November 14, 2011
— Ace I was over at the new Breitbart Embassy* in Washington DC to watch the 60 Minutes piece on Throw Them All Out with the author, Peter Schweizer. I heard, from other people, that John F. Kerry had heavily lobbied people to not run the story on him. I'm not sure if he lobbied 60 Minutes itself, but they did omit one of the most interesting scoops Scheweizer dug up.
I can't believe I'm saying this, but Newsweek covers it.
Kerry is one of the wealthiest members of the Senate and heavily invested in the stock market. As the final version of the drug program neared approval—one that didn’t include limits on the price of drugs—brokers for Kerry and his wife were busy trading in Big Pharma. Schweizer found that they completed 111 stock transactions of pharmaceutical companies in 2003, 103 of which were buys.“They were all great picks,” Schweizer notes. The Kerrys’ capital gains on the transactions were at least $500,000, and as high as $2 million (such information is necessarily imprecise, as the disclosure rules allow members to report their gains in wide ranges). It was instructive to Schweizer that Kerry didn’t try to shape legislation to benefit his portfolio; the apparent key to success was the shaping of trades that anticipated the effect of government policy.
[Some "to be fair" stuff, which I think is irrelevant, omitted.]
...
The Kerry trusteesÂ’ impeccable timing in drug company trades was evident again in 2007, when the federal government was weighing whether to discontinue Medicare reimbursement for certain anemia drugs used by cancer patients. When the government announced that it would limit reimbursements, shares in Amgen, one of the drugmakers at issue, dropped 15 percent. KerryÂ’s wife happened to be an Amgen stockholder but avoided losses; her shares, valued at between $500,000 and $1 million, were unloaded more than a week before the governmentÂ’s announcement.
As I mentioned to Steven K. Bannon**, every seller implies a buyer. Every time the Kerrys sold stocks at a very high price, given the information they knew was about to impact the stock, someone else bought those stocks at a very high price.
* "The Breitbart Embassy" is what they call their new townhouse in DC. This is not totally a pure name-drop or anything, because I have to explain context, and also, I think they want it known they now have a presence in DC and mean to make trouble.
** The Steven K. Bannon thing is actually a pure name-drop.
Posted by: Ace at
06:22 AM
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Posted by: tasker at November 14, 2011 06:26 AM (14jKX)
hmmm.. this makes me think we need a Tea Party Embassy. Convince me that we are not already a Socialist country, and I missed the revolution.
Posted by: Cherry pi at November 14, 2011 06:28 AM (OhYCU)
Posted by: Curmudgeon at November 14, 2011 06:29 AM (N47uU)
Posted by: Jaynie59 at November 14, 2011 06:30 AM (4zKCA)
Posted by: Mister Christopher at November 14, 2011 06:31 AM (cjGZv)
corporate-controlled media
As opposed to the state-controlled? If they were "controlled" by corporations in teh way folks usually mean it, I would expect them to lean right, where the money is.
Posted by: Grey Fox at November 14, 2011 06:31 AM (MSCON)
Teddy Kennedy committed vehicular manslaughter, and was rewarded by MA voters with a senate seat for life. MA - what the fuck is wrong with you people?
John Kerry married for money. dumped one wealthy wife for an even richer one. Lied about all sorts of stuff in Nam', he skipped paying his yacht tax, and now this? Ugh. Throw them all out, indeed. John Kerry and Nancy Pelosi for starters. Two of the most corrupt, wealthy, leftwing hacks ruling our lives.
Posted by: Lemon Kitten at November 14, 2011 06:34 AM (O7ksG)
Posted by: nevergiveup at November 14, 2011 06:34 AM (i6RpT)
"Scaramouche - a stock character in commedia dell'arte depicted as a boastful coward "
I know that's very old news, but why would he do that? It's always puzzled me.
Posted by: Lincolntf at November 14, 2011 06:36 AM (Qjh0I)
Posted by: dogfish at November 14, 2011 06:37 AM (N2yhW)
Posted by: Hussein the Plumber at November 14, 2011 06:37 AM (jx2j9)
Posted by: dfbaskwill at November 14, 2011 06:37 AM (71LDo)
Posted by: BlackOrchid at November 14, 2011 06:37 AM (SB0V2)
Posted by: tasker at November 14, 2011 06:38 AM (14jKX)
Posted by: BlackOrchid at November 14, 2011 06:38 AM (SB0V2)
Cause if it is the Breitbart family then they'd have to send their kiddies to school with the obama girls and wouldn't that be fascinating.
