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07-25-2014, 07:07 PM #1
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Laura Ingraham: The right’s new enemy No. 1: How the Chamber of Commerce became toxic
Laura Ingraham shared a link.
Friday, Jul 25, 2014 07:43 AM -0400
The right’s new enemy No. 1: How the Chamber of Commerce became toxic
Tom Donohue's pro-business lobby has long been a top GOP ally. Here's how any association with it became poisonous
Jim Newell
Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Tom Donohue. (Credit: Shizuo Kambayashi)
Rep. Kerry Bentivolio is a freshman House Republican who’s facing a primary challenger on Aug. 5. Yesterday afternoon, he pulled what some might call a “campaign stunt.” He returned, and made a big fuss about returning, a Chamber of Commerce “Spirit of Enterprise” award given by the top business lobby earlier this year. Not that it’s much of an award — the Chamber gave them to 205 members this year, and Bentivolio got one even though the Chamber has endorsed his primary opponent.
Bentivolio announced that “it is with great pride that I reject their award, and call on them to stand on the side of America, instead of on the side of China and corporate interests seeking to exploit people for profit.” His chief of staff was even more efficient: “The US Chamber is in the pocket of Communist China and big companies seeking cheap labor in the United States.” Bentivolio, according to the Washington Post, also “criticized the Chamber for supporting the comprehensive immigration bill that passed the Senate last year.”
Invocations of “Communist China” are a time-tested sign that a close election is down the home stretch. What’s newer, though, is the toxicity of the Chamber of Commerce, one of the GOP’s most traditionally loyal allies.
The Chamber’s president and CEO, Tom Donohue, and its political director, Scott Reed, chose this election cycle to help “establishment” candidates against “Tea Party” insurgents — or, more accurately, to usher the most electable GOP candidates through their primaries, lest any “goofballs” blow the party’s chances of winning control of the Senate yet again. The effort has mostly worked, as the Chamber helped secure primary victories for its candidates in North Carolina, Kentucky, Iowa, South Carolina, Mississippi and elsewhere.
Until recently, it’s been better to be the primary candidate with the Chamber’s money, even though that comes with the risk of being labeled the “establishment” candidate and suffering a grass-roots backlash. But now it’s starting to look like the costs are outweighing the benefits.
Earlier this week, the Chamber endorsee, Rep. Jack Kingston, suffered a mildly surprising defeat in the Georgia Senate runoff against businessman David Perdue. The Chamber had spent millions for ads backing Kingston’s campaign. Kingston also had a lot of “Tea Party” support — although neither of the two runoff candidates grass roots’ top picks. And yet Perdue was able to pull it off. RedState’s Erick Erickson, a Georgian and a Kingston supporter, argued that Perdue’s final ad push to make Kingston “own” the Chamber endorsement put him over the top.Every night for the last month on my show I’ve gotten the same concern on the phones, in emails, on twitter, on Facebook, etc. Kingston had the Chamber of Commerce’s endorsement. The Chamber of Commerce is bad on immigration. Therefore Kingston would be bad on immigration. In fact, his opponent and now the GOP nominee for the Senate in Georgia made a point to tell people that Kingston was the Chamber endorsed candidate. His closing argument in advertising made Kingston own the endorsement.But why are attacks against Chamber-endorsed candidates more effective now than they were earlier in primary season? Chalk it up to a couple of factors.
I tried pointing out that Kingston had consistently opposed amnesty, but it did not matter. After the Mississippi Senate primary, the conservative voters in Georgia were having none of it.
In the last two weeks, David Perdue made hay out of walking out of his meeting with the Chamber. He claimed the Chamber wanted him to vote with them 100% of the time. He would not.
That message resonated. Kingston was the career politician in the pocket of the Chamber and would pass amnesty.
The first is something Erickson mentions: “After the Mississippi Senate primary, the conservative voters in Georgia were having none of it.” The Mississippi Senate primary, in which Sen. Cochran and his backers expanded the electorate to win the nomination, was the Chamber’s last big primary victory. And because of the way in which it was won — “stolen!” — it may, in fact, be the Chamber’s last big primary victory.
And then there’s immigration. If someone had suggested earlier this summer that the anti-amnesty fever among the Republican base would somehow run even hotter, it wouldn’t have seemed possible. And yet here we are! The border crisis, and belief among the GOP rank-and-file that the promise of impending “amnesty” are the “magnet” that’s drawing thousands of child migrants to the southern border, has made anything even approaching support for comprehensive immigration reform a complete no-go for Republican politicians. It was the border crisis that forced John Boehner to (officially) bury immigration reform legislation’s prospects for the indefinite future. As comprehensive immigration reform’s toxicity level — again, somehow — rose to previously unseen levels, so too did the Chamber’s for supporting it.
The Chamber is fortunate that its right-wing vilification didn’t reach this sort of status until late in the primary calendar, after it had already catalogued an impressive number of victories. But it may want to keep its opinions to itself, for a while, at least. Because if we’re not there yet, we’re nearing the bizarre reality where the Chamber’s endorsement, of candidates or legislation, is a kiss of death — among Republicans.
Jim Newell covers politics and media for Salon.
More Jim Newell.
http://www.salon.com/2014/07/25/the_..._became_toxic/Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)
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07-25-2014, 07:13 PM #2
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If you advertise through the Chamber of Commerce I will go out of my way to AVOID your company's products; if you associate, do business through them; you must be toxic as well. If you think we are not paying attention to what companies use the CoC you would be mistaken. Go to your local CoC web page and find out what companies do NOT need your cash flow
Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)
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07-25-2014, 07:15 PM #3
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GOP lawmaker returns award to protest Chamber of Commerce’s immigration policy
Jul. 24, 2014 3:18pm Pete Kasperowicz
Rep. Kerry Bentivolio (R-Mich.) said Thursday that he refused to accept an award from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce because of that group’s position on immigration, and called the Chamber the “biggest pro-amnesty group” in the country.
“The Chamber of Commerce is beholden to special interests and has long since forgotten the main street businesses that struggle everyday to make payroll and keep their company afloat,” Bentivolio said. “It is with great pride that I reject their award, and call on them to stand on the side of America, instead of on the side of China and corporate interests seeking to exploit people for profit.
U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Thomas Donohue, second from left, runs a group that supports immigration reform. That position led one GOP lawmaker to reject an award from the Chamber. Pool/Getty Images
“I am with main street, not Wall Street.”
Bentivolio’s chief of staff, Rob Wasinger, added that the Chamber is “in the pocket of Communist China and big companies seeking cheap labor in the United States.”
“We think it is morally repugnant for the chamber to pursue, as a matter of public policy, initiatives which exploit the poor and oppressed, just so they can keep labor costs down for their fortune 500 member companies,” Wasinger said.
The Chamber was trying to give Bentivolio the Spirit of Enterprise Award.
Several Republicans have turned on the Chamber after the group came out in favor of the immigration legislation passed by the Senate. Many GOP members say the Senate bill would legalize millions of additional non-U.S. citizens to work, at the expense of millions of Americans who have been out of work so long they are no longer looking for work.
The labor force participation rate in the U.S. has fallen to historic lows over the last few years. But while Republicans say Obama’s immigration policy and expanded federal regulations are the reason why millions of people aren’t working, the White House has said it’s because people are aging out of the workforce, and not enough younger immigrants are being allowed into the country.
http://www.theblaze.com/blog/2014/07...ration-policy/Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)
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07-25-2014, 07:35 PM #4
The chamber is pro-greed anti American worker just that simple.
I'm old with many opinions few solutions.
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