Court rulings tighten grip of special interests
In general, those on both the right and the left on this blog tend to agree that the grip of special interests and their money is a serious problem in Washington. Well, as this trend plays out, that grip is only going to get stronger.
“WASHINGTON — Even before a landmark Supreme Court ruling on campaign finance law expected within days, a series of other court decisions is reshaping the political battlefield by freeing corporations, unions and other interest groups from many of the restrictions on their advertising about issues and candidates.
Legal experts and political operatives say the cases roll back campaign spending rules to the years before Watergate. The end of decades-old restrictions could unleash a torrent of negative advertisements, help cash-poor Republicans in a pivotal year and push President Obama to bring in more money for his party.
If the Supreme Court, as widely expected, rules against core elements of the existing limits, Democrats say they will try to enact new laws to reinstate the restrictions in time for the midterm elections in November. And advocates of stricter campaign finance laws say they hope the developments will prod the president to fulfill a campaign promise to update the presidential campaign financing system, even though it would diminish his edge as incumbent.
Many legal experts say they expect the court to use its imminent ruling, in the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, to eliminate the remaining restrictions on advertisements for or against candidates paid for by corporations, unions and advocacy organizations. (The case centers on whether spending restrictions apply to a conservative group’s documentary, “Hillary: The Movie.”)…
“The campaign finance system would certainly be less regulated than any time since Watergate,” said Richard L. Hasen, a campaign law expert at the Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.
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66 comments Add your comment
Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)
January 9th, 2010
11:52 am
Well, good for them. It’s money that should decide elections.
That’s my opinion and it’s very true. Have a good freezing Saturday everybody.
Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)
January 9th, 2010
11:54 am
Well, I see I’m first. I want to thank my Mommy and Daddy, all the little folk that made it possible, the missus, and anybody else that helped me accomplish so much. And You Know Who, of course. Can’t say His name on the AJC anymore, but you know Who I mean.
Hillbilly Deluxe
January 9th, 2010
12:16 pm
Us little people don’t really know what we’re doing anyway. We should probably be thankful that we got all these special interests looking out for us and I bet the incumbents are all dancing a jig right now.
Southern Comfort
January 9th, 2010
12:18 pm
As all politicians are more concerned with fundraising and re-election than anything else, I don’t think anyone of them, including Obama, would do anything towards campaign finance reform that would have teeth. I would be surprised if anything was done before the mid-terms elections or even the 2012 elections.
Hillbilly Deluxe
January 9th, 2010
12:18 pm
Deja vu all over again.
http://www.sphere.com/article/sex-scandal-captivates-northern-ireland/19310116?icid=main|main|dl1|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sphere.com%2Farticle%2Fsex-scandal-captivates-northern-ireland%2F19310116
Hillbilly Deluxe
January 9th, 2010
12:20 pm
I would be surprised if anything was done before the mid-terms elections or even the 2012 elections.
I would be surprised if anything was done ever. And congrats on your National Championship.
Taxpayer
January 9th, 2010
12:30 pm
At least now we’ll have the full might of the Exxon’s and Monsanto’s and Philip Morris’s and Koch’s and such to tell us the truth about the safety of harvesting shale gas and cooking with PCBs and smoking that tobaccy and such via their elected mouthpieces. We will no longer need to worry about them mean old little voting people gumming up the works with their little blogs either because those with the money behind the power will finally be able to set things right. But just to make sure, I think their first order of business should be to buy some real tort reform. We don’t need no more of them Erin Brockovich types running around loose on the planet.
Sunshine and Thunder
January 9th, 2010
12:31 pm
Whatever we do let’s don’t bring back free speech.
getalife
January 9th, 2010
12:33 pm
Deregulation for campaign finance is done:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/09/us/politics/09donate.html?hp
Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)
January 9th, 2010
12:33 pm
Me and my buddy Jim Earl and my other buddy Joe Bill were talking the other night. Anyway, we figured everybody knows elections get won by who has the most money. This Obama won by raising the most money. So why don’t we just skip the elections and have a money-raising contest? The party that raises the most money wins.
Just cut out all these campaign limits. Us Conservatives will take the money the corporations and businesses and rich people give. The librul Democrats will take the money from the unions and all the poor people.
Whichever party raises the most money wins the White House and Congress.
