527s

I find the current debate about the 527 organizations laughable. These organizations allow individuals unlimited contributions towards the political candidates of their choice and they can't be controlled by the parties. Wasn't the McCain/Feingold campaign finance reform bill supposed to get rid of soft money contributions and make everything fair and equitable in the whole political arena? Wasn't the infringement of the First Amendment supposedly allowed so that things would be more balanced and so that everyone would play nice leading up to the election? Perhaps that was the intention, but the execution leaves alot to be desired.

Democrats really didn't seem to have a problem with the 527s up until someone decided to start running ads attacking John Kerry. Left wing 527s have attacked President Bush mercilessly for the past year, but that was OK because it was against the President. Now that the Swift Veterans have turned up the heat against the Democratic pretender they cry foul. I find that funny. It is about time the Democrats got a taste of their own medicine.

I also think that it is funny the way the Kerry camp is calling for President Bush to call for a halt of these negative ads against Kerry's military record. They demand that the President specifically denounce the ad that is hurting the Kerry campaign, but when asked if the Kerry campaign will denounce the MANY libelous and slanderous ads against President Bush, they shrug their shoulders and say, "We have no control over them." Here's a memo, sweet knees: the President has no more control than you do.

This just goes to show that politicians will never willingly cut their own throat. They may pretend to "reform" campaign finance, but what they actually do is end up opening up the floodgates. Instead of controlling soft money contributions they actually exacerbated an already out of control situation.

John McCain apparently got his panties in a wad over the whole Swift Vets ad. I'm sitting here thinking, "Couldn't you see this thing coming, John? You were the author of the bill, did you not know that this loophole was there?" Give me a break. If he was so concerned about the negative tone of the ads, where was his indignation when the President was being run down by the Democratic 527 machine? Where was his outrage at Michael Moore's outright lies? Sorry, John, but sit down and shut up.

Apparently the President has called Senator McCain about this fracas.

"I'm very appreciative of the president's effort to do that," McCain said in an interview with The Associated Press. "I want to emphasize if I could that we're not saying that 527s should be abolished. We're just saying they should live under the same campaign finance restrictions [as hard-money groups] because they are engaged in partisan activity."

Well, that's mighty nice, John, but explain to me why you didn't forsee this when you created a bill that is in direct violation of the First Amendment? This loophole was big enough to drive an aircraft carrier through. I wish the President would quit being so dang nice to these people who deserve a sound drubbing. I know he is trying to maintain the high road, but sometimes you have to just get down and dirty like Cheney did a couple of months ago. Too many people have been allowed to get away with too much: the Clinton's trashing of the White House and theft of public property, Chirac's arrogance, the "palestinian" cause, and the left's lies - all with no response.

McCain added: "I've said before I would like for the president to specifically condemn that ad, but the president has said John Kerry served honorably and also the president is now committed to acting to try to bring 527s into regulations that are appropriate."

John, before you throw the President under the bus could you make sure that there is a semi following closely behind it? I've disliked John McCain ever since he proposed that horrible piece of legislation.

The President went far further than anyone else has been willing to go in this debate. He denounced ALL of the 527 ads. What else does he have to do? He's already conceded that Kerry was a "war hero," when the facts seem to be telling a very different story.

The simple fact of the matter is that we are stuck with this nonsense at least for the duration of this ugly election cycle. I do appreciate what the Swift Vets had to say about the whole situation:

Mike Russell, a spokesman for the Swift Boat group, said Thursday that "we're going to continue doing what we're doing because this group is made up of more than 250 veterans who feel it is their obligation to tell the truth about John Kerry's military service."

"We're obviously going to abide by the spirit and letter of the law, but as it sits right now 527s are free to operate, and we're going to continue to do so," he said.

God bless 'em. Torpedo the SS Kerry and send it to the bottom.