Fact and Comment

摘要

One More Example Of How Congressional Republicans Have lost their political moorings—look at their spending record and their inability, so far, to extend or make permanent the prosperity-producing tax cuts of 2003—was the recent vote by the House of Representatives to severely restrict so-called 527 groups (so named for the section of the tax code under which they are incorporated). These are issue-advocacy groups not covered under the McCain-Feingold bill, which restricted party fundraising for candidates and banned special interests, such as the NRA or NOW, from mentioning candidates' names in advertisements for specific time periods prior to an election. Incredibly, the Supreme Court, in one of its weirder decisions, let this assault on free speech stand. It's no surprise that money flowed to a loophole: 527 groups are not bound by the amount of money they can spend or receive from donors. As long as a 527 doesn't explicitly endorse a particular candidate, it is kosher.