Congress Shall Make No Law...

That John McCain is considered not only front runner, but perceived by many as having a virtual lock on the 2008 presidential nomination is appalling.

Mark Trapscott spells out why rather clearly.

With a 3-3 vote featuring Democrat commissioners supporting the silencing of political speech against congressional incumbents and Republican commissioners in favoring of allowing it, the Federal Elections Commission has now made it official - As required by the McCain-Feingold Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act of 2002, there can be no paid political broadcast ads criticizing incumbent Members of Congress for the two months prior to the Nov. 7 election.

This is the ultimate form of Incumbent Protection Act, short of repealing elections.

If this holds up and there is a significant curtailment of speech in the 2006 election McCain should just plan on naming Russ Fiengold as his running mate. He will not be able to escape the stain of the McCain/Fiengold partnership.

Trapscott said it well:

...no conservative, libertarian or honest liberal can support him for the White House.

There no NO room for compromise on this issue. Either you believe in the First Amendment right to freedom of speech or you don't.

In addition to renewing my firm commitment to oppose John McCain's nomination and if necessary work against his election, it is also a good time to reaffirm the pledge I took back in March 2005 and have displayed on this site's banner ever since.

If the FEC makes rules that limit my First Amendment right to express my opinion on core political issues, I will not obey those rules.

Technorati Tags: Blogging, Censorship, Free Speech, Freedom, Freedom of Speech, Politics, Republicans, speech, Supreme Court

Posted by: Stephen Macklin at 04:06 PM | No Comments | Add Comment