Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Republicans Block Political Advertisement Law

From a Washington Post article by Dan Eggan regarding the recent political advertisement legislation in the senate:
Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked legislation requiring fuller disclosure of the money behind political advertising, derailing a major White House initiative and virtually ensuring an onslaught of attack ads during this year's midterm election season.

The vote -- in which Democrats fell just shy of the 60 votes needed to avoid a GOP filibuster -- marks a major setback for President Obama, who has railed against the influence of special interests in elections and pushed for the legislation as a counterpoint to court rulings freeing up the use of corporate money in politics.

The development also represents a significant victory for Senate Republicans and business groups, which portrayed the measure as a Democratic attempt to tilt the playing field by discouraging corporations and other likely critics from spending money on political ads. The measure is the latest in a series of Democratic initiatives that have been approved by the House only to die in the Senate, including comprehensive climate-change legislation abandoned last week.

Opponents of the Disclose Act -- which would force corporations, unions and other groups to reveal the donors behind their political ads -- said the vote marked a victory for free-speech rights, including the rights of corporations to spend as much as they want on political advertising.

"This bill is a partisan effort, pure and simple," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said before the vote. ". . . This bill is about protecting incumbent Democrats from criticism ahead of the November election."
I think McConnell has got it wrong - the bill is about protecting the American people from corporations spending seemingly limitless amounts of cash to push their agenda, which is typically at odds with the interests of the average American - just consider British Petroleum's actions surrounding the rig accident in the Gulf of Mexico.  Last time I checked, the constitution was not created to secure the rights of corporations.

If you ask me, the Republicans blocked this bill so that they, along with their political allies, won't have to disclose where the money is coming from to pay for their attack ads against Democrats.  If you think about it logically, McConnell's comments make no sense - for over a year, the Republicans have been making accusations that unions have been trying to influence elections, but when Democrats try to push legislations that would place limitations on political spending by corporations and unions, the law is nothing more then an assault on the freedom of speech.

Republicans need to reevaluate their priorities and decide whether or not they still want to represent citizens or if they should just change their platform to be exclusively for corporations.  I guess GOP stands for "greed over people."

3 comments:

  1. i agree with you that mcconnell got it wrong (shock and surprise there). people are getting sick and tired of corporations rewriting the rules or shattering them altogether. we the PEOPLE elect our government officials, not we the CORPORATIONS. the GOP has gotten their pockets filled by people just as greedy as they are, and i'm tired of it. i don't have those resources, but i still matter, dammit. i've lived my entire life in this great country and in the great state of Kentucky, and i'm tired of the people who are running my state proving time and time again that their interests are in corporations and not the people, and i know that people in other states have to feel the same way. whether democrat, republican, independent, green party, or any other party, we have a duty to ourselves and to each other to hold our elected officials ACCOUNTABLE for their own interests. i never liked mcconnell, and i never will. i've seen his true color --green, not kenetucky blue, not for the blue collar workers who make our country so great and make the millionaires' lives possible. this is disgusting and outrageous. this is OUR COUNTRY. we have the RIGHT to know who's trying to run over us with special interests and crap that's only gonna make our lives worse. the GOP is TRAMPLING on our rights. AGAIN.

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  2. Kevin, Republicans love to create non-issues to distract from real issues.

    Every business has trade secrets and could not compete otherwise. To properly regulate the industry, the SEC needs access to those trade secrets. This provision merely guarantees that the secrets stay secret to everyone else, unless they reveal criminal activity.

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