"Big banks are very powerful, and they destroy politicians they don’t like. Obviously, they don’t do it directly, but operate through front groups. Some of these organizations are known as “media outlets”, such as the New York Post, which outed one of Eric Schneiderman’s lawyers as a dominatrix to embarrass and intimidate his office.
On a Federal level, the most prominent front group through which bank-friendly and corporate-friendly smears happen is the Politico, a powerful establishment trade publication that caters primarily to media insiders and politicians, but gets nearly all of its substantial advertising revenue from lobbyists seeking legislative favors. As an example, almost every single print issue from 2009-2010 had a full-page back page ad from Goldman Sachs.
Today’s online advertisers in Politico include AT&T, Altria (ie. Phillip Morris), Boeing, Lockheed,
Time Warner, and Verizon, all of whom are putting in money through yet another front group, RATE (Reduce America’s Taxes Equitably).
I’ve been hard on Elizabeth Warren for a lot of reasons, and I still don’t think she should be running for Senate. But if you want to understand how Wall Street exercises its political power, the Massachusetts race will be a great object lesson.
And lo and behold, the six most recent headlines in Politico about Elizabeth Warren are:
Or let’s look at the one on “TARP panel under scrutiny.” Notice the Congressional Oversight Panel, which Warren led, ended its work in early 2011. The media never paid much attention to the beefs by the Congresscritter from Bank of America, Patrick McHenry (the one who accused Warren of lying about scheduling in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau hearings) about the level of disclosure by the COP over how it spent its funds (the COP did provide a high level recap, but McHenry wanted granular detail). Even a casual reader of the story can see McHenry’s fingerprints all over it.
This is of course a classic effort Rovian strategy, to undermine Warren on one of her strong points, her reputation for directness and honesty. Unstated is the idea that she insisted on disclosure from Treasury on the TARP while not cooperating with McHenry’s demands..."
at http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/09/how-the-banks-take-down-politicians-elizabeth-warren-edition.html
On a Federal level, the most prominent front group through which bank-friendly and corporate-friendly smears happen is the Politico, a powerful establishment trade publication that caters primarily to media insiders and politicians, but gets nearly all of its substantial advertising revenue from lobbyists seeking legislative favors. As an example, almost every single print issue from 2009-2010 had a full-page back page ad from Goldman Sachs.
Today’s online advertisers in Politico include AT&T, Altria (ie. Phillip Morris), Boeing, Lockheed,
Time Warner, and Verizon, all of whom are putting in money through yet another front group, RATE (Reduce America’s Taxes Equitably).
I’ve been hard on Elizabeth Warren for a lot of reasons, and I still don’t think she should be running for Senate. But if you want to understand how Wall Street exercises its political power, the Massachusetts race will be a great object lesson.
And lo and behold, the six most recent headlines in Politico about Elizabeth Warren are:
Elizabeth Warren’s campaign revises pay from TARP panelLet’s look at a couple of the recent articles. You’d never know if you read the piece on the 23rd, “Warren faces surprising headwinds” that Warren had gone from being 20 points behind Scott Brown in Massachusetts polls to 2 points ahead. And what is the substance of article? Get this:
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0911/64306.html#ixzz1YqTixyKC
Warren faces surprising headwinds
Warren’s TARP panel under scrutiny
Will Warren have much Mass. appeal?
Passed over, Warren still ‘celebrating’
Warren unable to soothe Hill critics
The great irony of this is that female candidates actually have fared much better in the South, the most conservative region in the country, than they have in the Bay State.That’s an interesting factoid, but notice how the headline “surprising headwinds” suggests she is BEHIND, as in she needs to surmount the headwinds to get ahead. Now I’ll confess to having written sensationsationalistic headlines more than occasionally, but this looks an awful lot like a use of the headlines to undermine Warren (remember many readers will merely look at the headline and not read the story proper.
Or let’s look at the one on “TARP panel under scrutiny.” Notice the Congressional Oversight Panel, which Warren led, ended its work in early 2011. The media never paid much attention to the beefs by the Congresscritter from Bank of America, Patrick McHenry (the one who accused Warren of lying about scheduling in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau hearings) about the level of disclosure by the COP over how it spent its funds (the COP did provide a high level recap, but McHenry wanted granular detail). Even a casual reader of the story can see McHenry’s fingerprints all over it.
This is of course a classic effort Rovian strategy, to undermine Warren on one of her strong points, her reputation for directness and honesty. Unstated is the idea that she insisted on disclosure from Treasury on the TARP while not cooperating with McHenry’s demands..."
at http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/09/how-the-banks-take-down-politicians-elizabeth-warren-edition.html
