The dead connection

Edmund Burke venerated tradition as the democracy of the dead. The late Chicago Mayor Richard Daley famously practiced a literal version of the democracy of the dead, extending the dead the right to vote for favored Democratic candidates. Andrew Malcolm notes that Barack Obama comes from the Chicago school of politics and is reviving the Daley tradition. Malcolm reports:

The Los Angeles Times’ campaign finance expert Dan Morain has found Obama campaign records reporting a $50 donation by Roy Scheider, who lists his occupation as actor and his home as Sag Harbor, N.Y. Remember him from many great movies including “The French Connection” and “Jaws” and the immortal line: “You’re gonna need a bigger boat”?

According to the campaign records, Scheider made the donation on March 10 last month.

Trouble is, Scheider died exactly one month before that, on Feb. 10 at the age of 75.

Malcolm adds: “Scheider was unavailable for comment.

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