It’s better to give than receive, unless you’re a Republican presidential candidate and then by default you’re doing it for some ulterior motive – at least according to CBS.
Despite opening an October 1 report about campaign contributions with disgraced Hillary Clinton donor Norman Hsu, “CBS Evening News” paid little attention to Democratic presidential campaign contributors in Armen Keteyian's segment.
“Money is the lifeblood of every campaign,” Keteyian said. “But, with federal law limiting donations to just $2,300 per person, raising the staggering amounts needed is an all-consuming quest. So, candidates count on elite fundraisers – about 2,000 in all who package together small donations from family, friends and associates delivering big bundles of cash. That's why they're called ‘bundlers.’”
Keteyian relied on a spokeswoman from the ultra-liberal advocacy group Public Citizen to explain what “bundlers” are – in the process taking a jab at various professions. He didn't mention the liberal agenda of the Ralph Nader-founded group.
“Bundlers are industry titans,” said Laura MacCleery director of Public Citizen’s Congress Watch. “CEOs, lobbyists, hedge fund managers – much more likely to be ‘John K. Millionaire’ than ‘Jane Q. Public.’”
However, his report focused only on Republicans campaigns – examining current campaign contributors of GOP presidential hopefuls Fred Thompson and Rudy Giuliani and the two prior campaigns of President George W. Bush.
Keteyian drew links between Bush and Giuliani contributions and subsequent ambassadorial appointments but left out contributors who gave to Democratic presidential campaigns and were awarded appointments.
Though the Democratic presidential hopefuls escaped the scrutiny of Keteyian’s reporting, some of the most obvious contribution-related appointments came under the presidency of Bill Clinton, Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton's husband. These were pointed out in a 1996 “Insight on the News” article:
“[S]ome of the most notorious members of the Clinton class include Ambassador to France Pamela Harriman, the doyenne of the Democratic fund-raisers who gave $130,000 but raised millions more; Ambassador to Austria Swannee Hunt, an oil heiress who, with her family, gave more than $300,000; and the late Ambassador to Switzerland Larry Lawrence, a San Diego hotel magnate whose family and business gave Clinton nearly $200,000 but, in his own words, raised ‘millions and millions more.’”
The article also said that Robert Rubin,
Instead of looking at both sides, Keteyian grilled Kenneth Langone, co-founder of Home Depot and a Giuliani fundraiser. Keteyian insinuated that Langone wanted something in return for raising money for Giuliani, even though Langone was at one time estimated to be worth $1.2 billion and ranked as one of the richest people in the world by Forbes Magazine.
“Well, I would consider it one of the most disrespectful things for me to do – to take money from my friends to get something for me,” Langone said. “They shouldn't get the edge if they raised money, but they shouldn't be punished if they raise money either.”
According to an October 2 Reuters report, Hillary Clinton raised $27 million during the third quarter of 2007. The CBS report indicated that GOP candidate Fred Thompson raised only $8 million. Still, Thompson’s contributors were examined more thoroughly by Keteyian than
