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Access In Exchange For Bush Library Donations

timesonline.co.uk — Stephen Payne, who claims to have raised more than $1m for the president ’s Republican party in recent years, said he would arrange meetings with Dick Cheney, the vice-president, Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state, and other senior officials in return for a payment of $250,000 towards the library in Texas.

Bury

hdar3415 90 days ago, made popular 89 days ago

809 diggs
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redmannine, on 07/13/2008, -8/+21this is a pretty sad state of affairs
- QuadZeroRoute, on 07/13/2008, -9/+9It is fun watching the liberals bellyache on Digg. This is the third time this morning this has hit the front page.
  - Seidoger, on 07/13/2008, -2/+3You make it sound like it's a bad thing someone would be ticked off by this.. (not that a library isn't a good thing..)
- portnoy, on 07/14/2008, -0/+5Kind of an irony, so much money for a president that goes to such lengths to avoid reading.
EntropyMan, on 07/13/2008, -7/+23More than just the access, he offered US Foreign Policy for sale -- the US State department would give a reviled exiled leader of Krygystan its public endorsement for the small price of:

$200-$250k to the Bush Library
$500k in fees to Payne's company
1 video tape busting the whole crooked administration for business as usual.
IamJustinM, on 07/13/2008, -9/+18So this administration is a whore now. Can it get any worse?
- ericjohnson0, on 07/13/2008, -15/+6Yes. We can elect Obama.
- gfxlonghorn, on 07/13/2008, -2/+1Well if they started sending gay romance reading material to the Texas library, then they could be gay whores.
pintomp3, on 07/13/2008, -9/+29you need a whole library to house "my pet goat"?
- zip000, on 07/13/2008, -1/+2I've dugg this same comment (I think from different people) in all three of the current front page stories about this issue.
infodoc1, on 07/13/2008, -8/+18USA: the best democracy that money can buy.
- stretch611, on 07/14/2008, -0/+2Bush proves that our democracy can be bought, but he also proves that it is far from the best that money can buy.
  - MWeather, on 07/14/2008, -0/+1It is the best money can buy. Name another country that gives you more bang for your lobbying buck.
- DrunkChimp, on 07/14/2008, -0/+0I wouldn't call it "Best" when concerning anything that douchebag GW was involved in.
Rotzooi, on 07/13/2008, -12/+17The Republicans are making America resemble a banana republic. Disgusting.
- BOFH2, on 07/13/2008, -9/+12Yeah, the Democrats are poster children for honesty
  - growler1, on 07/13/2008, -2/+3And yet, somehow, another conservative is saying "This is okay because Democrats are __________."
    
    I might actually consider ever voting republican if one of them ever had spine enough to be held accountable for something.
  - mOdQuArK, on 07/13/2008, -2/+4Ooo, the "they're just as bad" defense! I suppose that's a tad more honest than the "it wasn't our fault" defense.
  - appleseed1234, on 07/13/2008, -1/+4The Democrats have a long way to go to catch up to the corruption and dishonesty that is the hallmark of Republican policy.
  - BOFH2, on 07/13/2008, -4/+1Guess I should have spelled it out. ALL politicians are corrupt in some way. I just thought I would pint out the other side.
- kds405, on 07/13/2008, -7/+3more like an old navy...
- Naieve, on 07/13/2008, -4/+7Google Clinton and pardons.
  
  The truth is POLITICIANS are making us resemble a banana republic.
  
