Supreme Court Handing Down Ruling in Campaign Finance Reform (main parts upheld)

FOX News | 10 Dec 2003 | FOX News

[July 4th]

Reports that main portions of McCain-Feingold are now being upheld! People currently wading through a decision of over 300 pages.

[Protagoras]

Do such ads actually accomplish anything?

They accomplish a very important thing. They illustrate that we can say anything we want, anytime we want, about politics and the people and issues that will have an effect on our lives. It's the main difference between freedom and tyranny.

That's what it accomplishes.

[AppyPappy]

Bull. Who is going to report on campaign irregularities with the Dems? THEY PAY PEOPLE TO VOTE!! Hello!!!!

[Law]

The Election Law Blog appears to have gotten the scoop, at 7:00AM. The blog has also posted the opinions.

[commish]

No, "our side" does not; a few that SAY they are on "our side" say that; and their numbers on FR do NOT represent the real world.

picky picky picky ..You know what I meant LOL! :-P

[Who is John Galt?]

Perhaps the most ignorant statement I've seen on FR.

Amen to that...

;>)

[tomahawk]

So people can now be jailed for running an ad that criticizes an officeholder or candidate for office before an election? This is no longer a free nation.

[spunkets]

""Congress shall make no law"

Not only is this part of the Bill of Rights supposed to limit Congress, it has been incorporated via the 14th to limit all US jurisdictions. None of them care that it exists though.

[Judith Anne]

Please, let's not be rational.

It's my birthday. I can if I want. ;-D

[putupon]

If we vote them out in a fit of single-issue petulance

Unfortunately, there are more than one issue, and every day it seems, the GOP adds more:

Downpayment Aid OK'd for Poor Families(More Income Confiscation, Wealth Redistribution)
Bush aides anger GOP lawmakers on consular Ids(Open Borders for All)
UNESCO Welcomes US, For a Few Dollars More (Undoing Reagan)
$15b Sought to Fight AIDS(Bribes for African Dictators)
Lay off Arafat, Powell tells Israel(Double standard terrorism enablers)
Steel Tariffs Cost Jobs(Free trade party? Ha!)
The Sky’s the Limit: Medicare’s Upwardly Mobile Drug Cost Projections(Socialized Medicine, HillaryCare Lite)
Estrada withdraws name from court consideration(no support from GOP Senators)
'Bush totally against scrapping H1-B visas'
'Open Fields' bill would pay farmers to open lands to public use

[Mo1]

When the doom and gloomers help elect Dean and he gets to appoint another Ginsburg or Breyer.

Do ya think the UN will keep the USSC??

[Flux Capacitor]

----We also have talk radio and a few papers

Which is why the Dem are on a political hunt to discredited them and shut them up----

I'm sure Bush will be happy to help them along with that.

-Dan

[Taliesan]

the idea of incremental politics .. just move things slowly the way you want them .. take your defeats here and there as long as the overall movement continues.

Actually, this is the only way to do politics. The other alternative is revolution.

[goodnesswins]

Actually, this probably should be called the "PACKWOOD" law.....since, I believe Bob Packwood (R), Oregon, was one of the first at last minute "slime" ads.....

[Puppage]

It cuts both ways

Don't bet on it. Didn't stop them from taking money directly from the Chinese Army, now did it? I realize it (campaign finance reform) wasn't around then, but it was STILL illegal, and they STILL received it.

Make no mistake....the rats will get DA MONEY.

[Moby Grape]

I pray that the good people of Arizona will "reward" John McCain for this by beginning anew the RECALL.

[NYC Republican]

The majority also barred the national political parties from raising this kind of money, and said their affiliates in the individual states may not serve as conduits for soft money. Without soft money, politicians and political parties may only take in donations that are already allowed in limited amounts, such as a private individual's small re-election donation to his or her local member of Congress. That means no more huge checks from wealthy donors, and no contributions from the treasuries of corporations or labor unions.

Does this disallow the Soros and (Progressive Insurance's) Lewis' of the world from contributing tens of millions of dollars to political parties or organizations like moveon.org? If so, this coupled with the fact that Dems rely much more heavily on soft money that the GOP, makes it not so bad, IMO.

[muskogee]

This may open up a whole new can of worms for the SCOTUS. "Attack speech" will have to be defined and segregated from "free speech" and "religious speech" and "corporate speech" and "advocacy speech" and "private speech" and "non-profit speech" and "publicly funded speech" and "for-profit speech" and "party affiliated speech" and "analytical speech" and "observational speech" and "entertainment speech" as it relates to anything aired on tv by conservatives before an election. Want to speak on tv before an election? Get a good lawyer or be a non-republican.

[steve-b]

You realize, I hope, that the founders DID NOT campaign nor run ads attacking their opponents. Maybe we should return to their standards of holding elections rather than assault the airwaves with fraudulent claims and lies.

This is one of the most ignorant statements I've ever seen on FR, and that's saying something.

Political operatives in the time of the Founders routinely lobbed stink bombs that no modern candidate would touch with a ten-foot pole. To cite one example that is well-known two centuries later, where do you think the Jefferson-Hemmings story came from?

[Kevin Curry]

Well, the conservative organizations that I donate to can now no longer run advocacy advertising 60 days prior to an election.

Exactly. Before, I could join my small contribution with the contributions of tens of thousands of other like-minded citizens to counter the openly partisan advocacy poison being infiltrated into public discourse by the leftist-dominted media.

Now leftists like Molly Ivins are free to poison public discourse without effective rebuttal during the most critical period of the election season.

[Law]

So people can now be jailed for running an ad that criticizes an officeholder or candidate for office before an election? This is no longer a free nation.

Hard to argue with your assessment.