Electoral Math
Reality-Based^TM Political Numbers from Nicholas Beaudrot

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Pile-On

Back in the '90s—you remember, our long national nightmare of peace and prosperity—the most prominent Federal issue was the mammoth lawsuit against tobacco companies for marketing to minors, making false and deceptive claims about the health risks of smoking, and so on. The Clinton administration focused on the tobacco lawsuit for multiple reasons; smoking is a very serious public health concern; the revenue from the tobacco lawsuit could, in theory, go towards funding various health care initiatives; and picking a fight with Big Tobacco was good politics in the soccer-mom era.

Enter President Bush. Obviously he couldn't just drop the lawsuit outright; that'd be terrible politics, if not obstruction of justice. But he could gut the case from the inside. First they tried to de-fund the Government's side of the case. When that didn't work, then Attorney General John Ashcroft leaked word that the Government might settle. Somehow, that never came to pass. But as the trial wound down in the Summer of 2005, the Government experts suddenly reduced the value damages award they sought from tobacco companies ... by $120 billion. Public health watchdogs intervened, but this sort of interference certainly wasn't new. It got bad enough that the lead prosecutor resigned.

Now that Congress is criticizing Alberto Gonzales, said lead prosecutor has gone to the Washington Post with her complaints of political interference. Unsurprising, to say the least.

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Last updated by Nicholas Beaudrot on 11:15 22 March 2007