Hide-and-seek hypocrites on the Hill
My column today puts the DISCLOSE debacle in the broader context of the Democrats’ reign of darkness. Underscoring the theme of theme of the column: The story from Fox Business on how the “financial reform” bill championed by Obama exempts the SEC from FOIA requests. The transparency farce continues.
Always look under the Astroturf mat.
Hide-and-seek hypocrites on the Hill
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2010
You know when a politician starts a sentence with “frankly,” he’s about to lie to your face. The same principle applies to campaign finance legislation dubbed the “DISCLOSE Act.” The voter’s instinctive reaction should be: What are they trying to hide now? Drafted out of public view with left-wing lobbyists and rammed through Congress after bypassing committee hearings, this bum bill would have been better named the CLOSEDDOOR Act.
At a Rose Garden press conference on Monday, President Obama decried the influence of “shadow groups” on elections and urged the Senate to pass the “reform” sponsored by N.Y. Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer. But the loophole-ridden package exempts large nonprofits with 500,000 or more members. Behemoth labor unions get preferential treatment. Bradley Smith, former Federal Elections Commission chairman, noted that the law places radical speech-squelching restrictions on companies’ ability to run independent political ads: “(I)f you’re a company with a government contract of over $10 million (like more than half of the top 50 U.S. companies) or if you’re a company with more than 20 percent foreign shareholders, you can’t even mention a candidate in an ad for up to a full year before the election. … There are no similar prohibitions for unions representing government contractors or unions with foreign membership.”
GOP Sen. Mitch McConnell put it more starkly during Tuesday’s debate before the Senate cloture vote on the bill: The DISCLOSE Act, he said, is a “transparent attempt to rig the fall elections.” At bottom, McConnell diagnosed correctly, this is a jobs-protection bill for entrenched incumbents more interested in protecting their hides than protecting the Constitution. While the cloture vote fell three votes short of the needed 60 on Tuesday, Schumer vowed to resurrect the issue “again and again and again until we pass it.”
In attacking Republicans who oppose this campaign finance Kabuki, Obama audaciously feigned alarm over the proliferation of fake grassroots groups with innocuous-sounding names. Special interests, he complained, “can hide behind a name like ‘Citizens for a Better Future,’ even if a more accurate name would be ‘Companies for Weaker Oversight.’” Let me supply some more examples that won’t appear on Obama’s teleprompter anytime soon:
How about “Consumers Organized for Reliable Electricity”? That’s the front group White House senior adviser David Axelrod formed to shill for a massive utility tax hike championed by Commonwealth Edison in Chicago.
Or how about “Americans for Stable Quality Care”? That was the government health care takeover-promoting special interest coalition funded by Big Pharma, the AARP, AMA and the Service Employees International Union. The group pitched in $150 million for pro-Obama health care ads to create the illusion of grassroots support.
Or how about “Health Care for America Now”? That’s the 1825 K Street-based “grassroots” lobbying conglomerate funded by radical liberal sugar daddy George Soros and the brass-knuckled, purple-shirted bosses of the SEIU.
Or how about “American Rights at Work”? That’s the far-left, pro-Big Labor lobbying group that Obama’s labor secretary, Hilda Solis, served as treasurer for while a congresswoman — a position she failed to disclose while lobbying for the Big Labor card-check bill she was sponsoring at the same time.
Or how about the “American Public Policy Committee”? That’s the umbrella group for Beltway-based union and progressive lobbyists run by D.C. money-shuffler Craig Varoga, who is now harnessing Washington bucks to attack tea party activists.
It’s the president’s biggest donors and advisers who perfected the art of Astroturf. Don’t be so modest, man.
Team Obama and their allies on Capitol Hill have some nerve gnashing their teeth about transparency after two years of backdoor kickbacks, secret Big Labor deals, C-SPAN camera evasion, White House disclosure-ducking coffeehouse meetings, and sunlight-shirking holiday and midnight floor votes. And while they preached about America’s right to know and posed as crusaders for open access, Democratic leaders in both the House and Senate continued to stonewall on public hearings for health care rationing czar Donald Berwick — Obama’s recess-appointed head of Medicare and Medicaid.
A White House spokesman called the battle over the DISCLOSE Act a “defining moment for the public.” Nah. It’s just another example of the Democratic majority’s endless hide-and-seek hypocrisy.
