McCain Hearts Iraq War Profiteers

John McCain lost his maverick image long ago, and his character followed shortly thereafter. With morals and decency out of the way, the Republican nominee can do anything he chooses without taking into account the ethics of any relationship or money that comes from that. Harry Sargeant has made the news before with his interesting fundraising ideas but this story harms more than just his representation and that of his friend McCain.

From ThinkProgress:

International Oil Trading Company, which ships oil into Iraq for use by U.S. forces, “appears to have engaged in a reprehensible form of war profiteering,” according to the House Oversight Committee. The company is run by Florida businessman Harry Sargeant, who has raised at least $500,000 for Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). From Rep. Henry Waxman’s (D-CA) letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates:

[T]he prices IOTC has charged the government are not “fair and reasonable.” A “price negotiation memorandum” assessing the company’s June 2004 contract concluded that the price charged by IOTC, $2.10 per gallon of jet fuel, was at least 36 cents per gallon too high. … Of the $210 million in profits received by the company, at least one third — $70 million — appears to have benefited a single individual: Mr. Sargeant.

This corrupt bastard, who makes money from Bush's failed war is simultaneously robbing our treasury and paying a small percentage back to politicians like McCain to ensure his blood money keeps flowing in. Republicans can talk all about what Ayers did forty years ago when Obama was in grade school, but this corrupt fuel sale arrangement is going down right now and no one is doing anything about it, least of all John McCain.

McCain Donors Raise Serious Suspicions

In the last few months, John McCain and the Republican National Committee have raised a hefty amount of money for his campaign efforts. Thanks to the RNC's ability to take in $28,500 per person, the Republican machine has largely caught up with Barack Obama's fund-raising prowess. However, there are some questions about where all that money is coming...and most importantly, how it is rolling in.

From The Washington Post:

The bundle of $2,300 and $4,600 checks that poured into Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign on March 12 came from an unlikely group of California donors: a mechanic from D&D Auto Repair in Whittier, the manager of Rite Aid Pharmacy No. 5727, the 30-something owners of the Twilight Hookah Lounge in Fullerton.

But the man who gathered checks from them is no stranger to McCain -- he shuttled the Republican on his private plane and held a fundraising event for the candidate at his house in Delray Beach, Fla.

Harry Sargeant III, a former naval officer and the owner of an oil-trading company that recently inked defense contracts potentially worth more than $1 billion, is the archetype of a modern presidential money man. The law forbids high-level supporters from writing huge checks, but with help from friends in the Middle East and the former chief of the CIA's bin Laden unit -- who now serves as a consultant to his company -- Sargeant has raised more than $100,000 for three presidential candidates from a collection of ordinary people, several of whom professed little interest in the outcome of the election.

It is possible that these people skimped and saved in order to give thousands of dollars to John McCain. The problems with that idea arise when common sense is interjected into the issue. Common sense says that something doesn't smell quite right. That is where the FEC should come in and investigate how people like Sargeant can convince a Hookah lounge owner to fork over the maximum donation allowed to John McCain.