Thursday, March 17, 2005

Campaign Finance Reform, or something like it . . .

This is big. The current campaign finance reform law, which as we've recently seen did nothing to improve the perception of trustworthiness of politics and just maybe made things worse, was all a structured, intentional exercise in pulling the wool over the eyes of Congress. (Apparently not very tough to do if you have the money to do it.)

Take a look at this report. You can follow the path to get a full transcript if you don't want to believe the report. In fact, on the web you can find partial videos of the insider explaining exactly how they did it.

The result? Sens. McCain and Feingold, who had been jes' itchin' to look like leaders, got in front of what they thought was parade of interested constituents coming up from the grass roots. They sponsored and got passed some legislation to provide campaing finance reform, in accord with what they thought a whole lot of of citizens wanted. But there was no actual big parade. The wide-spread support was faked. Notice that it worked in Congress, and then again, it worked in the Supreme Court.

Okay, we have to live with the unintended and unexpected consequences of McCain's grandiosity.

But notice this. First, the mainstream press had in their hands all the information necessary to break this story at the time the legislation was being considered. It didn't either because the reporters weren't smart enough to see the significance of what they knew, or else they flat didn't care. But second, the mainstream press, for all its self-congratulatory fist-pumping about its investigatory abilities, still hasn't reported this story, much, even after it's been handed to them. (The story is contrary to the mythology currently adopted by the press.)

Morons.

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