In a recent Victual Reality column, I gave John McCain his due for holding fast to his positions against crop and biofuel subsidies -- even if his overall farm policies generally suck.
In an attempt to boost his flailing campaign and shore up support in the Farm Belt, the self-declared maverick may be abandoning those positions. Check out his recently announced Farm and Ranch Team [PDF]. The list veritably bristles with pro-agribusiness politicians and flacks, including may who have pimped for ag and biofuel subsidies.
We find Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R.-Big Cotton), a man who has staked his career on bringing home fat government checks to Georgia's large-scale cotton farmers; William L. Jones, chairman of Pacific Ethanol -- a company that will almost certainly fail if the government pulls the plug on ethanol goodies; and Pepe Fanjul of Florida Crystals, the biggest of Big Sugar magnates, a man whose vast family fortune relies directly on the U.S. government's sugar quotas (against which McCain has railed in the past).
Those are just names that represent ag interests McCain allegedly opposes.
Then there's Jay Vroom of CropLife America -- a pressure group representing Monsanto and other agrichemical/GMO interests; Tracy Brunner, president of Kansas Livestock Association (i.e., Big Beef); two former presidents of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association; and on and on.
Barack Obama's own list of farm supporters [PDF] hardly brings comfort, with its "Six former leaders of the National Corn Growers Association," but it's hardly the corporate-flack roster released by McCain.
New book looks at economic devastation in an Iowa meat-packing town
Farm lobby: Shoot the climate bill, but keep the Peterson goodies
Comments
View as Flat
VangelV Posted 10:58 pm
12 Oct 2008
Subsidies..
Government has no business subsidizing farmers by making consumers pay more for their food. Both parties support redistributive policies that need to be ended. Unfortunately, voters are too dim to do what they must.
Permalink
WWAGD?! Posted 2:04 am
13 Oct 2008
Barry Cracked Corn...And You Don't Care
You're ridiculous.
Barry Obama's campaign is funded entirely by Big Corn.
He comes from Illinois -- a corn state.
Permalink
RDMiller Posted 2:48 am
13 Oct 2008
re: Barry Cracked Corn...And You Don't Care
Jabailo:
Why do you continue to make useless posts that add nothing to the depth of discussion here at Grist?
I believe Saluki was just removed from this site for a similar reason. Do you not pay attention?
Three posts from you in the past hour and not one line of value in any of them.
I'm sure the management at Grist is watching you on a short string. If you don't have anything of value to contribute, why not just leave on your own...or perhaps you enjoy being asked to leave? I know I get nothing of value from your posts, and I suspect that's true for most other folks here.
Richard
Permalink
WWAGD?! Posted 3:09 am
13 Oct 2008
NYT: Obama Camp Closely Linked With Ethanol
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/23/us/politics/23ethanol.h ...
Take that, Barnacle.
http://you-read-it-here-first.com/viewtopic.php?t=559& ...
Permalink
RDMiller Posted 4:12 am
13 Oct 2008
Not worth my energy
Jabailo,
Thank you for reinforcing my point.
I'll let the powers that be decide how to handle you. In the meantime, I'll try my best to ignore you. I figure that's what most folks here are doing.
Richard
Permalink
wendigo Posted 8:31 am
13 Oct 2008
grammatically incorrect?
You don't troll for shrimp, you trawl for shrimp.
You can also troll for a troll. It's easy and fun, like this:
Boy, that Obama sure is great. Hopefully he'll put an end to this hydrogen economy nonsense, and focus on controlling sprawl.
Permalink
Biodiversivist Posted 1:27 pm
13 Oct 2008
Jabailo
That information is also contained in the PDF link in the last sentence of the original article.
I wish there were two Democrats running for office so I could vote for the one that didn't pander to corn interests. McCain has decided not to pander to corn interests for now but then, he changes stances faster than I can blink and just about as often.
In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world
Permalink
czimm Posted 12:48 pm
14 Oct 2008
question
Just wondering .... who would you think either one of them would have as supporters in agriculture? People who are not involved in agriculture at all - or just Joe Farmer? To criticize both candidates for having supporters in the agriculture industry on both sides of the political spectrum is just silly. Who do they tout as their "environmental supporters?" Just the average Joe Tree Hugger - or people with name recognition???
Permalink