Free Speech or Rich Privilege

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist


Republicans have a couple of basic beliefs that allow them to ride roughshod over the little people.  One of those beliefs is that corporations are people, a legal notion that was created by a Supreme Court error a century ago and basically says that corporations have all of the rights and protections of any other individuals in this country.  The second notion that is cherished by Republicans is that "speech" and "money" are synonymous.

Republicans generally oppose any limits on campaign donations or expenditures, because such ideas limit the amount of speech they can generate.  They want people to be free to spend as much money as they want on elections, and if the richest candidates just happen to be Republicans, well, they obviously can generate more and louder speech.    Republicans also fiercely believe that people should be free to donate as much money as they want to candidates (except for George Soros) - and remember, those big corporations are people, too!  And the fact that many of the biggest and baddest corporations support Republicans, who in turn support corporate greed, inhumanity to workers and consumers, and environmental malfeasance - well, that's just gravy!

Just this week figures came out on one candidate who is self-funding her campaign with so much speech money that its a wonder all of the citizens in her state have not become deaf!  Meg Whitman, the Republican candidate for governor of California, has spent a whopping $113 million of her own money on getting elected, and the race is still several weeks away.  Fortunately for the people of California, Whitman is running against Democrat Jerry Brown, a seasoned progressive with the ability to get his message out without appearing as though he is purchasing votes!  David will defeat Goliath in California despite her huge handbag!

A couple of other political notes from this week:

Fox News (sic) is suing Missouri Democratic senatorial candidate Robin Carnahan because she is using a clip from Chris Wallace and Fox News (sic) without their express permission.  In the clip, Wallace asks Republican Roy Blunt how he can be expected to help clean up Washington, DC, after he inserted an amendment into the Homeland Security Bill in 2002 that would have benefited Phillip Morris, Inc, the tobacco giant that employed Blunt's girlfriend as a lobbyist.  Murdoch et al don't like seeing their "news" turned against one of their own - but Carnahan isn't cowered and says she will keep the spot running.   Carnahan has a series of campaign commercials called "Roy Blunt:   The Very Worst of Washington." They are hilarious.  Check them out at http://www.robincarnahan.com/site/mugcleanup?source=twitter.

Bill Mahr is running a clip from his old show, Politically Incorrect, in which Christine O'Donnell, teabagger and Republican candidate for the Senate from Delaware, admits that she used to dabble in witchcraft.  Mahr said he has all of the old Politically Incorrect tapes, and plans to release an embarrassing O'Donnell clip every week until she agrees to come on his current show, Real Time With Bill Mahr.


And, as if all of that isn't enough entertainment for one week, there is the bitch-slapping contest spilling out onto the Alaskan landscape between Sarah Palin and Lisa Murkowski.  That one is going to be too funny for words by the time those two mangy mama grizzlies get done with each other!