Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
Here's the thing about corruption in Illinois politics: the key words are pay-to-play. Sure, we'll give you state contracts, but you'll have to do something for us in exchange. Kick back a cut of your profits. Get my son-in-law a job in your firm. Raise a ton of money for our war coffers. Something like that
( Read more... )
On the one hand, I think this signals an admirable reluctance on the part of McCain/Palin to play Rovian politics, because Rove's playbook never runs out of attacks, ever. On the other hand, crooked Chicago politics is what this observer would call low-hanging fruit.
Also, this isn't the first time Republicans have crafted an attack campaign based on Vietnam-era divisions--remember when George Senior attacked Bill Clinton for being a "draft dodger?" And let's not even get into the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth [sic]. But I think that plan fails every time*, because far more people fall on the side of Vietnam-era protesters than the Republicans imagine. (Even I was surprised by how little people seemed to care about the Bill Ayers connection--the fact that Obama's middle name is Hussein seemed to be a much bigger deal.)
*I don't think John Kerry lost because of the Swifties, but rather because he's spineless. In fact, I think he was set up to fail, to buy time for Hillary Clinton's presidential run.
Speaking of Hillary, I'm not sure what you mean here:
I am certain, for instance, that Obama paid Hillary's campaign expenses and received her endorsement because he cut the deal with her then to be Speaker of the House Secretary of State. (I assume that's what you meant.)
Hillary Clinton's campaign cost $212 million, a little over $11 million of which came from her own pocket. Are you suggesting that the Obama/Biden camp reimbursed her for that?
Reply
Leave a comment