1 Didn't we have a good column on this a while back.  The Democrap version of free spech = shutup said over and over.

2 May be worth bringing that video back for a repeat in light of this new ruling.

3 To paraphrase Orwell: "All men are created equal, but some men are more equal than others." That should be the public slogan for the democratic party; it is certainly its private belief.

4 O/T  Ace gets mentioned in todays day by day strip.  pretty cool!

5
Air America might be dead, but local left-wing radio is all left-wing populism/all anti-corporatism-- all the time. 

There is going to be a constant drum beat of "anti-corporatism" banging throughout America.  Leftwingers are banging their pots again.

6 But we they are far smarter and, quite franky, much better dressed than you vulgarians.  You must not be allowed to despoil the fine work that we they are doing with your silly little "opinions."

7
Bottom line for democrats:  Free speech for groups is not OK - unless you're George Soros funneling millions and millions of dollars into shady left-wing 527s.

8 The demoncraps have always been the communist that they are, we as a nation are finally waking up to it. We gave them the full power of the government and they blatantly showed us their true colors RED.

9 As in everything else the left wing is all in favor of free speech, for the proper people of course.

It's not that we Bible-reading, flag waving, gun toting, bitter, clingy, red-neck NASCAR fans out in fly-over country don't have a right to free speech, it's just that we can't use that right because we aren't the proper people.

Writing that made my head hurt...

10 If you hold your nose and go read the various DKos rants on this, you will notice one common thread of complaint -- that this leads to "Corporatism." They continually fail to realize that Corporate America is not monolithic, it gives equally to the R or D - depending on who is in power, and that getting Apple and Exxon to agree on anything will be impossible. This decision only guarantees one thing -- more money for the media. Hopefully, corporate interests can get a better airing and we can return to an era where America's Business is Business, but I am not holding my breath -- the entrenched regulatory bureaucracy will put up a hard fight.

11

Free speech for groups is not OK - unless you're George Soros funneling millions and millions of dollars into shady left-wing 527s.

This ruling will destroy the 527s.  They were created to get around the MF law.

12 BTW, more funemployment

13 Wasn't part of the dissent that they're afraid that -foreign- corporations will get too much say in our political process?

I think it's so adorable, how they're pretending that they give a crap about foreigners impacting American politics.  They'd LOVE to give illegal aliens the vote, that's hardly a secret.

Qwinn

14

What they really oppose is a better-informed electorate. If you doubt it, ask a liberal if he would be in favor--in theory only--of a simple quiz to determine voter eligibility. Show the hopeful voter a photo of, say, Lassie and ask, "Is this a cat or a dog?" Something a 3-year-old crack baby could handle. Remind them: Only in theory, we wouldn't actually do this and disenfranchise idiots.

And watch them turn themselves in circles like the afore-mentioned Lassie with a bee on her butt.

15 This looks like a job for REGULATORY CZAR!!

16 The University of Chicago Law School is regularly ranked in the top 10 in the nation.  The "adjunct scholar" position that was CREATED just for Barack Obama is entirely on the Dean of the law school.  It was his call.

Students loved "professor" Obama, but really I wonder what kind of education they really received.  I know UofC grads apparently get a lot of "you don't know everything OK" on their first interviews after graduation, but Barack Obama is the reigning monarch of "I know all".

17

Andrew Sullivan gets a chubby over Iraq sliding into chaos again:

Tom Ricks gets an e-mail from a friend in Iraq:

^{IÂ’m afraid things are coming to a tipping point here. If the Chalabi-Iranian faction succeeds in keeping those 15 pro-Alawi Sunni parties off the ballot all bets are off. I can see a Shiia-on-Shiia civil war (with the Sunnis backing the Alawi faction) or a military coup as real possibilities. At this point, the best thing to happen would be to postpone the election. If they go ahead toward March the way they are heading, all bets are off. I donÂ’t think Washington is fully engaged with Haiti and Afghan distracting them. A lot of bad vibes here.}

 I fear my belief that the surge failed is being borne out by events. Even worse, you know what the GOP is about to do: blame Obama for the failure they set up. ItÂ’s their new line: everything we screwed up over eight years is ObamaÂ’s fault. Blame him. Re-elect us_.

Hmmm, Sullivan is almost as committed to seeing the surge fail as he is to proving that Trig is Sarah PalinÂ’s grandson. Sullivan wants failure to in Iraq. He has been writing how the surge would fail before the surge, how the surge would fail during the surge, and how the surge would fail since. Now it is some grand plot by Republicans (jeeze if they are so fucking smart how come they are not running things?) to blame Obama, of course Obama has zero influence over Iraq over the last year.

 

 

18 Although the Dems have some valid points about this, namely the "deep pockets" aspect, it nevertheless is just common sense that freedom of speech and especially political speech, cannot be abridged.

