Wow. David Sirota lays into SELL-OUT Democrats....
Wow. We have to gasp in amazement and hold our breath..... David Sirota comes out, all guns blazing and naming names, (1) as he lays into Democrats who SELL OUT the traditional, 100+ years-old democratic or "liberal" or "Progressive" agenda, in favor of a big fat corporate bankroll, corporate lobbying jobs, and currying favor with the DC press corpse and "major media" establishment, a.k.a. "the corporate media".
Indeed, we must confess, Sirota takes what we had previously viewed as some good news - "Democrats Beat Republicans in 2005 Fundraising on Wall Street" (Bloomberg news) (2) and counter-spins it as proof, not that corporate America (even Wall St!) has become disgusted with the damage inflicted on the American economy by President Bush, the DeLay Congress, and their merry, merciless, incompetent band of thugs, but instead that Democrats have simply become better at corporate arse-kissing and playing the inside corruption game than they were five years ago.
Wow!
On economics, we reserve the space to disagree with Sirota's main economic contention that NAFTA, CAFTA, and other trade deals with foreign trading blocks are the main culprits in America's economic and trade meltdown. We are sympathetic with (even if we don't understand all the details about) John Maynard Keynes economic contentions that ISOLATIONISM and HIGH TARIFFS, along with the vengeful, ruthless, and extortionate-against-Germany Versailles Treaty ending WWI, were all partly responsible for the worldwide economic depression of 1929. Keynes resigned his post as Britain's Finance Minister in protest of the treaty when it was passed in 1919; he predicted that it would create another war on the heels of WWI in the future as an entire generation of Germans would be raised not knowing about the horrors of war, but despising the treaty noose around Germany's neck; and he predicted that isolationism and the false wealth created by those exorbitant German war reparations would lead to the collapse of French, British, and other western economies, including possibly the relatively distant America's economy. Just as the false wealth of plundered gold extorted by sword, genocide, and slavery from native civilizations in "the New World" by Spanish conquistadors and administrators, would ultimately wreck the Spanish empire's economy as well (along with a few dozen major wars along the way).
On four out of four contentious economic predictions Keynes was proved right, in addition to which he had the courage of conviction to quit a powerful job in protest, on top of which his economic policies had helped keep Britain in the fight in WWI as her economy was sapped by the terrible, never-ending (5 years) war, so even today we are inclined to give Keynes' theories and humanitarian convictions a lot of respect.
So with Keynes in mind, we feel it is not CAFTA and NAFTA (and other trade treaties) alone which have devastated the American industrial, production-based economy, but the fact that the wage, environmental, and worker's rights provisions of those treaties have been gutted or abandoned that has led to the collapse of America's manufacturing industry and wage scale. Oh... that and the fact that corporate leaders and Congress have now devolved to the point where not only is loot-and-plunder of America an everyday part of the "leadership world," (mining giveaways, forest giveaways, oil lease giveaways, Bush's $18 billion tax-rebate to America's oil companies in a year in which they saw UNPRECEDENTED PROFITS... ALL the giveaways which have created the Bush-deficits in the trillion dollar range), but in addition we are now at the point where not only does Congress and American law ENCOURAGE PROFLIGATE CONSUMPTION, but Congress and American law now actually ENCOURAGE, SUBSIDIZE, and reward the EXPORT of American jobs and manufacturing capability. EVEN in industries vital to America's defense and military technology sector!
