When the ruling came down it was shocking. Unlimited, untraceable, unregulated money could flow directly into federal political campaigns. Billionaires with agendas could blanket the airwaves with negative, false, and vile attacks against candidates without any rebuttals. The end of Democrats every getting elected nationally was done for. Truly the end of democracy was in 2009. Fast forward to today and you will find a very different story.
Candidates like Perry, Santorum, and Huntsman are still in the race despite getting destroyed in primaries. Newt Gingrich continues his one-man wreaking crew of Mitt Romney unabated. The front-runner since time immemorial, Mitt Romney, still hasn't wrapped it up, and all because of Citizen's United. Today brings us a barrage of stories on the matter. Sen. John McCain from 2000 comes out of hiding and calls it "one of the worst decisions I have ever seen". A anti-Romney film made by an ex-Romney staffer was just bought at "auction" by Newt's PAC. Finally, Politico ran a story about the three billionaires keeping the race going well beyond it's natural death. Candidates who should be gone because of a lack of ad buy money can now stay in the race by the grace of millionaires and their SuperPACs.
All of this is great news for President Obama and the Democratic party in 2012. From this point out, every SuperPAC ad will be negative, attacking the conservative credentials of it's target just in time for the Southern Primaries. If Romney makes it through to the nomination, it will be without the full-throated support of the conservative base, meaning very few volunteers and very little non-big donor money. If Romney is able to be knocked off, none of the conservative candidates would stand a chance winning the moderate and independent vote. That would not only kill their chance at a GOP victory, but it would weaken all the down ticket races. Senate and house seats in toss-up districts and states would be in play. Governors and state legislature would be subject to the public opinion of their party nationally. Not exactly what Citizen's United had in mind in 2009.
Yes, Citizen's United will destroy American democracy forever if not overturned, but for right now it is the greatest weapon the Democrats have.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
The Republican Party. Brought to you by Carl's Jr.
In what was the next logical step after the Citizen's United ruling, the RNC has filed a brief to lift the ban on direct corporate money into the political process.
Nothing says free and fair elections like unlimited, unregulated, untraceable money flowing in from multi-national corporations.
Nothing says free and fair elections like unlimited, unregulated, untraceable money flowing in from multi-national corporations.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Dragged Kicking and Screaming
In one of the strangest moments from Iowa was Rick Perry's announcement that he was going back to Texas then the next day magically deciding to head back into the breach in South Carolina. One could say that this is just another in a long line of Perry-isms, it is however much deeper and far more money driven.
It's well known that Mitt Romney is not well liked in conservative circles for his inability to pick a stance on anything. However, there is another section of the Republican base that loathes him just as equally and has the money to do something about it. Business executives across the country that don't like Romney, many of them in Texas, have begun an effort to end his campaign. These billionaires have funneled millions into the Perry backing "Make Us Great Again" PAC. Just in within the last two weeks they have spent $3.7 million for ad buys. What other floundering candidate has the resources to spend $3.7 million in a losing effort and still be able to go on?
There are two reasons Perry is still, one could say against his consent, in this race. At some point all the anti-Romney people will be gone due to lack of funds. The Santorums, Newts, Pauls, and Huntsman's of the world will be unable to fund a national campaign once we reach Super Tuesday. These primaries will still happen no matter who is left, and with 60-75% of the Republican base still wishing they had anyone but Romney to vote for, Perry would steal those primaries just because he is the only other option.
The second reason is that Perry is the only Evangelical Christian left in the race(Not counting Paul because he doesn't actively court that vote). To many Southern Evangelicals this is an important issue, and with the Southern Primaries starting in a month this is will only make Perry more attractive to voters. Now Santorum may say all the right things when it comes to social issues, but he is still Catholic which they view in the same light as the Mormon Church. Perry is both saying the right things on social issues and he goes to the right church, something that many Evangelicals value.
Perry may have spoken the truth that late night in Iowa when he said he wanted to go back to Texas and think about the race. The only problem for him is, he isn't in control of this own campaign, and he will be dragged kicking and screaming to every primary till this is over.
It's well known that Mitt Romney is not well liked in conservative circles for his inability to pick a stance on anything. However, there is another section of the Republican base that loathes him just as equally and has the money to do something about it. Business executives across the country that don't like Romney, many of them in Texas, have begun an effort to end his campaign. These billionaires have funneled millions into the Perry backing "Make Us Great Again" PAC. Just in within the last two weeks they have spent $3.7 million for ad buys. What other floundering candidate has the resources to spend $3.7 million in a losing effort and still be able to go on?
There are two reasons Perry is still, one could say against his consent, in this race. At some point all the anti-Romney people will be gone due to lack of funds. The Santorums, Newts, Pauls, and Huntsman's of the world will be unable to fund a national campaign once we reach Super Tuesday. These primaries will still happen no matter who is left, and with 60-75% of the Republican base still wishing they had anyone but Romney to vote for, Perry would steal those primaries just because he is the only other option.
The second reason is that Perry is the only Evangelical Christian left in the race(Not counting Paul because he doesn't actively court that vote). To many Southern Evangelicals this is an important issue, and with the Southern Primaries starting in a month this is will only make Perry more attractive to voters. Now Santorum may say all the right things when it comes to social issues, but he is still Catholic which they view in the same light as the Mormon Church. Perry is both saying the right things on social issues and he goes to the right church, something that many Evangelicals value.
Perry may have spoken the truth that late night in Iowa when he said he wanted to go back to Texas and think about the race. The only problem for him is, he isn't in control of this own campaign, and he will be dragged kicking and screaming to every primary till this is over.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)