Democrats and their special interests: A relevant argument

Here in liberal Minnesota, we're bombarded with an endless string of Norm Coleman and Stuart Smalley, er, Al Franken attacks ads, especially the ones whereby Smalley, er, Franken castigates Coleman for accepting money for "big oil."

Yawn. Big deal.

Here's one thing you have to love about Democrats. They know how to push our buttons. Because of the global warming lie and the subsequent mistruth that 1.) the resultant gasoline is polluting our skies and causing global warming; 2.) big oil is engaging in price gouging and raking in "record profits."

What they hope is that mass public will simply their insane notions at face-value, without engaging in any exculpatory investigation. If the public would peruse the sites of anything BUT the Mainstream Media (including ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, New York Times, Washington Post), they might realize that a good deal of contrarian information exists.

For example, according to John Hawkins, did you know that for every $1 spent by "Big Oil," they recoup $.08?

Unsurprisingly, given the outrageously high cost of gas and the Left's penchant for pointing the fickle finger of blame at big corporations, we've heard a lot about how big oil is gouging consumers.

However, when you take a look at the actual numbers in California, for example, you find that the "Distribution Costs, Marketing Costs and Profits" for the oil companies make up only 8 cents per gallon of gas.

That doesn't sound like gouging, does it? But if you believe it does, what would you say about the 70 cents per gallon in taxes that's paid by California consumers? Additionally, as Karl Rove has pointed out,

(Oil companies) make about 8.3 cents in gross profit per dollar of sales....Electronics make 14.5 cents per dollar and computer equipment makers take in 13.7 cents per dollar, according to the Census Bureau. Microsoft's margin is 27.5 cents per dollar of sales.

Sure, these oil companies are huge and therefore, even an 8.3% profit adds up to billions of dollars, but when you look at the relatively small percentage that they're putting in their pockets as compared to the humongous share that the government is raking in, it's pretty clear that it's the government, not the oil companies, that is gouging consumers.

Of course Democrats don't want you to know that. Instead they'd rather throw a number in your face, for example $1 billion in profits; well, 1.) "Big Oil" is arguably the biggest industry in the world; 2.) those "billions in profits" are going towards Average Joe's 401k or pension, it's not merely going to Texas Tycoon.

Now we're hearing that Republican-enabled greed fueled the potential economic calamity, greed perpetuated by Wall Street during the Bush Adminstration.

Here we go again.

Much has been written about the Carter and Clinton Administrations' efforts to put minorities into homes (see: Community Reinvestment Act of 1977). What it did essentially was force mortgage lenders to overlook shady credit histories and low incomes in order to make minorities homeowners. In fact, it was "community activists" such as Barry Obama, in efforts to "assuage" banks, threatened to label those who financial institutions who adhered to strict lending standards, RACIST.

Furthermore, under the "special interests" banner, note the following from Townhall's Terry Paulson:

What was our champion of change and hope doing about the problem? Nothing! Records from the Federal Election Commission reveal a possible reason for Obama’s silence. In his three complete years in the Senate, he’s the second largest recipient of Freddie-and--Fannie-connected campaign contributions. It took Sen. Christopher Dodd, chairman of the Senate banking committee, eleven years to receive $165,400 in contributions from GSE PACs and individuals. Obama received $126,349 in just three years.

And now these same hypocritical sons of bitches are pinning the cost of this damn $700 billion bailout on homeowners who bought homes the RIGHT way: through hard work, saving money, sensibility, and good faith.