Barack Obama is running an ad in Pennsylvania and Indiana that makes this claim:
I don’t take money from oil companies or Washington lobbyists, and I won’t let them block change anymore.
The trusty FactCheck.org points out something Obama ought to know: of course Obama hasn’t gotten money from oil companies; corporations were prohibited from donating to presidential candidates in 1907. But Obama has received $213,000 from people who work for, or whose spouses work for, companies in the oil and gas industry. Also, two oil execs bundle money for Obama. George Kaiser, chairman of Kaiser-Francis Oil, has raised between $50,000 and $100,000 for Obama, according to the candidate’s website. Robert Cavnar, president and CEO of Milagro Exploration LLC, has raised the same.
Is Obama better than McCain when it comes to climate change? Or course, all the Democrats are/were. Have Hillary Clinton and John McCain also raised money from the oil industry? Of course. In fact, they’ve both raised more than Obama.
But Obama is the one making claims of purity. They’re claims he and his campaign must know he shouldn’t be making.
