But when a wealthy conservative Republican donates to help the president, every donation he ever made and every Republican connection he ever had must be unearthed and splashed across the news.

After all, there must be a vast right-wing conspiracy at work.

Take, for instance, Texas homebuilder Robert J. "Bob" Perry, who donated $100,000 to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which is countering John Kerry’s claims about the Vietnam War.

This weekend, the Los Angeles Times - the same paper that tried to destroy candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger but refused to report Gray Davis' history of violence against women - conducted a full investigation of Perry's donations.

As it turns out, Perry, 71, who lives in the suburbs of Houston, has also helped fund a number of GOP candidates in the area, the Times fretted.

The paper says so far he's given some $5 million to political candidates.

"And the vast majority of those people have never laid eyes on him," Court Koenning, executive director of the Republican Party in Harris County, told the paper.

You might think that a person giving such sums of money to political candidates and causes might want a little more attention. Perry doesn't, however.

He "is reticent and guarded, and remains something of a mystery in Texas," complained the Times. (Translation: Perry doesn’t give interviews to biased media.)

Swift Boat Veterans for Truth received a $100,000 check from Perry, about two-thirds of the money the group had in its account as of June 30, financial documents reviewed by the Times revealed. In all, said other reports, the group had $158,750.

The Bush campaign says it isn't tied to the group, and there is no evidence of any ties.

But the Times and others are trying to show a vast conspiracy between Perry, the candidates he has donated to (such as President Bush), and Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

By the way, Perry has also donated to Democrats.

The Republican Party is not the only major party to get "outside" help from wealthy donors.

Soros, for example, has given more than $15 million to leftist and Democrat causes. Nor does Perry’s $100,000 donation compare with that of Bruce Springsteen and other rockers who are raising $44 million for Kerry.

Editor's note: