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Judy Woodruff interviews Sen. McCain on the money the Citizens Union decision has brought into the fray…
Here’s part of the interview:
JUDY WOODRUFF: But in the wake of the Supreme Court decision Citizens United, we are seeing enormous sums of money going into this campaign, to the campaigns themselves, to outside supporters.
Is this — is it just inevitable that we’re now in a period where money is going to be playing this dominant role in American politics?
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN: I’m afraid, at least for the time being, that’s going to be the case, because of the most misguided, naive, uninformed, egregious decision of the United States Supreme Court I think in the 21st century.
To somehow view money as not having an effect on election, a corrupting effect on election, flies in the face of reality. I just wish one of them had run for county sheriff. So what we are. . .
JUDY WOODRUFF: You mean one of the justices?
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN: One of the five Supreme Court justices that voted to invalidate what we know of as McCain-Feingold.
Bom-pa-da-bom! So not all Conservative Republicans are married to the five reactionaries on the Supreme Court. Maybe there is a future after all.
Go over to Crooks and Liars and see the whole, revealing interview.
Related articles
- Video: In Role Reversal, McCain Critical of Obama’s ‘in Your Face’ on Pakistan (jewishpress.com)
- Sen. McCain says Obama never ‘reached out’ to him (theblaze.com)
- Sen. John McCain Trashes Supreme Court’s Citizens United Ruling [READ BRIEF] (ibtimes.com)
- A Democrat and a Republican want the Supreme Court to revisit “Citizens United” (underthelobsterscope.wordpress.com)
- Judy Woodruff Interviews Boehner on PBS NEWSHOUR Tonight (yonkerstribune.typepad.com)
A Democrat and a Republican want the Supreme Court to revisit “Citizens United”
This Press Release went out from Senator Whitehouse’s office on Friday:
U.S. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and John McCain (R-AZ) today filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court that details the explosion of anonymous political spending since the Citizens United decision. The brief was filed in a case regarding a Montana law that bars corporations from funding election ads. The case presents the opportunity for the Court to clarify the authority of Congress and state legislatures to address the threat of corruption posed by this spending.
“We are deeply concerned about the rise of unlimited, anonymous money now flooding our elections,” Whitehouse and McCain said in a joint statement. “This unregulated and unaccountable spending invites corruption into our political process, and undermines our democracy. We urge the Supreme Court to make clear that legislatures can take appropriate actions against corrupting influences in campaigns.”
The Senators’ brief, filed in American Tradition Partnership v. Bullock, asks the Court to deny a petition to review a Montana Supreme Court decision which held that the Montana legislature’s ban on corporate election spending was still constitutional following Citizens United. Failing that, the brief asks the Court to give the Montana case a full review in light of the flood of anonymous money that has entered political campaigns since Citizens United.
The brief urges the court to “revisit Citizens United’s finding that vast independent expenditures do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption,” arguing that rules requiring donor disclosure and prohibiting outside groups from coordinating with campaigns have been evaded and manipulated by politically-active groups and individuals. The brief chronicles the extensive coordination that takes place between campaigns and super PACs, and the means of “identity-laundering” that allow secret donors to hide their activity. The legislators conclude that “the campaign finance system assumed by Citizens United is no longer a reality, if it ever was.”
The Senators have both been leading advocates on campaign finance issues. McCain was a co-author of the landmark Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, or “McCain-Feingold,” which limited corporate expenditures on political ads, and which was partially struck down by Citizens United. Whitehouse has introduced legislation this year that would require enhanced disclosure of spending on political ads.
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This is something all Americans from all political backgrounds should get behind… unless you want 8 or 9 rich guys putting out whatever crap they want to sway elections. The Supreme Court stuck us with this in “Citizens United” and it is their responsibility to bring back the basics of democracy (and let’s stop pretending Corporations are citizens.)