For example, on her Air-America radio show yesterday, Randi Rhodes pointed out that President Bush and the Republican Congress actually REWARDED small firms and business owners for driving gas-guzzler monster trucks and SUVS. Even if your business was a one-man accounting firm, you could deduct the entire cost of a "Hummer" or Cadillac Escalade (or any other giant, gas guzzling SUV) over one year, instead of depreciating it over the normal 7 year scale, thus giving a $70,000 tax deduction to a small business that might not even require any auto at all! And over at the right-wing, Republican-friendly, Democrat-hating "World Net Daily" several articles illustrate that the Bush administration has been encouraging American owned companies to move their vital-to-US-defence-industry plants over to... Communist China! (3)
This two-paragraph diversion into the "outsource, import, and deficits" details of the Bush agenda does not even begin to address the job-crushing and income-crushing horrors of the Bush economy, but it does add a burden to this commentary, and it does give substance to David Sirota's main point that the corporatized Democrats ARE NOT pointing these horrors out, and certainly not in an aggressive, vocal manner to the American voting public who is reeling back on their heels as the Bush economy eviscerates whatever gains some American families made during the Clinton boom years.
Having made these economic points about trade treaties, job outsourcing, and economic and tax policies that ENCOURAGE profligate consumption, we must agree that Sirota lays out a hell of a charge; that "inside the beltway Democrats" are more concerned with currying corporate favors and huge insider lobbying fees and consulting contracts, than they are with representing the rank and file constituents out there in America-land.
And having said THAT, we must make at least one concession or acknowledgment to the corporatized Democrats and Congress: it is not entirely their fault that the GREAT AMERICAN PUBLIC prefers ENTERTAINMENT to knowing and understanding what their leaders and legislators are up to. "CAVEAT EMPTOR" as the Romans said, and if the American public WANTS to BUY the swill that the New York Times, Washington Post, Fox 'news,' GE 'news' (NBC), Murdoch, Rev. Moon, Scaife, AOL/Time-Warner, and a hundred dozen other media tycoons and robber-barons want to dish out, well, voters are grown adults who should be responsible for their actions. If Americans would prefer to sit on their sofas watching SITCOMS, SOAP-OPERAS, and SPORTS, to finding out what their legislators are doing, and where America really stands in the world, then you can hardly blame Congress for that, right?
Especially since ever Congressman, every Senator, every representative and legislator and even judges throughout America must spend at least as much time, energy, and money getting elected, as they do legislating or representing or overseeing justice. If Americans are so satiated and satisfied sitting at home on their sofas that THE ONLY WAY TO REACH THEM is by multimillion dollar TV ad campaigns, CAN YOU BLAME CONGRESS and lobbyists and the Democrats??
Well, yes.
Most Americans are busy earning a paycheck and raising families, and don't have the energy to dig into tax policy and international affairs on a daily basis. Which is why it is incumbent, in a democratic system, for the OPPOSITION PARTY (parties) TO PROVIDE SOME OPPOSITION.
A textbook political science definition of parties and interest groups holds that one of the main functions of political parties is to EDUCATE CONSTITUENTS and voters. At its simplest level, that would be Boss Tweed and the Tammany political organization standing on the docks in New York in the mid-1800s, handing out soup and items of clothing to Irish immigrants getting off their transport ships and stepping onto American soil for the first time, the Tammany men telling the new arrivals "vote for us." Certainly the modern Republican Party has mastered this communication art, and fine-tuned it to where Microsoft or Walmart look slow in communicating with their far-flung subordinates by comparison. If a new policy, opposition talking-point or (heaven forbid) scandal hits the Bush White House or Republican Party, within the hour they have orchestrated a political response. They have decided on the best talking points to support their policy or rebut the criticism; they have faxed those points over to FOX 'news' congressional offices, other Republican media outlets, and Republican think tanks, and within another hour, those talking points have been disseminated to millions of party supporters, either as "news" on TV and radio broadcasts, or as e-mails and bullet-point faxes. A single fax from Karl Rove's campaign office to Rush Limbaugh's microphone will reach at least five to ten million listeners by 3:00 pm that same day.
THE DEMOCRATS HAVE NO COMPARABLE MEDIA EMPIRE, at best the Democrats have only some diverse and uncoordinated e-mail lists, and (within the past two years) Air-America radio. It is like fighting a stronger, bigger opponent, with one hand tied behind your back!
