Follow the (Very Small Amounts of, From Ordinary Politically Engaged Citizens) Money

Not to overload you all with NIXONLAND references, but man is the media carousel stuck on stupid. Atrios flags this L.A. Times pseudo-exposé on how the masses of ordinary citizens flocking to donate to the progressive presidential candidates in modest, non-plutocratic amounts exposes "flaws" in the campaign finance system. The article describes Obama's frightening "fundraising prowess"—when's the last time you've heard the word "prowess" used to describe anyone other than a charismatic Negro—and goes on to whine that "the FEC cannot conduct an audit unless there are significant questions about a candidate's fundraising."

L.A. Times, 1972 called! They want their false equivalence back!!

McGovern started using the word "Watergate" on the campaign trail, and the number $300,000, the amount Post reported the President's re-election campaign had earmarked "for sensitive political projects." The language was always received boomingly by Nixon-hating Democratic crowds. That was as far as the enthusiasm went. For every newspaper article about the investigation, there seemed to be an equally prominent piece casting aspersions on the Democrats' probity. The Government Accounting Office was supposed to be releasing an audit of Nixon's donations. On the day of Nixon's nomination, the bureau postponed its release. Larry O'Brien, reported a two-paragraph item on page 39 of the Times, charged the White House was using "every ounce of political muscle" to block it. The report found eleven "apparent and possible violations of the Federal Election Campaign Act." Nixon responded that both parties may have committed some "technical violations" and Stans said "the strong and persistent pressures placed on the GAO by the Democratic members of Congress" and "McGovern campaign operatives" were responsible for "innacuracies in the report." He asked for an audit of the Democrats. McGovern said he'd welcome it.

There followed a cavalcade of page 1 headlines: "G.A.O. Is Auditing McGovern's Books"; "Dole Charges 7 Violations of Election Act"; "Inquiry By GAO: Democratic Funds Probe Finds Technical Violations." One article, "McGovern Mail Lottery Charge Being Studied," followed up the charges of "apparent illegality" after McGovern announced he would pick 250 names at random from his hundreds of thousands of small contributors for a Andrew Jackson-style "People's Dinner Party" in the White House." A Republican congressman called that "a clear-cut case of dangling special favors and privileges in return for a political campaign contribution...a desperate, shabby inducement and the lowest insult yet to the American voter."