Should CNN's presidential pollster be the same guy who is a notorious FOB, FOH, and FOBDD? That is, Friend of Bill Clinton, Friend of Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Friend of Big Dog Democrats (such as Terry McAuliffe)? The polling company in question is Opinion Research, which, thanks to plucky bloggers, is finally being revealed as the scandalous conflict of interest that it is. To put it bluntly, no news network should have such a tight financial relationship with a company controlled by someone so closely connected to one party.
Opinion Research is owned by Vinod Gupta, pictured above, with one of Big Friends, the Indian-American businessman from Omaha, Neb. Gupta has bought his way into friendship with Bill and Hillary Clinton. Oh, did I say that? Well, it's true.
As Mike McIntire of The New York Times details, Gupta spent, literally, many millions of dollars wooing the Clintons and other top Democrats, plying them with campaign donations, "consulting" contracts, etc. Indeed, he just hired, to take the latest example, one of Nancy Pelosi's sons. No doubt he was the most qualified person, anywhere, for the job!
The Times makes a passing, but telling, reference to Gupta's wheeling in politics and dealing in media: "Because of those close links with Democrats, he stirred conflict-of-interest questions by buying a company that does presidential polling for CNN."
If the media were doing their job right, the Clinton's overall relationship with the Indian business community would be a huge story--maybe even a scandal-story, with millions of dollars coming to Dems from India, and in return, millions of American jobs going to India.
As it is only a few have taken note, including, interestingly, A the Barack Obama campaign, which jibed at Sen. Clinton as "D-Punjab"--recalling a joke that she herself had made at an Indian-American fundraiser. But although Obama was raising legitimate points about outsourcing as an issue, he was quickly shouted down by the MSM. Now, Obama seems content, to run for an honorable second-place showing in the '08 primaries, in hopes of being picked, maybe, as Hillary's vice president.
And so in the meantime, only a few other observers, such as Jim Pinkerton of Newsday,and "Fox News Watch," have called this Clintons-Indian relationship into question.
Maybe the media--MSM plus the blogosphere--will eventually get to the bottom of the Clintons' relationship with Gupta and India. Surely it's as least as interesting a topic as, say, Jack Abramoff.
But in the meantime, we Cable Gamers should keep asking why CNN has made itself into a willing sidebar to Gupta-gate.
