Temporary Distraction Measure 

A Temporary Distraction Measure or TDM for short is the basis of modern politics and business. Anytime a politician forms a committee to 'look into' something it is nothing but a ruse intended to temporarily distract the voting public long enough for them to forget all about it.
Anything (Committee, poll, vote, investigation, senate hearing, etc) that can be used to successfully distract people from issues that they were formally concerned about long enough for them to forget completely about it.

Anything that makes you (the voter) think we (politicians) are doing something about it when we're really not.

E.X. Senate Democrats hold hearings to investigate windfall profits generated by the obscene price of oil.

Two weeks later, the American public will have forgotten all about it and will rest content that the government is doing it's job. Hence, it was a successful Temporary Distraction Measure.

E.X. During the Senate hearing over whether to clarify net neutrality, the Senators rambled on for a few weeks until another celebrity got knocked up and everybody that was wanting it codified, forgot all about it.
Temporary Distraction Measure

Temporary Distraction Measure by Crashingtests July 4, 2008