DNC Devises Plan to Stand Firm Against Lobbyists — While Taking their Money
By Deb Cupples on June 5, 2008 at 4:10 PM in Current Affairs
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) needs oodles of cash to pay for TV ads, to help Barack Obama beat John McCain in November. Now, more than ever, the DNC needs a First Rate Fund Raising Plan.
This was made necessary after millions of ordinary democrats closed their wallets to the DNC. Apparently, they’re still upset because DNC leaders disenfranchised Florida — that and many ordinary Dems simply don’t grasp the Hyper-Sophisticated Math that DNC leaders relied upon when tallying the one half of Michigan’s primary votes that the DNC was willing to count.
Whatever one does, some out there just has to gripe. If it’s not voting rights, its shoddy health care or costly wars. You can’t please everyone.
Back to my point: the DNC needs a First Rate Fund Raising Plan (FRFRP, pronounced Furfurp), and it has come up with one. McClatchy’s blog reports:
"Barack Obama will announce today that the Democratic National Committee will no longer accept donations from federally registered lobbyists or political action committees, his campaign said this morning. No word yet on whether that applied at last night’s $28,500-a-pop DNC fund-raiser at which Obama appeared in New York City.
"The new limits expected to be announced would conform to Obama’s own self-imposed campaign finance standards, in which currently federally-registered lobbyists are out from contributing but state-registered lobbyists or the spouses of federal lobbyists or
lawyers affiliated with firms with federal lobbyists still can give.“’The rules that have applied to the Obama campaign will now apply to the DNC,” said Obama campaign spokeswoman Linda Douglass. (McClatchy)
I already hear the Doubting Thomas voices mumbling things like, "But Obama’s rules
allowed him to take money even from non-working spouses of lobbyists;
even from law firms who make millions off lobbying; even from lobbyists’ clients, whose checks the lobbyists will bundle for the DNC; even from….
And several sources would agree with that (e.g., USA Today, LA Times, SourceWatch, Newhouse News Services, Chicago Tribune).
But please withhold judgment for a moment and hear me out, because I can counter the arguments of those who doubt that the DNC’s new Furfurp will work.
Fact: most voters pay no attention to where politicians get their money.
Fact: most voters don’t understand why special-interest dollars cause problems for us taxpayers.
Fact: most voters get political "information" in sound bites from the TV, while they’re washing lettuce for their dinner salad.
Fact: most media will continue to lazily fail — or intentionally refuse — to explain the corrupting influence of special-interest dollars on our government.
In short, most voters are not likely to catch on to the realities any time soon.
That being the case, when most voters hear about the DNC’s new Furfurp, they will get this impression: "The DNC is refusing to take dirty money from lobbyists."
You doubt me? The Associated Press ran this headline just today: "DNC Bans Lobbyist Money…"
Many voters will jump to this conclusion: "Oh good, the DNC is taking a stand against corruption."
Here’s the brilliant part of the DNC’s new Furfurp: while the DNC convinces voters that it is fighting corruption, the DNC will — in fact — still be vacuuming up oodles of cash (albeit indirectly) from lobbyists, PACs, and corporations run by people who would knock down their grandmother with a sledge hammer if she stood between them and a pot of money.
Sigh. Now I’m hearing people say things like: "The Furfurp is dishonest and fake and very Karl Rove; how can the DNC even consider such a plan?"
My response: why waste time focusing on the Negative Nellie view? Let’s look forward and focus on the more positive, half-full view.
Winning is what matters. If one has to drop a few principles on the battlefield, so be it. There’s no law stopping anyone from scouring the war-torn landscape, after the battle is over, in a quest to reunite with said principles.
Sure, the thousands of bloody corpses strewn about may pose obstacles, but they are minor. My only hope is that our leaders will show signs of due care and respect when shoving the carcases out of their way.
Just trust me: the DNC’s new Furfurp is a fine plan. The only way it could be foiled is if three things happen:
1) if the Republicans discover the true nature of the Furfurp,
2) if the Republicans squawk about the Furfurp to the media, and
3) if the media diligently gives coverage to the Republicans’ objections.
Admittedly, Numbers 1 and 2 are likely to happen — but (as I said) all three things have to happen to foil the Furfurp.
Given how most media covered the Democratic primaries (and Election and the Iraq war, for that matter), Number 3 is an enormous long shot.
In short, the DNC has the odds in its favor.
That said, I congratulate the DNC on its First Rate Fund Raising Plan. If I had a flute of Champagne, I’d be raising it and saying:
"Here’s hoping the DNC can pay for TV ads and defeat McCain, whom we could never tolerate in the White House — if only because he has taken tons of special-interest dollars and would likely push public policy that serves those special interests instead of the public."
Memeorandum has commentary.
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