Lobbyists are people too.

"I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. . . . corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed."

-- U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, Nov. 21, 1864

Hillary Clinton. Let's not beat around the Bush here. You'd be pretty hard pressed to find anyone with any kind of influence in Washington that doesn't have at least one lobby in their back pocket.

"Yes I will because, you know, a lot of those lobbyists, whether you like it or not, represent real Americans. They represent nurses. They represent social workers. Yes, they represent corporations that employ a lot of people."

-- Hillary Clinton, upon being asked about
continued acceptance of lobbyist contributions.

It doesn't matter what the reasoning is behind it. That money is essentially bribe money. It's a way to make sure that corporations and special interest groups get what they want, regardless of how it effects the rest of the country. Michael Moore attacks this pretty efficiently in "SiCKO," pointing out everyone in government who is taking money from HMO lobbyists (including Bush and Hillary), and how that's helped dampen the rally cry for universal health coverage.

So where do I go from here?

I'm seriously at the point where I'm just going to vote for the person that is most likely to give late night talk show hosts the best material: