ABC News’ political blog, The Note, pointed out last week that Paris Hilton was issuing policy statements while John McCain was nominating his wife for a topless beauty contest. The world has turned upside down. Who could blame a person for thinking that chronicling such oddness is beyond the skills of simple journalists? This is a job for the novelists. Here, for example, is something straight out of Tom Wolfe’s “Bonfire of the Vanities.” Are you ready for this? The Wall Street Journal reports that, “At a time when scores of companies are freezing pensions for their workers, some are quietly converting those pension plans into resources to finance their executives’ retirement benefit and pay. In recent years, companies from Intel Corp to CenturyTel Inc. collectively have moved hundreds of millions of dollars of obligations for executive benefits into rank-and-file pension plans. This lets companies capture tax breaks intended for pensions of regular workers and use them to pay for executives’ supplemental benefits and compensation.” And how about this: On the campaign trail, McCain has been sounding like Sinclair Lewis’ Elmer Gantry, preaching the gospel of oil drilling. Sure enough, like all other evangelists who promise heaven and pass the collection plate, the offerings roll in. The Web site Campaign Money Watch reports that companies lusting to drill offshore have been raining dollars on McCain ever since he saw the light. ...
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ABC News’ political blog, The Note, pointed out last week that Paris Hilton was issuing policy statements while John McCain was nominating his wife for a topless beauty contest. The world has turned upside down. Who could blame a person for thinking that chronicling such oddness is beyond the skills of simple journalists? This is a job for the novelists. Here, for example, is something straight out of Tom Wolfe’s “Bonfire of the Vanities.” Are you ready for this? The Wall Street Journal reports that, “At a time when scores of companies are freezing pensions for their workers, some are quietly converting those pension plans into resources to finance their executives’ retirement benefit and pay. In recent years, companies from Intel Corp to CenturyTel Inc. collectively have moved hundreds of millions of dollars of obligations for executive benefits into rank-and-file pension plans. This lets companies capture tax breaks intended for pensions of regular workers and use them to pay for executives’ supplemental benefits and compensation.” And how about this: On the campaign trail, McCain has been sounding like Sinclair Lewis’ Elmer Gantry, preaching the gospel of oil drilling. Sure enough, like all other evangelists who promise heaven and pass the collection plate, the offerings roll in. The Web site Campaign Money Watch reports that companies lusting to drill offshore have been raining dollars on McCain ever since he saw the light. ...