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Okay, I guess it was a punt. Fred Wertheimer and Democracy 21 make themselves completely irrelevant:
Democracy 21 did not say that Senator John McCain cannot withdraw from the presidential primary public financing system until the Federal Election Commission makes a decision in this case.
We said that the shut down of the FEC has “taken center stage” because there is no agency to make a legal determination of whether McCain can or cannot withdraw from the public financing system. That means that their will be no resolution of the legal question involved here until the agency is re-constituted to decide the legal issue, and if such an FEC decision is appealed, the case is decided by the courts.
Democracy 21 had no trouble interpreting Barack Obama’s statement — "If I am the Democratic nominee, I will aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election" — to mean that he was opting into the public financing system for the general election. They sit around and parse this stuff all day, set themselves up as judge and jury about what the law is and how it should be interpreted. And now they want to shrug their shoulders because it’s their good buddy John McCain and say that because there’s no quarum at the FEC, he can do whatever the hell he wants?
If that’s the case they just ought to shut their doors now, because they’ve just admitted they’re completely useless and serve no purpose whatsoever other than to needle people when it’s of no consequence. If ever there was a time for groups like this to be weighing in, it’s now, during the height of campaign season when the official regulatory agency has been completely defanged by the Bush Administration.
Meanwhile, Common Cause director Mary Boyle has been reduced to firing off puerile emails to Matt Stoller telling him to "up his meds" and addressing everything but the very legitimate point he makes when he asks where they stand on this issue.
Just because George Bush shuts down the enforcement mechanism doesn’t mean it’s a free-for-all, and if that’s the position the reform groups are taking, can someone explain what it is they’re good for?
Update: Markos:
The Common Causes and Democracy 21s and Public Citizens like to rail about "compromised" politicians, but they’re proving in vivid color that they, themselves, are not immune to being compromised. And having invested too much in John McCain this past decade, they are incapable of calling him for his breaking the laws they supposedly champion.
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ZED!
Too bad for Fred, no cred now.
Nope, I got nothin’
Nope, I got nothin’
————
Darn formatting…
Employment for Lieberman clones?
Kos has this up top right now:
Sounds as if lotsa folks don’t like the old double standard.
Ah, I see the Stray Cock Express has a new paint scheme.
Useless, worthless, spineless, hopeless.
Another compromised DeeCee insider institution.
Yup, guess my color: surprised.
Mary Boyle’s response is way over the top. This is how she begins:
And of course, she never answers Matt Stoller’s question on why Common Cause has taken no position on McCain’s shifty attempt to opt out of public financing.
to answer your last question, one must recall Edwin Starr asking: “what is it good for?, absolutely nothing, say it again”
McStraycoque isn’t eligible to be pres, he doesn’t want to take money because it means he is beyond broke. He isn’t eligible to opt out of funding so….
let’s make new rules, whaddya say? and guess who is listening? the criminals that have been anointed to our supreme court. Never in the modern history of our courts have there been such obviously partisan hacks working to change the constitution to protect their right to fuck the constitution.
Impeach them all. They do not belong to this nation. Their actions are like Hitler’s courts. Do what I say or else is not a free country, or free court system. The Scotus is now a joke, the DOJ is now a joke, how many other parts of this less than functional democracy need to die before we bury it?
I disagree! I think they have a very clear purpose – they’re a propaganda tool designed to lend false authority to partisan claims of campaign impropriety by Democrats, and to waive any claims of impropriety by Republicans.
The Bush Administration has thoroughly politicized every element of the government, from State Prosecutors to the FCC to the Justice Department to FEMA. Really, it’s not so much that the FTC is worthless, as that you just haven’t adapted to the new paradigm, Jane! You’re still part of the quaint “Checks and Balances, Rule of Law” community.
Really, your attachment to these old-fashioned notions of how a government should run is sweet in a way.
One has to wonder if Bush created a situation with Von Spaz simply to put the FEC in limbo for the course of the election so that all sorts of campaign violations and rule-breaking can occur without referees?
Then they can say “but how can we ignore all these people who DID vote? You can’t simply take their votes away!!!?”
Sound like I’ve heard that line echoed somewhere else recently?
c/FTC/Democracy 21/g Brane not work gud.
foul up the works. Now how will they lay the blame on the dems?