Related articles
- States Wage War Against Citizens United (huffingtonpost.com)
- APNewsBreak: 22 states join campaign finance fight (kansascity.com)
- States Rally In Campaign Finance Legal Battle (npr.org)
- APNewsBreak: 22 states join campaign finance fight (sfgate.com)
- 22 states join campaign finance fight (timesleader.com)
Two Quotes for the Morning… and the stupidity of Rick Santorum
The other day, in a long and meaningful speech based on his own experience, Senator John McCain lashed out at the support of waterboarding by his fellow Republicans.
Rick Santorum has now responded to John McCain’s claim that torture didn’t lead to Bin Laden’s death by insisting that on the subject of torture, McCain has no idea what he’s talking about:
Everything I’ve read shows that we would not have gotten this information as to who this man was if it had not been gotten information from people who were subject to enhanced interrogation. And so this idea that we didn’t ask that question while Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was being waterboarded, he doesn’t understand how enhanced interrogation works. I mean, you break somebody, and after they’re broken, they become cooperative. And that’s when we got this information. And one thing led to another, and led to another, and that’s how we ended up with bin Laden.
Perhaps Santorum forgets that McCain was held and tortured by the North Vietnamese and bases his opinion on real experience. McCain has even written that he did not become cooperative under “enhanced interrogation” at all, and in fact gave his tormentors false information to get them to stop.
So in response to the question of what does McCain think of Rick Santorum’s comment, McCain spokesperson Brooke Buchanan made a one word reply:
Who?
(Source: Justin Elliott in Salon)
Related articles
- Rick Santorum Says John McCain Doesn’t Understand Interrogation (alan.com)
- Santorum Says McCain Doesn’t Understand Enhanced Interrogation (themoderatevoice.com)
- Santorum doesn’t think John McCain understands how torture works (americablog.com)
- Rick Santorum says Sen. John McCain, an ex-POW, doesn’t understand the effectiveness of harsh interrogation (pennlive.com)
- Santorum Denies McCain Experience With Torture (lezgetreal.com)
- UnCatholic Quote of the Day (vgiordano.wordpress.com)
- More on Santorum’s Torture Expertise and Experience (themoderatevoice.com)
- Santorum: Still dumber than a bag of hammers…. (tagg-lines.com)
- Rick Santorum: Obama Didn’t Get Bin Laden (alan.com)
Quote for the Day – Thre Majority Leader on Senator McCain’s opposition to ending “Don’t ask, don’t tell”…
“First, Sen. McCain said he would seriously consider repealing it if the military leadership thought we should, and [when] the military leadership said it should be repealed, he pulled away the football. Then Sen. McCain said he would need to see a study from the Pentagon. When the Pentagon produced the study saying repeal would have no negative effect at all, he pulled away the football again.
“And his latest trick, he said yesterday that he opposed repealing ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ a proposal that would be a great stride forward for both equality and military readiness … because of the economy,” Reid added. “I repeat, the senior senator from Arizona said he couldn’t support repealing ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ because of the economy.
“I have no idea what he’s talking about and no one else does either.”
Related Articles
- Reid rips McCain over ‘don’t ask’ (politico.com)
- McCain stands firm on “don’t ask” … even after that study (shortformblog.com)
- Mother of 9/11 Hero Calls on McCain for “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Repeal (gayrights.change.org)
- ‘Don’t ask’: McCain clashes with military leaders (sfgate.com)
- McCain slams Pentagon’s ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ study – MiamiHerald.com (news.google.com)
Most Americans want it, the Administration wants it, McCain doesn’t want it. Who’s right?
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Related Articles
- Majority of Americans support repeal of DADT except Tea Partiers/extremists and John McCain (crooksandliars.com)
- McCain attacks ‘inexperienced’ Obama for promising ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ repeal (crooksandliars.com)
- John McCain continues jihad against repealing ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ (dailykos.com)
- Sunday Late Night: McCain Blames Obama’s “Inexperience” for DADT Repeal Promise (firedoglake.com)
- Pentagon study shows gay service would not harm military (capitolhillblue.com)
Is McCain working against the rest of the Nation?
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Some McCain Fun for a Sunday Night…
I found this animation while toodling around YouTube. I can’t help but think if this were spread around more in 2008 when it came out, McCain might have attracted a whole different crowd.
