Sunday Roundup

In the wake of Sen. Ted Stevens' indictment, his GOP colleagues quickly began distancing themselves from the stink by dumping campaign contributions Stevens had doled out through his PAC. Among those playing "Take Back the Money" were Mitch McConnell, Elizabeth Dole, and John McCain. We've seen this game before, when politicians scrambled to rid themselves of donations from Enron and Jack Abramoff. Indeed, Dole has now won the Tainted Money Triple Crown, having divested herself of money from all three. The beauty of this D.C. dance is that it is always accompanied by insistent claims that political contributions have absolutely no impact. But no one ever explains why, if the money doesn't buy influence, there is such a rush to return it. Perhaps the answer can be found on Stevens' Bridge to Nowhere.

Comments

[Arielman]

I once took a Greyhound through the swirling dust of Mt St. Helens to work in Skagway, Alaska where Mae West once stood, Chalie Chaplin made the "Gold Rush" and Stan Laurel was in a film by himself to work one summer in historical archaeology on the Moore Cabin and first railroad in Alaska in the Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park. They had just unoffcially opened the road to Whitehorse, where the narrow gauge railroad goes, then hauling preprocessed molybdenum ore out of Canada to storage and freighter for the Japanese steel industry. On 9/11/01 two Korean 747s were ordered to land there at Whitehorse, Yukon, one thought mis-signalled "hijacked" and a German charter airliner (20 jumbo jets in Gander, NFD) at an airport ill-suited, lacking adequate radar, etc.

My point is that there's about 90 miles to Juneau, the state capital of Alaska, and no road! All travel into and out of the international railhead and road terminus, (was that Saudi prospecting Land Rovers I saw that summer?) is by ferry, you would think that instead of the "Bridge to Nowhere" he would have invested in a "road to the Capital". I flew into the small grassy field.

[philobama]

I wonder if Stevens provides cover for other shoes to drop this fall? He has been an easy case for ages. Why now?

[DaphnesDad]

The main reason that lobbyists hold such influence is due to the outrageous costs of getting re-elected, of which television advertising is at the top of the list. However, ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, don't own the public airwaves, we ALL do!!

The problem is that political advertising is such a cash cow for the networks that they've forgotten this fundamental fact. And the FCC lets them get away with it!!

If free TV advertising were made available to major political candidates, I think the dependence on lobbyist's cash would definitely be diminished.

Just look at how elections are conducted in countries like Great Britain and Australia!! The election cycles in those countries is relatively short and sweet, a model for what the electoral process in the US should be like!!

[pico]

Amazing. What a love fest.

[DaphnesDad]

The late, great, and sorely missed Molly Ivins once wrote in one of her books that if you ever want to gage how a politician will behave once elected, "Look at his record, Look at his record, Look at his record!!"

While no one is entirely untainted, the differences between McCain and Obama are clear: when Obama finished law school (at Harvard, no less) I'm sure the could have landed a cushy job making six figures or more in some prestigious law firm. Instead, he devoted his life to community organizing and trying to make his neighborhood a better place.

McCain's record is one of a party-boy underachiever, who ditched his wife and traded her up for a someone more beautiful and mega-rich. That's what his former wife got for sticking by him while he was imprisoned in Vietnam. Without taking anything away from the horrific conditions he endured as POW, I'm sorry, but that one experience doesn't qualify him for sainthood, especially when he's undone his reputation with his sorry post-Vietnam record as a Senator.

We're all human, even Obama, and I would predict that the coming months will show even him to be an opportunist when it's convenient. But I think Obama is, at his core, a decent person and I can't imagine a better person being elected to the highest office in this country.

[TurgidCaterwauling]

Neither party is blameless. Both are filled with manipulators, liars, and crooks. The GOP, however, has been particulary insidious. They continue to play on the fears of Americans with reminders of 9/11, they are particularly adept at invoking religion when it suits their purposes, and they are masters of labeling anyone critical of America as anti-American. Political corruption is an affront to the people.
Failing to report gifts or income, equates to tax evasion, which is stealing from the people's bank, which is a crime against the nation. Perhaps political corruption should be regarded as treason instead of hand slapping.

[catzoned]

I don't know if it is the same as tax evasion but it certainly is an example of corporate pollution in politics.

[lovethesinner]

Bill Moyer's piece with Former Sen. Fritz Hollings explained things from an insiders viewpoint:

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07252008/watch3.html

[JohnnyBoyyy]

EXACTLY!!!

Wonderful and refreshing "lovethesinner"! And thanks for making me remember that most of our elected officials are basically good Americans. Now, and I really think this to be true, Mr. Obama represents our best chance to change how America does business.

