They Need The Money
by digby
Eric Boehlert has been closely tracking the bizarre beltway press’s attitude toward this Chamber of Commerce scandal and comparing it to the non-stop frenzy of the 90’s in which they chased every silly GOP allegation of “foreign money.” (My personal favorite was the hysteria over Gore’s appearance at a Buddhist temple in which it was alleged he took illegal Chinese contributions. It was idiotic, and the money involved was peanuts, but it didn’t stop the press from slavering over it for years.)
The Beltway press coverage of the still-unfolding U.S. Chamber of Commerce story continues to be quite timid and overly deferential toward the powerful, pro-business lobbying group. Legitimate questions have been raised about some of the money the Chamber has raised and whether it’s being used as part of a massive $75 million attack campaign targeting Democrats this year. The question is, does some of the Chamber money come from overseas, and if so why is the Chamber using foreign dollars to influence U.S. campaigns? As noted yesterday, today’s timidity stands in stark contrast to the Clinton `90’s, when the press corps ran itself ragging, eagerly chasing similar allegations about overseas dollars being spent to influence stateside elections. Back then when the charges were lodged against Democrats, they were taken extremely seriously. So, if that was the standard then, why are so many in the press basically playing the role of stenographers today and simply dictating the Chamber denials, and why aren’t reporters doing original work to advance the Chamber story? (For now, that task has been left solely to ThinkProgress.) The nothing-to-see-here-folks message is impossible to miss in recent coverage.
Yes it is. But a smart commenter of mine pointed out that this might not be Clinton Rules or even the usual Villager social bias. This Chamber money is being used for a very specific purpose — advertisements. In these lean economic times, it’s not impossible to believe that the media behemoths simply don’t want to kill this golden goose. After all, in our American Corporateocracy, we now have such companies openly contributing to political parties.
This possible explanation simply can’t be dismissed.
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