Hey, kids — The Hill found something the Democrats lead in! By a two-to-one margin, Democrats lead Republicans in… (can you hear the drumroll I’m tapping out on my desk?) in… money from foreign-affiliated PACs!
Here’s what’s up:
Democratic leaders in the House and Senate criticizing GOP groups for allegedly funneling foreign money into campaign ads have seen their party raise more than $1 million from political action committees affiliated with foreign companies.
House and Senate Democrats have received approximately $1.02 million this cycle from such PACs, according to an analysis compiled for The Hill by the Center for Responsive Politics. House and Senate GOP leaders have taken almost $510,000 from PACs on the same list.
Shady foreign interests are buying our elections!
Well, no. Of course not. This kind of thing is entirely harmless, has been going on forever, and if you look at the numbers, insignificant in an election cycle with more than $4 billion in total spending. And yet, according to another report from The Hill, the White House is still pushing the Chamber of Commerce scare story:
White House Senior Advisor David Axelrod continued the administration’s offensive against the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and conservative groups Sunday, saying there had to be a shady reason behind non-disclosure of donors who were helping fund the groups’ campaign ads.
Like last Sunday, when Axelrod told CBS’ Bob Schieffer that the burden was on the Chamber to disprove the allegations, Axelrod did not offer proof of the claims that have become a Democratic talking point in the last weeks before crucial midterm elections.
On CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday, Axelrod instead told host Candy Crowley that journalists needed to probe the source of the groups’ donations.
This is a losing issue. Or at best it’s no winner, because stories like the first one I quoted above neutralize it immediately. Not to mention the Obama camp’s iffy history of taking donations directly from foreign sources, in violation of campaign finance laws. So why is Axelrod back out there again today, still pushing on that string?
You can rack it up to tone-deafness, or desperation, or setting the stage for future excuse-mongering. Or a mix of all three.
And if this is how Obama & Co flail while they still enjoy sizable majorities on Capitol Hill, imagine how ugly things are going to get after November 2.
On second thought — don’t imagine it. It’s too early even for me to get stinkin’ drunk.
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