You've heard about Dick Cheney's golden handshake with his oil-drilling Halliburton Company when he left to run for vice president. But have you heard how Halliburton, on Cheney's watch, doubled its government contracting to $2.3-billion, while Cheney himself was building his personal fortune toward $50-million. File it under: the oil agenda, or money interests in politics, and how we tend to ignore them.
There's been more talk about Cheney's lesbian daughter and his loathing of big government than about his corporate entanglement in US loans and contracts. As with Bill Clinton: it's easier to talk about sex in the Oval Office than about the Democrats' debts to Wall Street, Hollywood and trial lawyers. What if Campaign 2000, like politics in general, really is "the conduct of public affairs for private advantage." Who's buying whom this season, and why? We're following the campaign money, this hour on the connection. (Hosted by Christopher Lydon)