Don't tell me that a sit down meeting with a President Obama and people like Mr. Hollings would not result in major changes to the election process. This one change would set in motion an acceptance by all Americans that Mr. Obama has the intelligence and conviction to slowly, but steadily, use the power of the office to make life better for EVERY American.

Mr. Obama has shown all his life that the diversity and adversity he faced growing up made him a strong, compassionate choice to lead the greatest nation that even our forefathers could have never imagined.

This is OUR Time - This is OUR Moment!

Obama '08!!!

[stolidus]

I really do hate to find myself taking pleasure at the trouble of others. However, in this case I can't help but smile, with just a little guilt.

The reason, I think, that Republicans run so fast and hard from news like this is that they cannot use their favorite (perhaps only) political strategy to deal with it - reframing. They have not found, nor are likely to find, an effective way to frame corruption as a virtue.

They have managed to re-frame the most central tenets of the Constitution as naivety, anti-intellectualism as patriotism, internationalism as treason, and popularity as evidence of a lack of merit. However, they haven't managed to come up with a good one for taking bribes.

[Danny]

stolidus -- We will have the squeakiest clean Dem congress after this. There will be no fun at all starting now. And I am a bleeding heart Dem!

[Pat15]

Many good comments .... Look at the last 7 years and see how much pain Bush has brought to our nation ... This adminstration has not done an iota of help for its citizens ... Now we re suffering the consequences of our actions by electing these Repugs ... Hope that the Joe citizen learn something and will reflect on this ... otherwise we are in for more pain and may fall off the cliff ... Amen

[Oridaman]

I was a political science major in college and one of the classes I took was the first day the instructor asked the class, "What is the first job of an elected official?" Nobody knew the answer. He said, "To get reelected!"

To quote David Byrne, "Same as it ever was, same as it ever was."

[1LTUSMC]

I have always wondered that if the money donated to political candidates wasn't meant to influence their votes then why do the lobbyists stand in line holding out cash every time they get within spitting distance of anyone wanting to get elected or reelected.

Thank you AH for asking and answering the question.

[appleknocker]

Reminds me of a song from "Guys and Dolls":

Take back your mink;
Take back your pearls;
What made you think
That I was one of those girls?

[bluff]

It seems to me that the Framers set up a federal legislative body to be composed of persons representing the interests - financial, social and/or political - of those who voted them into office.
Other than that, they have no function.

Through the years the original rationale behind the set-up, basically a good one, has played out until today when the only 'interests' served are those of constituents with the deepest pockets.

Somebody said that a government, any government, is only as 'good' as the people running it. I think it was the same 'somebody' who also concluded that a dictatorship run by a benevolent dictator is the most efficient, most beneficent form of government going.

[letsgetsmart]

Darn, another money conduit exposed. No problem, they have many more. Talk about a vicious circle, tons of money is paid to the msm for air time and they back Mac and the rest of the republican agenda. The republicans make it possible for the msm to charge huge amounts for the democratic process to function and our candidates have to pay that amount on our airways for second rate exposure to the public which owns the airways. By donating to our candidates, the republicans are taxing us on our decreasing incomes and the money goes right back to them through the msm which doesn't want our candidates to do well. There are so many similar examples such as the republicans making it possible for the oil companies to make record setting profits which are then given to them as campaign donations and once again we are taxed on our decreasing incomes every time we fill up. In so many ways, we are paying the republicans to continue to rob us, the people that work in their companies and make their profits for them.

[munkeyfuk]

Amen, why do we allow it to continue?

[PrincessZelda]

Why? I don't know, but "how" is because "we" the citizens pay for it. Every time we pay our taxes (not just on April 15 but throughout the year with other federal taxes, visible or hidden) we give the weasels a fresh set of gold-plated keys to the henhouse. For the rest of the year we cry "Oh how could this have happened!!"- and then we do it again. If Congress and the rest of government won't be responsible with our money, maybe we should hold onto it, the same way you would do if your kids were spending your money stupidly.

[Taan]

Politics, certainly at the federal level, is organized crime and as such, it's primary concern is money: the accumulation, transfer and allotment. Power proceeds from this activity. The only permanent way to effect change is to remove money from the equation. Starting with public financed elections, overhaul of the voting apparatus, and severe fines for those subverting the democratic process. This necessary surgery could take a generation of elections to cure the cancer which has metastasized throughout the American political process. Finally, the electoral college which outlived its original intent over two centuries ago must be abolished. This, too, will consume much future agonizing and restructuring.