Monday, June 25, 2007
Newtonian Logic Confuses Me
I get emails. There was a Google ad I saw for Ann Coulter once, and signed up to read her columns. Figuring that this would be good for blog posts occasionally when she said something incredibly stupid was a good bet.
It just wasn't Coulter of course. Conservative book club memberships, hit pieces on democrats from Robert Novak, insanely offensive repeat spam about how all muslims are evil followed. So too does an email "newsletter" from Newt Gingrich. Today's installment is about how limiting campaign contributions is bad because Michael Bloomberg might run for President as a third party candidate.
The other news this week is that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg changed his party affiliation from Republican to Independent as the first move toward what many people think will be a run for President.
I think Bloomberg has done a terrific job as mayor, and people of New York who've twice picked him to lead their city seem to agree. He has every right to decide to run for President, and I hope he does. He will make a fantastic addition to the race.
But the possible Bloomberg candidacy highlights yet another of the anti-democratic, pro-Washington power structure aspects of the McCain-Feingold so-called campaign finance law.
Michael Bloomberg is a billionaire with plenty of money to spend on campaigning. When he ran for re-election as mayor, he reportedly spent $112 a vote. If Bloomberg enters a three-way presidential race as an Independent and spends just half of what he did per vote for his two campaigns for mayor, the amount would be enormous. In this model, if Bloomberg targeted the same number of votes as Clinton did in 1992 to win 43% of the vote and the presidency, Bloomberg would spend upwards of $1 billion dollars. That's BILLION with a B.
Billion with a B eh? Newt believes that to get away from Washington values, we need to free up Washington lobbyists so they can pour massive amounts of money to candidates who will beholden to them. Nothing says sixth district of Georgia values quite like $500,000 bundled from a trade group.
Newt thought getting blow jobs from an office worker wasn't technically sleeping with another woman so his ideas are creative all across the board. Newt is promoting his new book in Texas, CaliforniaIowa, and New Hampshire. Can you say September announcement? I think you can.
Mrs Gingrich would make a wonderful first lady. She could even help President Gingrich on policy issues. She does have government experience. She worked in Gingrich's office during his second marriage.
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