Posted on 09/04/2007 4:40:07 PM PDT by SmithL
WASHINGTON, (AP) -- DailyKos, an influential political Web site that serves as a virtual bulletin board for liberals, qualifies as a media entity exempt from federal campaign finance regulations, the Federal Election Commission said Tuesday.
The FEC said the Web site, operated by blogger Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, cannot be regulated as a political committee and can freely post blog entries that support candidates.
Conservative blogger John C.A. Bambenek had argued in a complaint last month that the site should comply with campaign finance laws because such entries amounted to "a gift of free advertising and candidate media services."
The FEC disagreed.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Legal Precident for FR to do the same!
Not at all. Conservatives believe in the rule of law, so they must comply with laws even if they don't like them. liberals (commies in disguise) believe in anarchy, so enforcing the law against them amounts to fascism.
daily kooks isn’t a hate site either...
/hurl
It is an area that will always provide a “way out” for those who want to circumvent election laws.
Even a pamphlet circulated in a parking lot on car windshields was at one time supposed to indicate the financing organization behind it.
Today we have the “bush parody” squatter site that used to always rip off the latest official bush site HTML, doctor a few of the images, and call it “satire” while at the same time existing as a fund raising site (9-11 charity at a minimum, certainly was “odd” to contribute to the 9-11 terrorist attack relief funds by saying “I hate the president”). He temporarily suspended his site when he worked his way into one of the Democrat candidates’ organizations (he worked officially for Kerry or Gore, I don’t remember which).
He claimed “satire” in the past” Now KOS is claiming “free speech” (in an era of McCain-Feingold, good one).
Didn’t KOS get money FROM the DNC at one point or am I thinking of another site that was termed a “blog”?
FR isn’t a blog. It is a commentary site. Like a letter to the editor and the conversation that ensues.
Anyway, more of the muddled FEC law to consider. When Move On (which certainly moved on from ever trying to CENSURE any politicians) got into presidential elections (opposing Bush), they solicited the aid of foreigners, not just Americans abroad (and even got illegal campaign contributions). Their other illegal aids to the Democrats campaign efforts including the foreign production “for free” of a Bush bashing tv spot.
Now with YouTube, anyone, in any country, can “advertise” in our political arena. The FEC had either better take this into consideration or else go ahead and let the Chi-Coms give to the Democrats directly.
I hope you’re kidding. A principled objection to a law is not the same as “disliking” the law. The regulation of speech by the federal government is flatly unconstitutional, and no one is obligated, legally or morally, to obey any such law.
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