I agree with you - mostly. While corporations are apolitical, the people who run them are not and some of them don't maintain the Vulcan detachment necessary to always make the decision that's best for the company. Also, there are many companies who are highly partisan (New York Times? Fox News? MSNBC?) who haven't run into trouble because of it. That said, entertainment companies have no problem sending in lobbyists to buy off Republicans when necessary.

However, the GP's point was that Comcast would have had an easier time buying a media company during the Bush administration, presumably since Republicans are usually more pro-business. But the entertainment industry is extremely pro-Democrat AND they have lots of disposable income floating around. This has turned Hollywood into a major cash machine for the Democrats. While Republicans are friendlier to business in general, Democrats are very friendly to Hollywood in particular and they are more likely to accommodate such a lucrative industry.

When Hollywood wants another extension to copyrights, they'll pay off politicians on both sides of the aisle (or, for Orrin Hatch, they'll help him make another album). But the 4:1 fundraising advantage goes a long way towards getting preferential treatment from the Democrats.

Business != Conservative

Just because people are in business does not mean they're conservative. In fact, one would expect liberal-dominated industries to attract business-minded liberals. A quick look at opensecrets.org shows that donations from the "TV/Music/Movies" category go overwhelmingly to the Democrats. This category represents employees of entertainment companies (rather than the artists who contract with them) so it would cover all those supposedly 'conservative' executives. In 2008, donations went 78% to Democrats and 22% to Republican. In 2004, at the height of the Republican tide, it was still 69% Dem - 30% Rep

If you break it down to the sub-categories, it gets even more lopsided. The 2008 percentages (Democrat - Republican):

• Motion Picture production & distribution: 90 - 9
• Recorded Music & Music production: 82 - 18
• TV production & distribution: 87 - 13

The only subcategory that shows anything near parity is Commercial TV and Radio stations with 53 - 47. Presumably this includes all those local TV stations in 'flyover country'.

So no, Hollywood is not divided politically, even among the non-artists it's overwhelmingly Democrat.