Republican Must Read Before 527 Vote
By Brad Smith Posted in User Blogs — Comments (5) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
From the diaries:
Before Republican congressmen vote on the 527 bill on Wednesday, they need to read this briefing paper by Steve Hoersting, written for the Cato Institute.
Hoersting explains why 527 regulation is bad for Republicans as a matter of both policy and politics. Excerpt:
Who is going to correct the record when the campaigns of Democratic officeholders begin? James Q. Wilson has cited a study by the Center for Media and Public Affairs demonstrating that, especially during the month before the election, Senator John Kerry received more favorable mentions than any presidential candidate in the history of CMPA's twenty-five year study of television broadcasting. "Since 1980 (and setting aside the advent of Fox News), the Democratic candidate has received more favorable mentions than the Republican candidate in every race except the 1988 contest between Michael Dukakis and George H.W. Bush. A similarly clear orientation characterizes weekly newsmagazines like Time and Newsweek." Peggy Noonan has opined that the Democratic frontrunner will have half of the mainstream media behind her, making it difficult for much of the other half to be against her. There will be practical limits on the ability of the Republican Party to run advertising to correct the record because it is as likely as not that the Republican nominee for president will ask--or be forced by the press to ask--that his party take the high road and keep critiques to a minimum. Other established Republican organizations may find themselves in a similar position.
Free speech scares incumbents. Unfortunately, CFR has emboldened them because it shows that the snowjob they call "reform" is, in fact, working on the American public.
So, hey, let's keep "reforming"!
While I admire McCain in many ways and on many issues, I find his willingness to support censorship repugnant.
Now we see the fruits of his misguided attempt to 'clean up' elections: they will become even dirtier, thanks to his erstwhile allies in the McCain-Feingold 'reform'.
So, Congress is voting to restrict the free speech of the Swift Vets on the same day that CBS announces Katie Couric as its new anchor and 60 Minutes contributer. If you think Dan Rather was bad at 60 Minutes, just wait. Katie ("The Christian Coalition has blood on its hands") Couric will be ten times worse.
And the Republicans are actually supporting this? Did I wake up in the Twilight Zone?
Groups like Swift Boat Vets and other groups of activists out there rather than relying on the libs running the network news and newspapers to be our main source of information.
As I said in response to your earlier diary entry on 527 regulation, it's really bad form.
The more rules they pass, the more complicated the process becomes, meaning that it becomes less and less possible to tell who's doing what. It's a situation in which special interests thrive, and details like integrity and public interest do not.
The whole campaign finance reform movement stinks to high heaven of good intentions, and leads to the usual fiery pit.