  Acting as if it is all the Republicans fault is like saying Clinton balanced the budget.(If you don't understand that reference go do some research on the Social Security Administration under Clinton.)
  - ChildeRoland420, on 07/14/2008, -1/+2Exactly. How is this any different from Clinton offering pardons for donations to his library? In fact, that seems worse. Or, what about renting out rooms in a taxpayer funded building for campaign contributions?
Cadenzah, on 07/13/2008, -4/+14this is how politics works everywhere. it'd be more surprising if this ***** didn't happen in the U.S, as the only exception in the history of governments.
- lordkoos, on 07/13/2008, -5/+4This kind of quid pro quo, at this level, is a bit unusual for the US in modern times I would think. Not unusual for the Bush administration however.
  - Troy64, on 07/14/2008, -0/+1Were you not old enough to know what went on in the Clinton administration.
Pinkertinkle, on 07/13/2008, -8/+12Bush administration corrupt? No way!
IphtashuFitz, on 07/13/2008, -6/+8Wow, this abuse must be really widespread. I see two other articles on the front page of Digg saying the same thing! It can't all be the same lobbyist, can it?
Serphyas, on 07/13/2008, -11/+10This article was posted before the 1000+ diggs story of the same topic. So everyone complaining about duplication can eat a dick.
tenspeedogbb, on 07/13/2008, -6/+9Buried as duplicate...this was on the front page like an hour ago.
- 2Bnor2B, on 07/13/2008, -3/+4I am digging this one because its the actual source of the information not some blog with a link..
jerrycurley, on 07/13/2008, -4/+7yeah...like this was the first time that was done. Riiiight.
JCJW, on 07/13/2008, -7/+6$250,000- That's a lot of copies of "My Pet Goat".
sportsstar67, on 07/13/2008, -5/+19This is no big deal..Hell, Clinton sold a pardon to Marc Rich for $100,000 donation to his library. That's far worse than access
- bjornski, on 07/13/2008, -8/+4No it's not.
  
  The Mark Rich incident affected Mark Rich.
  
  The access these people are buying affects the entire nation and/or world.
  - HanFastolfe, on 07/13/2008, -1/+8"The Mark Rich incident affected Mark Rich"
    
    Just him?
    
    "In 1983 Rich and partner Pincus Green were indicted by U.S. Attorney and future mayor of New York City Rudolph Giuliani, on charges of tax evasion and illegal trading with Iran. They were indicted while they were in Switzerland. The pair failed to return to the U.S. following the indictment, and were on the FBI's Most Wanted List for many years."
    
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Rich
    
    Apparently Mr. Rich involved himself with Iran, in oil trading, during the hostage crisis (a real dirtbag thing to do at that time particularly).Which, since the oil trade is global, Mr Rich did effect the entire world. As someone who evaded their taxes, and was a fugitive (requiring the Feds to invest time, and money to seek him) he did affect (negatively) the nation. You act like his crimes were committed in a vacuum.
    
    I know you would wish to cling to partisanship, but that ship (on this issue) is sinking, I suggest you bail. Don't worry you can have it another day, but for today, it's not gonna work.
- BlacklabelSAR, on 07/13/2008, -1/+1Agreed that both sides of the same coin is an illusion of choice. So be on your own side, or the side of We the People.
badnewshotel, on 07/13/2008, -4/+13Didn't Clinton sell his whole library to the Chinese?
- Naieve, on 07/13/2008, -3/+9Google Marc Rich.
  
  He sold pardons.
- ironhide, on 07/13/2008, -4/+4man..I thought we had moved past "but..but...Cinton!" Guess I was wrong.
  - Treoinmypocket, on 07/13/2008, -3/+4You will continue to be wrong if the biased morons keep acting outraged by things that Bush is doing when the people they claim to love and miss did The same things.
    
    Politically biased acrimony is for dullards and idiots.
- IMJGaltstill, on 07/14/2008, -0/+2No he sold the Chinese missile guidance systems.
pauliusuza, on 07/13/2008, -2/+10Let me ask you just one thing: is it legal?
UltraDavid, on 07/13/2008, -6/+4Pretty sure there are like 3-4 exact copies of this on the front page right now, but... dugg because WTF!
peticsu, on 07/13/2008, -5/+9nice to see the British press doing the job the American press doesnt have the balls to do.
lordkoos, on 07/13/2008, -4/+8This is a big deal, and it should have been a big deal when Clinton did it as well. Two wrongs don't make a right, as my dad used to say.
Kanele, on 07/13/2008, -12/+2ɥsnq noʎ ʞɔnɟ
nirvanix, on 07/13/2008, -7/+5Only two books in the Bush library - the Childrens Bible and Mein Kampf.
BotchaMcCoola, on 07/13/2008, -8/+2Is there some way to support the blocking of this library? I'd rather
have a library dedicated to True Patriots like Vietnam and Iraq
war protestors. Put me down for $250. Before Bush it would have been
$500.
- Stevanoski, on 07/13/2008, -0/+3Barf, well at least your committed, the asylum may be next.
- HanFastolfe, on 07/13/2008, -0/+2Protesters? Having a library? What about those groups not represented by such a library? Could they protest outside, and demand their own library?
  - Stevanoski, on 07/13/2008, -0/+3lol, too good.
chrissku, on 07/13/2008, -3/+7What's up with the all this shadiness that surrounds presidential libraries? Maybe Congress needs to get involved and make the donation process %110 transparent. This is ricockulous.
ericjohnson0, on 07/13/2008, -8/+4I agree that this should upset people. It upsets me and I supported the guy, but that was before I knew this was going on. In the case of the guy for the Democrats, BHO, we already know he's a bad guy. 2,000,000 Democrats are in revolt against Barry as we speak:

