RNC to File Suit to Undo McCain-Feingold Limits
The Washington Times is reporting that the Republican Nation Committee plans to file two lawsuits seeking to overturn elements of the McCain-Feingold act - formally known as the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002.
The first suite due to be filed in filed in the District of Columbia seeks to strike down the soft-money ban that is the central tenet of the McCain-Feingold Act - “soft money” is largely unrestricted contributions from wealthy individuals, corporations and labor unions.
The second suit due to be filed in a Louisiana federal court seeks to strike down the limits on coordination between parties and their candidates.
GOP to file suit to undo McCain rules
Ralph Z. Hallow, Washington Times, Thursday, November 13, 2008
EXCLUSIVE:
MIAMI - The Republican Party will file federal lawsuits Thursday seeking to overthrow the McCain-Feingold federal campaign finance regulations, Republican National Committee Chairman Robert M. “Mike” Duncan revealed Wednesday night at a private dinner with the nation’s Republican governors.
The move is considered a slap in the face of the Republican Party’s failed 2008 presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who was dramatically outspent by Democrat Barack Obama, and of President Bush, who signed McCain-Feingold into law in 2002.
“We will bring two federal suits tomorrow to strengthen the Republican Party,” Mr. Duncan told The Washington Times.
Mr. Duncan said one suit will be filed in the District of Columbia to strike down the soft-money ban that is the central tenet of the McCain-Feingold Act — formally known as the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002. “Soft money” is largely unrestricted contributions from wealthy individuals, corporations and labor unions.
The second suit will be in a Louisiana federal court to strike down the limits under the law Mr. McCain co-sponsored with Sen. Russ Feingold, Wisconsin Democrat, that control coordination between parties and their candidates.
“It prohibits us from spending over $84,000 in coordination with a candidate in a congressional race,” Mr. Duncan said. “That means we have to find some group to raise and spend money but without any coordination” with the candidate, his campaign or the RNC.
“That does not allow for a unified message,” he said. “We don’t think there is anything corrupting about coordinating with a candidate.”
McCain-Feingold helped Republicans in 2004, when Mr. Bush, under the increased hard-dollar contribution limits in the bill, set what was then a campaign fundraising record in his successful re-election bid. Hard-money contributions are lower-amount donations — $2,300 per election to individual candidates, with a higher limit for political parties — that can be spent on any election activity. Read the rest…
It’s about time someone challenged the Constitutionality of McCain-Feingold, I for the life of me can’t understand why Republicans supported it in the first place.
Ed has additional details at Hot Air.
Miami Dolphins Owner Wants to Sell His Stake Before Obama Raises Taxes
Miami Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga said Sunday that he wants to sell up to 45 percent more of the team to Stephen Ross and that the presidential election is among the issues weighing on his decision.
From SunSentinal.com:
Dolphins owner H. Wayne Huizenga said Sunday no date has been set for selling up to 45 percent more of the team to Stephen Ross, but the presidential election is among the issues weighing on his decision.
That’s because a Barack Obama administration is expected to mean higher capital-gains taxes.
“He wants to double the capital gains tax, or almost double it,” Huizenga said. “I’d rather give it to charity than to him.”
Ouch.
H/T: Wizbang.
Dick Armey: Bush Plan to Buy Bank Stocks Should Face Constitutional Challenge
Via CNSNews.com:
Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) said that the Bush administration’s plan to buy $250 billion in stock in U.S. banks should be challenged in federal court as unconstitutional.
“I think that it is subject to a serious constitutional challenge,” Armey said in a conference call with reporters on Tuesday. “It is very important that this challenge be made. We had challenges of this nature against Roosevelt. I think it is extremely healthy that we challenge this, and it should be challenged.”
Freedom Works, the organization headed by Armey, is researching the possibility of a challenge to the plan.
President Bush announced Tuesday that the Treasury Department will utilize a little-known provision of the $700 billion bailout package approved last week by Congress to spend $250 billion to buy non-voting shares of stock (equity stakes) in nine of the country’s largest banks.
Never mind President Bush’s plan to buy bank stocks… What about the whole $700 billion Bush/Bernanke/Paulson bailout plan… Is it Constitutional?
