Monday, August 30, 2004

GWB on 527's, then and now

(The flip….)
GWB, from March 5, 2000, when asked about negative ads being run by 527’s against his GOP opponent John McCain:

"That's part of the American process. There have been ads, independent expenditures, that are saying bad things about me. I don't particularly care when they do, but that's what freedom of speech is all about. And this allegation somehow that I'm involved with this is just totally ridiculous. It is uncalled for…"

"You know, let me -- let me say something to you. People have the right to run ads. They have the right to do what they want to do, under the -- under the First Amendment in America."

(And now the flop…)
This is what GWB has to say about 527’s today:

“They ought to get rid of all those 527s, independent expenditures that have flooded the airwaves. There have been millions of dollars spent. ... I signed a law that I thought would get rid of those.”

So, when Bush was using 527’s as a surrogate to smear the war record of John McCain, insinuating he was insane due to his time as a POW, and accusing him of fathering an interracial child out of wedlock (his family adopted a girl from Bangladesh), the 527's were protected under the first amendment. But when the 527s are more effective for his opposition, as they have been this year, then he thinks they are illegal. Which of course, they are not as long as they are independently financed and organized, according to the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002. (But that wouldn’t be the first time Bush was confused by a piece of legislation he signed into law. Who can bother with minutiae such as federal law when you are a “war president.”)

Really, I don’t mean to criticize Bush for changing his mind about the role 527’s should play in our political system. I prefer a candidate that is able to change his/her mind on issues. I am criticizing him for the self-serving reason that he’s changing his mind.

posted by bkopec @ 4:05 PM   1 comments