Republican National Convention // Current

Revolution 08

Coldcut vs TV Sheriff "Revolution '08" Music Video

donkeyfly69
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Freddie Mac, AIG, JPMorgan Helped Stage Republican Convention

Freddie Mac and American International Group Inc., two companies bailed out by the U.S. government as the financial crisis unfolded, each contributed $250,000 for last month's Republican National Convention, Federal Election Commission filings show.

The money went to the local host committee for the convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, which raised $50 million. The committees can accept unlimited amounts from corporations, unions and individuals. While the donors' names were posted on the committee's Web site, the amounts they gave were not released until the FEC reports. The host committee for the Democratic National Convention in Denver has yet to file.

The U.S. government took over McLean, Virginia-based Freddie and Washington-based Fannie Mae last month, saying that a rise in mortgage defaults threatened the two companies. That same month, federal officials took control of New York-based AIG in exchange for an $85 billion loan to prevent the bankruptcy of the nation's biggest insurer.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley, New York investment banks that changed to bank holding companies and therefore put themselves under increased federal regulation, also contributed money for the Republican convention. Goldman Sachs gave $255,000, and Morgan Stanley donated $100,000. New York-based JPMorgan Chase & Co., which bought Bear Stearns Cos., contributed $100,000.

Target, Qwest, Best Buy

The largest corporate donors to the host committee were Minneapolis-based Target Corp., which gave $3 million; Denver- based Qwest Communications International Inc., with $2.9 million; and Richfield, Minnesota-based Best Buy Co. Inc., with $2.7 million.

Other big corporate givers included San Jose, California- based Cisco Systems Inc., $1.8 million; Minnetonka, Minnesota- based UnitedHealth Group Inc., $1.5 million; San Antonio-based AT&T Inc., $1.4 million; and Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft Corp., $1.3 million.

New York Jets owner Robert Johnson IV, who has raised more than $500,000 for Republican presidential nominee John McCain's campaign, contributed $500,000. The host committee also received $25,000 from the Saginaw Chippewa, an Indian tribe formerly represented by ex-Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who is now in prison. The Senate Indian Affairs Committee, then chaired by McCain, a senator from Arizona, held a series of hearings on Abramoff's representation of Indian tribes. Freddie Mac and American International Group Inc., two companies bailed out by the U.S. government as the financial crisis... more

Apocalipstick
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1 month ago

Anarchy RNC & DNC

On the streets of both Denver and St. Paul, protestors, demonstators and anarchists were out in force.

Mulcahey
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17 responses

3 months ago

Lockbox: An Anarchist Tale

As the Republicans gathered last month in St. Paul to nominate John McCain for president, so did a group of protesters determined... more

Mulcahey
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55 responses

1 month ago

Incredible documentary footage of mass arrest in St. Paul

Newly released footage, which was buried to avoid confiscation, shows riot cops arresting and abusing a giant group of people for... more

goldenways
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44 responses

2 months ago

Amy Goodman Interviewed about RNC Arrests

Personal account of misbehavior of police and secret service toward accredited journalists during RNC.

contactkatrinaford
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0 responses

3 months ago

10 speech backgrounds designed to make McCain look less pale

Best Week Ever gives us the top 10 backgrounds that could help McCain look a little more colorful.

seanalyn
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12 responses

3 months ago

Rage Against the RNC

Rage Against the Machine performs at the RNC in protest, not support. Proving to be a more hostile event, the Daily Fix shows you... more

DailyFix
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54 responses

3 months ago

McCain Speech Backdrop Mystery Solved: It Was Walter Reed MIDDLE SCHOOL

Sounds like maybe somebody forgot to double check with the Google and the InterTube....

tallygirl
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1 response

3 months ago

McCain Accepts Nomination; Vows Change is Coming

Not merely a Republican. Not merely a candidate. John McCain cast himself as a leader for all Americans, regardless of party or... more

ebindelglass
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0 responses

3 months ago

Palin's convention speech brings in cash for Obama

Sept. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin is bringing in campaign cash for the Democrats as well... more

ivxx
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32 responses

3 months ago

Campaign Update 09/04/08

Sarah Palin talks, John McCain gets ready to talk, and we talk about whether when we talk about something we're really... more

berlich
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15 responses

3 months ago

McCain moves to center stage

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Sen. John McCain of Arizona embarks on his final drive for the White House on Thursday night, accepting the... more

ivxx
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4 responses

3 months ago

Fake Soldiers, Staged Funeral Used In RNC Video

It was a video that was supposed to elicit soaring patriotism and real emotions about the Pledge of Allegiance. But to do that, it used fake soldiers and a staged military funeral instead of the real thing.

On Tuesday night, 15-year-old Victoria Blackstone, a sophomore at the St. Agnes School in St. Paul, led the crowd at the Xcel Energy Center in the Pledge of Allegiance. The audience heard her 434-word essay, “Pledging myself to the Flag of the United States of America,” an essay she’d entered it in the “Wave the Stars & Stripes” essay contest and won. The RNC turned that essay into a three and a half minute video, a visually stirring montage rolling over Victoria’s words about sharing the Pledge with Americans who have stood at important moments in history.

There’s the Continental Congress…A real WWII vet…Photos of workers at Ground Zero. A close-up of a folded flag presented to a grieving widow at a military funeral… profiles of soldiers swelling with pride in slo-motion.

But CBS News found that the footage of the ‘funeral’ and soldiers is what is called ‘stock’ footage. The soldiers were actors and the funeral scene was from a one-day film shoot, produced in June. No real soldiers were used during production.

The footage, sold by stock-film house Getty Images was produced by a commercial filmmaker in Chicago. Both Getty and the production company, Mr. Big Films, confirmed that the footage was shot on spec and sold to the Republican National Committee.

One of the actors, Perry Denton of Chicago, IL also confirmed that he was hired on a day-rate as an actor for the shoot and told CBS News he was surprised to learn the footage was shown at the convention.

A veteran’s advocate said that with soldiers still deployed and in harm’s way, there is an obligation not to sugar coat reality.

“What it does reveal is a serious lack of understanding and a lack of personal connection to the military,” said Paul Rieckhoff, Executive Director of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

Rieckhoff, who is at the convention with a contingent of veterans added that a video tribute to Medal of Honor Winner Michael Monsoor, a Navy Seal killed in Iraq, shown on Tuesday night, used combat video that appeared to him and several other veterans of the Iraq war to have been staged.

After a Web search of videos played at the Democratic National Convention last week, CBS News found no obvious use of stock footage.

The RNC did not respond to CBS News’ request for a comment. It was a video that was supposed to elicit soaring patriotism and real emotions about the Pledge of Allegiance. But to do that, it... more