See what others have said
Note from Michelle: This section is for comments from michellemalkin.com's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that I agree with or endorse any particular comment just because I let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with my terms of use may lose his or her posting privilege.
Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment.
 |
Who’s funding Brett Kimberlin?
May 25, 2012 01:52 PM by Michelle Malkin
12 CommentsObama’s Land of the LOST
May 25, 2012 01:42 PM by Michelle Malkin
24 CommentsObama’s latest campaign angle: I’ve been saving America from wild Republican debts
May 24, 2012 04:33 PM by Doug Powers
48 Comments
Senate finally passes a budget approves bill striking word ‘lunatic’ from federal law
May 24, 2012 11:22 AM by Doug Powers
192 CommentsStammertime: Jay Carney asked if Chicago protests have soured Obama’s support for OWS
May 23, 2012 07:44 PM by Doug Powers
54 Comments
S.E. Cupp, Hustler, and the four stages of conservative female abuse
May 23, 2012 02:13 PM by Michelle Malkin
142 CommentsBiden: Tea Party stopped us from growing the economy
May 23, 2012 01:55 PM by Doug Powers
44 Comments
Pig Maher’s boy Bill Burton mocks my support of Hatch challenger Dan Liljenquist
May 23, 2012 11:37 AM by Michelle Malkin
32 CommentsFree speech blogburst: Show solidarity for targeted conservative bloggers; Update: It’s Everybody Blog About Brett Kimberlin Day; Donation fund for targets
May 23, 2012 05:59 AM by Michelle Malkin
104 Comments
Categories: Barack Obama,Campaign finance,Politics
Babalu Blog
» U.S. Manned Space Flight in The 21st CenturyVillainous Company
» Must Read Post of the Day. Possibly, the YearSister Toldjah
» Barack Obama: Can we call him a Socialist now?Redstate
» Daily Links – May 25, 2012
Like voters…non-Marxists…people with nothing to hide…people with birth certificates…
How about “Americans Vacationing on the Gulf to Help Other Americans”? That’s Michelle Obama’s group going on vacation to Spain.
Only three votes shy of passing is what is so outrageous. 57 senators voted for this free speech silencing bill. I imagine they will try to pass it again after the elections during the lame duck session. Why not?
Hell, add the WV seat and have two out of three decide to cave between the Maine twins and Scott Brown then it’s passed. Let’s hope not. Obama, Reid, and Pelosi know they must pass everything they want by January or they can forget it.
Great work as usual Michelle by keeping your readers up to date and informed on what is going on in DC. Thanks for all that you do.
Maybe Mr. Obama meant organizations such as Americans for Tax Reform whose site speaks of some of the “wonderful advantages” of Obamacare such as;
“The “Medicine Cabinet Tax” takes effect Jan. 1, 2011: Thanks to Obamacare, Americans will no longer be able to use health savings account (HSA), flexible spending account (FSA), or health reimbursement (HRA) pre-tax dollars to purchase non-prescription, over-the-counter medicines (except insulin). (Page 1997/Sec. 9003/$5 billion)”
Or
The “Special Needs Kids Tax” takes effect Jan. 1, 2011: This provision of Obamacare imposes a cap on flexible spending accounts (FSAs) of $2500 (Currently, there is no federal government limit). There is one group of FSA owners for whom this new cap will be particularly cruel and onerous: parents of special needs children. There are thousands of families with special needs children in the United States, and many of them use FSAs to pay for special needs education. Tuition rates at one leading school that teaches special needs children in Washington, D.C. (National Child Research Center) can easily exceed $14,000 per year. Under tax rules, FSA dollars can be used to pay for this type of special needs education. (Page 1999/Sec. 9005/$14 billion)
Or
The Obamacare Medical Prosthetics and Devices Tax took effect in January of 2010:
This Obamacare tax raises the price of all medical prosthetic devices, such as pacemakers and artificial limbs. Consumers of these devices will end up paying more for these life-saving items. ($20 billion)
See, look at how much more you’re getting for your health care dollar.
more taxes, more risk, more unreimbursed costs, more health care expenses and of course,lots of peace of mind knowing that Dr. Berwick and Dr. Ezekiel Emmanuel (Rahm’s brother) will take a firm hand in rationing your health care and making sure that the government will only spend your money on “productive people” who will have a “more complete life”.
I wonder what these folks would have done about people like Dr. Stephen Hawkings. Does he live a “complete life” confined as he is to a wheel chair and unable to speak without cybernetic assistance. How about special needs kids like the blog that brought this home to me.