Posted by: sky at November 14, 2011 06:39 AM (oZfic)
Posted by: Brett at November 14, 2011 06:40 AM (1Q9fA)
Too bad. Incitatus would have been the perfect name. Or better yet, Incitatus' Ass.
Posted by: al-Cicero, Tea Party Jihadist at November 14, 2011 06:40 AM (QKKT0)
Posted by: Lojack at November 14, 2011 06:41 AM (ucERL)
Posted by: sky at November 14, 2011 06:42 AM (oZfic)
Posted by: Nancy Pelosi at November 14, 2011 06:42 AM (QKKT0)
Posted by: laceyunderalls at November 14, 2011 06:43 AM (d16c4)
Posted by: Hussein the Plumber at November 14, 2011 06:44 AM (jx2j9)
Posted by: Brett at November 14, 2011 06:45 AM (1Q9fA)
Then they run a story showing only the GOP (except Pelosi, who is in a safe seat.)
Viewers get the impression that most of the corruption is on the dem side.
Newsweek prints the Kerry story. Big whoop. How many readers does that magazine have left, 72? How many in Massachusetts?
Keep patting yourselves on the back. All that you are doing is handing ammo to the leftist media.
In the middle of an election year.
Why wasn't this dribbled out with democrat names first? Why give an interview without requiring some terms?
I know how this is going to turn out, and it won't be pretty.
The "Culture of Corruption Part Deux" ads are being ground out in Axelrod's studio as we speak.
None of that strategery stuff rubbed of on you or Breitbart.
Sigh.
Posted by: Miss Marple at November 14, 2011 06:45 AM (GoIUi)
Posted by: Ray Robison at November 14, 2011 06:46 AM (pn93B)
The phrase "honest graft" comes to mind.
When practiced at Tammany Hall, such graft typically involved an official's buying adjacent to, and just before, a new road or bridge project to which the official had advance knowledge.
Now that government is buying everything from prescription drugs to junk mortgages, "honest graft" includes ... well, just about everything.
Posted by: Michael Rittenhouse at November 14, 2011 06:48 AM (2Oas0)
"Senator Releases Breathtaking Report On How The Government Showers The Rich With Free Money"
Did one of you do the cover sheet?
Posted by: sky at November 14, 2011 06:48 AM (oZfic)
"Scaramouche - a stock character in commedia dell'arte depicted as a boastful coward "
I know that's very old news, but why would he do that? It's always puzzled me.
Posted by: Lincolntf at November 14, 2011 10:36 AM (Qjh0I)
Cheap shot at GWB? Not sure if the timing's right, but it was the theme of Kerry's entire 2004 campaign, start-to-finish.
Posted by: Michael Rittenhouse at November 14, 2011 06:50 AM (2Oas0)
Welcome to reality.
"America is a nation without a distinct criminal class...with the possible exception of Congress."
Mark Twain
Posted by: GnuBreed at November 14, 2011 06:51 AM (ENKCw)
Posted by: garrett at November 14, 2011 06:51 AM (uTkeF)
Posted by: sky at November 14, 2011 06:52 AM (oZfic)
@32
I thought the strategy was to drop the GOP names, get the media all outraged, and then drop the D names. Otherwise, the media might ignore the story altogether. Either way, I don't think it went as planned, but Breitbart does know strategy.
OT: Anyone have any guesses about the weird Google Earth images?
Posted by: bernverdnardo at November 14, 2011 07:00 AM (xXhWA)
Posted by: mike at November 14, 2011 07:02 AM (j1Opf)
This is why this country will soon resemble Mexico.
Posted by: ghost707 at November 14, 2011 07:02 AM (RzFXd)
Posted by: Lincolntf at November 14, 2011 07:04 AM (Qjh0I)
This is why this country will soon resemble Mexico.
