TheConfirmationFiles

The man who publicly said the single thing he and his colleagues wanted to achieve was to make President Obama a one-term president is at it again. Now Mitch McConnell(R-Kentucky) is whining about the Obama campaign’s criticism of conservative donors and even invoked Richard Nixon saying, “you’d have to go back to Richard Nixon to find the last time you had a group of people both through the campaign and through the power of the federal government really trying to harass and silence critics.” He feels it’s time to roll back the Watergate-era requirement for public disclosure of campaign donors and says the ban on secret contributions stifles free speech.

It’s ironic that McConnell brought up rolling back Watergate-era requirements, Sunday marked the 40th anniversary of the break-in which was fueled in part by secret campaign money. It’s clear now as it was then that money corrupts the system. Nixon’s lawyer, John Dean said as much believing that Watergate might never have happened without all that money sloshing around. That $20 million raised in four weeks in 1972 is nothing compared to today when tens of millions of undisclosed dollars have already flowed into the 2012 presidential race. Just last week, casino pimp Sheldon Adelson gave $10 million to the Romney dedicated PAC Restore our Future. Read that again…that’s a $10 million check from one man but at least he’s not hiding it. Nixon’s pickup men who roamed the country gathering checks and cash for his reelection campaign wouldn’t have to go far these days and they wouldn’t have to do it in secret because it’s all legal now. Obama’s gotten some million dollar checks too but his donors(like Bill Maher) have all seemed to disclose.

Many donors, especially on the Republican side, don’t want their business put out there, so to speak. Frank VanderSloot who owns cleaning products company Melaleuca wrote checks totaling $1 million to Restore Our Future isn’t happy his name was spotted on Federal Election Commission disclosures but he had to know he was fair game for journalists and that he might lose customers. The Koch Whores(Charles and David) have given millions publicly but there is no way to know how much they’ve really given because some of their donations go to so-called social welfare organizations which remain secret. They say they’ve been targeted too much like the target they put on the President the moment he took office.

Now McConnell is singing their blues but that wasn’t the case in 2003 when he said, “Money is essential in politics, and not something that we should feel squeamish about, provided the donations are limited and disclosed, everyone knows who’s supporting everyone else.” So why has that changed now to, “I don’t think everybody else in the country ought to have to pay that price as a condition for speaking out and being involved in causes that they feel strongly about.”

No one is stopping anyone from speaking out but with that you should be proud to write your check with you name in big bold letters. I don’t understand why you’d want to hide when you’re doing so much to help your man win the White House. I think even superdonors know that deep down inside they are buying the election and right now team Romney is large and in charge assuring that if money is the issue Obama will be a one-term president.

Libergirl