The Battle Of Exxon

"Exxon John"?....

Through June, Exxon employees have given Obama $42,100 to McCain’s $35,166. Chevron favors Obama $35,157 to $28,500, and Obama edges out McCain with BP $16,046 vs. $11,500. McCain leads the money race with nearly every other top giver in the oil and gas industry, though — Koch Industries, Valero, Marathon Oil, Occidental Petroleum, ConocoPhillips, the list goes on. (You can see detail on all these companies in the spreadsheet linked below.) McCain also has a big edge with Hess Corp. — $91,000 to Obama’s $8,000 — which has gotten some attention. And, overall, McCain’s campaign has gotten three times more money from the industry than Obama’s has — $1.3 million compared to about $394,000.

Comparing Obama’s and McCain’s financial ties to the oil industry, there’s no question that McCain has benefited more from the industry’s contributions, just as his Republican Party has for years and years. But Obama’s edge with the oil producers Americans know best — and might be cursing most these days — makes it harder for him to continue to tar McCain as the industry’s darling.

It should also be noted, as AP dutifully does, that the "surge" in McCain contributions from the energy sector is recent, which is to say it coincides with "him coming around to a position that 69% of the public supports." Or, in still other words, it wasn't "Big Oil" that "bribed" Darth Queeg into backing drilling, but rather the public demand for drilling driving the contributions to Darth Queeg.

It should also be noted, as J-Ger righteously did, that the Incarnation Exxon employees love so much tried to bulldoze gas station owners into running advertising that trashes their suppliers:

Gas Station TV, which provides video content on gas pumps around the country, decided against running an ad for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama [last] Wednesday saying it’s decided to stay politically neutral. At the same time, however, Obama campaign staffers are telling media they believe the refusal had more to do with the content of the ads — which attacked oil companies for creating high gasoline prices — than for simply staying away from politics.

“Gas Station TV was considering running political ads, and we have been approached by a few campaigns,” said David Leider, chief executive officer of Gas Station TV in a statement to the media. “We have made a conscious decision not to run political ads on our network, including the Obama campaign.”

But the Obama camp in Tampa Wednesday wasn’t buying it, saying the decision was one more favorable to Obama’s November 4 opponent, Republican John McCain.

So scrupulous political neutrality - to say nothing of refusing to aid and abett the transmission of blantant lies about themselves AND their suppliers - is an "in-kind contribution" to Team Sith?

Arrogance? Hypocrisy?

We report....