re: #82 Dark_Falcon

Good find and very true.

The National Post article is a bit long but is worthwhile as well
Devaluing the Think Tank

Although they were becoming increasingly important in prominent policy discussions, think tanks in the 1950s and ’60s intentionally kept some distance between themselves and the most heated political debates of the era. They saw it as their role to inform but not quite to advocate — to help clarify policy alternatives, but generally not to choose among them.
…
The Center for American Progress is easily the most thoroughgoing example of what City College of New York professor Andrew Rich has called “marketing think tanks.” For these institutions, the balance between original research and public relations is clearly tipped in the direction of the latter. As Rich puts it, these organizations often seem more interested in selling their product than in coming up with new ideas.
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This can be seen in the rise of the phenomenon of think tanks that, like CAP, create 501(c)(4) affiliates (donations to which are not tax-exempt) to do more political work. Even though these organizations are careful to maintain a “Chinese wall” between the (c)(3) and (c)(4) components that enables them to retain their tax-exempt status, the existence of the more political twin makes the intent of the think tank clear. It is hard to imagine Brookings or AEI, for example, creating a (c)(4) arm, and even harder to imagine exactly what those political arms would advocate, or even what process would enable them to make those decisions.

The emergence of cable-television networks has put further pressure on think tanks to produce more immediate and political products.

It’s a fascinating topic. These think tanks drive the political discussion more than most people know. In many ways I think they’re possibly more powerful than the parties themselves.