NYT op-ed on Comcast and the politicians it owns

[Otelo]

Excerpt:

"In Comcast’s case, that monopoly is predicated upon exerting overwhelming political control. Just ask anyone who lives in Philadelphia, where the shiny 975-foot Comcast Center looms over the skyline. As buttons at the 2000 Republican National Convention in Philadelphia proclaimed: “Welcome to Comcast Country.”"

Excerpt:

Starting in Philadelphia, Comcast built a hometown political machine and turned it into a national juggernaut. In 2013, the company spent $18.8 million on federal lobbying, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. That’s more than all but six other corporations. The company is also a major donor, making nearly $5.5 million in federal political contributions during the 2012 cycle.

Recipients of Comcast’s largess include President Obama and Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation in Washington, a veritable Comcast caucus. In 2011, Pennsylvania’s two senators, Patrick J. Toomey, a Republican, and Robert P. Casey Jr., a Democrat, scolded the Federal Communications Commission for taking too long to vote on Comcast’s acquisition of NBC Universal: “The American people,” they wrote, “have waited for more than a year for the benefits of this transaction to come to fruition.” The two have now joined hands across the aisle to back the Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger. And the F.C.C.’s new move to weaken the principle of net neutrality suggests that, once again, Comcast’s wishes will be granted.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/24/opinion/welcome-to-comcast-country.html?_r=1

[Cooley Hurd]

1. Let's come out and say it. Ed Rendell is their favored politician.