Posted on 12/10/2003 8:57:47 PM PST by Lazamataz
The mainstream media is protected from the campaign finance law. Yes, Congress has limited the right to free speech of "We the People," but left the media's power intact. In fact, it's actually enhanced the media's power by letting them dominate the airwaves 30 to 60 days before an election.
But let me ask you a simple question: "If the Supreme Court can limit free speech today - under, I cannot believe, a GOP president, House and Senate - why can't it limit freedom of the press tomorrow? Once you amend the Constitution this way, anything goes!
Those who don't respect liberty - and by that I mean the left, these phony political reformers, most editorial pages and five Supreme Court justices - can't have it both ways. If the Constitution can be amended on the fly like this rather than through the 3/4ths majority in both houses of Congress and the states, then no aspect of the Constitution is safe from this kind of manipulation. All it's going to take is somebody in Congress to write a law saying, "We're going to put some regulations and restrictions on the broadcast and print media," and bingo...
Will that ever happen? No. The Congress is afraid of the media, but they are not afraid of you. Thus they felt free to pass a law taking away your most basic freedom: political speech. Why? What did you do wrong? Why, you corrupted the process! Yes, the way this ruling came down and the way the law was written, your rotten, dirty money is corrupting out courageous and brave elected officials. Why, as soon as they take a dime, they turn from angels into corrupt monsters! You're ruining their morals! So if you try to buy an ad, well, now there's a law to stop you rotten jerks!
I took some calls on this story, which you can hear below. These came from the same sort of people who were so sure Bush would veto the bill, or that the Supreme Court would overturn it, "So why fight it?" Frank in Auburn, Maine asked, "How long do you think it's going to be before we have a midnight session to overturn this in the Congress?" I gently told Frank that the very Congress that passed this abomination, and that is now insulated as incumbents from the annoying voices of you idiot voters, is not going to now right what it did. Hello?
They're overjoyed about this! So is the media - which debunks another caller's claim that the press would miss the ad revenue they'll lose from political ads. They'll still get the cash from all these other groups who've weaseled out of this law. This is worthy of more than a "whine," folks. After all, members of the House and Senate can easily get face time on TV. That's why I called this the "Incumbent Protection Act." This is a day of darkness, folks. We may as well be Hobbits, with dark cloaked figures looking for our rings.
Michael Barone, a brilliant guy, wrote the other day that this president is redefining conservatism from limited government to a government of choice and accountability. I disagreed with Mr. Barone for the first time in my life about something. Not only are we not advancing limited government, we are now limiting choice and accountability by restricting freedom of speech. We're not expanding anything that's conservative, here. We're not expanding liberty or expanding freedom - which is choice. That is the antithesis of what happened in the Supreme Court.
When all is said and done, when it comes to domestic issues, it looks to me like the legacy of the Republican control of Congress and the presidency for the first time in 50 years is going to be the largest entitlement in modern times, the greatest increase in domestic spending in modern times and one of the greatest set-backs for liberty in modern times. That's the legacy of Republican control of government. This may be "compassionate" conservatism, but it's not "conservatism" at all.
Ah. Thank you. I noticed before that you were shaken by the ruling. I'm glad you are staying with your principles. I sure will be.
The take -- if embraced -- is one of a scheming partisan, not a lover a liberty. I'm for the Bill of Rights, not for a very temporary, very illusory slight advantage.
Quite the opposite. I saw you react with horror when the ruling first came down. I didn't keep up with your posts. I do hope you haven't embraced this monsterous decision.
Gosh, you must feel so much better now that you've gotten that off your chest.
From your sarcasm, it appears you have embraced this ruling, and will obediently line up with Mr. Bush.
Thank G-d you're as free to do exactly as they instruct you.
Rush Limbaugh's makin' sense for the first time in a few years... so..... Rush?
That's one possibility. Fielding full alternate Republican primary slates are another.
If that doesn't get the job done, a couple of other options exist.
On the >1600 post thread on this issue from earlier,Howlin was a major defender of this atrocity and Bush's role in it
Funny you should ask. I had a call from a pubbie "pollster" last week. "Wanted to know" how the president was doing. When I told him, he was ready, with a prepared script about how "we in the GOP are holding the line against the big-spending democrats" and so forth. Insulting, and pathetic. Then he asked me for a donation (surprise!).
Now here's the punch line. The fellow Republican who was calling me had an unmistakeable African accent. The chances of him being an American citizen, much less a Republican, are virtually nil. In all probability he was a foreign student working a commission job at some GOP-licensed telemarketing phone bank. This is what my party has become: a mafia of cynical spinners, raising funds purely to maintain themselves and in the process raise even more funds. Feeding the beast is all.
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