THE BIGGER CORRUPTION PICTURE….I briefly mentioned last night that Dems might do well to tie the Republican corruption scandal to the broader theme of Republican addiction to special business interests. Greg Sargent of the American Prospect talked to some Democratic strategists about this, and they seem to agree:
Rahm Emanuel, the head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee….”What we need to make sure we explain to voters is…’There?s a cost to this corruption, and you?re paying the bill. This comes at a cost to you ? in the form of an $800 billion prescription drug bill, and an energy bill where your taxpayer dollars are subsidizing the energy industry.’”
….Karl Agne, a senior adviser at Democracy Corps…”Pointing to the lobbying scandals becomes more potent if it’s put in a larger context of Republican fealty to special interests in energy and health care, which makes it impossible for the GOP to bring about real reform on their most pressing problems.”
….Thomas Mann, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution…”So they might be better off tying Republican corruption and incompetence to their alliance with specific sectors ? energy and health ? where individuals feel burned, rather than to a larger anti-business argument.”
Energy and health sure seem to be the consensus favorites here, and why not? People are pissed off about both high gasoline prices and the botched Medicare prescription bill, so why not point out exactly why the Republican approach to these issues was so lousy? It’s because the Republican Party considers legislation to be a vehicle for giving special breaks to favored corporate interests rather than a vehicle to actually solve people’s problems.
It might work. At the very least it has the advantage of being true.
