Well, isn't this rich? And I do mean rich. President Obama, man of the people, will deliver his presidential nomination acceptance speech at the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C. — so that Democratic Party fundraisers can reward big donors with skyboxes and other lavish perks.
As usual, the White House and its allies are trying to camouflage naked partisan money-grubbing in populist garb.
"I think this would be a great opportunity to have tens of thousands of North Carolinians and others outside of the state to see and participate in the convention process," one North Carolina Democratic Party flack told the Charlotte Observer.
But it's the heavyweight contributors, not the hoi polloi, to whom convention organizers are catering as they struggle to raise some $37 million to cover the coronation celebration's costs. The self-proclaimed Party of the 99 Percent is reportedly busy creating special-access VIP packages for the 1 percent — under the illusion of throwing open its doors to the masses. DNC officials refuse to disclose fundraising updates until after the convention, even as they champion their own "openness and accessibility."
And no doubt, Obama will use his stadium-size pulpit to "stand up" to the very same "fat cats" who'll be watching him while sipping Courvoisier in their DNC-appointed luxury seats.
Such is the audacity of progressive cognitive dissonance.
Despite the DNC's vaunted promise to ban business donations and first lady Michelle Obama's faux-folksy public relations campaign for a "people's convention," Bank of America (headquartered in North Carolina and Charlotte's largest corporate presence) will be front and center at the festivities. No surprise. The Democrats and Bank of America have maintained a long, lucrative relationship as reciprocal bailout buddies.
During the 2010 midterm elections, former DNC chairman and ex-Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine secured a $15 million revolving line of credit at BofA and then finagled another $17 million loan from the taxpayer-bailed-out bank. According to Federal Election Commission records, BofA accepted as collateral the DNC's donor mailing list. Yep, its donor mailing list for $32 million in loans. As investigative reporter Richard Pollock asked at the time: "What message does a largely unsecured $32 million credit line for the Democratic Party send to thousands of cash-starved small businesses across the nation who can't secure any credit even with tangible assets?"
Message: crony business as usual.
Bank of America is to sweetheart loans and Democratic Party payoffs as Paula Deen is to sugar and bacon grease:
— The massively troubled bank raked in a middle-of-the-night, taxpayer-funded $45 billion banking bailout in 2008 and an estimated $931 billion in secret federal emergency loans.
— In 2008, BofA's political action committee gave its biggest contributions to Barack Obama totaling $421,000.
— After purchasing junk mortgage company Countrywide, BofA agreed to pay $50 million in restitution payments for Countrywide subprime loan fraudster and Democratic fat cat Angelo Mozilo and one of his underlings.
— BofA forked over payoffs to self-declared bank terrorist outfit NACA (the taxpayer-subsidized Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America).
— BofA also capitulated to a Jesse Jackson shakedown. And it forked over at least $2 million to the ACORN Housing Corporation — which has had a long history of fraud and abuse that goes back decades.
— The financial giant teamed up with the open-borders lobby (including newly appointed Domestic Policy Council chief Cecilia Munoz's former employer, the National Council of La Raza) to offer illegal alien home loans.
No word yet on whether Obama's Greek columns from the 2008 convention will make a return appearance this fall. But if they do, they may yet be emblazoned with a new red-white-and-blue Bank of Democratic Party America logo.
Optics be damned. The coffers must be filled.
Michelle Malkin is the author of "Culture of Corruption: Obama and his Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks & Cronies" (Regnery 2010). Her e-mail address is malkinblog@gmail.com.
