Once Again... Up Yours, Senator McCain

Senators McCain and Feingold have put out a press release explaining that we bloggers have nothing to worry about regarding their precious Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act(McCain-Feingold to all of you) and its impact on our ability to express ourselves. We thought we'd deconstruct it, but Red State's already nailed it on the head. A choice excerpt:

MCCAIN: This issue has nothing to with private citizens communicating on the Internet. There is simply no reason - none - to think that the FEC should or intends to regulate blogs or other Internet communications by private citizens.

ME: "private citizens" as opposed to whom? Who does he think the original exemption applied to? Caesar? Ordinary people who want to talk about candidates on the internet are affected by the fact the itnernet exemption was vacated and the FEC is required to write a new rule that regulates internet communications in some fashion.

And who said this aspect of the controversy was the only topic of interest to blogs? It is the larger issue about the scope of the press exemption that blogs and internet journalists generally should be interested in. Because if private citizens talk about candidates using a blog funded by corporate money (maybe because the blog is incorporated) they are in real danger of violating federal law, without a clear exemption. And if they spend too much of their own pocket change pursuing their political activity, it may be reportable as an expenditure or a contribution. And if they get together with the purpose of, for example, tearing down Candidate X a notch or two, and spend too much pocket change doing it, they could be a political committee, with registration and reporting requirements, contribution limits, and a ban on taking corporate funds for their support. Now, the blogger who spend $300 on his site is not going to be the issue. The issue will come from the large sites, who have to worry about every damn post, and every damn contributor, and whether or not someone got something from some candidate or campaign staffer. That's the insideous chilling effect of the Threat of Regulation. McCain doesn't get that at all.

MCCAIN: Suggestions to the contrary are simply the latest attempt by opponents of reform to whip up baseless fears.

ME: Who you gonna trust, me or your own lyin' eyes . . .

To be fair, Red State should have included Senator Feingold's name alongside that of Senator McCain, especially since Feingold's office released the statement. But let's make this clear -- McCain's dead fricking wrong on this issue, and his legion of dewy-eyed admirers need to call the Senator and make him understand that his drive to regulate political speech is more destructive than any of the terrible shenanigans he rails against.

What you see on the Internet, in the blogosphere, is pretty much the purest form of political speech you will find -- the citizen commenting on political issues and trying to convince his fellow citizens to follow his opinion, or debate said opinion. The mere fact that this asinine law passed in the first place (and yes, Mr. President, that's your fault) leaves individual citizens in need of an exemption in order to discuss their political views.

Here's what I expect -- the FEC will try to regulate blogdom the next time around. And the bloggers will outsmart them, and McCain will get ticked off. The same will happen with 527s -- BCRA created them, yet McCain now wants the FEC to regulate them as well. What he doesn't realize is that the speech will find an outlet, because a sainted class of politicians and media elite aren't the only ones allowed to express their opinion in America.

But we shouldn't have to go through this hassle. It's a waste of time and government resources. I wonder why a budget hawk like Senator McCain doesn't realize this. And it's a waste of our time. But perhaps the Senator willr eap what he sows -- I'm guessing the blogosphere will generate few, if any, endorsements for the Senator should he run for President in 2008. But hey, he'll still have newspapers... assuming anyone's still reading those.