Kos hasn’t caught up to this thread yet.
Shorter Straight Talk Express: “Your ad here…”
But seriously, folks, Jane’s first post left me kinda confused. She said Wertheimer didn’t punt, but it seemed clear (as mud) to me that what he was saying was the issue of McCain’s public financing was in limbo, and not resolvable, because the FEC is currently inoperative due to lack of a quorum. I’m not sure how Jane missed this, but I assume it was because of the poor way it was worded. I had to read it a couple of times, but in the end it did seem to me to be a punt. The word “whether” was a clue.
Regardless, it’s quite clear now, as Jane has promptly pointed out. Wertheimer and Democracy 21 aren’t going to commit to whether McCain has broken the law. Well, I know I’d be in hot water if I offered collateral on a three-million dollar loan, accepted the terms of doing so, and then turned around and said “Ha, ha, faked ya out! The collateral’s only good as long as you never need to collect it.” Which is just exactly what McCain did, which is tantamount to offering no collateral at all, which is a violation of the terms of the loan, which is against the law. Now I’m left wondering why Democracy 21 claims not to see this.
I can only suppose they’re holding out for better advertising rates on the side of the bus.
I found this at the Common Cause site in a February 22 press release (the link doesn’t work so I won’t put it in):
This link is for the site:
http://www.commoncause.org/sit…..8;b=186966
The bold (for the story) and italics (for the reaction) above are mine. I would say “pragmatic choices” is a very weasely description of what McCain has done.
sigh…
Twarnt Mormons, maybe Barak launched a unilateral strike!
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) — A missile strike in a remote part of Pakistan killed at least eight suspected militants and wounded three others Thursday, Pakistan’s state media reported.
The U.S. military denied any involvement in the incident, a source told CNN.
The strike happened in South Waziristan, a rugged mountainous region of Pakistan near its border with Afghanistan. Intelligence officials believe that the area is a haven for al Qaeda and Taliban militants.
Local tribesmen said the missile was fired from an unknown location and struck a house where the militants had gathered, the Associated Press of Pakistan said.
The country’s Office of Inter-Services Public Relations told CNN that it was looking into the incident but could not provide details. The office coordinates release of military news and access to military sources.
An official with the agency said the Pakistani army did not have a big military presence in the village of Azam Warsak, where the attack occurred.
Why is it that my first, visceral response to so many things these days is “ugh”?
There’s the fabulous Timmeh.
There’s The Tennessee Republican party’s idiocy.
And there is John McCain, the straight-talking, plain-spoken, truth-telling maverick, cleaner than a cloistered nun, except when he’s double-talking his way out of the campaign finance system in what is at worst an illegal way and at best a really slimy attempt to have it both ways on public financing.
I wish Obama would just opt out for the General election now – it’s clear McCain can’t and won’t control the 527’s that will doubtless hammer the Obama-Osama / Obama/Farrakhan nonsense daily. He can say, accurately, that he’s empowered millions and he won’t shut them out now.
Oh, and is there a more self-satisfied jerk in the world than Jack Kingston? I swear, he gives Orrin Hatch a run for smarm king of the Republican party.
Sorry, brief rant,,
Why the hell would The Drudge Report release the story re Prince Harry, with all the details re; location, handle, where he works and doing what.. Paint a bigger target on his back (and anyone else who is close by!!!), You Arses….
As an Englishwoman I’m horrified, really concerned for his and his mens wellbeing.
The Prince, as a target has ‘appeal/usefulness’ for too many factions, not all of them are ’scary brown people’.
I understand as a member of our royal family he has to learn/train/lead/see active service. I have complete respect for his choice to serve ‘front line’, but ‘reporting’ like this in Drudge do not do much for his continuing safety … /end rant.
Thanks, just needed to get that of my chest..
To get his goddamn scum sucking web site more publicity. You should be horrified especially in light of the way OUR landed aristocracy avoids any possible involvement.
So am I getting this right?
1 -There is for all intents and purposes, no FEC.
2 – As a result, there is no one that can tell McCain whether he can or cannot legally opt either into or out of public financing and furthermore there is no agency in the Federal Government to oversee this years election process.