And, as the last two presidential campaigns have shown, while Republicans have MASTERED the art of ATTACK! ATTACK! ATTACK! - throw relentless charges against your opponents, and give "your base" a steady diet of red-meat and outrage, the Democrats respond with sonorous platitudes and meaningless waffle. "Time for a change" or "we don't oppose the war, and don't call for a pullout, but we don't support it, either" is the BEST the Democrats and their $50 million per year campaign brains can come up with??!! In case the Democrats HAVEN'T NOTICED, the Republicans now enjoy a MONOPOLY CONTROL OF THE US GOVERNMENT - House, White House, Senate, federal judiciary, Supreme Court, 4th estate (and up until the Bloomberg article cited above, corporate support) - because their RELENTLESS decade-long BASH DEMOCRATS agenda, up to the point where Righty-Repubs made "LIBERAL DEMOCRAT" into a pejorative!!
WELL! Those are the caveats to our agreement with Mr. Sirota, that the "inside the beltway" structure of the "establishment Democrats" is not entirely to blame for the meltdown of the American economy and the destruction of our manufacturing base. To whit: international trade agreements with our neighbors could and should be a stimulative part of America's economy, just as tariffs and isolation contributed to the great depression; Democrats are not entirely to blame for the disinterested and misinformed (and now resentful) attitudes of the public towards economics, justice, and governance; and, indeed, the Democrats face a tremendous disparity in media resources and "mainstream media BIAS."
But having said that, Mr. Sirota is entirely correct: a HUGE part of the problem facing America today, is that Democratic "leaders," on issue after issue, crisis after crisis, constituency after constituency, PREFER TO GIVE IN to the corporate/GOP/right-wing agenda, to STANDING UP and FIGHTING IT OUT. Even with Republican SCANDALS and criminal CONVICTIONS, the Democrats can't seem to find their voice, or an articulate way to inform Americans and stoke voter outrage. By way of comparison, millions of "Righties" STILL hold that Hillary Clinton somehow had Vince Foster murdered, and that 9-11 was... Bill Clinton's fault! (Or, at the very least, that Saddam was behind the 9-11 attacks.)
And, as Mr. Sirota so explosively details, a huge part of the problem is that so many Democrat officials actually do sellout, get PAID to LIE to voters and Democratic constituencies, further enabling the Republican media bias, and UNDERCUTTING the Democratic message and Democratic unity.
(1) http://davidsirota.com/index.php/2006/04/25/mike-mccurry-is-a-dishonest-shill/
(2) http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=ann7KHncBOdc&refer=us
(3) http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=34037
<< I’d like to believe that “McCurry is a nice and a smart guy,” as Matt Stoller generously says. Call me jaded, but I’ve worked in politics long enough to know that SOMEONE WHO DELIBERATELY DECEIVES PEOPLE on behalf of Big Money interests in order to screw over average Americans may be smart, but certainly isn’t “nice” - no matter how affable he may be among his fellow elitists on the DC cocktail party circuit. >>
_________________________________________________
Mike McCurry & the Hostile Takeover of the Democratic Party
http://davidsirota.com/index.php/2006/04/25/mike-mccurry-is-a-dishonest-shill/
Since my book, Hostile Takeover, is a look at how both parties engage in corruption, people have asked me a lot lately for good examples of exactly who is leading the Hostile Takeover of the Democratic Party on behalf of Big Money interests. While there are certainly a lot of examples, today it seems the best example comes in the form of Mike McCurry. The former Clinton press secretary, who appears throughout the media billed as a party strategist, is now using his skills to try to destroy the Internet on behalf of the big telecom companies. That’s not a surprise - McCurry is now raking in cash from those companies trying to get Congress to legalize a system that would split the Internet into two classes - big corporations that are forced to fork over cash to the telecom companies in their extortion scheme, and the rest of us (for more on the net neutrality debate, see this site).
