No, don’t worry, this isn’t about campaign finance “reform” or our much needed fund raising drive (hint, hint). It’s just that once at least once a day I’ll get an email, usually via my syndicated column account, accusing me of being a shill for the Bush administration. That’s fine and part of the job. What’s annoying is how so many people think I make money from Bush being in office. Somehow they think that having a rich Republican in the White House makes all Republicans richer. The truth is almost the complete reverse. If Howard Dean were elected president, I’d probably be able to pay off my mortgage a couple years early. Ditto if Gore had been elected. Similarly, the Nation seems to be thriving as an opposition tract now that Bush is in office. Criticizing the powers that be is always more lucrative than defending them in my business. In a sense, it’s a nice little tribute to the sincerity of conservative and liberal journalists that we advocate against our interests most of the time.