American Realistan

When I first began blogging back in July of 2003 on a now-defunct site, one of the reasons I gave for my doing so was that I was already aware that the news media was clearly biased in favor of George W. Bush and the Republicans. I was concerned at the time that the GOP policies would cause great harm to the nation, and that the mainstream media was ignoring this probability. Events since that time have shown that in general, I was right - not that this earns me any special distinction as I’m barely a footnote in blogging history. I’m no Kos, no Atrios, nor am I as well-known as the late Steve Gilliard.

Despite this lack of Web stature, I felt that every little bit would help, and it looks like I was correct. An ABC News/Facebook Survey has found that, for the first time in polls since 1996, Internet news sites are rivaling newspapers as Americans’ sources of presidential election news. We bloggers are also the only election news source to show growth.

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I’m writing this one on the fly, so if it’s a bit sloppy, [insert famous Steve Martin gag phrase]

Over at Citizens for Legitimate Government, Michael Rectenwald opens up an examination of why concerns over corporate sponsorship of political candidates is nothing to be concerned about:

…what we mean by “corporate” today is its popular, connotative sense. In this sense, “corporate democracy” means that our democracy has, presumably, come under the sway of corporate (business) dominance. That is, for-profit corporations control the funding, the agenda, and ultimately the politicians whom they select and ‘elect’ into office. As such, “corporate democracy” is an oxymoron. It cannot exist.

I would like to suggest to the self-styled “Dr. Rec” that maybe he’s been a bit too busy to read certain current events.

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