What is a surprise is how dishonest McCurry is in twisting the facts. Also shocking is how he is publishing material pushing the telecom industry’s agenda without disclosing that he is making cash off his advocacy from those same telecom companies. You’ll notice in this op-ed in the right-wing fringe Washington Times today, McCurry’s tag line lists him only as “press secretary to President Bill Clinton 1995-1998,” “a partner at Public Strategies Washington” and “co-chairman of ‘Hands Off the Internet’ which is euphemistically labeled “a policy advocacy group” - instead of a front group to push the telecom industry’s agenda.
I’d like to believe that “McCurry is a nice and a smart guy,” as Matt Stoller generously says. Call me jaded, but I’ve worked in politics long enough to know that someone who deliberately deceives people on behalf of Big Money interests in order to screw over average Americans may be smart, but certainly isn’t “nice” - no matter how affable he may be among his fellow elitists on the DC cocktail party circuit.
McCurry represents a sickening breed of operative in the nation’s capital - people who are absolutely comfortable with using their experience in public service to then shaft the very public they had previously served. That’s, of course, understandable among Republican operatives, who even in public service, don’t make much of a real effort to claim they are doing anything but trying to sell off our country to the highest bidder.
But it is particularly disgusting among so-called “Democrats” like McCurry. Their high-profile Benedict Arnold acts only reinforce to the public that the Democratic Party in Washington is just as corrupt as the Republican Party. As Hostile Takeover details, D.C. is, quite literally, swarming with former Democratic operatives who cashed in their public service to do Corporate America’s bidding. The practice is so common among Democrats it has become mundane. If you don’t think McCurry’s sickening behavior shows this, then just look at the recent launch of the “Hamilton Project” whereby a bunch of Democratic-officeholders-turned-Wall-Street-fat-cats stood up at the Brookings Institution, declared themselves saviors of the Democratic Party and then dishonestly disparaged Democrats as “protectionists” while promising to wage a war on grassroots groups like organized labor that make up the foundation of the Democratic Party.
This behavior has become the norm - not the exception - in D.C.’s Democratic Party circles. Any moral questions are about how disgusting or wrong this behavior is are seen in Washington as a cause for laughter, not pause. And that leads us to the hard truth: Until it becomes unacceptable in Democratic Party culture for high-profile operatives to brazenly sell out like this, Democrats in Washington are going to face continued - and justifiable - skepticism from the public that they represent the real “change” that the party claims.
Indeed, we must confess, Sirota takes what we had previously viewed as some good news - "Democrats Beat Republicans in 2005 Fundraising on Wall Street" (Bloomberg news) (2) and counter-spins it as proof, not that corporate America (even Wall St!) has become disgusted with the damage inflicted on the American economy by President Bush, the DeLay Congress, and their merry, merciless, incompetent band of thugs, but instead that Democrats have simply become better at corporate arse-kissing and playing the inside corruption game than they were five years ago.
Wow!
On economics, we reserve the space to disagree with Sirota's main economic contention that NAFTA, CAFTA, and other trade deals with foreign trading blocks are the main culprits in America's economic and trade meltdown. We are sympathetic with (even if we don't understand all the details about) John Maynard Keynes economic contentions that ISOLATIONISM and HIGH TARIFFS, along with the vengeful, ruthless, and extortionate-against-Germany Versailles Treaty ending WWI, were all partly responsible for the worldwide economic depression of 1929. Keynes resigned his post as Britain's Finance Minister in protest of the treaty when it was passed in 1919; he predicted that it would create another war on the heels of WWI in the future as an entire generation of Germans would be raised not knowing about the horrors of war, but despising the treaty noose around Germany's neck; and he predicted that isolationism and the false wealth created by those exorbitant German war reparations would lead to the collapse of French, British, and other western economies, including possibly the relatively distant America's economy. Just as the false wealth of plundered gold extorted by sword, genocide, and slavery from native civilizations in "the New World" by Spanish conquistadors and administrators, would ultimately wreck the Spanish empire's economy as well (along with a few dozen major wars along the way).
