Media Forgets That Wall Street Rip Off Artist is BIG Democrat Donor

December 15, 2008 | Filed Under Business, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Corruption, Media Bias, News, Publius Contributor, Society/Culture, The Law, Warner Todd Huston |

-By Warner Todd Huston

The wires services and the rest of the Old Media have also been reporting on a scandal that doesn’t have to do with Illinois Governor, Rod Blagojevich. But, like the Blago story line, the media seem to be forgetting one small aspect of the story of Wall Street rip off artist Bernard Madoff. Like Blago, Madoff’s connections to the Democrat Party seem to be of little interest to the media.

Very few media stories of the fraud perpetrated by former Nasdaq chairman Madoff mentions the heavy financial support that Madoff has donated to the Democrat Party. Campaign contributions by Madoff show many thousands of dollars going to Democrat candidates and causes. Including $100,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign, thousands to Charles Rangel (D, NY), Charles Schumer (D, NY), and $6,000 to the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. Madoff also gave generously to Senator Frank Lautenberg (D, NJ) who runs a charitable foundation that invested with Madoff.

With the money that Madoff spread around in contributions is it really surprising that his actions went ignored by regulatory agencies?

In any case, the media seems wholly uninterested in the fact that Madoff is a big Democrat contributor. I found no mention of Madoff’s past support of the Democrats in any of the following stories.

The Associated Press: “List of potential victims grows in NY fraud case“

ProPublica: “Losses Unknown From Madoff’s ‘One Big Lie’“

Gawker: “A Bloodthirsty Public Finds the Villains We Want“

The New York Times: “Standing Accused: A Pillar of Finance and Charity“

New York Magazine; “Bernard Madoff: ‘It’s All Just One Big Lie’“

Forbes: “Fleeced Madoff Investors Face Cold Winter“

… these among many others.

I found but two mentions of Madoff’s support of Democrats. One brief mention in Time Magazine and one in a Bloomberg report.

So, what we are seeing is the Old Media conveniently forgetting that this guy was a big Democrat donor. Who can doubt that if Madoff was a big donor to the GOP we’d see this fact featured prominently in every story? Yes, it’s another sad but true name-that-party parlor game.

(Photo credit: hedgeweek.com)

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Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer, has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and is featured on many websites such as newsbusters.org, Human Events Magazine, townhall.com, New Media Journal, Men’s News Daily and the New Media Alliance among many, many others. Additionally, he has been a frequent guest on talk-radio programs to discuss his opinion editorials and current events. He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the new book “Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture” which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of publiusforum.com. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions : EMAIL Warner Todd Huston

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