Just recieved an email from John McCain

[Rick Myers]

RE: The attempt to stop Dem groups like moveon.org, etc. from running campaign ads in this election!!! Here's a 'sample' email they want ME to email to the FEC! What dunces! Anything to silence the growing wave of criticism of the Boy King!!!

*******************

Dear FEC Commissioners,

I strongly urge the FEC to move forward quickly with its rulemaking on "527 groups."
These groups have an obvious, overriding purpose of influencing the current federal elections. As such, they should be required to register as federal political committees and play by the same rules as everyone else.

Millions of people around the country support meaningful campaign finance reform---including the soft money ban recently upheld by the US Supreme Court. The FEC now needs to do its job and properly enforce the laws keeping soft money out of federal elections.

Name
Postal address
Email address

*************************

McCain has given Dubya his email list from the 2000 election!!! As a talk show host I was on lists for most candidates, but haven't seen ANYTHING for months.

:grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr:

on edit: to ifx spelling! Ack...

[DAGDA56]

1. That McCain...

...has a few drinks, does the porn sites, then starts sending out the e-mails...I can just picture it.

[aquart]

2. McCain.

NOW will people stop fantasizing him for Veep?

Would that be too much to ask?

[ibegurpard]

3. But he could guarantee that we would winnnnn!

:eyes:

[Mz Pip]

4. For all of McCain's

alleged criticism of Bush, one does need to notice that it is always followed by a show of support within a couple of weeks.

McCain will be hawking for Bush in AZ if the going gets tough for the Chimp-in-Chief. Guaranteed.

Shit, McCain helped write this damn law knowing full well that PACs would have a lot of leverage. Maybe he was only thinking that Repug PACs could put together any serious funding.

MzPip
:dem:

[leyton]

5. McCain is probably right.

Though I'm glad to see the 527's helping us catch up with Bush, I think McCain is ultimately right. Organizations like moveon.org are committed to defeating Bush, and as such should be bound by the same rules as everyone else. I don't see how people here can complain about Republicans breaking campaign laws and what not when people on our side can essentially bypass spending limits by attacking Bush from organizations other than the DNC and the Kerry campaign.

What's more, McCain is a proponent of campaign finance reform, and he shouldn't let the fact that 527's are beneficial to the Democratic party (and probably in line with McCain's personal beliefs) get in the way of his efforts to make politics more fair. And nobody here gives McCain a chance, it seems. People seem to expect him to jump fully onto the Kerry train and fully rebuke Bush - do you not realize that this is not black and white? McCain may well despise Bush, but that doesn't mean he has to go out and endorse Kerry a la Zell Miller in reverse.

Besides, if the Heritage Foundation or PNAC or some political nonprofit like that were to start airing anti-Kerry ads, people here would be all over it in a heartbeat, and calling for investigations and the like.

[NMDemDist2]

6. I agree with McCain.. we should make the FCC give the pol's free airtime

from ABC/CBS/NBC/FOX and anybody else they (the FCC) control. The airwaves belong to the people and what is more the "people's work" than giving us the info we need on candidates and issues?

[w4rma]

8. Bring back the fairness doctrine, instead, imho.

http://www.twf.org/News/Y1997/Fairness.html

[Crunchy Frog]

10. They already give the pols free airtime

at least as long as they're Republicans.

[atre]

12. If that is what the bill says, it is unconstitutional. Buckley v. Valeo

The Buckley Court created a distinction between expenditures and contributions, holding that any restrictions on campaign expenditures violate the First Amendment (unless the restrictions are voluntarily assumed, as in the case of federally matching funds).

Restrictions on campaign contributions, however, are not constitutionally impermissible because they involve only associational liberties, which are intact even if the contributor is limited in his contribution to only $1. It is still good law, even after McConnell.

[Bread and Circus]

13. I tend to agree with you.

Individuals are putting in millions of their own money
into these things to sway public opinion. Just because it's
used to defeat Bush doesn't make it right.

We need to be better than them, not just beat them.

[leyton]

14. On a tangent...

I wonder if this is why McCain is not jumping on board with Kerry. He probably doesn't like the Bush administration much more than I do, and he's enough of a maverick to buck his party (seeing as they won't nominate him for President anyway). But he may have a problem with all the 527's and that may be what is keeping him from running with Kerry.

Unless he decides to accept a VP offer from Kerry (should Kerry offer), in which case this of course is not applicable. :)

[w4rma]

7. This would affect groups such as the NRA, Club for Growth and Sierra Club.

I don't think McCain has any legal or political legs to stand on, on this one.

[Bread and Circus]

15. True, the NRA is blatantly political and bragged bringing Gore down...

in Field and Stream magazine after 2000 in a full page ad.

[Crunchy Frog]

9. Well, that settles it then.

I definitely want McCain to be picked as Kerry's running mate.:eyes:

[napi21]

11. What is the difference between a 527 and the Pioneers supporting Bush?

I know there are several different levels of Bush supporters. I think the Pioneers are the top and can't remember the names of the others, but what is the difference under FEC regs between them and the 527's?

[leyton]

16. Pioneers work within the campaign, 527's work without.

I think.

Pioneers (and rangers and mavericks and other words that evoke cowboy imagery) are fundraisers for the Bush campaign. If a Pioneer puts on a fundraiser and Joe Schmo gives $2000 dollars through that Pioneer to the Bush campaign, then I don't think Joe can give anymore because he's contributed directly to the campaign.

527's are separate organizations that not only raise funds but also promote their own agendas. I believe their spending is unlimited and donating to them is not restricted, but I may be wrong. In either case, I think that's where the dispute lies.