The New York Times has a little story today on fund-raising for Bush’s second inaugural. The story is accompanied by a list of donors, both individuals and companies, who have given $250,000 for the festivities (the official inaugural committee has the complete list). My first reaction on seeing it was — great, I’m not having anything to do with anyone who’s given money to this thing (although one of Bush’s money men points out in the story that in the case of the companies, they apparently set aside cash for the event no matter who wins because they want to be good and sure they make friends with the government people who might oversee their business). But then, looking down the complete list, you see that ceasing business with all the donors is not a casual decision. No Microsoft, Oracle, or Dell. No cars from Ford, GM, or Toyota. No Pepsi, no Coke. No Bud, either, but that’s OK. No fine distilled petroleum products from ChevronTexaco, Exxon. or Marathon. No phone calls on MCI or SBC. No checking accounts at Bank of America. No packages from UPS or FedEx.
"You want it to be one way. But it's the other way."