The same establishment hacks-- think Neera Tanden of the grotesquely corrupted Center for American Progress, for example-- who foisted Hillary Clinton on the Democratic Party (bringing us Trump) now want us to get behind another Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden-- and for many of the same shiny reasons. Hillary represented the status quo establishment then; Biden does now. She was the most experienced candidate ever then; he is now. She did have one thing about her that everyone was genuinely excited about: she would have been the first woman president. He has nothing at all. His entire career has been about how bad a politician can be without joining the Republican Party. If you liked Joe Lieberman, you should love Joe Biden. If you think Joe Manchin is the ideal Democratic political leader today, Joe Biden is your man.And... if you think the doddering, incoherent fool in this clip-- shot earlier this week in Iowa-- is the best man to bring down the Trump regime... good luck to you. Or better yet, please watch it again, and carefully:The video, up top, of Elizabeth Warren, from David Doel of the Rational National, should remind people who don't remember the pre-Obama Biden of why progressives thought he was always such a danger to working families. Yesterday, reporting for The Hill, Alex Gangitano wrote about Biden's K Street problems. There have long been two Democratic politicians steeped to the point of drowning in lobbyist corruption-- one in the House (Steny Hoyer) and one in the Senate (Status Quo Joe)-- and to tie the Democratic Party nomination to this taint is a losing strategy. "The influence world," wrote Gangitano, "is stocked with former aides and supporters who have rallied around his previous bids for president. In this cycle, though, those lobbyist ties, past fundraising from corporate interests and perceptions that Biden is more favorable to businesses could hurt his bid for the Democratic nomination."
His campaign has said he will not take money from lobbyists and corporate PACs, but that is unlikely to be enough for progressive groups in the primary who have larger concerns about the candidate.“With Joe Biden, if he wants to say no to corporate lobbyists' money that’s great and it’s a step in a positive direction that acknowledges the times,” Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, told The Hill.“But, with Joe Biden, it’s not about course correcting any one little thing, it’s about his big picture brand, which is being cozy with big corporations and cutting back room deals with Republican political insiders.”Biden's allies run deep on K Street, where a number of former aides from his time as a senator now hold high-level positions at powerful lobbying firms.Christopher Putala, who founded the lobbying firm Putala Strategies, was a lawyer on the Senate Judiciary Committee for Biden, as was Jeffrey Peck, now a lobbyist at Peck Madigan Jones.Biden also has allies in Tony Russo, a lobbyist at T-Mobile, who served as his legislative counsel in the Senate; Larry Rasky, the chair of Rasky Partners, who worked on Biden’s 1988 and 2008 presidential campaigns; and Ankit Desai, a political assistant to Biden in the Senate and now a lobbyist at Tellurian.And Biden's more than three decades in the Senate and previous runs for president will give his critics plenty of fodder.When Biden ran for president in 2008, he raised money from lobbyists. He reversed course when he joined the ticket with President Obama, who made running against K Street and rejecting corporate money a centerpiece of his first presidential campaign.In the Senate, Biden also represented Delaware, a state that is home to many large corporations, including a number of credit card giants.Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), one of his rivals for the 2020 nomination, took a shot at Biden last week, accusing him of being on the side of "the biggest financial institutions" over "hardworking families."This year, Biden also held a fundraiser hosted by David Cohen, telecom giant Comcast's chief lobbyist. And Biden allies led by Democratic fundraiser Matt Tompkins quickly launched the For the People PAC after he officially jumped into the race, a move first reported by The Hill. The PAC aimed to raise millions to boost Biden's bid.His campaign, though, was quick to distance itself from the super PAC, telling The Hill that "Vice President Biden does not welcome assistance from super PACs."Republicans, who see Biden as a strong challenger to President Trump, have also called for more scrutiny over the business dealings of his son Hunter Biden and potential conflicts of interest.As vice president, Biden pressed Ukraine to dismiss a prosecutor, who faced accusations he had ignored corruption among officials in the government. The prosecutor was eventually removed.The New York Times in a story this week reported that Hunter Biden was on the board of an energy company the dismissed prosecutor was investigating. Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani on Thursday called for an investigation into "Biden conflicts" of interest. Biden's campaign told The Times that his son's business dealings had no connection to policies Biden carried out as vice president.The issue of corporate ties has taken newfound importance in the Democratic Party, where liberal groups are pressing candidates to reject special interest cash.“There’s a new benchmark of what Democratic campaigns are now judged by, a new litmus test, and it would be hard for any candidate to not reject [lobbyists’ money],” Zach Friend, a Democratic strategist and former spokesperson for Obama for America, told The Hill.“It’s how you enter into the race. It would be equivalent to any other Democratic policy-- do you support unions? Do you support marriage equality? Do you support choice?”The scrutiny on Democrats is intense.Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Ind., who has seen his stock rise in polls of the Democratic primary race, has found strong support on K Street, especially among LGBTQ lobbyists who are rallying behind the openly gay 2020 contender. But that support led Buttigieg last week to say he would no longer accept lobbyist donations and that he would return the $30,000 he received in the first quarter of the year.Not taking lobbyist money poses its own challenges for Biden, and he will need to show his strength at raising small-donor donations, as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has, to stay competitive.Biden's allies, though, won't be on the sidelines.Those on K Street noted there are other ways for lobbyists to help without writing a check.“There are plenty of ways to help,” Al Mottur, Democratic lobbyist at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, told The Hill. Often, Mottur said, lobbyists can help a candidate by introducing them to other big donors.