Did you really expect anything different? San Fran Nan said, “Most transparent Congress ever!” And she’s right. We can see through all the BS they’re trying to pull.
And this serves as another reminder for all of us, remember to take out the trash in November.
Senator Schumer is bold for staing an obvious leftist strategy. “Again and again and again” is how often the Democrats resurrected national health care until they passed it. It will be the same with the Disclose Act and Cap-and-Trade and the Vat Tax and anything else they feel they need to maintain power and put a stranglehold on the American economy. The battle never ends.
Indeed.
Or, when they start a sentence with “Let me be clear…”
Or, “the fact is…”
Or, “the truth is…”
Yes. Jobs “saved or created” for Democrat[ic Socialist]s.
Why won’t Michelle Obama DISCLOSE who she will be meeting with during her European
vacationSummit Meeting?Keep shining that sunlight on them, MM!
Community Organizers for Socialism?
This is just another backdoor (we use that word a lot with the Øbamaroids, don’t we) way to squash free speech that they don’t like, a la McCain-Feingold.
That would be tough to do if we sent them all packing. Remember in November!
Our Congress needs to hear one thing from the people…
NO MORE…!!!
Don’t you dare try to pass one more affront to our freedoms.
Business as usual is OVER.
Translation: I love “shadow groups”
Anything the man says, means exactly the opposite.
If he says “Your taxes won’t go up” – he means they will go up.
If he says “I support families” – he means, he will do anything and everything to tear down the traditional family
The list could go on.
On July 28th, 2010 at 9:04 am, conservativesRus said:
+1
FIFY
O/T,
Please pray for Leo Donofrio, Steve Pidgeon, and the 82 former Chrysler dealers that they represent, as they appear before Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein for oral argument today in the Southern District of New York at 12:30 PM.
Like ACORN?
And the Black Panthers?
And MoveOn.org?
And Americans Coming Together?
And……
By now everybody with an IQ of 50 or higher should know that anything Shyster Schumer is involved in is not good for the country. That’s not saying much for the 56 senators that voted with him on this bill.
Obamna lies, who didn’t know before the election? and why didn’t you?
All you need is to judge the character.
Barack Obama may act like an idiot, he may sound like an idiot and sometimes he may even look like an idiot, but don’t let that fool you, he really is an idiot.
They only need three more Republican votes. This thing will pass. It’s just that the pot hasn’t been sweetened enough yet for you-know-who.
He is merely a minion, a figurehead, a mouthpiece for his powerful, dangerous, America-hating string-pullers.
Democrats and other forms of moral relativists think that if you ‘mean well,’ then it can’t really be a lie.
Yes, they really think that way. So to them Obama is man of deep honesty and virtue.
Seriously. Their philosophical view really is deranged. But, hey …. it’s their truth …..
It’s frightening to realize just how many people are so thoroughly disconnected from reality, with no real prospect for reconnecting.
It doesn’t harm their day to day functioning. In fact, it can even work to their advantage when it’s to their benefit to conform to clearly crazy dogma. Like if they work in Hollywood or DC.
Look at the incredible amount of damage and shackles placed on people by Karl Marx, world wide, simply by lying, fomenting hate.
Its time to expose them and run them all out of town and never let them return.
i am so sick of the names they give these bills and groups that are the exact opposite of what they intend.
p.s. the SEC no longer has to comply with FOIA requests.
transparency!
I have a friend who always argues, “But we had to do SOMETHING about Health Care, the Auto business, blah, blah.” I always say, “you didn’t have to do the first thing that the marxists presented.”
Maybe an ex-friend by now, but they always hate to say they were wrong.
“DISCLOSE Act” Wrote behind closed doors ,with one party.
What could go wrong ?
How ironic !
Excellent, excellent Michelle. Articles like this is why the internet will ultimately save this Country. You would never have this garbage revealed on any of the many lib networks, or rags. Is it any wonder why Congress has an 11% approval rating? Libs love a rigged media, now they want to rig elections. I run out of words to describe liberals: morally bankrupt, hypocrites, traitorous, cheaters, socialists, panderers…and so many more. God bless you and this blog.
…or ends his sentence with “my friend”.
WOT but since our resident self-described oil industry expert impugned some of us about our points supporting the “suspicious” circumstances on the day of the Deepwater rig explosion, it is now being reported in mid-investigation that hosing the rig with sea water rather than the prescribed fire retardant foam may have the very reason the rig, and the bulk of the evidence, sank.