The good part is, we won’t even have to wait till the first Tuesday in November to see who got elected. We can follow along on the innernet and know how things are going. That way, the outcome won’t be a big suprize.
One thing, though: these so-called Blue Dog Democrats will either have to run as the Republicans they are or give up all the money they get from the insurance cos. and Wall Street and all that.
Deal?
Southern Comfort
January 9th, 2010
12:36 pm
HD
Thanks. I was one tired guy yesterday since I stayed up to watch the trophy presentation. Saw your earlier post, and I was also impressed by McCoy’s postgame interview. I hope he does well for a long time in the NFL. That league definitely needs more classy guys.
getalife
January 9th, 2010
12:38 pm
Thought I was posted on the old thread.
Great minds………………………..
United States of corporations.
@@
January 9th, 2010
12:42 pm
Well, everyone has their own special interest, jay. McCain/Feingold kinda stepped between me and the freedom to voice mine. Can’t have that now can we?
Transparency in government is the answer…haven’t seen much of that lately. Bundling is great for cold weather, but when it comes to campaign contributions, it’s nothing more than a way for corporations to cover their butts.
@@
January 9th, 2010
12:46 pm
Cougars in Ireland?
ewwwwwwww
Hillbilly Deluxe
January 9th, 2010
12:52 pm
@@
With my 12:18, I just wanted to point out that we’re not the only ones with jackasses in the political arena.
Southern Comfort
January 9th, 2010
12:56 pm
@@
Remember:
Someone’s ewwwwwwww is someone else’s mmmmmmmmmmm.
Taxpayer
January 9th, 2010
12:56 pm
Well, a good congress, that is, a congress comprised of all good people, might consider taking all those soon-to-be billions of campaigning dollars from those with nothing better to spend those dollars on and pooling them and dividing them up to buy every candidate a fair amount of debate time against their opponents in an open forum. I would just as soon like to see all these corporations and others with such an abundance of money just spend all that loose change on employing people but I’m sure they too are torn between their true loves — money and more money. It is such a tough call. If they could only take it with them, I think their lives would be complete.
Hillbilly Deluxe
January 9th, 2010
1:03 pm
But the worst storm of all, the one that permanently scarred the psyche of Atlanta, had to be the ice storm of 1973.
That was in this article.
http://www.ajc.com/news/a-brief-history-of-270805.html?imw=Y
Somebody down there at the AJC needs to go through the archives and look up 1959. It was twice as bad as 1973.
@@
January 9th, 2010
1:07 pm
Oh crap!
Pakistan accuses India of firing across border
India accuses Pakistan of cross-border rocket fire.
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise…Rudyard Kipling
@@
January 9th, 2010
1:16 pm
Hillbilly:
Have any of our women representatives been found guilty of sexual indiscretions while holding office? I’m thinking not, but I could be wrong.
SC:
I’ve got friends who celebrate “the cougar” mentality. Not sure if it’s because of the latest trend or what. When they get to talking about it, I look at them and ask “Why don’t you just do each other’s sons and be done with it?”
That shuts ‘em up.
Taxpayer
January 9th, 2010
1:17 pm
I remember a bad ice storm back in about ‘73 although I would have to look it to be sure it is the one I’m remembering, given the number of brain cells that I’ve lost since then. One reason that storm sticks with me is because I had parked my car out in the GEX parking lot, on a very slight slope, and when I came back out, my car had slid several parking spaces down the hill. So, I slapped on the tire chains before heading out. You cannot use those types of chains any more because they were rough on the asphalt. They were pretty rough on the tires too.
Southern Comfort
January 9th, 2010
1:21 pm
“Why don’t you just do each other’s sons and be done with it?”
That’s way too funny!!! I can’t talk too much about them because I dated older women when I was late teens and early twenties.
Jay
January 9th, 2010
1:26 pm
And wouldn’t you know it (from that N. Ireland sex scandal story):
In June 2008, Iris Robinson outraged human rights campaigners and many fellow politicians when she labeled homosexuality “an abomination” during a radio interview, and said that gay people could be “turned around” with counseling. A few days later, she reiterated her views on local TV, saying, “Just as a murderer can be redeemed by the blood of Christ, so can a homosexual.” Gay-rights activists accused her of inciting hatred and lodged complaints with the police, but her husband stood by her. That winter he told the BBC that, “It wasn’t Iris Robinson who determined that homosexuality was an abomination; it was the Almighty.”