Is that about it?
that’s it in a nutshell
Seems about right ‘g’
Yes. Down the road the FEC may revisit all this but except for some fines I expect it will all be viewed as water over the dam.
“Democracy 21 had no trouble interpreting Barack Obama’s statement — “If I am the Democratic nominee, I will aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election” — to mean that he was opting into the public financing system for the general election. They sit around and parse this stuff all day, set themselves up as judge and jury about what the law is and how it should be interpreted. And now they want to shrug their shoulders because it’s their good buddy John McCain and say that because there’s no quorum at the FEC, he can do whatever the hell he wants?”
Great observation Jane, to put it simply, this is the patent hypocrisy that the Republicans and their enablers don’t seem to be able to overcome. And it is the same hypocrisy that spawned Rove’s “f*ing faith-based thing” and allowed Don Siegelman to slip through all the safeguards of our legal system, right into an Alabama federal prison cell.
If there is ONE factor that has driven new voters over to the Democrats, prepping for Limbaugh’s 50-state landslide, it is the hypocrisy factor. Again and again, the Republicans demand something they are unwilling or incapable to do themselves, from sex scandals like Foley and Craig to McCain’s condemnation of “special interests” when he is surrounded by some of the most hard-core lobbyists on K street.
That hypocrisy factor makes mincemeat out of any claim to straight-talk McCain may (or may not) have had in the past.
And for all those Republicans decrying the seemingly merciless attitude of some of us, let us never forget George Macaca’s infamous words about Democrats when they wqere the minority: “lets kick their soft teeth down their whiney throats.”
Who’s whining now?
Hypocrisy; If there is a better reason to get these Republicans out of power, completely, finally and mercifully, I can’t find it.
Hey! fabulous is my adjective this thread! *g
I’m so, so sorry… He’s not actually my Congresscritter, but he’s ours here in Chatham County. My apologies. [hangs head in shame]
Instead of writing a letter to the FEC, shouldn’t Howard Dean and the DNC be filing an injunction to get a court to enforce the law since the FEC is nonfunctional? The law is clear and McCain is violating it, even in the interpretation of the FEC Chair, as noted in the linked article. That seems like a pretty easy suit to file and win. Don’t think for a second that the Republicans wouldn’t do it if the tables were turned.
Every time I’ve ever seen Jack Kingston on my TeeVee he’s come off as an ignorant, inbred, grinning fool.
in this post-Gonzalez world? Are you kidding?
You’re seeing the real Jack Kingston…
And they love him here!
Well, it seems we would have the whole country to venue-shop since he likely is setting up shop everywhere for the general election.
That’s why they have these quarter-century-old marketing firms called “Right-wing think tanks,” to figure out a way to catapult the propaganda.
Here in Minnesota we recently overturned years and years of Grover Norquist style government starvation to pass a (regrettably regressive) gas tax in order to maintain our highway system (you may have heard something about our bridges collapsing?)
A local news station interviewed a couple of “deadbeat dad” style anti-tax zealots on the news the other day, the kinds of guys (and it’s always guys) who seethe at the idea of any taxes at all.
One of them complained that his property taxes rose 17% last year. What he doesn’t seem able to acknowledge was that this was because our Republican VP-wannabe Governor, Tim Pawlenty, has pushed cost increases off on the municipalities by refusing to increase any taxes, ever. So the increase in property taxes, a direct result of Republican policies, is blamed on ‘liberals.’
Another fellow (and you can watch the segment yourself) complained about traffic. After years of Republicans starving the Department of Transporation, this guy blamed highway congestion on liberals. His assertion? Liberals WANT the roads to be congested, because that will force everyone to use mass transit, and with mass transit Liberals can control where people are allowed to live.
So… how will the Republicans blame the Democrats for the messes caused by Republicans? Through the use of delusion, imagination, denial, and lies. And they’re pretty darned good at it!
I don’t blame you, but feel that meds-by mail might be necessary if he’s near your zip code…
I’m especially disappointed by the response of Common Cause. I expect better from them.
Bob in HI
This seems to call for a letter-writing action, given the double standard of the Obama stories in the NYT.
St. McCain.
Able to walk on water and leap campaign finance laws in a single bound.
He will be teh most awe-sum preznit.