Newspaper Roundup for Wednesday, October 28, 2009
CNSNews.com Headlines — ... CNSNews.com Newspaper Roundup for Wednesday, October 28, 2009 Wednesday, October 28, 2009 By Susan Jones, Senior Editor Washington Times: Democratic donors rewarded with White House perks Offered access to bowling alley, movie theater Washington Times: ...

Larwyn's Linx: 'Trying On Every Front To Increase The Role Of Government'
Doug Ross @ Journal — ... Deaf, Dumb & Blind : GWP Why a Harmer Win Would be Huge : AT NY-23: The Two-Week Turnaround : RSM Bring on More Alan Grayson : Wizbang You Lie! Dem Rep: Obamacare To Cover Abortion : GWP Economy Frauds Plague Federal Health Care : Examiner More Arrogation of Power? : Denninger Did Goldman's CFO Lie To The Investing Public On September 16, 2008? : Zero Hedge $234,000 to create 1/2 of a job : Virtuous Dem Donors Rewarded with White House Perqs : Times We the people... don't want to pay for ...

Bowling for Dollars at the White House
JammieWearingFool — So nice to see Barack Obama and his Democrat pals lining their pockets by pimping out the White House . During his first nine months in office, President Obama has quietly rewarded scores of top Democratic donors with VIP access to the White House , private briefings with administration advisers and invitations to important speeches and town-hall meetings. High-dollar fundraisers have been promised access to senior White House officials in exchange for pledges to donate $30,400 personally or to bundle $300,000 in contributions ahead of the 2010 midterm elections, according ...

Hard Counts: There’s a big ‘I’ in ‘Win’ as Reid shops for votes
The Note — ... "During his first nine months in office, President Obama has quietly rewarded scores of top Democratic donors with VIP access to the White House, private briefings with administration advisers and invitations to important speeches and town-hall meetings," Mosk writes. "High-dollar fundraisers have been promised access to senior White House officials in exchange for pledges to donate $30,400 personally or to bundle $300,000 in contributions ahead of the 2010 midterm elections, according to internal Democratic National Committee documents obtained by The Washington ...

ThinkFast: October 28, 2009
Think Progress — ... The Washington Times reports that President Obama has “quietly rewarded scores of top Democratic donors with VIP access to the White House, private briefings with administration advisers and invitations to important speeches and town-hall meetings.” “This administration has across the board set the toughest ethics standards in history,” White House spokesman Dan Pfeiffer said in response. ...

Donors Rewarded with White House Perks
Taegan Goddard's Political Wire — "During his first nine months in office, President Obama has quietly rewarded scores of top Democratic donors with VIP access to the White House, private briefings with administration advisers and invitations to important speeches and town-hall meetings," the Washington Times reports. ...

Steele demands investigation into alleged WH perks for top Dem donors
News — Republicans called for an investigation Wednesday into allegations that President Barack Obama had given top donors special access to the White House. The Republican National Committee (RNC) demanded an investigation into a report published in the Washington Times that top donors to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) had been rewarded with access to privileged White House tours, behind-the-scenes briefings, and other perks. {mosads}RNC Chairman Michael Steele said that the White House had effectively become a "full service resort" during Obama's tenure, likening the alleged access to the benefits former President Bill Clinton had offered to some ...

"EXCLUSIVE: Democratic Donors Awarded with W.H. Perks"
Election Law — "EXCLUSIVE: Democratic Donors Awarded with W.H. Perks" It's the same as it ever was . Posted by Rick Hasen at October 28, 2009 06:00 AM

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose
Babalú Blog: an island on the net without a bearded dictator — Politics as usual.   Read it here.

This Gives One Bad Lincoln-Bedroom Flashbacks -- By: Kathryn Jean Lopez
The Corner on National Review Online — In the Washington Times today: During his first nine months in office, President Obama has quietly rewarded scores of top Democratic donors with VIP access to the White House, private briefings with administration advisers and invitations to important speeches and town-hall meetings. High-dollar fundraisers have been promised access to senior White House officials in exchange for pledges to donate $30,400 personally or to bundle $300,000 in contributions ahead of the 2010 midterm elections, according to internal Democratic National Committee documents obtained by The Washington Times. ...

