JONATHAN COHN JULY 27, 2010
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A modest but worthwhile effort to curb the power of money in politics died on Tuesday afternoon when Senate Republicans refused to let debate on the measure go forward.
The DISCLOSE Act would require corporations and interest groups to identify themselves when they sponsor political ads and, in the case of smaller organizations, to reveal their donors.
President Obama and Democratic leaders hoped the bill would, among other things, help undo the damage of the recent Citizens United ruling, in which the Supreme Court threw out limits on corporate political spending. And since the bill merely called to publicize who was putting money into politics, rather than limit that money, Obama and the Democrats hoped they could peel off enough Republican votes to break a filibuster. They were wrong. Not one Republican voted to proceed with debate--not even after the Democrats modified the bill, in order to address GOP arguments that it would treat unions differently from other groups.
This would be a fine moment to ponder, once again, the way the filibuster thwarts democracy. Fifty-seven of the Senate’s one hundred members think the bill should pass, but they can’t act because a minority of senators has the power to thwart action.
But the real story today is the hypocrisy of what used to be the Republican Party’s moderate, sensible wing.
Scott Brown campaigned for office on a platform of more transparency in government. In 2001, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe voted for the McCain-Feingold bill, which was far more restrictive. None of them voted to let the debate go forward.
And then there is John McCain himself. A decade ago, McCain did more than put his name on a major piece of campaign finance legislation. He made the fight against money in politics a personal crusade, energizing supporters with statements like this one he made during a Virginia speech:
I have called for the reform of campaign finance practices that have sacrificed our principles to the demands of big money special interests. I have spoken against ... [APPLAUSE] ... I have spoken against forces that have turned politics into a battle of bucks instead of a battle of ideas, and for that, my friends, and for that, my friends, I have been accused of disloyalty to my party.
Nobody is accusing McCain of that anymore.
Update: More dormant than dead? My old colleague Jesse Zwick reports in the Washington Independent that the bill's advocates hope to make another run at passing the measure in September.
12 comments
This is not a pick-me-up. I find myself spending more and more time reading football blogs these days. Really, what can be said anymore? Our ability to resolve problems is kaput- witness the triumph of disinformation and moneyed interests that has been the climate bill. We've dissolved into this unholy mass of mostly bought-and-paid-for relativistic post-modern truthiness, and all I keep thinking of is that line from Trainspotting- 'Our only response was to keep on going and fuck everything. Pile misery upon misery, heap it up on a spoon and dissolve it with a drop of bile, then squirt it into a stinking purulent vein and do it all over again. Keep on going: getting up, going out, robbing, stealing, fucking people over, propelling ourselves with longing towards the day it would all go wrong.' This is us- what we're doing. And as Renboy (not to be confused with rent boy) goes on to say, sooner or later 'this type of thing' is bound to happen. I'm guessing sooner. But the niners are going to have a good season, one hopes, so it's not all bad.
- I Majorajam
July 27, 2010 at 6:22pm
Systems relied upon to resolve public conflict will fail when the individuals making decisions are compromised by self interest. For example: (1) prior to the civil war, the fugitive slave act paid slave hunters $10.00 for each slave captured and convicted in a trial by the slave hunter and only $5.00 for the ones captured who were not convicted; and (2) prior to the American Revolution the judges of the reviled Admiralty Court ( where seized ships were brought for trial and, if used illegally, forfeited -- the cause of the right against unreasonable search and seizure,) were paid from the proceeds of the forfeited ships. We're being cheated.
- Nusholtz
July 27, 2010 at 9:31pm
We desperately need filibuster reform. They won't even let an up or down vote come to the floor on disclosure. Union contributions are not being exempted for disclosure. The Republicans on the Supreme Court and in the Senate figure they can always outraise the opposition. Speech is not free , nor do they want it to be. Political speech is a fortune and that's how they want it. Who ever has they most dough can speak loudest. With the Citizens United case and the lack of disclosure it will mostly be Republicans with the loudest voices.
- alanwilkov
July 27, 2010 at 11:15pm
Could we please accept one thing and then stop talking about it? There is no depth of ignominy to which McCain would not sink in order to keep his position. There. Now, let's discuss the issues instead of concentrating on this odious, decrepit old goat.
- icarusr
July 28, 2010 at 12:28am
Someone should really research and compile a list of the blatant hypocrisy by the former promoters of "Full disclosure is all we need" during McCain/Feingold debates. Now after Citizens United, disclosure is no longer necessary? Here's a start: http://www.heraldsun.com/pages/full_story/push?article-Sunshine+the+best+disinfectant+for+politics%20&id=7355580
- gbonitat
July 28, 2010 at 10:03am
I respect John McCain's military service to this country. He exhibited great valor and I cannot imagine the horrors of his experience as a prisoner-of-war. That said, the man has been nothing but an unmitigated opportunist who floats on the breezes of public opinion when determining where he stands on issues. He is clearly not alone on that, but it shocks me (yes, SHOCKS me) that someone who has exhibited great courage in his life (and has benefited greatly in the promotion of his display and subsequent promotion of that courage) is a completely hollow shell. He really doesn't stand for anything and if the last two years haven't proven that, I don't know what will.
- Lundell
July 28, 2010 at 10:21am
marjorajam - that was effing beautiful - creatively and on substance.
- WandreyCer
July 28, 2010 at 3:20pm
But what does McCain's military service have to do with his credibility as a politician or a senator? I am sorry that he had to suffer, just like thousands of other POWs had to suffer. But what makes him special in that regard? I further don't understand what he has to gain, at his age, by selling out. He is never going to climb higher than US Senator. So why not leave a legacy of standing on principle?
- NR143296
July 28, 2010 at 9:45pm
NR, I find your question to be unanswerable. What does McCain hope to gain from this sad theater? One more term, but with his former non-partisan repute and respect in ruins? Liberals despise him now, and the rightwingers never liked him anyhow and probably don't trust him anyway.
- ironyroad
July 28, 2010 at 11:03pm
NR: I agree entirely with your observation about his military service and its relevance to his political career. NR and Irony: What does he hope to gain? Why, another term as Senator. You forget the allure of office, after which this pathetic speciman has been hankering since his return from Vietnam. The office for the sake of the office; say and do anything to gain and keep office. What is so difficult to understand?
- icarusr
July 29, 2010 at 10:10am
Forget the "threat of fillibuster". An actual fillibuster needs to take place. I think people are now using the other side's threat of a fillibuster to cover their own cowardly asses. Get those phone books and encyclopedias out GOPers and start reading them 24/7 if you don't want to vote on stuff.
- ericad
July 29, 2010 at 1:40pm
Oh yeah, and I agree with many above: there is absolutely NO LIMIT to how low, how stupid, how hypocritical John McCain can and will go. He is simply jaw dropping. I think there are 2 of him; the "real" one and the animatronic one. Or possessed one. Or something. I understand people are complex and can deal with inner dichotomies but some of this stuff coming from McCain (the gracious concession speech vs. everything said publically this year from "I've never called myself a maverick" to no longer being for any type of reform) is beyond mind-boggling.
- ericad
July 29, 2010 at 1:42pm