Pepsi: Partying With "The Most Powerful Man in the Most Powerful Country in the History of the World"

The New York Observer is reporting PepsiCo has already spent $50,000 to reserve the Metropolitan Museum of Art for a party during the Republican National Convention. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, PepsicCo has given the Republicans over $1.4 million over the past four years in soft money. During the same time, the Purchase, NY-based company gave the Democrats about $250,000.

Pepsi's bash at the Met will be one of many corporate-sponsored party/lobbying sessions during the Convention. The New York Observer also reports Verizon will host a party at the Tavern on the Green and AT&T is setting its eyes on the Central Park Zoo.

When the Observer asked Bill Harris if these parties are just another effort for corporatiosn to lobby politicians, here's what he said:

"I know that there are a lot of pseudo-intellectuals who like to talk about that, and like to complain about the lobbyists and the fund-raisers. I think that is very superficial...

When you’re talking about that in the context that this is the most important country that’s existed ever in the history of the world right now, and that this will be the most powerful man in the most powerful country in the history of the world, it seems a little superficial to say these aren’t important tasks to be carried on."

Hmmm.

Without sounding too much like a pseudo-intellectual perhaps it should be noted -- as the Bush administration just announced a war against obesity -- that PepsiCo and the soft-drink lobbying arm, the National Soft Drink Association, are at the forefront of the movement to keep soft drinks and candy in schools. The Association has repeatedly released studies that attempt to prove obesity and drinking of soft drinks are not related. In a recent letter to the government the group wrote "NSDA believes that soft drinks can be part of a healthy, balanced diet given the importance of daily fluid consumption and the body’s daily need for energy."