How the Game is Played, Part 576

Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.


A few hours ago Felix Salmon wrote a post about the fate of financial reform in the Senate:

Are there really Republicans who would stick their neck out and filibuster a financial-reform bill aimed at reining in Wall Street? Voting against it is one thing, but killing it with a filibuster is surely not a vote-winner anywhere in the US right now.

I mentally shrugged when I read that because the answer is pretty obvious: Republicans will simply portray any Democratic bill not as something that reins in Wall Street, but as a convoluted Beltway boondoggle that puts government bureaucrats in charge of the banking system, kills off credit to Main Street, stifles economic growth, destroys jobs, and shovels money into the hands of favored interest groups. Fox and Rush and the Journal will all sing along, tea partiers will start demonstrating against it, and before long it will get to the point that not only will Republicans filibuster it, but half the Democratic caucus will join in.

In other words, just another day at the office. But no! Apparently I’m still not cynical enough. A few minutes later I was reading Jon Chait’s blog, and it turns out that the right-wing “Committee for Truth In Politics” — George Orwell would be pleased by the homage — is already running TV ads that don’t merely portray the reform bill as bad for the economy, but specifically as a bailout for Wall Street bankers. The ad has been running in ten states for the past week, according to the Campaign Media Analysis Group. Factcheck.org has the dope here.

And that, boys and girls, is how the game is played.  Just portray a bill meant to rein in banks as a bill meant to bail out banks and see if the noise machine plays along. If it doesn’t, try something else. Maybe suggest that instead of protecting consumers, it will remove consumer protections. Or that instead of regulating derivatives, it will set them free. Simple. Why bother making up complicated lies when simple ones will do just fine?

PLEASE—BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things it doesn’t like—which is most things that are true.

We’ll say it loud and clear: At Mother Jones, no one gets to tell us what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. The deadline’s almost here. Please help us reach our $150k membership goal by May 31.

payment methods

PLEASE—BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things it doesn’t like—which is most things that are true.

We’ll say it loud and clear: At Mother Jones, no one gets to tell us what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. The deadline’s almost here. Please help us reach our $150k membership goal by May 31.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate