Since its inception three years ago, the bill that was supposed to take the corruption out of Washington politics has done everything but. It has done exactly what critics of the bill said it would do. That is, it silenced certain political speech while at the same time giving exponential power to the media in political campaigns.
The ‘unintended?’ consequences of McCain-Feingold are no better explained than Ann Coulter’s column called ‘HOW TO KEEP REAGAN OUT OF OFFICE.’
How did we end up with the mainstream media picking the Republican candidate for president?
What a bizarre coincidence that a few years after the most draconian campaign-finance laws were imposed via McCain-Feingold, our two front-runners happen to be the media’s picks! It’s uncanny — almost as if by design! (Can I stop now, or do you people get sarcasm?)
By prohibiting speech by anyone else, the campaign-finance laws have vastly magnified the power of the media — which, by the way, are wholly exempt from speech restrictions under campaign-finance laws. The New York Times doesn’t have to buy ad time to promote a politician; it just has to call McCain a “maverick” 1 billion times a year.
McCain-Feingold ought to be repealed.
related links: HOW TO KEEP REAGAN OUT OF OFFICE | Questions For John McCain and Russ Feingold | Way More Than The Lincoln Bedroom | FEC Fines Democrat 527’s
