President Clinton continues to make me sad:
And you just can't be carried away by some of these things. I saw – y'all seen this television ad on, where Hillary's opponent says I don't take money from oil companies? You seen that? Well, that's a good thing, but guess what? No living person who's ever run for office has done that. It's been illegal to take political contributions from oil companies for 100 years. It's almost like saying, you know, 'Vote for me, I brush my teeth every morning.' Or, 'Vote for me, I never robbed a bank.'
When Senator Obama says that he doesn't take money from oil companies, he clearly means oil company PACs and lobbyists. It's legal to do that, Mr. President. And Senator Obama doesn't. But fairness and reality from an ex-president against a candidate of his own party appears to be irrelevant when desperation kicks in.
For what it's worth, here's Senator Clinton's business contribution breakdown:
$1,157,939 total PAC contributions
$435,158 from business PACs
$865,290 from lobbyists (more than any other candidate of either party -- more than Romney and Giuliani combined)
$309,363 from Oil & Gas (individuals and PACs -- Senator Obama refuses money from Oil & Gas PACs)
Senator Clinton's Top Contributors:
DLA Piper $495,550
Goldman Sachs $440,300
Citigroup Inc $388,052
Morgan Stanley $385,420
EMILY's List $323,242
Lehman Brothers $264,610
JPMorgan Chase & Co $258,120
National Amusements Inc $227,800
University of California $223,667
Skadden, Arps et al $218,485
Greenberg Traurig LLP $191,100
Kirkland & Ellis $186,551
PricewaterhouseCoopers $185,000
Time Warner $182,150
Microsoft Corp $175,419
Merrill Lynch $172,900
Ernst & Young $157,575
Latham & Watkins $155,088
Bear Stearns $152,090
Cablevision Systems $148,263
Just so you know.