Related Articles
- Bye-Bye Senator McCain! (politics.ie)
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Republicans used to avoid criticizing each other…
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Then again, I’ve never thought much of Inhofe.
Or, for that matter, Republicans in general.
If you get Tweets from John McCain…
… then you probably got this tiny piece of bullshit.
Last American combat troops leave Iraq. I think President George W. Bush deserves some credit for victory.
about 12 hours ago via Twitter for iPhone Retweeted by 100+ people
John McCain
When you run against a War Hero, shouldn’t you learn a little more about War?
This is an interesting piece from Talking Points Memo which shows us how much candidates really know… in this case Ex Congressman J.D. Hayworth who is running in Arizona’s primary against John McCain for the Republican Senate Nomination:
While speaking last week to a local GOP organization in Phoenix, Hayworth was asked by an attendee about America’s failure to formally declare war in our modern conflicts. Hayworth defended the modern-day authorizations for the use of military force. “But I would also point out, that if we want to be sticklers, the war that Dwight Eisenhower led in Europe against the Third Reich was never declared by the United States Congress,” said Hayworth. “Recall, the Congress passed a war resolution against Japan. Germany declared war on us two days later. We never formally declared war on Hitler’s Germany, and yet we fought the war.”
Here’s the speech:
And here, of course, is the actual Declaration of War against Germany:
US Declaration of War against Germany
December 11, 1941
The President’s MessageTo the Congress of the United States:
On the morning of Dec. 11 the Government of Germany, pursuing its course of world conquest, declared war against the United States. The long-known and the long-expected has thus taken place. The forces endeavoring to enslave the entire world now are moving toward this hemisphere. Never before has there been a greater challenge to life, liberty and civilization. Delay invites great danger. Rapid and united effort by all of the peoples of the world who are determined to remain free will insure a world victory of the forces of justice and of righteousness over the forces of savagery and of barbarism. Italy also has declared war against the United States.
I therefore request the Congress to recognize a state of war between the United States and Germany, and between the United States and Italy.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
The War Resolution
Declaring that a state of war exists between the Government of Germany and the government and the people of the United States and making provision to prosecute the same.
Whereas the Government of Germany has formally declared war against the government and the people of the United States of America:
Therefore, be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that the state of war between the United States and the Government of Germany which has thus been thrust upon the United States is hereby formally declared; and the President is hereby authorized and directed to employ the entire naval and military forces of the government to carry on war against the Government of Germany; and to bring the conflict to a successful termination, all of the resources of the country are hereby pledged by the Congress of the United States
A Quote for the Day – predicting the future months in Congress?
When Senator McCain stated on television Sunday that the passing of the Health Care Bill meant that Republicans would not cooperate for the rest of the year, this response came down from the Senate:
“For someone who campaigned on ‘Country First’ and claims to take great pride in bipartisanship, it’s absolutely bizarre for Senator McCain to tell the American people he is going to take his ball and go home until the next election. He must be living in some parallel universe because the fact is, with very few exceptions, we’ve gotten very little cooperation from Senate Republicans in recent years”.
– Senator Harry Reid
You tell ’em, Harry.
When you get older, your memory goes…
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Quote of the Day (a Doozy!)
“I think the interrogations were in violation of the Geneva Convention against torture that we ratified under President Reagan. I think that these interrogations, once publicized, helped al Qaeda recruit.”
– Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), in an interview on Face the Nation, on the Bush administration’s interrogation methods.
Looks like McCain and Cheney are not in the same Party.
Quote of the Day – the DNC on McCain’s win in Arizona
Aug 25
Posted by btchakir
I’m not crazy about this kind of comment, especially if it comes from the Democrats who I hold to a higher standard… but it’s true.
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Posted in campaign, Congress, Economics, editorial, history, News, Opinion, Politics, Press, Word from Bill
Comments Off on Quote of the Day – the DNC on McCain’s win in Arizona
Tags: Arizona, Comment, Democratic Party (United States), DNC, J D Hayworth, John McCain, Republican, United States, United States Senate