Posted by: ghost707 at November 14, 2011 11:02 AM (RzFXd)
Funny you describe it that way sarcastically. In Dallas in 2010, we had a D congressman who directed federal tuition grants to members of her own family - shorting her own constituents - and she still got re-elected by a huge margin.
She's in a red district, the only one in the Dallas area, so it kind of fits.
Still, those constituents demonstrated their own hopelessness/helplessness by re-electing her.
Posted by: Michael Rittenhouse at November 14, 2011 07:08 AM (2Oas0)
I would propose that no member of Congress, or their senior staff or advisers, should be allowed to trade stocks *at all* during their tenure. Yeah, I know, "You're restricting their right to invest and make money". Well, that's just one of the sacrifices you make for getting a job as a public servant. If you don't like it, don't campaign.
Of course, the cynic in me understand that if you restrict their ability to trade, they'll just get their spouse/children/in-laws to do the trade for them. Or run it through a shell corporation, that they just *happen* to be on the board of directors for.
I guess there's no easy way to stop this. "No controlling legal authority", and all. I guess the most irritating thing about it is the smug attitude a lot of them have whilst telling us to go screw.
Posted by: Lone Marauder, pre-denounced for your convenience at November 14, 2011 07:12 AM (/bVuS)
Posted by: Cherry pi at November 14, 2011 10:31 AM (OhYCU)
He molested me!
Posted by: Hadji at November 14, 2011 07:13 AM (smit2)
That's the problem, isn't it? When so much public money is controlled by so few, corruption is not only inevitable, it's practically mandatory.
Drain the swamp.
Posted by: Arms Merchant at November 14, 2011 07:22 AM (vA8Rg)
Hey, it's already law that you or I can go to jail for getting a friend or relative to insider-trade for us. And it's not that hard to ferret-out; people have been convicted.
Gee, what happened to the idea that our Congress-Critters were supposed to live under the same laws as the rest of us?
Posted by: Arms Merchant at November 14, 2011 07:26 AM (vA8Rg)
If they have to steal faster they may steal less in total but they will care less about getting caught.
Posted by: DaveA at November 14, 2011 07:27 AM (aa/NN)
Probably just tennis behind fences but locked up for sure.
Posted by: DaveA at November 14, 2011 07:30 AM (aa/NN)
We are a strange country sometimes.
No one with two brain cells didn't realize he was a crook. It's kinda an MA politics thing. Sleaze. Kennedys. Gold plated political dynasties even on the Republican side, with very little thought for conservative policy.
We're basically two countries. Kerry would be reelected any time he wanted to be. If he were in Texas, he wouldn't have a chance.
Posted by: Dustin at November 14, 2011 07:36 AM (rQ/Ue)
Gee, what happened to the idea that our Congress-Critters were supposed to live under the same laws as the rest of us?
I know, stunning concept, right?
And I figured "insider-trading-by-proxy" was illegal, but was unaware that people had actually been convicted of it. Not being a financial genius I don't know how simple this could be to track down.
Posted by: Lone Marauder, pre-denounced for your convenience at November 14, 2011 07:55 AM (/bVuS)
I wouldn't be too hard on ol' HorseFace. Theresa wouldn't give him an advance on his allowance so he could go skiing in Gstaad.
Posted by: IllTemperedCur at November 14, 2011 08:09 AM (G+B5p)
Posted by: rockhead at November 14, 2011 08:27 AM (ZMHGo)
In Obama's America, the left is where both the money and the power is.
Posted by: Ian S. at November 14, 2011 08:32 AM (tqwMN)
I know that's very old news, but why would he do that? It's always puzzled me. Posted by: Lincolntf
The novel and movie Scaramouche probably:
"Scaramouche tells the story of a young lawyer during the French Revolution. In the course of his adventures he becomes an actor portraying "Scaramouche" (also called Scaramuccia, a roguish buffoon character in the commedia dell'arte). He also becomes a revolutionary, politician, and fencing-master, confounding his enemies with his powerful orations and swordsmanship. He is forced by circumstances to change sides several times. The book also depicts his transformation from cynic to idealist. The later film version includes one of the longest swashbuckling sword-fighting scenes ever filmed."
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Posted by: Y-not at November 14, 2011 06:25 AM (5H6zj)