Business reacts to the populism from Huckabee and Edwards

We have heard from both John Edwards and Mike Huckabee how the corporations are making life more difficult for average Americans, and the corporations are reacting. They are going to sit down with the populist candidates and work with individuals who are having problems to make life better for the average Americans who are facing problems caused by Corporate mistakes and malfeasance.

And now that you have reacted by asking what Universe I'm living in, here is the Los Angeles Times news report on what the real reaction from the business community is.

Washington - Alarmed at the increasingly populist tone of the 2008 political campaign, the president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is set to issue a fiery promise to spend millions of dollars to defeat candidates deemed to be anti-business.

"We plan to build a grass-roots business organization so strong that when it bites you in the butt, you bleed," chamber President Tom Donohue said.

The warning from the nation's largest trade association came against a background of mounting popular concern over the condition of the economy. A weak record of job creation, the sub-prime mortgage crisis, declining home values and other problems have all helped make the economy a major campaign issue.

Presidential candidates in particular have responded to the public concern. Former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina has been the bluntest populist voice, but other front-running Democrats, including Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, have also called for change on behalf of middle-class voters.

On the Republican side, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee - emerging as an unexpected front-runner after winning the Iowa caucuses - has used populist themes in his effort to woo independent voters, blasting bonus pay for corporate chief executives and the effect of unfettered globalization on workers.

Reacting to what it sees as a potentially hostile political climate, Donohue said, the chamber will seek to punish candidates who target business interests with their rhetoric or policy proposals, including congressional and state-level candidates.

Although Donohue shied away from precise figures, he indicated that his organization would spend in excess of the approximately $60 million it spent in the last presidential cycle. That approaches the spending levels planned by the largest labor unions.

Chamber President Tom Donohue understands who owns America, and he is going to spend as much money as he needs in order to make that clear to mere uppity voters and politicians!

Did you really expect a bipartisan reaction from our corporate masters? Really?

How do you think that the members of the yesterday's "Bloomberg for President with a bipartisan cabinet" meeting or the master pundit of Bipartisanship, David Broder will deal with this?

Maybe they'll ask Donohue to compromise and only spend $30 million to defeat populists. Hey! Donohue might even deign to take their phone calls.