Clearly, I Worked for the Wrong White House
Lakeshore Laments — We never got perks like this. Frankly, I was just happy I got to see the White House Christmas decorations.  (Sadly no pics, my camera at the time didn't work.) During his first nine months in office, President Obama has quietly rewarded scores of top Democratic donors with VIP access to the White House, private briefings with administration advisers and invitations to important speeches and town-hall meetings. High-dollar fundraisers have been promised access to senior White House officials in exchange for pledges to donate $30,400 personally or to bundle $300,000 in ...

White House Access For Sale
Riehl World View — A wonderful image of the first pimp-in-chief entertaining guests and peddling WH access for cash, wouldn't you say? Now that I think about it, pimp isn't the correct word. How about drug dealer for that special feeling you get, feeling important because you copped a bag from the Oval Office on your last trip downtown? Yes, I think that works much ...

The politics of perks – Obama WH style
Sister Toldjah — More from the land of HopeNChange, via the Washington Times (h/t: JWF): During his first nine months in office, President Obama has quietly rewarded scores of top Democratic donors with VIP access to the White House, private briefings with administration advisers and invitations to important speeches and town-hall meetings. High-dollar fundraisers have been promised access to senior White House officials in exchange for pledges to donate $30,400 personally or to bundle $300,000 in ...

Hey, did you vote last November to end business as usual?
RedState — ... You know, new broom sweeping clean, cleaning out the Augean stables, generally showing those people in Washington who was who and what was what - and how there was going to be a new boss, with new rules and expectations on behavior. Well, meet the new boss: ...

Obama and His Good Ol’ Boys
Pajamas Media — ... Imagine the uproar had Bush been golfing twenty-something times in less than 9 months in office. How would the media have have handled the uptick in violence in Afghanistan (and now Iraq) and failure to address the troop requests had Bush been in office? Well we know the answer to that one – the media pounded Bush daily on that accord. Now, we have the latest revelation from the Washington Times that Obama has been essentially selling access to the White House for a certain price. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/oct/28/democratic-donors-rewarded-with-wh-perks/ Again, ...

Gibbs: Donors not given special WH perks
News — ... Responding to an article in The Washington Times this morning -- which charged the White House was offering special perks to top Democratic donors -- Gibbs cast doubt on the story and insisted the president had implemented the "toughest ethics and transparency rules of any administration in history." ...

Obama donors, White House visitors
The Swamp — ... High-dollar fundraisers have been promised access to senior White House officials in exchange for pledges to donate $30,400 to the party personally or to bundle $300,000 in contributions from other donors heading into the 2010 midterm elections, according to internal Democratic National Committee documents obtained by The Washington Times. ...

Shock: Super Open and Transparent and Ethical Administration Trolling for Donations by Promising Access to Senior White House Officials
Ace of Spades HQ — Shock: Super Open and Transparent and Ethical Administration Trolling for Donations by Promising Access to Senior White House Officials And the White House itself, of course, though they say the DNC pays for that privilege, so I guess that makes it... what? High-dollar fundraisers have been promised access to senior White House officials in exchange for pledges to donate $30,400 personally or to bundle $300,000 in contributions ahead of the 2010 midterm elections, according to internal Democratic National Committee documents obtained by The Washington Times. One top donor described in an interview with The Times being given a birthday visit to the Oval Office. Another ...

Meredith Jessup: WashTimes: Democrat Donors Rewarded With WH Perks
Townhall.com Blog's TownHall Blog — The Washington Times has a great investigative piece out today about Democrat donors receiving special perks from the Obama White House: During his first nine months in office, President Obama has quietly rewarded scores of top Democratic donors with VIP access to the White House, private briefings with administration advisers and invitations to important speeches and town-hall meetings. High-dollar fundraisers have been promised access to senior White House officials in exchange for pledges to donate $30,400 personally or to bundle $300,000 in contributions ahead of the 2010 midterm elections, according to internal Democratic National Committee documents obtained by ...

White House Rewards Donors With Perks
Politics Daily — Filed under: Investigations, Fundraising, Obama AdministrationPresident Obama came into office vowing to change the status quo in Washington, but when it comes to rewarding fundraisers, he's behaving no differently than past presidents. Top donors to the Democratic Party have been given "VIP access to the White House, private briefings with administration advisers and invitations to important speeches and town-hall meetings," according to a Washington Times investigation. The White House has hosted several receptions for donors; contributors with the fattest wallets were given access to senior officials. One ...

White House Fawns Over Big Donors
The Huffington Post | Full News Feed — Being a top Democratic donor can have its perks, reports the Washington Times.. At least 39 Democratic donors attended a White House fete on St. Patrick's Day and others have ringed in Independence Day and Cinco de Mayo with President Obama. Despite the president's campaign pledge of change, the donor benefits are a part of a time honored tradition of handing perks to those who contribute significant sums of money to political parties. From the Times: "Contributing does not guarantee a ticket to the White House, ...

Barack Obama's Well-Tended Money Machine
Swampland — ... .) He can swear to his grave that his views are not for sale, but it won't matter. He picked up dirty money, money that was specifically set aside by a multi-billion dollar industry to influence lawmaking. He made himself suspect. This is the same problem that Barack Obama faces today, after a terrific bit of reporting in the Washington Times by Matthew Mosk . The story examines the many ways in which Obama has rewarded his top fundraisers since arriving at the White House—through ambassadorships, a golf game on Martha's Vineyard, events at the White House, bowling at the ...

Shocker! Barry Rewards Donors Lavishly
Pirate's Cove — ... During his first nine months in office, President Obama has quietly rewarded scores of top Democratic donors with VIP access to the White House, private briefings with administration advisers and invitations to important speeches and town-hall meetings. ...

Shocker! Barry Rewards Donors Lavishly
Stop The ACLU — ... Posted on October 28, 2009 “Change doesn’t come from Washington. Change comes to Washington.” “It’s time to fundamentally change the way that we do business in Washington. To help build a new foundation for the 21st century, we need to reform our government so that it is more efficient, more transparent, and more creative. That will demand new thinking and a new sense of responsibility for every dollar that is spent.” How’s that working out? During his first nine months in office , President Obama has quietly rewarded scores of top Democratic donors with VIP access to the ...

'Donor maintenance'
Ben Smith's Blog — ... Democratic and White House officials shrugged off the documents as part of normal "donor maintenance" that does not provide contributors with any quid pro quo. ...

White House Faces Questions on Big Donor Maintenance Programs
Political Punch — ... White House Faces Questions on Big Donor Maintenance Programs October 28, 2009 5:00 PM The White House found itself on the defensive Wednesday as spokesman Robert Gibbs tried to answer questions about a Washington Times investigation  indicating that this White House -- like those before it -- rewarded big Democratic donors with access to the White House and its powerful players. “During his first nine months in office, President Obama has quietly rewarded scores of top Democratic donors with VIP access to the White ...

Video: Is Obama selling access to White House officials to big donors?
Hot Air » Top Picks — ... A belated link to the Wash Times’s expose this morning of influence peddling by Obama and the DNC. It’s a worthy read, but the problem with stories like this is that neither side has much reason to get upset. Both parties have been guilty of similar shenanigans in the past (although that didn’t stop the RNC from issuing the ...

Barack Obama: Cheap Bastard
Jesus' General — The Washington Times, the only messiah-owned newspaper with the courage to hire a pro-slavery editor, reports that Barack "Erik Gruber" Obama is one cheap bastard: During his first nine months in office, President Obama has quietly rewarded scores of top Democratic donors with VIP access to the White House, private briefings with administration advisers and invitations to important speeches and town-hall meetings.Invitations to important speeches and town-hall meeting? What a piker. My president, George Walker Bush, ...

Solomon on WashTimes site: 'Not trying to replace RedState or Townhall'
Michael Calderone's Blog — ... At Heritage, Solomon talked about how the Times publishes news articles that don't exactly win points at the White House, including 47 stories on ACORN. The Times got a lot of attention this week -- and love on the Drudge Report --for Matt Mosk's investigation of Democratic donors getting White House access. ...

No Bundler Left Behind
Michelle Malkin — My syndicated column today gives you a handy overview of all the president’s campaign finance bundlers — many of whom were spotlighted in Culture of Corruption. The Washington Times and USA Today shed more light on the money men and women with access to the White House. Same old, same old. The Obama White House: Bundlers’ paradise by Michelle Malkin Creators Syndicate Copyright 2009 Like Captain Renault in Casablanca, I am shocked, shocked to discover that access-peddling is going on in the Obama White House. Perks for deep-pocketed donors? ...