Jenifer
January 9th, 2010
1:34 pm
This seems like a no-brainer, but everyone is ignoring the elephant in the room . . .
It’s the advertising, stupid!
Simply ban political ads – of all kinds – on TV and radio.
You don’t have to outlaw all ads – political ads can still be on billboards, newspapers, magazines, etc. – just not on TV and radio, that way, there’s no infringement of first amendment rights, blah, blah, blah.
Of course, the media will scream bloody murder because they’ll lose gazillions of dollars in revenue, but we’ll clean up the obscene mess that the political system has been corrupted into, and maybe get rid of fascist creeps like Fuehrer Dick Armey and his phony front organizations like the oxymoronically named FreedomWorks . . . whose sole raison d’etre is to raise money for reich-wing candidates and causes.
Taxpayer
January 9th, 2010
1:34 pm
I was walking by old Tom’s office the other day and, I mean, he had his Price clearly posted on the door so you would think that everyone would just know what was expected but there was this one businessman, or maybe he was a lobbyist or whatever, in there just a yellin’ at old Tom. “I Object, I Object, I Object,” over and over and over was all I could hear him sayin’ and at the top of his voice. Needless to say, I didn’t stick around ’cause that poor fella looked mighty distraught.
Jenifer
January 9th, 2010
1:43 pm
Oh Mrs. Robinson!
Another “family values” hypocrite. I’m shocked, I tell you, shocked!
Paul
January 9th, 2010
1:45 pm
If the decision goes as expected, the only way to turn it around would appear to be new legislation. After all the numerous expressions of outrage on so many issues over the last few years, followed by no legislation to prevent recurrence as a new publicity outrage took over, I really do hope that just for once, Democrats will actually address the core issue through legislation.
Unless, of course, they run the numbers and determine, for the next two elections anyway, it’s to their benefit to let it go –
from the prior thread, as I’ve come in late:
Taxpayer 11:38
[[Be a skeered. Be vewwwwy a skeered. “They” are coming.]]
Any particular reason you didn’t post that yesterday when when President Obama, a day or two ago, declared, “”We are at war. We are at war against al-Qaeda, a far-reaching network of violence and hatred that attacked us on 9/11, that killed nearly 3,000 innocent people, and that is planning to strike us again…” and “”We’ve…, thwarted plots here in the United States and saved countless American lives.”
SoCo
As I said the other day, congratulations to Alabama and their national championship. It was heartbreaking for the Texas team to lose their quarterback minutes in. As you pointed out, Garrett is a true freshman who’d thrown only 26 passes the entire year.
People have reflected, though, that given the circumstances the stats were so darn close:
Yards Rushing Texas 81 Ala 234
Yards passing Texas 195 Ala 58
Total Yards Texas 276 Als 263
For the Boschites, that’d be like the top two college soccer teams playing, one loses their tops-in the nation goalie the first minutes in, in comes a freshman who’s played minutes, yet the newbie prevents the scores and they lose by only one.
Quite a performance. And again, congrats to Alabama.
Hillbilly Deluxe
January 9th, 2010
1:45 pm
Have any of our women representatives been found guilty of sexual indiscretions while holding office? I’m thinking not, but I could be wrong.
I don’t remember any off hand but if it hasn’t happened it’s just a matter of time.
Taxpayer
That sounds like 1973. That time we had no power for 4 days at our house but in 1959 we had no power for 2 weeks.
Paul
January 9th, 2010
1:47 pm
Off topic
Taxpayer
I just made the bread without the water. Better consistency on the dough (31.5 oz flour, 2 loaves) with no need to add more. In fact, I could have cut the flour down just a tad. It’s on the second rising now and even with warming the kitchen it takes lots longer than it did in the summer.
Jenifer
January 9th, 2010
1:47 pm
Mrs. Robinson gave the lad a boatload of money but took some of it back to give to her church.
Now there’s an upright Christian lady for you!
Hillbilly Deluxe
January 9th, 2010
1:47 pm
and maybe get rid of fascist creeps like Fuehrer Dick Armey and his phony front organizations like the oxymoronically named FreedomWorks . . . whose sole raison d’etre is to raise money for reich-wing candidates and causes.
