On Corruption

Corruption of three different kinds caught my eye tonight:

• Ignorance and what some might call crass political calculation, in an apology issued by Harry Reid related to racially-charged comments he made privately in 2008, exposed in a new book, and
• Greed and what some might call paranoia, in a profile in the New York Times of the man behind Fox News, and
• Closed-door arm-twisting and what some might call shady deals being made in Talking Points Memo's update on the health-care negotiations.

Of the three, Harry Reid's is probably the worst, with Roger Ailes in second place and the Congressional leadership taking third.  The US House leadership is advocating for a tax on the wealthy to pay for the health care reform, and they are taking their case public in some ways.  This is good, but it gives the appearance of an unseemly mess being made of the legislation.  Appearances can be deceiving, though, and in this case I think the behind-the-scenes negotiations are necessary to allow leaders to speak more freely about what they really want.  If this were in front of cameras, as some people want, it would force the politicians into even more posturing and posing than is now going on.