Waiting for Another Watergate

[babylonsister]

Read that first sentence: that is what is really happening here, though I never thought about it that way until now. The second election stolen by the conservative SCOTUS in one decade. :grr:


http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/waiting_for_another_watergate_20101019/

Waiting for Another Watergate
Posted on Oct 19, 2010
By Richard Reeves

Editor's note: Truthdig welcomes Richard Reeves to our lineup of syndicated columnists.


What is the most powerful political operation in the country in this 21st century? It's the United States Supreme Court. The men and women in black are on their way to deciding their second national election in just the first decade of the century.

snip//

"Ever since Watergate, politicians have debated rules on the size and scope of campaign contributions. The 2002 McCain-Feingold measure, which cracked down on contributions and was signed by Bush, a Republican, was the culmination of years of intense struggle. In subsequent years, the courts, dominated by conservatives, have chipped away at the law, Citizens United representing the latest and most sweeping decision."

Hunt quotes a man of the past: "There is no legitimate case against transparency. 'Sunlight,' the late Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis famously noted, 'is the best of disinfectants.' "

The last time we ran an election in the shadows was 1972. Watergate. That year, with the re-election campaign of President Nixon, cash literally flowed into the White House to beat the date that new campaign regulations came into effect. There were little piles and drawers full of cash on the desks of middle-level campaign officials. Where did that money come from? No one really knew. Where did it go? No one knows how much there was or where it all ended up.

That was the lesson of giving and taking money without transparency or accountability. It damned near brought down the country. If Hunt is right, and I think he is, we are in for more of the same. The only question now is the timing of the next Watergate.

[Demeter]

1. I shouldn't have read that before breakfast

now I feel sick to my stomach.

That is so true--Nixon's election was a nightmare that I hoped would never come again....

[marmar]

2. K&R.......

:kick:

[get the red out]

3. No more democracy

Sad, this democracy has basically ended.

[babylonsister]

4. No it hasn't. But maybe we need a Watergate to wake people up. nt

[Doctor_J]

6. Pray tell which pieces of it remain.

can't wait to hear.

[Doctor_J]

5. In Dec 2000 5 of them shoud have been taken into custody

and administered some populist justice. A lot of the current disaster could have been averted. It should be apparent to all but the most delusional that the law no longer applies to conservatives, and that if we want them to be stopped, we will have to stop them ourselves

[JohnWxy]

7. "Roberts Money uber alles!!"

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