One of the things that bothered me about the rush to ram that crap sandwich down taxpayers throats was the lack of debate. We never got answers to the most fundamental question is this plan Constitutional?
Update: from the Washington Post…
Smaller Banks Resist Federal Cash Infusions
By Binyamin Appelbaum
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 15, 2008; Page A01Community banking executives around the country responded with anger yesterday to the Bush administration’s strategy of investing $250 billion in financial firms, saying they don’t need the money, resent the intrusion and feel it’s unfair to rescue companies from their own mistakes.
But regulators said some banks will be pressed to take the taxpayer dollars anyway. Others banks judged too sick to save will be allowed to fail.
The government also said yesterday that it will guarantee up to $1.4 trillion of private investment in banks. The combination of public and private investment is intended to refill coffers emptied by losses on real estate lending. With the additional money, the government expects, banks would be able to start making additional loans, boosting the economy.
H/T: Hot Air.
Back to the 70’s
Everything old is new again or here we go again… Back to the 70’s. Every time I listen to democrats in talk about energy policy I feel I’ve been transported back to the 1970’s.
Admittedly some of of their suggestions like making sure your tires are properly inflated or getting regular tuneups are basic commonsense things that most of us do anyway. That’s not what worries me it’s thing like Barack Obama’s “windfall profits” tax on oil company’s and their complete refusal to talk about domestic oil drilling that worry me.
It’s time to face reality:
- Conservation alone is not going to solve our energy problems.
- Alternatives like Biofuels have their own pitfalls. Principle among them is that they’re helping drive up global food prices.
Like it or not oil is the life blood of our ecconomy and it’s high time we faced reality and started to expliot domestic reserves.
Ho-hum…
I’ve been digging around looking for something interesting to blog about over the past few days and so far I’ve come up dry. I could write about Barack Obama’s world tour but that’s been done to death and frankly I can’t think of anything hasn’t already been said. So I thought rather than leaving you with “dead air” for another day or two I’d share a few must reads with you.
The first two are from today’s Wall Street Journal:
The Greatest Scandal, Wall Street Journal, July 28, 2008
The profound failure of inner-city public schools to teach children may be the nation’s greatest scandal. The differences between the two Presidential candidates on this could hardly be more stark. John McCain is calling for alternatives to the system; Barack Obama wants the kids to stay within that system. We think the facts support Senator McCain. Read the rest…
Docking Paychecks for Politics, Wall Street Journal, July 28, 2008
The mighty Service Employees International Union (SEIU) plans to spend some $150 million in this year’s election, most of it to get Barack Obama and other Democrats elected. Where’d they get that much money? Read the rest…
The Second two are from today’s New York Sun:
The Tipping Point, By Michael Barone, Creators Syndicate Inc. July 28, 2008
Sometimes public opinion doesn’t flow smoothly; it shifts sharply when a tipping point is reached. Case in point: gas prices. $3 a gallon gas didn’t change anybody’s mind about energy issues. $4 a gallon gas did. Evidently, the experience of paying more than $50 for a tankful gets people thinking we should stop worrying so much about global warming and the environmental dangers of oil wells on the outer continental shelf and in Alaska. Drill now! Nuke the caribou! Read the rest…
Thinking About the Dollar, By Martain Feldstein, Project Syndicate, July 28, 2008
How much further will the dollar fall? Or has it already fallen so far that it will now start to move back to a higher level? Read the rest…
And finally from the American Thinker:
The Operative Term is ‘Hubris’, By J.R. Dunn
He has a seat on his campaign aircraft marked “president”. He has taken a shot at creating his own presidential seal, complete with Latin motto. He has laid claim to personal control over the world’s oceans and seas. He has repeatedly attempted to dictate how and on what level he, his ideas, and his activities may be discussed. He has encouraged a portrayal of himself as a messianic figure, including a portrait of himself as Christ, complete with halo. He is even now completing a triumphant grand tour of the old world, during which he attempted to shanghai an ancient monument for personal use without consulting the host government. Read the rest…
Tell the RNC what you think…
Here’s your chance… Have at them 
Here’s my top ten:
- A strong dollar - The value of the dollar has fallen over much of the
past decade and we’re paying for it in the form of higher prices for oil and
gas among other things. Stabilizing and strengthening the dollar will help
reduce the price of gas and other commodities. - Tax cuts - Specifically make George W. Bush’s marginal rate reductions
permanent, reduce the capital gains tax rate, eliminate the “death tax” and
cut the corporate tax rate from the current 35 percent to 25 percent. - Fiscal responsibility - We are not under-taxed, the government spends too
much. Want my vote? End earmarks and balance the budget! - A strong national defense. - Fight for the NSA surveillance program,
protect telecom companies from frivolous lawsuits, preserve the PATRIOT act,
keep the Guantanamo Bay detention center open, fight to win the wars in
Afghanistan and Iraq. Make sure that our veterans can live out their lives
in dignity. - Secure borders - This is a very simple thing. Any nation that fails to
defend its borders will eventually cease to be a sovereign nation. Build the
fence, and enforce the laws already on the books! - Increased domestic energy production - End or at least ease the
restrictions on domestic oil and natural gas drilling. - Free Market health care solutions - Just say no to government controlled
nationalized health care. We have to best health care system in the world.