Also being reported is that the Coast Guard was curiously out of the loop during the efforts to put out the fire.
You could almost say that everything was done to make sure that the oil spill was as dramatic and extensive as humanly possibly for beginning to end. Almost. Maybe later after the investigation is complete.
Rather Orwellian, isn’t it?
***
In a kindov related story–”Big Brother raised the daily chocolate ration from 2 ounces to 1 ounce today. Thank you sire!”
***
Somehow Comrade Obama’s (PBUH) new math isn’t working out well for me. But George Orwell warned us about it all in his 1984 novel (clairvoyance?).
***
How do you know that a politician is lying? His lips are moving.
***
John Bibb
***
He knew all too well of what commu, er progressives were capable of from his experience in Spain, I believe. 1984 served as a warning.
OT, words for my favorite country sheriff, GO JOE!
If your an American loving citizen you gotta love this guy.
Remember that trash Democrats shouted for eight years at an all too receptive media, about the Bush Administration being the most “secretive” administration ever?
Well hello!
The Obama administration – not to mention the Democrat led Houses – define “secretive” and “deceptive” and they prove it every day.
But the most galling part about all this governance by deception, the most insulting and offensive implication to it all, is how dumb they think the American public is.
They seem to believe we will just eat up any tired old line they choose to feed us simply because it’s them saying it, and the NYT and the networks repeating it, without ever once thinking for ourselves or questioning their decisions.
Thankfully there is the Internet and blogger-journalists like MM to keep us truly informed!
Keep up the excellent work, MM!
On July 28th, 2010 at 11:54 am, hawkeye54 said:
And 1984 would have been just about the right year, if the Democrat[ic Socialist Communist]s had had ACORN to steal the 1980 election in favor of Carter.
What would this country have looked like in 1984 if Carter had served a second term?
About two weeks after the intial explosion, I listened to an interview with an employee of a company (like Red Adair’s) that specializes in putting out oil fires.
He said, “When we saw them pouring water on the rig, we thought, “That’s a crazy thing to do. It’s going to fill with water and sink. It’s better in that circumstance to let it burn.”
Bho’s biggest mistake is assuming that we are all idiots. Wait till his chickens come home to roost.
After the disaster at Desert One not even a legion of Satan’s angels could have saved Carter. He was toast.
In BHO’s mind, its no assumption – its a fact.
Remember that trash Democrats shouted for eight years at an all too receptive media, about the Bush Administration being the most “secretive” administration ever?
Another tidbit: The Finance Bill – I use that loosely, absolves the SEC from any Freedom of Information act request or any request for that matter. They are shielded from any oversight.
These pols are not even trying to lie artfully any longer.
It’s not a transparency farce…. it’s a coup. One where we are being nibbled to death by ducks.
No. They’re not. At least not about the smaller pieces of their plan. The larger strategy is still being concealed. but we pretty much know what it is. America part of a One World Socialist Utopia.
Man made disasters (Islamic murder)
Fairness doctrine (Censor conservative speech)
Undocumented worker (a person who has broken our laws to be in America)
work fare (more liberal spending to further the nanny state)
climate change (guess “global warming” wasnt cutting it anymore)
redeployment (retreat, surrender, defeat)
womens reproductive rights (infanticide)
Its a good thing that the dem constituency isnt too smart…
This issue is a big loser for the Dems. I am seeing more and more citizens getting incensed with the federal governments arrogance and hostility towards citizens of this country.
The Obama Administration: WHEN THE RULE OF LAW ENDED.
Michelle Rhee on the Restoring Honor site had this quote:
“I pledge resistance to the Czar of the Divided States of America and to Communism for which he stands. One Socialist, without God, divisible, with healthcare and welfare for all !!!!”
Shouldn’t they be fingerprinting (and tossing in jail) the two main culprits that caused this mortgage crisis debacle in the first place – Chris Dodd and Barney Frank?
How on earth did I end up on this thread? Please excuse the OT post.
I am sick and tired of the Sock Puppet using the” Shadow Forces” type attack whenever we as a people raise up our voices and our elected officials act on our wishes, maybe not enough but enough to irk Erkel. This is right out of the Marxist/Socialist playbook folks, harp and point at a shadow enemy as the cause of all his troubles and what,in his view is the countries troubles.