527 Reasons To Hate McCain - Feingold

The McCain-Feingold Act was enacted to correct what many saw as widespread abuses in how elections get financed. Based on the current election campaign, this legislation has had a deleterious effect on the level and quality of public discourse and has only moved the monies that supposedly corrupt our elections into different financial portfolios.

President Bush took advantage of circumstance to finally do what he needs to do on the issue of Campaign Finance Reform and denounce the behavior of 527 Groups. He has condemned the behavior of these groups and asked them to pull their offensive ads. This suggests that he now understands that McCain-Feingold is one of major aspects of campaign finance legislation that badly needs reform. It's too bad this eluded his grasp when he signed the odious piece of legislation.

President Bush came to understand this because he suffered nearly unlimited vituperation from liberal 527s such as MoveOn.Org. To some, this is seen as a resurgence of the grass roots. This, however, is not how MoveOn.Org gets financed. The Tides Foundation , MoveOn.Org's paymaster, was founded by, is staffed by, and acts on behalf of several billionaires. I seriously doubt the 527 groups supporting Republicans are any cleaner or more civic-minded.

The Swift Boat Veterans For Truth have scored points against John Kerry by casting aspersions against Senator Kerry's tenure as a Naval Officer in Vietnam. They have accused John Kerry of lying about his exploits in order to bolster his campaign and this has damaged John kerry in the polls. Thus Kerry has called upon George Bush to denouce the ads.

President Bush did John Kerry one better. He denounced all 527 groups. Including the $40 Million worth of 527 Groups who have taken to the air to accuse George W. Bush of nearly every crime against humanity that they could think of.

He stopped just short of calling on John F. Kerry to purge the MoveOn.Org staffers that currently work for his campaign. This is a shame, John Kerry had no problem with accusing Karl Rove of serving as The SwiftVet Admiral.

Their advertising has resembled a two-year old kid throwing spaghetti at the ceiling and then admiring all the messy strands that stick. Senator Kerry had no problem with this abuse of the new CFR regulation. It provides George Bush with yet another issue where John F. Kerry has opened the door for President Bush to lead.

Update I - A Large Regular has compiled an elaborate diary of Kerry's peculations. It includes several descriptions of how Kerry has fumbled the whole SwiftVet issue.

Update II - Captain's Quarters has described how the whole 527 situation has backfired on The Kerry Presidential Campaign.

Update III - Wizbang describes the "nuanced" position Vice Presidential Candidate John Edwards has taken on 527 groups.

Update IV - Vodkapundit explains how Kerry put Bush in a failsafe, "Win-Win Situation."