What Politicians Really Want From Election Laws
This nifty quote from Senator Jay Rockefeller got me to thinking:
"There's a little bug inside of me which wants to get the FCC to say to FOX and to MSNBC: "˜Out. Off. End. Goodbye.' It would be a big favor to political discourse; our ability to do our work here in Congress, and to the American people, to be able to talk with each other and have some faith in their government and more importantly, in their future."
This last election demonstrated exactly what politicians don't like about election law when they complain about things like Citizens United. No, its not the influx of campaign donations-- politicians are perfectly thrilled to be on the receiving end of more money. The failure in the eyes of politicians was the large turnover in Congress and the losses suffered by many incumbents. For most in Congress, election law is about maintaining their incumbency. Any law that makes it harder for them to be criticized in the press or by challengers is good. Anything that increases public criticism of them is bad.
morganovich:
ad hominem attacks tend to be the last resort of someone who cannot win his argument on the merits.
it's interesting to see how it has become the first knee jerk response of so many politicians and climate scientists.
November 18, 2010, 8:32 amcaseyboy:
We could govern so much better if we could just muzzle the people.
November 18, 2010, 9:17 amcaseyboy:
Off the topic, but does anyone wonder why pilots are being made to go through scanners or pat downs? Seems to me that a pilot wouldn't really need to bring a bomb or weapon on board to destroy the plane. Turn the engines off, put the nose down and wallah, you have a man made disaster.
November 18, 2010, 9:21 amJimH:
Hardly even large turnover -- about 85% of incumbents won in the House and Senate. Amazing that they find that a high turnover!
November 18, 2010, 9:44 am