On four out of four contentious economic predictions Keynes was proved right, in addition to which he had the courage of conviction to quit a powerful job in protest, on top of which his economic policies had helped keep Britain in the fight in WWI as her economy was sapped by the terrible, never-ending (5 years) war, so even today we are inclined to give Keynes' theories and humanitarian convictions a lot of respect.
So with Keynes in mind, we feel it is not CAFTA and NAFTA (and other trade treaties) alone which have devastated the American industrial, production-based economy, but the fact that the wage, environmental, and worker's rights provisions of those treaties have been gutted or abandoned that has led to the collapse of America's manufacturing industry and wage scale. Oh... that and the fact that corporate leaders and Congress have now devolved to the point where not only is loot-and-plunder of America an everyday part of the "leadership world," (mining giveaways, forest giveaways, oil lease giveaways, Bush's $18 billion tax-rebate to America's oil companies in a year in which they saw UNPRECEDENTED PROFITS... ALL the giveaways which have created the Bush-deficits in the trillion dollar range), but in addition we are now at the point where not only does Congress and American law ENCOURAGE PROFLIGATE CONSUMPTION, but Congress and American law now actually ENCOURAGE, SUBSIDIZE, and reward the EXPORT of American jobs and manufacturing capability. EVEN in industries vital to America's defense and military technology sector!
For example, on her Air-America radio show yesterday, Randi Rhodes pointed out that President Bush and the Republican Congress actually REWARDED small firms and business owners for driving gas-guzzler monster trucks and SUVS. Even if your business was a one-man accounting firm, you could deduct the entire cost of a "Hummer" or Cadillac Escalade (or any other giant, gas guzzling SUV) over one year, instead of depreciating it over the normal 7 year scale, thus giving a $70,000 tax deduction to a small business that might not even require any auto at all! And over at the right-wing, Republican-friendly, Democrat-hating "World Net Daily" several articles illustrate that the Bush administration has been encouraging American owned companies to move their vital-to-US-defence-industry plants over to... Communist China! (3)
This two-paragraph diversion into the "outsource, import, and deficits" details of the Bush agenda does not even begin to address the job-crushing and income-crushing horrors of the Bush economy, but it does add a burden to this commentary, and it does give substance to David Sirota's main point that the corporatized Democrats ARE NOT pointing these horrors out, and certainly not in an aggressive, vocal manner to the American voting public who is reeling back on their heels as the Bush economy eviscerates whatever gains some American families made during the Clinton boom years.
Having made these economic points about trade treaties, job outsourcing, and economic and tax policies that ENCOURAGE profligate consumption, we must agree that Sirota lays out a hell of a charge; that "inside the beltway Democrats" are more concerned with currying corporate favors and huge insider lobbying fees and consulting contracts, than they are with representing the rank and file constituents out there in America-land.
And having said THAT, we must make at least one concession or acknowledgment to the corporatized Democrats and Congress: it is not entirely their fault that the GREAT AMERICAN PUBLIC prefers ENTERTAINMENT to knowing and understanding what their leaders and legislators are up to. "CAVEAT EMPTOR" as the Romans said, and if the American public WANTS to BUY the swill that the New York Times, Washington Post, Fox 'news,' GE 'news' (NBC), Murdoch, Rev. Moon, Scaife, AOL/Time-Warner, and a hundred dozen other media tycoons and robber-barons want to dish out, well, voters are grown adults who should be responsible for their actions. If Americans would prefer to sit on their sofas watching SITCOMS, SOAP-OPERAS, and SPORTS, to finding out what their legislators are doing, and where America really stands in the world, then you can hardly blame Congress for that, right?
Especially since ever Congressman, every Senator, every representative and legislator and even judges throughout America must spend at least as much time, energy, and money getting elected, as they do legislating or representing or overseeing justice. If Americans are so satiated and satisfied sitting at home on their sofas that THE ONLY WAY TO REACH THEM is by multimillion dollar TV ad campaigns, CAN YOU BLAME CONGRESS and lobbyists and the Democrats??
Well, yes.
