Under Siege

Besieged! Is that the same thing as under siege? Well, neither is exactly the word I want, but the emails keep pouring in, requesting more and more money for this wild-ass campaign.
by Charlie Leck

I feel like I’m besieged.

Here’s what happens when you give a few bucks here and there to candidates in this political campaign. You keep hearing from them – again and again – asking you for more and more. The number of people asking me to give to the progressive battle right now (to the Democratic Party) has multiplied like the proverbial, over-sexed bunny rabbit. There is simply no end to it.

President Obama tells me he is being outspent in Iowa 2 to 1. “This is critical,” the President shouts in his email. “What I will not abide is getting outspent by a margin that negates all the hard work our volunteers are doing… You’ve already done so much to help this campaign – and I don’t get to tell you enough how grateful I am for that.”

The President warns me that I’m getting close to the maximum donation I can give before the Democratic convention, but he urges me to “go all out” and reach that maximum level.

He tells me it will be because of what I did if we win this election. Oh, brother! I can read what it says on the other side of that coin without turning it over – if we lose it will be because of what I didn’t do!

The Vice President has said, essentially, the same thing. So has Donna Brazil – and Senator John Kerry – and Patrick Gaspard (the Executive Director of the Democratic National Committee) – and Senators, Representatives, National Campaign Managers, State Campaign Managers – and movie stars – and war heroes – and sport celebrities – and… and… and… and… oh, well, you know….

The heat is on! Because those damned Koch brothers keep pouring millions of dollars into this campaign, I get pressured to join the effort to match what they’re doing. How come they haven’t reached the maximum they are allowed to contribute? How come? How come?

Well, we know “how come!” It’s because of those rear-ends on the United States Supreme Court, who, in their dizzying wisdom, equated companies, corporations and political-action-groups with little ole’ individual citizens like I. We little guys are now coming to see that the decision was far more insane and damaging than we ever believed it could be – and we believed from the beginning that it was really pretty bad.

Mr. President, I don’t know – you know! I love you like a brother! I think you’re an extraordinary guy. I know you’re correct on just about all the issues! I feel certain our nation is in good and wise hands with you at the helm! Yet, dang it, sir, you’re pushing me to the brink on this contribution stuff.

If I could just be certain my dollars would make the difference, I’d do it; even though you are asking me to push my political expenditures right to the brink of what I can afford – or what I can not afford. The last time I did that, it was many years ago, as a young and foolish man, in Vegas – and I promised myself I would never do it again! And now, here I am – “stuck in the middle again!”

Clowns to the left of me
Jokers to the right
Here I am, stuck in the middle with you
Yes, I am stuck in the middle with you
And I’m wondering what it is I should do…

Here I am, stuck in the middle with you
Well, you started off with nothing
And you’re proud that you’re a self-made man
And your friends they all come crawlin’
Slap you on the back and say, ‘Please, please’…

Clowns to the left of me
Jokers to the right
Here I am, stuck in the middle with you
Yes, I’m stuck in the middle with you
Stuck in the middle with you
                    [original lyrics by Gerry Rafferty and Joe Egan]

I just don’t know!

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We’re Well into 2012 Presidential Campaign

It has begun already and that’s too bad, but when one candidate starts running the others have got to follow, I guess.
by Charlie Leck

The caucuses and primaries don’t take place until early in 2012, but those lining up to be president have already started campaigning in those states that will hold the early vote counts. New Hampshire and Iowa are hot-beds of politics already.

The initial fund raising information shows that an awful lot of money will be spent on these campaigns. We will break all past records this year. Bachmann and Obama have clearly demonstrated their abilities to raise huge amounts of money from little givers. Others among the candidates (Romney and Huntsman) are personally very wealthy and will fund their own campaigns if they need to.

Then, of course, there will be the PAC contributions and the labor money and the mega amounts the corporations will contribute.

The wild and funny comedian, Stephen Colbert, recently made a trip to Washington to appear at the Federal Election Commission to await that body’s first campaign fund raising report. He tried to be funny, but, as Dana Milbank wrote in the Washington Post: “…comedian Stephen Colbert flew down to Washington this week to parody the nation’s campaign finance laws. But there was a flaw in his plan: The campaign finance system already is a parody.”

The Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United v FEC changed everything. Before we had a lot of petty graft (labor unions sliding hundreds of thousands in cash under a campaign committee’s door, for instance) on both sides. Now the nation’s corporations can anonymously (in most states) donate hundreds of millions of dollars to the candidate of their choice. It was the worst and most destructive decision made in my life time in terms of the damage it does to our democracy. It makes corporations a virtual voter in the system and it certainly gives them an amount of power and voice in the elections that throws the scales completely out of balance.

“The Supreme Court, in five straight campaign finance decisions, has largely wiped out post-Watergate campaign reforms and, in the case of corporate contributions, undone nearly a century of law. Adding to the anarchy, Congress has been unable to agree on legislation requiring donors’ disclosure. For those who violate what’s left of the law, there is little risk of punishment because the FEC, paralyzed by a partisan split, has been unable to agree on much enforcement.” [Dana Milbank in the Washington Post]

Now the super-rich can have a huge impact on the results of federal elections without needing to identify themselves. Oh, my! That’s not the way our campaign finance laws were meant to work. Those laws, which were already messy and weak, have been shattered by the Supreme Court.

It’s “BYOB,” Colbert said with a smile. “Bring your own billions!”

I promised another blog on the twisted and staggering errors that Michele Bachmann makes in her chatter. As I did that research I was staggered by the number of non-factual things the woman says. Amazingly, she admits to having this weakness and, because of that, I have some sympathy for her. She has asserted that she will try harder to be factual and not so much off the cuff in what she says. Can I believe her?

I wrote the blog I promised, but I decided, because of all the flak I took after the last one of this sort, that I would submit it to a researcher to actually fact-check what I’d written. It hasn’t come back yet, but I’m pushing.

Columnist Aaron Blake pointed out something about the Bachmann v Media squabbles that I find interesting: “…it could actually be a good thing for the media to savage Bachmann.”

The more she’s savaged, the more it galvanizes her supporters.

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If you read my blog regularly, why not become a follower? All you have to do is click in the upper right hand corner and establish a simple means of communication. Then you'll be informed every time a new blog is posted here. If all that's confusing, here's Google's explanation of how to do it! If you don’t want to post comments on the blog, but would like to communicate with me about it, send me an email if you’d like.