Yes there are problems, yes the costs spiraling upwards but nationalized
health care isn’t the answer. Free market ideas like health savings
accounts, tax breaks for small business owners, and tort reform are better
ideas. - Tax breaks for families who choose to send their children to private or
parochial schools. - Vouchers are a nonstarter with me but allowing parents
to deduct private or parochial school tuition from their taxes makes sense. - Social Security and Medicare reform.
- The appointment of judges who recognize that their job is to interpret
the Constitution, NOT legislate from the bench.
Hat Tip: Michelle Malkin
Gas Prices and Politics
The only thing worse than a trip to the gas pump these days is listening to John McCain, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama talk about energy policy. John McCain and Hillary Clinton both say they’ll bring us relief at the pump with a temporary moratorium on the 18.4 cent per gallon federal gas tax. To his credit Barack Obama opposes the moratorium idea as a political stunt but supports a 1970s style windfall profits tax on oil companies (as does Clinton).
Never mind that the federal government already takes 35% right off the top with the corporate income tax, Barack Obama wants to slap and additional tax on what he calls “excess profits”. What exactly are excess profits? As far as I know a business is supposed to turn a profit and theres no limit on how large that profit can be. But that’s neither here nor there, the real issue is this…
If our elected leaders really wanted bring down the price of gas and stimulate the economy they’d be talking about tapping domestic energy supplies both off shore and in Alaska, reducing the corporate tax rate and strengthening the dollar. They wouldn’t be talking about cheap political stunts or reviving failed policies from the 1970s.
Lets not forget windfall profit taxes have been tried before and they ended up reducing domestic oil production and increasing imports*… Exactly what we don’t want.
*The Wall Street Journal, “Windfall Profits for Dummies” May 3, 2008, Page A10: “The Congressional Research Service found in a 1990 analysis that the tax reduced domestic oil production by 3% to 6% and increased oil imports from OPEC by 8% to 16%”.
No Surprise Really
I wanted to write something about the Microsoft / Yahoo non merger on Saturday but I couldn’t come up with anything more than YAWN.
I’m not really surprised that talks between the two companies broke down or that Microsoft withdrew its acquisition offer. The deal never made sense to me and to be honest I never thought it would close so I really wasn’t surprised when the negotiations fell apart.
That’s pretty much it… No surprises anywhere, not in the deal falling apart and not in Wall Streets reaction to the news.
Anyway how about them Yankees?
Recession?
Can we put an end to the recession talk at least for now? The last time I checked a recession was defined as two or more consecutive quarters of negative growth. So far we haven’t had a single quarter of negative growth so all this talk of a recession is, well, premature.
Make no mistake the economy is tough shape what with the struggling housing market, credit crunch, high oil prices and week dollar. But we’re not in a recession.
Take a swing over to Kudlow’s Money Politic$ and read Recession? What Recession? for interesting take on today’s GDP number.
Somthing you should read…
Take a couple of minutes to read Jerry Bowyer’s “Don’t Blame the Markets” OpEd in the New York Sun today it does a good job laying out how we got to where we are in the current sub prime mortgage mess.