Presidential candidates raise big cash fast — but from whom? And why?

A magician who seeks to retain his (or her) illusion for — and thus control over — the audience uses sleight of hand and misdirection. In the modern political era that began in earnest with the 1994 mid-term elections, a Republican majority in Congress mastered that art using the textbooks authored by former House speakers Newt Gingrich and Tom DeLay. Although that majority has evaporated, the Democratic successors have continued to play three-card monte with the best of the GOP.

Terry Schiavo. Abortion. Stem-cell research. Gay marriage. Immigration reform. Osama. The “war on terror.” The Iraq war. Corruption (Cunningham and Jefferson et al.) Ethics reform. Sex scandals (the House pages and Vitter). Scooter Libby and Plamegate. Global warming (er, climate change). The dancing denials of Alberto Gonzalez. Vice President Cheney’s non-executive executive branch. Impeach the bastards, etc.

These are serious subjects, of course, or so intones The Media (a.k.a. the magician’s assistant), charged with telling the audience why it ought to be worried about them and why it ought to vote for The Right — or The Left — to make sure that Subject X doesn’t happen again. It doesn’t matter which party’s talking; each has a tall tale it sells, er, tells to the audience.

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