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Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Obama and Goldman Sachs -- Hiding the Obvious

Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said today that President Obama would not return any of the nearly one million dollars that his campaign received from Goldman Sachs employees. According to Gibbs, Obama did not take any money from a Goldman Political Action Committee or PAC so there was no need to return the funds. what utter nonsense! Federal law strictly prohibits a PAC from contributing more than $5000 to a candidate per election. That means that a Goldman Sachs PAC could have contributed $5000 to Obama for the primaries and another $5000 for the general election. Obama got over $924,000 from Goldman directly from employees. Does Gibbs really think it matters if Obama to a pittance of $10,000 from a PAC? That one is stupid even for Gibbs.

Gibbs also says that those who contributed knew where Obama stood so there is no need to give back the money. Let's put this in context. The question of returning the money supposedly arose because Goldman is charged with fraud by the SEC. Accordingly, the contributed funds may be tainted if the fraud allegations are correct. Gibbs's argument is like saying that it would be ok to keep contributions from Bernie Maddoff because he knew where Obama stood on the issues. In other words, this is another Gibb's howler!

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