http://justsaynodeal.com/

If that isn't bad enough, he hates white people.

http://thesaloon.net/blog/_archives/2008/7/8/37824 ...

And the fact he is surrouned by by people who are either domestic terrorists, racists or just hate America.

http://thesaloon.net/blog/_archives/2008/6/6/37320 ...

I agree this all very bad. Lets all vote for McCain and clean things up.
- BeavisMcSleavis, on 07/14/2008, -2/+2Wow! You're completely delusional.
  Please take your false messages and hate anthems somewhere else. Like back to those inaccurate links you provide.
  - charm803, on 07/14/2008, -1/+1Aw! Leave him alone, he's just getting McCain points.
MacBookForMe, on 07/13/2008, -0/+4That's exactly how the politics works from the beginning of the civilization):
prahareturns, on 07/13/2008, -0/+7It's amazing to see now naive the vast majority of those replying to this post are about fund raising. This is not unique, not news, and definitely not confined to Republicans or Bush. This is simply how fund raising works and is common practice for Presidential library's including Democratic libraries.

If you really want change I suggest voting every current congressperson out of office regardless of party affiliation. With the congressional approval rating under 20% (based on the majority of polls) they all deserve to go and future representatives should be restricted to two terms.
ericjohnson0, on 07/13/2008, -7/+3Man, you Obama Fanboys don't waste anytime BURYing the truth, huh?
- ironhide, on 07/13/2008, -4/+4You want to cry about Obama? Fine, do it in a thread ABOUT Obama. Buried for being a whiner.
  - Asheis, on 07/14/2008, -0/+1who was burying anything? This is front page news.. unless you're talking comments.. ? of which, i've seen plenty that have enough to say about the democrats as well...
    
    I'm just confused in general. This seems like a stupid, out of context swipe at Obama.
    
    Also.. can somebody explain why this is relevant (In all seriousness, I don't quite understand what the issue here is)..
    
    Is he selling secrets? Besides extortion for a lame cause, I don't see anything wrong with this.. ?
charmaniac, on 07/13/2008, -5/+3What a surprise. No mention of this in the mainstream media. Time to burn the MSM to the ***** ground and start over. Rescind their licenses, force them to break up. 5 companies should NOT own 85%+ of media outlets.
ravenswing2, on 07/13/2008, -2/+1$250,000?? For the Bush Library? Geez. That's runaway inflation for you. Bugs, Mickey and Superman used to be just 30 cents, and you could buy a good coloring book for a couple of bucks.
TheRhinoceros, on 07/13/2008, -0/+4It's not surprising that this kind of thing is going on. Disgusting but not surprising. And that's the part that bothers me most. We have come to expect Immoral behavior from our political leadership. And from the comments I have read here, I am not the only one who feels that way.

We need honest leadership and honest leaders. We need to find some way to reconnect to our leadership here in America. Not be partisan, Not point fingers. Just be American. Yes this guy is an *****, but his actions didn't happen in a vacuum. He can't be the only one. If it's Stephen Payne, it's thousands of others with him and like him in both parties (or did you miss the mention of Joe Biden), who even if they disagree with it, condone it by turning a blind eye to it. BTW I am not saying Joe is part of it, but that this bum can offer visits like this with these people speaks to a need for heavy regulation in Washington of lobbyists and the Big Money Machine.

Washington is corrupt because we let it get that way. Washington is corrupt because people will abuse power if we let them. Lobbyists need to be reigned in. Government needs to be reigned in. We can legislate this issue away, if congress and the next president let us.

