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"I Didn't Realize What All Was in It" [Congressmen dismayed by McCain-Feingold details]
Reason on line ^
| February 19, 2003
| Jacob Sullum
Posted on 02/19/2003 4:19:37 PM PST by aculeus
click here to read article
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To: dighton; general_re; hellinahandcart; Poohbah; BlueLancer
It turns out that the law also includes a provision requiring that federal candidates appear full-faced for the last four seconds of their campaigns' television advertisements and personally attest that they stand behind the advertisements' content. Leno and Letterman and countless television ads will be paroding these ridiculous requirements.
21
posted on
02/19/2003 5:09:43 PM PST
by
aculeus
(We stand behind every bed we sell.)
To: aculeus
Hehehehe... hoist by your own petard :-)
22
posted on
02/19/2003 5:16:37 PM PST
by
Tamzee
(There are 10 types of people... those who read binary, and those who don't.)
To: aculeus
I like that requirement, though... it's a lot harder to sling mud if the voter is staring at you while you do it.
23
posted on
02/19/2003 5:18:01 PM PST
by
Tamzee
(There are 10 types of people... those who read binary, and those who don't.)
To: aculeus
A violation of McCain-Feingold be it a national party official's soft-money raising, or a senator's acting as a host at a fund-raiser on behalf of a governor is a felony carrying a prison sentence of as much as five years.Can we please not appeal this thing to the Supreme Court until AFTER the next election?
I want to see just one senator who signed this thing hauled away in plastic cuffs with his jacket over his head. Just one!
To: lizma
Even if they gave up all dinners, they wouldn't have time to review and understand everything they vote on. *WE* have let the Fed'l gov't into so many areas of our lives that they couldn't possible read and understand the tens of thousands of pages of legislation. What one person is an expert on telecommunications regulation, transportation, food labelling, medical care, social programs, ecology, corporate regulation, etc.?
We're at the mercy of invisible Hill staffers with agendas we don't even know. They write the legislation, and our elected folk pass it.
Until we pare the scope of the Fed'l gov't, this is what we will have to live with.
To: Sergio; Brett66
All of our congress people have no worries about retirement as they get their congressional salary for life, yet they won't pass laws allowing us a little control of our own retirement funds. i know what e-mail you got this from, and it ain't so! Check urbanlegends.com.
Here's a sampling from a better e-mail...
Question: What do you call a lawyer gone bad?
Answer: Senator
Brett66: (on your post #3) Hey-hey!
As far as McCain-Feingold, it's the restrictions it places on the public that has me up in arms: No issue ads 60 days before elections. This puts a stranglehold on first amendment speech and will probably make voting guides illegal.
26
posted on
02/19/2003 5:27:07 PM PST
by
attagirl
(bah humbug)
To: aculeus
It turns out that the law also includes a provision requiring that federal candidates appear full-faced for the last four seconds of their campaigns' television advertisements and personally attest that they stand behind the advertisements' content. And as amusing as this promises to be ("YES, I stand behind this load of insane bullcrap 100%"), I don't think it's fair. Commercials are either ten seconds or twenty seconds. In that context, four seconds is, like, *forever*.
To: aculeus
Chumps.
To: Samwise
--he said it after going broke in the business of his lifetime dream-a restaurant. Among other things, he didn't realize that the employer pays into Social Security as well as the employee--
To: aculeus
Now, this might
appear to be funny at first glance and you might be temped to laugh at this article.. But that would be a mistake.
Truth is, this is deeply insulting to all of us and you should read this and be horrified.. AND angry.
What this article is implying is what I have heard some congressmen (one of them is Ron Paul) say for quite some time..
That Congress votes on and passes legislation (that means "makes laws" for you in Palm Beach County) without even knowing what's IN IT OR WHAT IT SAYS.
Now, if that bothers you, then the boiler plate response to criticizm here is even more insulting. It typically goes something like: "Well, we don't have time to read them.."
Excuse the **** out of me here, but isn't it required that one know what he's voting for before one can be sure he's voting correctly?
If you don't know what you're voting for, then you are basically casting a ballot and further infringing the right's of American citizens because: "Well, Bob's in the same party as me and he said it's okay.. and the media wants us to do it.."
I think it would be neat to sneak a "mandatory sterilization for all members of congress" clause into some piece of legslation just to see if they caught it before it was signed into law..
Wouldn't that be a hoot.
30
posted on
02/19/2003 5:44:51 PM PST
by
Jhoffa_
(Jhoffa_X)
To: hellinahandcart
Commercials are either ten seconds or twenty secondsI was under the impression that standard T.V. commercials were 30 seconds, with long ones at 60 seconds.
To: AndyTheBear
Time them, you'll see. I haven't seen a one-minute commercial since I was a kid. Ads are much more brief nowadays, even political ads.
To: hellinahandcart
I'm getting twenty-five seconds on the average commercial.
They haven't shown any of the short ads so far this hour.
To: Mr. Mulliner
***Wait, let's see how many end up in jail first.***
LOL! I'm with you.
34
posted on
02/19/2003 6:20:30 PM PST
by
kitkat
(REPOSSESSION SALE: First Ave. between 42 & 48 Sts.NY City, Former site of the U.N.)
To: speekinout
Until we pare the scope of the Fed'l gov't, this is what we will have to live with. Yep. I was working as a volunteer at the time. But not only did these people not know just the basics of the bill, one of them actually said to me "If we only had a benevolent dictator , my job would be so much easier."
So repulsed, I quit after that. (Back in the days when I was young and foolish.)
35
posted on
02/19/2003 7:11:44 PM PST
by
lizma
To: aculeus
Violating the First Amendment can be upsetting.
To: aculeus
I have to admit I was surprised by this story. Not surprised that congressmen and senators don't read or understand most of the legislation they enact -- that was no surprise. What is genuinely astounding is that they didn't even pay any real attention to the legislation governing their own fund-raising and the campaigning that keeps them in office. It stuns me that long-term professional politicians wouldn't be right on top of this as their #1 priority. I would have thought that they would have already provided for loopholes to enable them to continue putting campaign funds into their pockets. They must have been on easy street for a long time without a serious reality check.
37
posted on
02/19/2003 7:14:51 PM PST
by
TheMole
To: aculeus
I hope this generates a little warmth and good cheer for their esteemed colleagues Russ Feingold and John McCain.
38
posted on
02/19/2003 7:23:39 PM PST
by
Rockpile
To: lizma
But not only did these people not know just the basics of the bill, one of them actually said to me "If we only had a benevolent dictator , my job would be so much easier."That's close to what they want, but not quite. What they want is a party leader who is popular enough so that they can continue to be re-elected.
The ones who have been on Capitol Hill for a long time, like Teddy, Barney, Orrin, etc. know they can't make a difference. A few small victories and a large pension are enough.
But no one can do more unless *WE* decide that they shouldn't control so much of our lives.
To: shadowman99
I agree that was the best. But the most disturbing statement was:
but maybe it will lead members of Congress to reconsider their habit of voting for legislation they haven't read.
Literacy. I thought to hold office they had to be literate, Not just have an "intern" or "aide" read it for them and say "its good or bad."
40
posted on
02/19/2003 7:28:39 PM PST
by
Madcelt
(Any questions about why the country is the way it is?)
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