Soccer Dad

The baleful effect of corporate influence on electoral politics

Two items in the news recently showed the bias and the power of the press.

The Politico reported yesterday (via memeorandum) that former Senator George Allen of Virginia plans to run to win his seat back from Jim Webb in 2012. What sunk Allen's campaign four years ago?

An Allen entry would set up a dramatic rematch against freshman Webb, who capitalized off a mistake-ridden Allen campaign in a contest that was once thought to be out of the Democrat's reach.

Allen -- who until that time had been widely mentioned as a prospective 2008 presidential candidate -- came under scorching criticism after he called a Webb video tracker "macaca" in a clip that eventually went viral on YouTube.

Notice there's nothing here about the Washington Post's efforts to blow the story out of proportion. The Post, which was no fan of Allen, used its power to sink his campaign.

In other news yesterday, we learned that the Feds are investigating former Senator John Edwards ( via memeorandum).

A federal grand jury in Raleigh has been investigating Edwards, a former North Carolina senator and 2004 Democratic candidate for vice president, for more than a year. They've been focused on the possible mis-use of campaign contributions.

According to a source, when that process wrapped-up, prosecutors in Raleigh sent the case to the Department of Justice in Washington for a review. The Justice Department then told prosecutors in Raleigh to interview more people and get more information about the people who donated money to help Edwards' former aide Andrew Young, his wife and Hunter live a life on the run.

You will recall that no major media outlet investigated Edwards, except for the National Enquirer, which broke the story of his infidelity.

Two years earlier, Evan Thomas of Newsweek admitted (excerpt from Instapundit):

MR. THOMAS: There's one other base here, the media. Let's talk a little media bias here. The media, I think, wants Kerry to win and I think they're going to portray Kerry and Edwards I'm talking about the establishment media, not Fox. They're going to portray Kerry and Edwards as being young and dynamic and optimistic and there's going to be this glow about them, collective glow, the two of them, that's going to be worth maybe 15 points.

And thus no "respectable" news organization investigated Edwards.If it hadn't been for a scandal sheet, Edwards might now be a cabinet secretary. HIs behavior - which was a lot worse than a stupid phrase from Allen - was of no interest to the media, because he was a Democrat. So they protected him.

The New York Times has been railing about the Roberts court a lot lately and how its ruling has allowed the power of corporate money to influence elections. I do believe that there's a big problem with corporate influence in our electoral process. But a big part of that corrupt influence hides behind the first amendment.

Of course the media isn't the least bit shy about its bias. That's why these comments are worth highlighting.