Sirota: The Invisible Culture of Corruption -- Again

Here is the New York Times editorial today predictably demanding Democrats pass the NAFTA expansion:

"A group of Democratic leaders from the Clinton administration and Congress recently sent a letter to Congressional Democrats pointing out that rejecting the trade agreements signed in Latin America 'would set back regional U.S. interests for a generation.'"

Once again, the Washington press corps is refusing to note - as I did in a recent column - that this "group of Democratic leaders" that signed this letter is actually a group of paid lobbyists whose clients will benefit from the trade pact they are advocating for. That's not mentioned by the media - instead the signatories are billed as disinterested statesmen.

This is the propaganda system at work - a system that is designed to make the culture of corruption on trade issues completely invisible to the naked eye.