.

[ClarkUSA]

100. We're going to lose her seat in Congress in 2010, too.

Latest polls have the top Republican challenger leading the top Democratic challenger 2-1.

[Lavender Brown]

101. Yet she voted against all the bills that the tobacco lobby favored when she was in Congress

:boring: This is getting old.