GE is on the road to getting some new contracts in Russia…Seems they were held up for a while, till ohhh, last week or so.

-I worked for GE as a contractor for a couple of years. (Nuke research in San Jose CA) I liked it a lot.

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@MataHarley: “Believe what you like “

Not hard to do since the evidence is so easy to see with my own eyes.

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Mike, I did not call Immelt specificially a “conservative yard ornament”. I called the entire 2nd string panel a “yard ornament” with a few “conservatives” on it… most notably their council head, Paul Volcker.

The rest? Believe what you like.

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[...] Flopping Aces notes the power GE has in comparison to some corporations vilified by the left. Halliburton comes to mind: Democrats used to complain about Halliburton’s influence and profit from government connections during the Bush years. But Halliburton, at #167 on the Fortune 500 list pales in comparison to the impact that #6 G.E. can wield. And if our liberal friends would dispute that then, answer me this: how many news networks does Halliburton own? [...]

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@MataHarley: I’d be the last person to bash corporate America. But it’s undeniable that GE has been hijacked by Immelt and his crew and they are using their corporate power in a way that is corrupt.

I don’t know how you can call Immelt a conservative “yard ornament.” He’s no Jack Welch and he never will be. Go ask G.E. shareholders if you want to know more about that.

Separate out the issue of denying this ad to run on NBC if that makes it easier for you. I only included that in this piece because it highlights their bias against conservatism. ABC isn’t relevant to that issue.

It is undeniable that the world’s 6th largest corporation is using it’s television news assets to further it’s global political agenda by supporting Obama.

This has very little to do with how much they gave to Republicans vs. Democrats over the years.

This isn’t your father’s G.E. anymore.

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O’Reilly I’ll skip. Gets on my nerves anymore, and really poor at his research. Beck’s a regular with me. I’ve seen his stuff on this. I also saw Beck try to get his very conservative guests to agree with him on the “root of healthcare”, Goolsby and the evil brother Emanuel…. which they didn’t. It was not a good segment for Glenn… that one. Kinda blew his little tree drawing on the blackboard. Not that I don’t agree basically with Glenn on many things. Let’s just say we often come to the same conclusion, but via a different path.

So no, Mike. I don’t think GE’s “working hand in glove with the Obama Administration” with political subterfuge… at least in the way you infer. If you think the refusal to run this ad is your proof, along with Immelt’s presence on the very ignored Economic Recovery Advisory Board, then how would you explain ABC doing the same, yet not being owned by GE?

And about Immelt and the ERAB… they can’t get the big zero’s big ears for a moment, and there’s some that are *very* pissed about that. Paul Volcker, the panels head, most notably. In fact, Volcker and Summers were going head to head about delays Summers caused in spring, and the ERAB didn’t even hold their first formal meeting until May. There’s also some very good people on that board… Volcker is among the tops of them. No liberal nanny big government type is he.

Problem is, they are merely WH yard ornaments… there for “show”, and to make the conservatives happy the Zero has a 2nd string of advisors that include some conservative thinkers. Too bad they won’t heed his/their advice. Looks good on paper, but they are powerless and.. yes, I said it.. ignored.

Despite the above, what I *do* think is that GE is simply taking care of business.. but not necessarily by refusing to run ads. That’s a bit overt, don’t you think? Too risky politically for a company that traditionally is right down the middle of the road in their political support. They most certainly know that all pundits and bloggers would jump on the refusal to run the ads.

GE is in the media business, as well as the energy business, as well as the… well, you get the drift. All “evil big corporations” push money to politicians, and generally to both sides. That’s why you see that Bush was also a serious benefactor from GE. Was he “in bed” and “working hand in glove” with Dubya too? If it’s yes to the 0 admin, it’s also yes to the W admin.

For a bit of history, per OpenSecrets 2008 records, GE was heavily investing in the Dems and Obama. Everyone wants to back a winner and everyone also knew that it was uphill for GOP, and especially uphill with McCain as the GOP candidate. Big surprise, eh?