Most Americans are busy earning a paycheck and raising families, and don't have the energy to dig into tax policy and international affairs on a daily basis. Which is why it is incumbent, in a democratic system, for the OPPOSITION PARTY (parties) TO PROVIDE SOME OPPOSITION.
A textbook political science definition of parties and interest groups holds that one of the main functions of political parties is to EDUCATE CONSTITUENTS and voters. At its simplest level, that would be Boss Tweed and the Tammany political organization standing on the docks in New York in the mid-1800s, handing out soup and items of clothing to Irish immigrants getting off their transport ships and stepping onto American soil for the first time, the Tammany men telling the new arrivals "vote for us." Certainly the modern Republican Party has mastered this communication art, and fine-tuned it to where Microsoft or Walmart look slow in communicating with their far-flung subordinates by comparison. If a new policy, opposition talking-point or (heaven forbid) scandal hits the Bush White House or Republican Party, within the hour they have orchestrated a political response. They have decided on the best talking points to support their policy or rebut the criticism; they have faxed those points over to FOX 'news' congressional offices, other Republican media outlets, and Republican think tanks, and within another hour, those talking points have been disseminated to millions of party supporters, either as "news" on TV and radio broadcasts, or as e-mails and bullet-point faxes. A single fax from Karl Rove's campaign office to Rush Limbaugh's microphone will reach at least five to ten million listeners by 3:00 pm that same day.
THE DEMOCRATS HAVE NO COMPARABLE MEDIA EMPIRE, at best the Democrats have only some diverse and uncoordinated e-mail lists, and (within the past two years) Air-America radio. It is like fighting a stronger, bigger opponent, with one hand tied behind your back!
And, as the last two presidential campaigns have shown, while Republicans have MASTERED the art of ATTACK! ATTACK! ATTACK! - throw relentless charges against your opponents, and give "your base" a steady diet of red-meat and outrage, the Democrats respond with sonorous platitudes and meaningless waffle. "Time for a change" or "we don't oppose the war, and don't call for a pullout, but we don't support it, either" is the BEST the Democrats and their $50 million per year campaign brains can come up with??!! In case the Democrats HAVEN'T NOTICED, the Republicans now enjoy a MONOPOLY CONTROL OF THE US GOVERNMENT - House, White House, Senate, federal judiciary, Supreme Court, 4th estate (and up until the Bloomberg article cited above, corporate support) - because their RELENTLESS decade-long BASH DEMOCRATS agenda, up to the point where Righty-Repubs made "LIBERAL DEMOCRAT" into a pejorative!!
WELL! Those are the caveats to our agreement with Mr. Sirota, that the "inside the beltway" structure of the "establishment Democrats" is not entirely to blame for the meltdown of the American economy and the destruction of our manufacturing base. To whit: international trade agreements with our neighbors could and should be a stimulative part of America's economy, just as tariffs and isolation contributed to the great depression; Democrats are not entirely to blame for the disinterested and misinformed (and now resentful) attitudes of the public towards economics, justice, and governance; and, indeed, the Democrats face a tremendous disparity in media resources and "mainstream media BIAS."
But having said that, Mr. Sirota is entirely correct: a HUGE part of the problem facing America today, is that Democratic "leaders," on issue after issue, crisis after crisis, constituency after constituency, PREFER TO GIVE IN to the corporate/GOP/right-wing agenda, to STANDING UP and FIGHTING IT OUT. Even with Republican SCANDALS and criminal CONVICTIONS, the Democrats can't seem to find their voice, or an articulate way to inform Americans and stoke voter outrage. By way of comparison, millions of "Righties" STILL hold that Hillary Clinton somehow had Vince Foster murdered, and that 9-11 was... Bill Clinton's fault! (Or, at the very least, that Saddam was behind the 9-11 attacks.)
And, as Mr. Sirota so explosively details, a huge part of the problem is that so many Democrat officials actually do sellout, get PAID to LIE to voters and Democratic constituencies, further enabling the Republican media bias, and UNDERCUTTING the Democratic message and Democratic unity.
