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To be clear, I'm not talking about quasi-legal bribery. If
you're an oil company or a Wall Street firm, you donate to Republicans
not so that they'll be forced to do what you want whether they like it
or not, but because you know they like it quite well. Republicans want,
deep in their hearts, to cut taxes and slash regulations and open up
public lands to drilling and all the other things that would benefit
their donors. But are they actually going to be able to deliver?
Those investments have been huge. Here are just a couple of details from the Center for Responsive Politics:
Wall Street as a whole has contributed $171.1
million, more than any other industry or interest group that CRP tracks.
Of that total, $100.8 million has gone to candidates and party
committees, with an overwhelming 62 percent of it winding up in the
hands of Republicans and just 38 percent in the hands of Democrats. The
remaining money, more than $70 million, went to outside groups, and $45.8 million of that went to conservative-leaning organizations.
Is a Republican Congress going to start passing bills on taxes, infrastructure, and immigration that Barack Obama will sign?
Is a Republican Congress going to start passing bills on taxes, infrastructure, and immigration that Barack Obama will sign?
Of course they won't. What they will do, however, is write,
debate, and maybe even pass a lot of bills that are ultimately doomed.
Some will get filibustered by Senate Democrats, others may be vetoed.
But at least Lott will be able to go to his clients and say that he
earned his six-figure monthly retainer, because he got things inserted
into bills for them, and it isn't really his fault if they never
actually became law.
And that's what they'll get for their millions, at least in the short term: nothing. 
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