White House Beef With U.S. Chamber Escalates in Politico Writers’ Fevered Imagination
Politico, which usually makes politics pleasingly smutty, has gotten very good at drumming up controversy then writing follow-ups on the controversy it invented.
Today, we have Web site founders Jim Vandehei and Mike Allen speaking for 75 minutes (!) with U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue about the White House’s “campaign” to undermine his organization.
This comes as several prominent power and technology companies have fled the chamber over its opposition to climate change legislation.
Why Allen and Vandehei felt they had to accede to the Chamber’s demands that Donohue speak to important reporters instead of Lisa Lerer, who’s been doing all the work on the issue, we’re not sure.
But the story that follows is not worth their effort. We get statements like this:
Donohue made plain he believes the White House, or at least its closest allies operating on the outside, are behind a very orchestrated campaign to embarrass and undermine the Chamber.
The campaign, you should note, is “very orchestrated”.
We’re genuinely curious about whether Donohue used the word “campaign” to describe the White House beef with the Chamber. Elsewhere, he seems to be saying he doesn’t want to tussle with the administration, saying “Look, I am not getting in a fight with those guys.”
In any case, this White House jihad, or whatever, apparently came to light when Lerer quoted Obama adviser Valerie Jarret saying she wants to directly to business owners and executives. The new piece is short on details of White House actions against the Chamber, if indeed there has been any.
At long last though, Donohue gets to the point of his interview – plugging the Chamber’s $100 million Campaign For Free Enterprise fundraising effort.
There is no news here. Move along.