Would we get rid of George Soros and Move On.org, too?
@@
January 9th, 2010
1:55 pm
Not sure what the point of your 1:26 was, jay…..that Christian’s are fallible? I already knew that.
SC:
Who knows, as you age, you might look at a watermelon and say….mmmmmmmmm
You being a black man, please know ^^^ that was not intended as a racial slur. A gender slur, maybe, but a racial slur? Nevah!
(ISH)
Jay
January 9th, 2010
2:03 pm
No, @@. It was about politics, not about religion.
Interesting that you rushed to make it religious, though.
Jenifer
January 9th, 2010
2:06 pm
Dick Armey’s FreedomWorks: With Insurance Policy Comes Membership
A little background information.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/22/AR2006072200683_pf.html
Paul
January 9th, 2010
2:09 pm
@@
From the other day’s discussion about Christians and proselytizing, from Michael Gershon, Washington Post, “Brit Hume’s Tiger Woods remarks shine light on true intolerance”:
” We object to the practice when an unequal power relationship is involved — a boss pressuring an employee. We are offended by brainwashing. Coercion and trickery violate the whole idea of free religious choice based on open discussion.
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“But none of this was present in Hume’s appeal to Woods. A semi-retired broadcaster holds no unfair advantage over a multimillionaire athlete. Hume was engaged in persuasion.
“In this controversy, we are presented with two models of discourse. Hume, in an angry sea of loss and tragedy — his son’s death in 1998 — found a life preserver in faith. He offered that life preserver to another drowning man. Whatever your view of Hume’s beliefs, he could have no motive other than concern for Woods himself.
The other model has come from critics such as Shales, in a spittle-flinging rage at the mention of religion in public, comparing Hume to “Mary Poppins on the joys of a tidy room, or Ron Popeil on the glories of some amazing potato peeler.” Shales, of course, is engaged in proselytism of his own — for a secular fundamentalism that trivializes and banishes all other faiths. He distributes the sacrament of the sneer.
Who in this picture is more intolerant? ”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/07/AR2010010703244.html
But more to the point of the 1:26, tying the two characters and stories:
Some people might say, “What about Christians like Ted Haggard or Mark Sanford?”
I don’t think I would blame Christianity for the failings of people like that. Christianity is the right religion for people like that. Christianity is a religion for sinners. Christianity is not about the salvation of perfect people. Christianity is a way for people who are not perfect to be saved. What Mark Sanford needs is not less Christianity. He needs more of it.
@@
January 9th, 2010
2:09 pm
jay, are you saying that she won her position in politics based on her religious beliefs. I’ll have to go back up and read the article again. I didn’t see where that was mentioned. I’d be willing to bet that not everyone who voted for her was a Christian.
@@
January 9th, 2010
2:10 pm
Oops!
…in the way that you depict Christians thru HER actions.
@@
January 9th, 2010
2:17 pm
Paul:
I don’t know if you were here to watch the MSNBC/Keith Olbermann/Rachel Maddow video that attacked Sarah Palin’s religion. Not one response from the left here. It’s as though they wanna ignore the log of intolerance in their own eye.
Church’s splinter all the time, but we certainly don’t prevent the off-shoot from going their own way.
Taxpayer
January 9th, 2010
2:19 pm
Any particular reason you didn’t post that yesterday
Yes. Corporal Ridgerunner had not previously expressed his fear for the safety of the Dutchman, amongst others.
Jenifer
January 9th, 2010
2:23 pm
Just speaking for myself here, but I have no problem with Palin and her witch doctor.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biP3Wdd7PRI
Paul
January 9th, 2010
2:23 pm
@@
I saw that. It’s rather like my post earlier to Taxpayer – I posted essentially the same thing in the terror/economics thread – noted comments by Jay and Democratic leaders that, when spoken in the past by Republicans or bloggers here, elicited taunts and cries of “I’m so skeered” and such. No real willingness to move past that and look at the circumstances and just what it is that might bring others, such as Pres Obama, to voice their concerns.
And I think he, in particular, is very concerned. I don’t hearing so many references in a long, long, while to plots disrupted here or attacks prevented here. It’ll take a while for some of his supporters to get in sync with his expressed outlook.
