Friday, January 6, 2012

Iowa: The Meaningless Sideshow Begins | Matt Taibbi | Rolling Stone

Iowa: The Meaningless Sideshow Begins Matt Taibbi Rolling Stone

Those numbers tell us that both parties rely upon the same core of major
donors among the top law firms, the Wall Street companies, and business leaders
– basically, the 1%. Those one-percenters always give generously to both parties
and both presidential candidates, although they sometimes will hedge their bets
significantly when they think one side or the other has a lopsided chance at
victory. That’s clearly what happened in 2008, when Wall Street correctly called
Obama as a 2-1 (or maybe a 7-3) favorite to beat McCain.


The 1% donors are remarkably tolerant. They’ll give to just about anyone who
polls well, provided they fall within certain parameters. What they won’t do is
give to anyone who is even a remote threat to make significant structural
changes, i.e. a Dennis Kucinich, an Elizabeth Warren, or a Ron Paul (hell will
freeze over before Wall Street gives heavily to a candidate in favor of
abolishing their piggy bank, the Fed). So basically what that means is that
voters are free to choose anyone they want, provided it isn’t Dennis Kucinich,
or Ron Paul, or some other such unacceptable personage.


If the voters insist on supporting such a person in defiance of these donors
– this might even happen tonight, with a Paul win in Iowa – what you inevitably
end up seeing is a monstrous amount of money quickly dumped into the cause of
derailing that candidate. This takes overt forms, like giving heavily to his
primary opponents, and more covert forms, like manufacturing opinions through
donor-subsidized think tanks and the heavy use of lapdog media figures to push
establishment complaints...

...It was always annoying when these two parties and the slavish media that
follows their champions around for 18 months pretended that this was a colossal
clash of opposites. But now, with the economy in the shape that it’s in thanks
in large part to the people financing these elections, that pretense is more
than annoying, it’s offensive.


And I imagine that the more they try to play up the drama of these
familiar-but-empty campaign rituals, the more irritating to the public it will
all become. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if, before the season is out, the
campaign itself will become a hated symbol of the 1% -- with the conventions and
the networks’ broadcast tents outside the inevitable "free speech zones"
attracting protests the same way the offices of Chase and Bank of America did
this fall.


Or maybe not, we’ll see. In any case, the dreary campaign to choose the next
imperial administrator -- the One Percent-Off, let's call it -- starts tonight.
It’s the same old ritual, but I just don’t think it’s going to fly the same way
this time around.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/iowa-the-meaningless-sideshow-begins-20120103#ixzz1ig1IWGo4

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/iowa-the-meaningless-sideshow-begins-20120103#ixzz1ig0oioUq

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