Shame on the Democratic National Committee!
Listen. Chances are I'm voting Democrat this year. I'm a big Obama fan. But this has to be said.
The DNC's legal attack on McCain's campaign to force him to limit primary spending well below what they know his Democratic opponent will be able to engage in is despicable, undemocratic, and wrong. It violates the spirit of campaign finance laws out of a callous attempt to manipulate election law into creating a twisted advantage for their own party by censoring the other party's ability to engage in the same unlimited campaign activities that they will have available to them. This is more deserving of a third world country than the United States, and it reflects terribly on the DNC.
It comes down to this: McCain's campaign is weak financially. His opponents have and will continue to vastly outspend him. He's struggling to compete. Yet the DNC isn't satisfied with outspending McCain. They aren't satisfied with being massively favored to win before either side spent a dollar. They aren't satisfied with having more members, faster registration, better performance in polls, and a freaking angelic choir heralding the inevitable rise of the Democrats this election. They're actually determined to exploit campaign finance law to suppress his campaign by forcing him to turn away totally legitimate contributions and hold him to a hard cap on primary spending that's so low that their own candidates have already spent that much several several times over.
They couldn't just settle for just politically crushing the Republicans -- they have to go ahead and grind them under the government boot of political suppression too.
If Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will not speak out now against this legal travesty being perpetrated, then they must at least do so as soon as the nomination is decided and no political maneuvering can spin such a move against them. The DNC are essentially trying to pull a soft steal on this election by having the government cripple McCain's campaign before it can even get ramped up. If Clinton or Obama stands by quietly as this is carried forward they will lose tremendous respect in my eyes for their acquiescence to a blatant attempt by the DNC to betray the spirit of democracy. It's one thing to outspend their opponents because their raised more money. But outspending them vastly because the government is forcefully limiting the weaker party's campaign finances while giving the stronger party free reign, despite the weaker party not accepting federal funds? Hell no!
If the Democrats win, let it be because they carried a stronger message, not because they manipulated the government into crippling the other side. Whatever the technical validity of the complaints that DNC lawyers carry may be, it is dwarfed by the gravity of the sin against democracy they're attempting to carry out.
I know that most people on my friends list lean toward the Democrats. That's part of why I post this. Don't be blind to this, don't trick yourself into thinking it's okay because it's your side that's doing it. The DNC will say they are trying to enforce fairness by being election law sticklers, but that is transparent bullshit. They are absolutely trying to hurt McCain's campaign vastly out of proportion to what they've done based on technicalities. All I can ask is that you see this for what it is and keep your eye on your party. The DNC is extremely wrong on this.
The DNC's legal attack on McCain's campaign to force him to limit primary spending well below what they know his Democratic opponent will be able to engage in is despicable, undemocratic, and wrong. It violates the spirit of campaign finance laws out of a callous attempt to manipulate election law into creating a twisted advantage for their own party by censoring the other party's ability to engage in the same unlimited campaign activities that they will have available to them. This is more deserving of a third world country than the United States, and it reflects terribly on the DNC.
It comes down to this: McCain's campaign is weak financially. His opponents have and will continue to vastly outspend him. He's struggling to compete. Yet the DNC isn't satisfied with outspending McCain. They aren't satisfied with being massively favored to win before either side spent a dollar. They aren't satisfied with having more members, faster registration, better performance in polls, and a freaking angelic choir heralding the inevitable rise of the Democrats this election. They're actually determined to exploit campaign finance law to suppress his campaign by forcing him to turn away totally legitimate contributions and hold him to a hard cap on primary spending that's so low that their own candidates have already spent that much several several times over.
They couldn't just settle for just politically crushing the Republicans -- they have to go ahead and grind them under the government boot of political suppression too.
If Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will not speak out now against this legal travesty being perpetrated, then they must at least do so as soon as the nomination is decided and no political maneuvering can spin such a move against them. The DNC are essentially trying to pull a soft steal on this election by having the government cripple McCain's campaign before it can even get ramped up. If Clinton or Obama stands by quietly as this is carried forward they will lose tremendous respect in my eyes for their acquiescence to a blatant attempt by the DNC to betray the spirit of democracy. It's one thing to outspend their opponents because their raised more money. But outspending them vastly because the government is forcefully limiting the weaker party's campaign finances while giving the stronger party free reign, despite the weaker party not accepting federal funds? Hell no!
If the Democrats win, let it be because they carried a stronger message, not because they manipulated the government into crippling the other side. Whatever the technical validity of the complaints that DNC lawyers carry may be, it is dwarfed by the gravity of the sin against democracy they're attempting to carry out.
I know that most people on my friends list lean toward the Democrats. That's part of why I post this. Don't be blind to this, don't trick yourself into thinking it's okay because it's your side that's doing it. The DNC will say they are trying to enforce fairness by being election law sticklers, but that is transparent bullshit. They are absolutely trying to hurt McCain's campaign vastly out of proportion to what they've done based on technicalities. All I can ask is that you see this for what it is and keep your eye on your party. The DNC is extremely wrong on this.