SUBSIDY FARMING

Who Cares If DeLay Bullies Lobbyists? It's better than the other way around (Timothy Noah, Slate, 7/11/03).

Viewed from this angle, the threat posed by the DeLay-Santorum-Norquist "K Street Project" doesn't seem particularly great. Is it sleazy? Absolutely. Chatterbox would prefer that DeLay be indifferent not only toward business lobbyists' political affiliations, but also toward their campaign contributions and—most especially—toward their opinions about how legislation should be written. But that isn't going to happen. (Setting aside the job-placement component, it didn't happen when the Democrats controlled the House, either.) If one side in this transaction is going to give orders to the other, Chatterbox would much prefer that democratically elected members of Congress be the ones giving the orders. Better that K Street bend over for DeLay than that DeLay bend over for K Street.

People who think that businessmen control politicians because of where the money flows must think that cows control farmers because of where the milk flows. Posted by David Cohen at July 15, 2003 7:31 PM