Posted on 01/23/2010 5:45:11 PM PST by reaganaut1
President Obama took aim at the Supreme Court on Saturday, saying the justices had handed a huge victory to the special interests and their lobbyists with last weeks 5-to-4 decision to lift restrictions on campaign spending by corporations and unions.
The decision will have major political implications for this years midterm elections. After it was announced, Mr. Obama immediately instructed his advisers to work with Congress on legislation that would restore some of the limits the court lifted. But in his weekly address on Saturday, he sharply stepped up his criticism of the high court.
This ruling strikes at our democracy itself, Mr. Obama said, adding: I cant think of anything more devastating to the public interest. The last thing we need to do is hand more influence to the lobbyists in Washington, or more power to the special interests to tip the outcome of elections.
How much the administration can do about the ruling remains unclear, although Mr. Obama said he had instructed his advisers to work with Congress on a forceful, bipartisan response.
That process got under way Friday, a White House official said, when Norm Eisen, Mr. Obamas special counsel for ethics and government reform, met with two leading Democrats Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York and Representative Chris Van Hollen of Maryland to begin talks on how Congress might proceed.
The sharply divided decision overturned parts of a 2002 law known as the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law, after the two senators who sponsored it that severely restricted political advertising paid for by corporations and unions in the 30 days before a presidential primary and in the 60 days before general elections.
The five justices who sided with the majority characterized it as a victory for the First Amendment
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I’d say with this court ruling it will be an entertaining election year. Might not be a good idea to be anti-business when business can spend whatever they want against you.
Is it necessary to post that sort of wild-eyed radical rhetoric? What are you trying to do - inflame the masses?
LOL!
The Face of Mental Instability!
Watch the process close. The agenda gets introduced then fails, 5 years down it gets introduced again. This cycle of agenda will not stop. It is meant to do away with freedom on a very grand scale. It’s been going on for some time.
I am soooo proud of our president taking a
stand against this corporate take-over of
political campaigns. I know he and his Demo
politician friends will do the right thing
and refuse corporate campaign donations just
to demonstrate how wrong-headed this Supreme
Court decision is.
Apparently Obama thinks that Freedom stuff is a b17ch.
Do you think he knows that both the ACLU and the AFL-CIO filed amicus briefs in support of striking down McCain-Feingold?
Can't get around the First Amendment, Bozo.
The Justices ought to start their own unprecedented campaign of speeches explaining how freedom and free speech work. The First Amendment protects ALL political speech, period. Doesn't matter who says it or what is said or how much it costs to say it. You don't like it, counter it. They can't get that.
Ubama and the rats want to nationalize corporations (”Government Motors”) and force them to fire their CEOs; Ubama and the rats want to nationalize the banks and have even taken steps to nationalize the student loan business; Ubama and the rats want to dictate salary structures and compensation plans to financial institutions; Ubama and the rats want to nationalize corporations that provide health care insurance; some rats have even talked openly about nationalizing the oil companies. On and on it goes...
No wonder Ubama and the rats are upset that the corporations are no longer defenseless.
I hope they fight back like hell.
I say If he or they don’t like it, I like it! No matter what it is!
No, he doesn’t like a level playing field.
He has always benefited from preferential treatment and real competition must scare the hell out of him. Losing crushes his self-image.
No, he doesn’t like a level playing field.
He has always benefited from preferential treatment and real competition must scare the hell out of him. Losing crushes his self-image.
He prefers Limousines.
nor those that paid for his Harvard Law School years
This will make it just that much harder for Obama to emulate Hugo Chavez and nationalize companies.
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