(1) http://davidsirota.com/index.php/2006/04/25/mike-mccurry-is-a-dishonest-shill/
(2) http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=ann7KHncBOdc&refer=us
(3) http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=34037
<< I’d like to believe that “McCurry is a nice and a smart guy,” as Matt Stoller generously says. Call me jaded, but I’ve worked in politics long enough to know that SOMEONE WHO DELIBERATELY DECEIVES PEOPLE on behalf of Big Money interests in order to screw over average Americans may be smart, but certainly isn’t “nice” - no matter how affable he may be among his fellow elitists on the DC cocktail party circuit. >>
_________________________________________________
Mike McCurry & the Hostile Takeover of the Democratic Party
http://davidsirota.com/index.php/2006/04/25/mike-mccurry-is-a-dishonest-shill/
Since my book, Hostile Takeover, is a look at how both parties engage in corruption, people have asked me a lot lately for good examples of exactly who is leading the Hostile Takeover of the Democratic Party on behalf of Big Money interests. While there are certainly a lot of examples, today it seems the best example comes in the form of Mike McCurry. The former Clinton press secretary, who appears throughout the media billed as a party strategist, is now using his skills to try to destroy the Internet on behalf of the big telecom companies. That’s not a surprise - McCurry is now raking in cash from those companies trying to get Congress to legalize a system that would split the Internet into two classes - big corporations that are forced to fork over cash to the telecom companies in their extortion scheme, and the rest of us (for more on the net neutrality debate, see this site).
What is a surprise is how dishonest McCurry is in twisting the facts. Also shocking is how he is publishing material pushing the telecom industry’s agenda without disclosing that he is making cash off his advocacy from those same telecom companies. You’ll notice in this op-ed in the right-wing fringe Washington Times today, McCurry’s tag line lists him only as “press secretary to President Bill Clinton 1995-1998,” “a partner at Public Strategies Washington” and “co-chairman of ‘Hands Off the Internet’ which is euphemistically labeled “a policy advocacy group” - instead of a front group to push the telecom industry’s agenda.
I’d like to believe that “McCurry is a nice and a smart guy,” as Matt Stoller generously says. Call me jaded, but I’ve worked in politics long enough to know that someone who deliberately deceives people on behalf of Big Money interests in order to screw over average Americans may be smart, but certainly isn’t “nice” - no matter how affable he may be among his fellow elitists on the DC cocktail party circuit.
McCurry represents a sickening breed of operative in the nation’s capital - people who are absolutely comfortable with using their experience in public service to then shaft the very public they had previously served. That’s, of course, understandable among Republican operatives, who even in public service, don’t make much of a real effort to claim they are doing anything but trying to sell off our country to the highest bidder.
But it is particularly disgusting among so-called “Democrats” like McCurry. Their high-profile Benedict Arnold acts only reinforce to the public that the Democratic Party in Washington is just as corrupt as the Republican Party. As Hostile Takeover details, D.C. is, quite literally, swarming with former Democratic operatives who cashed in their public service to do Corporate America’s bidding. The practice is so common among Democrats it has become mundane. If you don’t think McCurry’s sickening behavior shows this, then just look at the recent launch of the “Hamilton Project” whereby a bunch of Democratic-officeholders-turned-Wall-Street-fat-cats stood up at the Brookings Institution, declared themselves saviors of the Democratic Party and then dishonestly disparaged Democrats as “protectionists” while promising to wage a war on grassroots groups like organized labor that make up the foundation of the Democratic Party.
This behavior has become the norm - not the exception - in D.C.’s Democratic Party circles. Any moral questions are about how disgusting or wrong this behavior is are seen in Washington as a cause for laughter, not pause. And that leads us to the hard truth: Until it becomes unacceptable in Democratic Party culture for high-profile operatives to brazenly sell out like this, Democrats in Washington are going to face continued - and justifiable - skepticism from the public that they represent the real “change” that the party claims.
posted by verifi at 5:47 AM
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