But when you look at 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2006, you’ll see that for most of all years, they were invested more in the GOP (save one.. 2004 where it was a closer, but still favored GOP)

i.e. they piled their cash behind Bush re’election, and only gave Kerry Senate campaign cash. They gave only a token amount to Howard Dean for President during that primary.

It comes down to this, Mike. I’m not much of a “big corporation” basher… no matter which side of the aisle they tend to favor. I don’t think you’ve ever seen me attack big business here… nor are you likely too unless they are pure corruption. (ACORN comes to mind, but they are a non-profit piece of scum).

But reality dictates big corporations generally favor the side of the aisle that’s in power, or most likely to obtain power. They are in business to *stay* in business. Watch the winds shift, and then watch their money follow. They’re a dying breed, along with evil big oil and the evil rich people. Obama’s American doesn’t allow a future for corporate American. And until Obama and his anti-capitalist buds can destroy corporate America, he suckles at their breasts for cash… as long as that suckling also nurtures the company. Otherwise they turn on him. In this case, GE stands to gain from energy since they’re on that path anyway, and the Obama admin wants to give them cash. But then, he’d give them cash anyway as a heavy hitter company in that genre.

So nope… don’t take the bait on this one. You won’t coax me into bashing evil corporate America. But very nice presentation. :0)

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[...] Flopping Aces » Blog Archive » G.E. World’s 6th Largest Corporation Unmasked as Obama Front Grou… http://www.floppingaces.net/2009/08/28/g-e-worlds-6th-largest-corporation-unmasked-as-obama-front-group – view page – cached #Flopping Aces RSS Feed Flopping Aces » G.E. World’s 6th Largest Corporation Unmasked as Obama Front Group Comments Feed Flopping Aces Arafat Dead at Last Beware Obama’s September Surprise — From the page [...]

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@MataHarley: Are you trying to suggest that GE is not working hand in glove with the Obama Administration and is not using it’s NBC and MSNBC networks to further their political/financial interests?

If so, you might want to tune in Bill O’Reilly and Glenn Beck on the subject.

Sorry if I haven’t made the case rock solid. Surely, I thought everyone knew all about GE being in bed with Obama by now?

P.S. G.E. may be a fine company. But it has been hijacked by the left. You might have heard about some of the shareholder meetings where conservatives were shut out.

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As a matter of fact, GE has a net zero smart grid home prototype. I actually support the idea of upgrading individual homes to be energy self sufficient over replacing massive, expensive grids with alternative energy sources. If homes could be retrofitted individually, and affordably, we wouldn’t have to do whit to the grids.

Dunno, maybe it’s being the daughter of a long time GE employee, plus my penchant for Nipper working for JVC so many years as well…. but I rather like GE and it’s innovations in many arenas.

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Mike, GE has been in the media business for decades. They also formed RCA here in America (separate from the original Japanese… which is why Nipper was shared for a time) and AT&T. They are also a credit card firm for Dillards Dept store, have life and mortgage insurance companies, and medical software.

They also contributed heavily to Dubya… to the tune of $1.1 mil for his 2000 Presidential campaign.

American Voter is also correct that they have a history of government contract work. I should know since my mother worked for the GE plant in Florida for over 40 years, where they were building patriot missiles for the DOD and many were unknowingly exposed to radiation and toxins. Plenty of lawsuits went down for that, not to mention the site clean up from the old plant. When I’m in Florida, I often drive by to check the place out. Remember occasionally going there as a kid… at least as far as I could get in with the security.

I understand that ABC also refused to air the same ads critical of O’healthcare. ABC happens to be owned by Disney. So what’s their reasoning and inside quid pro quo?

So I guess I’m really trying to sort out your beef with GE specifically who, like any large media corporation, donates to political candidates and has executives that make really dumb business decisions at times. Can’t see the big connection between Obama’s health care ads, and government contracts for energy (or other military parts) that they may get anyway.

And perhaps you should expand your post to include ABC and their exclusion as well.

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