@@
January 9th, 2010
2:25 pm
Alrighty din!
jay, it appears as though their religion did come into play in securing their political power. If your intention was to address politics, why not include this:
The sordid tale has sent shockwaves through Northern Ireland’s deeply conservative society. Many voters — especially the Protestants who back the Robinsons’ Democratic Unionist Party — think their leaders should also serve as guardians of public morality. That was a role the province’s first couple, who have been married for 40 years and have three children, were keen to play.
Protestants were outraged? They SHOULD HAVE BEEN outraged, but not surprised. Again…Christians are fallible.
She’d known her lover since he was 9 years old!!?!! That’s disgusting!
Paul
January 9th, 2010
2:26 pm
Hello Taxpayer
I don’t understand that, but that’s okay.
Do you think there’s been a shift in Pres Obama’s pronouncements, such that the danger from Islamic extremists, here, is greater than it has been in the past?
Bread’s still rising. Taking about three times as long -
Jay
January 9th, 2010
2:26 pm
No @@, I never said nor implied that either. I contrasted her political statements with her personal behavior.
You keep trying to inject religion into the matter. Why?
Taxpayer
January 9th, 2010
2:30 pm
That sounds like 1973. That time we had no power for 4 days at our house but in 1959 we had no power for 2 weeks.
I do not recall anything about the 1959 storm but maybe there was just nothing very memorable that happened to me that year. Then again, I was just a little ole pre-teen back then.
I also remember another nasty storm that hit the entire east later in the seventies but I remember it for another reason. I had to drive through its remnants all the way from the Great Lakes area to Atlanta. I think that storm was around ‘76-’77 but I could be off by a year or so in either direction without going back and doing a little checking. I just remember that the piles of snow that were pushed off the streets up north, near the lakes, were higher than the little row houses and things did not start looking better until we got back down to Tennessee.
Taxpayer
January 9th, 2010
2:37 pm
I just made the bread without the water.
I just finished off the last loaf yesterday so I need to get busy. I’m being a little lazy today otherwise I would already have a loaf in the oven. My daughter wants me to bake up a loaf of honey-oat bread for a little change of pace so I might have to give that a try next. That is, as long as the power hold up. We had a couple of flickers that each lasted just a few seconds (Although long enough to reset all the electronics throughout the house. We’ll rue the day we abandoned analog in favor of digital. Rue, I say.) this morning but nothing since then. Fingers crossed and emergency heater on the ready… .
jokerman
January 9th, 2010
2:39 pm
@@ I used to have a girlfriend (dumb as a stump) who used “Alrighty din!” ” I yike it, and all those other sophmoric terms you utilize…Your name wouldn’t be ————perchance?
Hillbilly Deluxe
January 9th, 2010
2:39 pm
Taxpayer
The winter of ‘76-’77 was very cold across most of the nation, sort of like now, so you probably have the time correct. I remember being in Michigan in the summer of ‘77 and they were all talking about it.
In the 1959 ice storm, I was about 4 years old but I remember it very well. We had gas heat (no thermostat in those days) and an electric stove. My uncle who lived within a few miles of us had a gas stove but electric heat (he’d just gotten modern and replaced his coal furnace). We would stay at our house most of the time, then once or twice a day everybody would go to their house and get something hot to eat, then it was everybody load up and back to our house. For a 4 year old it was just a great adventure. I’m sure the adults probably thought differently though. Daddy and my uncle went to work through some of it but as I remember the place where they both worked was without power through some of it too, so those days they couldn’t go to work.
@@
January 9th, 2010
2:41 pm
jay, the second half of your 1:26 clearly indicates her “religious” convictions. Am I missing something?
Although I am a believer, I don’t vote for a candidate based on his religious convictions. I didn’t vote for Bush based on his and I didn’t vote for Clinton based on his.
Your leftist contributors here want to assume that everyone who votes Republican does so because of their religious convictions? Nothing could be further from the truth. Just as the environmental zealots implore the dems, so too, does the evangelical implore the reps on environmental concerns among other things.
My faith is my faith. I’m not one to let others define it TO me or FOR me.
Jenifer
January 9th, 2010
2:41 pm
The memorable storm for me was March 1960. Two weeks without electricity. No school, either. ; )