Over the weekend, John Edwards needled Democratic rival Hillary Clinton over her acceptance of political donations from federal lobbyists.
Edwards drew cheers at the YearlyKos convention of 1,500 liberal bloggers in Chicago on Saturday, Rob Christensen reports.
"I don't take money from Washington lobbyists," Edwards said. "Sen (Barack) Obama, to his credit doesn’t take money from Washington lobbyists. Why don't we start today reforming the Democratic Party by all of us committing no more from this day?"
After Edwards twice raised the issue, the moderator asked Clinton about whether she would continue to accept such contributions.
"Yes I will," Clinton replied, "because you know, a lot of those lobbyists, whether you like it or not, represent real Americans. They represent nurses. They represent social workers. Yes, they represent corporations that employ a lot of people."
Clinton's remarks drew some boos.
Comments
Re: Edwards needles Clinton
August 6, 2007 - 1:49pm — ProctorGood for Hillary for speaking up for lobbyists as individual citizens in the Republic. I mean, we have sales people, we have realty experts, we have stock brokers and financial consultants. What's wrong with a little advocacy here and there so long as folks know where everybody is coming from?
Why, our lobbyists here in Raleigh are every bit as nice and personable as the ones in Washington who get villified all the time. Russell Baker once wrote that there's nobody he would rather have dinner with than a politician. To that we could add: and having a cup of coffee with a lobbyist can be entertaining and informative too.
Even if you're not holding public office or running as a candidate in some political campaign.
And even if you're going Dutch.
David McKnight--Durham