Rise of the Richies

[groovedaddy]

“Career politicians in Sacramento and Washington, D.C., be warned; you now face your worst nightmare!” said Meg Whitman, at her victory speech in California this week.

Whitman, as the world now knows, is the former chief executive of eBay who won the Republican gubernatorial nomination by spending $71 million of her own money. She has said that she is prepared to spend $150 million to win the general election and the right to run a semibankrupt state with an intransigent Legislature.

The people of California may be hoping that if she wins, she’ll just pay off their deficit. As a resident of New York City, which has had a billionaire chief executive for some time, I would like to say: Don’t hold your breath.

Meanwhile, Carly Fiorina, a fellow former C.E.O., snagged the party’s Senate nomination by spending several million dollars of her fortune on last-minute ads. She was running against a well-thought-of former elected official who wasn’t particularly wealthy and was crushed, crushed, crushed. (Whitman, on the other hand, was running against another richie, who simply made the mistake of thinking $25 million would be enough to seal the deal.)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/10/opinion/10collins.html?th=&adxnnl=1&emc=th&adxnnlx=1276189210-dLcpMRVdYf76bwkUBwjVsg

[DJ13]

1. The world has gone mad

You know were in the Twilight Zone when a candidate spends $70 million (in a primary!) to win a job that only pays $210,00 per year, yet is allowed by the MSM to campaign as a "fiscal conservative".

[Ozymanithrax]

2. Clearly proof that money = free speech=free and fair elections...

:sarcasm:
(Note to any reader: Sarcasm tag added because I feared someone might not recognize scarcasm in the subject line.