19 I always thought McCain Feingold would not stand up to SCOTUS scrutiny. Something about the govt legislating when you can and cannot engage in political speech and that pesky First Ammendment thingy. Color me crazy I guess.

Now having said that..... I agree there is too much cash and too much special interest input into elected officials.... its corrupting the system.

I have a little different take on how to fix that.

IMHO... the root cause of the issue isnt cash, isnt patronage, isnt croniism, isnt corporatism, isnt nepotism or any other ism. The root cause of the problem lies in the fact the government has too much power over everything.

Want to get rid of the corruption and the influence peddling....... get rid of the influence. As long as the governemnt can pick winners and losers, can legislate advantages for certain groups over other groups, and are able to either enrich themselves personally or expand their voting patronage base.... this is going to continue.

If a congress critter doesnt have levers of power to help or hurt citizens or institutions to begin with..... he doesnt have the ability to abuse that power.

20

Posted by: fixerupper at January 22, 2010 10:30 AM (J5Hcw)

My fix used to be elliminate ALL of the laws and have full and rapid discloser along with a few other things. After reading my favorite Justice's dissent though I would have to modify the disclosure rules.

My fix to elliminate money in the system:

No limits on contribution but disclosure; full disclosure on corporations, packs, and organizations; partial disclosure on private citizens (name only) and State of residense.

Contributions only allowed from the area of which you are running for office; e.g. President - contributers from anywhere in the country, Senator - only from the State running, congress critter - only from the district.

Return the congress critter districts to same ratio it was in 1800. This will allow door to door campaigning again.

Totally elliminate TV ads, if we can ban cigarettes we can ban politicians, both are just as toxic. This will get rid of the 30 sec attack ad and the emphasis on looks instead of substance. It will also greatly reduce the need for money.

 

21

Democrats founder trying to buy votes by pretending to be the best palls of Middle America

Is "palls" a typo of "balls"?

Effing Democrats--trying to steal Ace's new signature.

22 The problem is that this Admin is knee deep in these types and the face of the Administration, Geithner, is a tax cheat with all sorts of other ethical issues.  The Congress is in bed with these folks and no one is going after Fannie and Freddie.  People have figured it out and, to the extent the Administration had any credibility, it went bye bye when they decided to go to bat for types like Geithner and then throw money away to the unions with GM and Chrysler.  No one buys what they are selling.

23 Dems are offended because their pet corporations, the media conglomerates, may lose their monopoly on free political speech.  If conservatives get to cooperate the way unions do, we may be able to counter some of their more ridiculous arguments.

In other words, Shut up, they explained.

24 Is "palls" a typo of "balls"?

I saw that, too.  If intentional, it's an apt pun.  Those democrat assholes are dedicated to laying the very idea of this country to rest once and for all, and they do so with the enthusiastic backing of a sizable chunk of the electorate.

25 Democrats are middle America's best pall. Look it up.

26 Oh, heck, here ya go:

5. A large cloth, esp., a heavy black cloth, thrown over a
 coffin at a funeral; sometimes, also, over a tomb.
 [1913 Webster]

I'm a giver.

27 Sorry, MikeO. Looks like you were alluding to the same thing. I should've read more carefully.

28 All Marxism all the time.

29 Great post

30 The President— who must have been the worst constitutional law professor ever

Praising with faint damnation.

The Constitution ain't long and it ain't hard to figure out.

31 #20 & #21 above:
I'm all in favor of no corporate contributions whatsoever, and no limits on individual contributions.  Disclosure only.

Hell, you could write that law on one page.

32 The liberals made a strategic error in trying to take down the first amendment without taking down the second amendment first.

33 Geez, I remember when Sarah Palin was called a "populist."  And it was done by the LSM with a sneer. 

34
I disagree Gabe.  Everyone knows Thomas Jefferson's famous quote: "Free speech is overrated, but not overtly so."

35 Thank goodness McCain Feingold came along to stop all the rampant right wing ideology in the media....

This statement is so dumb I cant remember how to laugh at it.

36 We know that SCOTUS loves certain memes of late, so Gabe, why not reconsider your final line to suit them?

How about this?

If you happen to be discussing Citizens United with your coworkers, do me a favor and point out to them that the purpose of these hearings will be how to shut Americans up in the name of "the public Compelling Statist interest."  

37 These Marxists are also fond of picking winners and losers in the economic arena.

38 and how will this affect the as yet unfinished "fairness" doctrine???  any bets as to DOA statis???

39 Please Ace, quit continuing the fallacy that Obama was a "law professor", he never was on a tenure track, and so far as I can determine was only a 'teaching assistant'. TA's generally were pretty smart dudes, but in Obama's case I suspect it was sxtrictly 'affirmative action' at work.