But somehow I doubt that'll happen. Too many people get paid too much money to let this go that easily.

Bastards.

election-coverage.com
ericjohnson0, on 07/13/2008, -4/+3Is this thread about political corruption? If we're talking about corrupt politicians, shouldn't we discuss ethical/legal misconduct of lobbyists, candidates, etc. regardless of party affiliation?

Or is this another Bush Sucks Thread? How many of those have we had? About a brazillion???

Wouldn't people actually WANT the word to get out if a major candidate was crooked or corrupt?

Ok, the Obama Fanboys got the numbers to vote anyone else down... for now.
- BlacklabelSAR, on 07/13/2008, -1/+1Did you actually say: "Or is this another Bush Sucks Thread? How many of those have we had? About a brazillion???"
Stevanoski, on 07/13/2008, -3/+3Still waiting for access to the donors of Clinton's library, bet there are lots of Arab and Chinese names on that list, not counting the felons he pardoned.
- ravenswing2, on 07/14/2008, -1/+2Probably, but WTF does that have to do with now?
NelsonR, on 07/13/2008, -3/+2A few humans like our George pompous Bush think a library will extol the virtue's of his administration. George has no virtues, no attributes only ugliness. May it hail rotten eggs and fire to destroy any structure that attempts to immortalize a corrupt human in all regards. George Bush senior and Junior have been the downfall for America. How can any mortal, other then an idiot Republican Conservative follower, desire a library of demagoguery. OK, lets put it in simpler terms, what the F has the Bushes done for America that is a positive. NOTHING. May they rest in hell forever.
LoneRanger85, on 07/13/2008, -2/+7So? Clinton rented out the Lincoln bedroom. This is a more honorable method of fund raising.
- theviceroy, on 07/14/2008, -3/+1less crass yes, but way more shady...
  - HanFastolfe, on 07/14/2008, -0/+4The same level of shadiness, Clinton still wont release a complete list of the names, and dollars (or whatever foreign currency) donated to his library. It happens, it sucks. I'd like to see the whole process be transparent, but for now this is a non-partisan issue. The next President will being doing the same thing.
- ravenswing2, on 07/14/2008, -0/+0"So? Clinton rented out the Lincoln bedroom. This is a more honorable method of fund raising. "
  
  I love it. Every time the righties get shown up as the tinhorn grifters they are, somebody always brings up Clinton, like the fact that he was a scumbag makes anything they do OK. That was then. This is now. If the goose steppers think Clinton was such a horrible example, why are they doing the things he did?
  
  I personally think we should all contribute to the Bush library. After all, how much can 500 back issues of Justice League of America and a couple of dozen Dr. Suess books cost?
DrunkChimp, on 07/14/2008, -3/+1Holy ***** batman, imagine a meeting with GW, it would be like sitting down with a drunk retarded moron. Good job pimping the retarded moron.
LoneRanger85, on 07/14/2008, -1/+3There's nothing shady about it. Politicians routinely grant access for donations.
VBDon, on 07/14/2008, -3/+4Wow!!! A Republican accused of doing the Democrat thing!! And, instead of slapping him on the back, the Democrats are complaining!!! Just like them.
BotchaMcCoola, on 07/14/2008, -1/+0Oh, all those negative diggs. I guess there are big Lockheed Martin stockholders in here.
ObamAmerican48, on 07/14/2008, -1/+0This is news?! Seriously. I can't stand Bush-Cheney-Rove et al, but this is fairly typical procedure. Bubba did the same thing.

People--don't forget the BOY-WHO-CRIED-WOLF syndrome. If we keep blasting our horns about every LITTLE thing, pretty soon people are going to tune us out.

Buried. It's irrelevant.
oozoo, on 07/14/2008, -1/+0The location they chose for the library is not cheap at all. Homes in that area are 4 million + in value. Plus it's next to one of the most expensive universities in the nation.

I just hate the fact it will be in Dallas, and that the scum bag will live here too. I'm so out of this city when he moves here; it will be a hot bed for crimes and protest.
goodinohio, on 07/19/2008, -0/+1Both sides are corrupt. America needs to clean house, vote third party.
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Access In Exchange For Bush Library Donations

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