Free Republic

The mainstream press has justified its lack of coverage over the Internal Revenue Service targeting of conservative groups because there's been no "smoking gun" tying President Obama to the scandal. This betrays a remarkable, if not willful, failure to understand abuse of power. The political pressure on the IRS to delay or deny tax-exempt status for conservative groups has been obvious to anyone who cares to open his eyes. It did not come from a direct order from the White House, but it didn't have to.

In February 2006, Norm Feck learned that the city of Parker, Colorado was thinking about annexing his neighborhood, Parker North. Feck attended a meeting on the annexation, realized that it would mean more bureaucracy, and concluded that it wouldn’t be in Parker North residents’ interest. Together with five other Parker North locals, he wrote letters to the editor, handed out information sheets, formed an Internet discussion group, and printed up anti-annexation yard signs, which soon began sprouting throughout the neighborhood. That’s when annexation supporters took action—not with their own public campaign, but with a legal complaint against Feck and his...

Virus Alert! McCain-Feingold is set to infect the Internet. By Bradley A. Smith For two years, campaign-finance reformers fought in the courts to force the Federal Election Commission to regulate the Internet more heavily. They won, and legislation is in the works. Two bills are before Congress, H.R. 4900 and H.R. 1606. The “reform community” is strongly backing the former, and, to garner support for it, is claiming that it offers more than adequate protections. It doesn’t. Before McCain-Feingold, or “BCRA,” federal campaign law regulated “expenditures” and “contributions” made “in connection with” federal elections or “for the purpose of influencing”...

Talk radio, cable news, and the blogosphere freed U.S. political discourse. The Left wants to rein it in again. The rise of alternative media—political talk radio in the eighties, cable news in the nineties, and the blogosphere in the new millennium—has broken the liberal monopoly over news and opinion outlets. The Left understands acutely the implications of this revolution, blaming much of the Democratic Party’s current electoral trouble on the influence of the new media’s vigorous conservative voices. Instead of fighting back with ideas, however, today’s liberals quietly, relentlessly, and illiberally are working to smother this flourishing universe of political...

Bradley Smith says that the freewheeling days of political blogging and online punditry are over. In just a few months, he warns, bloggers and news organizations could risk the wrath of the federal government if they improperly link to a campaign's Web site. Even forwarding a political candidate's press release to a mailing list, depending on the details, could be punished by fines. Smith should know. He's one of the six commissioners at the Federal Election Commission, which is beginning the perilous process of extending a controversial 2002 campaign finance law to the Internet. In 2002, the FEC exempted the...

Wednesday, August 25, 2004 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ELECTION 2004 FEC chairman defends Swift Boat ads Disagrees 'only the politicians should be able to say what they want' -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: August 25, 2004 1:00 a.m. Eastern -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com The chairman of the Federal Elections Commission, a Clinton appointee, defended the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in the face of a complaint filed with the agency by Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry. Kerry claims the television ads, in which Vietnam veterans question the senator's veracity and slam him for his anti-war activities, have been illegally coordinated with the Bush-Cheney campaign. Swift...

Says for Kerry group to complain is a little bit absurd.

Click the link below to see what people worldwide think of political ads in the US, and the Swiftvets ad in particular. You are allowed to submit your comments to this forum (and I hope some of you do!)Nice to see that there is now worldwide attention to Kerry/Swiftvets, but the commentary could be stronger (and in some cases, the posts from the left are hysterical!) Arm yourselves with the facts & post away on their site! http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/3594070.stm

New FEC Chairman Vows to Enforce Law Thu Dec 18, 5:13 PM ET Add U.S. Government - AP to My Yahoo! By SHARON THEIMER, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - Democrats who have been forming special groups to avoid spending restrictions in the campaign finance law may soon face some bad news: The government's new chief election regulator is warning their activities could be reined in. Multimedia • Run for the White House 2004 (AP Flash) Bradley Smith, the Republican chosen Thursday as chairman of the Federal Election Commission (news - web sites), said he believes a recent Supreme Court ruling...

<p>WASHINGTON -- Democrats who have been forming groups to avoid spending restrictions in the campaign finance law may face bad news: The government's new chief election regulator is warning that their activities could be reined in.</p> <p>Bradley Smith, the Republican chosen yesterday as chairman of the Federal Election Commission, said he believes a recent Supreme Court ruling may require his agency to limit the groups' activities.</p>