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Obama-McCain: Public financing

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by beefncheddar, Jun 19, 2008.

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  1. beefncheddar

    beefncheddar Guest

    MSNBC: Obama opts out of public funding


    Newsweek blog: Obama's Public-Financing Acrobatics

    The questionnaire
    Big deal or not?
    Is there anyway to discuss this without flame-retardent suits?
     
    beefncheddar, Jun 19, 2008
    #1
  2. Flying Headbutt

    Flying Headbutt Moderator Staff Member

    I know the GOP will try really, really, really hard to make it an issue. But I doubt it'll float very far after a few days.
     
    Flying Headbutt, Jun 19, 2008
    #2
  3. Ben_Hecht

    Ben_Hecht Active Member


    The GOP, the founding fathers of "the best government money can buy", complaining about being outspent. That'll be rich.
     
    Ben_Hecht, Jun 19, 2008
    #3
  4. beefncheddar

    beefncheddar Guest

    As best I can tell, that's not even remotely close to the argument.
     
    beefncheddar, Jun 19, 2008
    #4
  5. Flying Headbutt

    Flying Headbutt Moderator Staff Member

    No, but it'll be a big part of the substance behind it. They won't mention it, but it will.
     
    Flying Headbutt, Jun 19, 2008
    #5
  6. PeteyPirate

    PeteyPirate Guest

    It's true that Obama is going against his previous statements, and he will have to deal with that specific criticism. But the tens of thousands of people who built up his war chest with small donations (like me) want that money to be used to give him a competitive advantage. It's an overall net gain for him.
     
    PeteyPirate, Jun 19, 2008
    #6
  7. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    It isn't something that will resonate very far, because people don't care, but he is going to get hammered with it. And rightly so. He was saying one thing, now he is doing something different. That makes it fair fodder. I can't blame him, based on his fundraising ability, but he screwed up. Majorly. When he was still an underdog and didn't realize he would be able to harness the power of small donors and be the fundraising juggernaut he has turned into, he probably thought that the fundraising playing field would be equal if he made it to a general election, and he figured he could use it as an issue to make himself seem like he had more integrity than other candidates -- he was going to be the campaign finance reform guy and paint his opponents as pigs feeding at the PAC trough. Now that he knows he can rake in way more money than McCain, he has lost his religion. It's particularly ugly for him, because McCain was the one who ended up getting the Republican nomination, and McCain was the other guy playing that same game, except it is now beneficial for McCain to hold true to his word. So you have two guys who made a pledge -- the only two, I believe, out of all the candidates who started out running -- and you have the contrast now of one who is staying true to his word and one who isn't.
     
    The Big Ragu, Jun 19, 2008
    #7
  8. Ben_Hecht

    Ben_Hecht Active Member


    Didn't say it was!

    ;D
     
    Ben_Hecht, Jun 19, 2008
    #8
  9. Dickens Cider

    Dickens Cider New Member

    As far as I can tell, Obama tried to broker a deal with McCain. But he wanted McCain to police the 527 activity, and McCain refused. What good is public financing if you can get a bunch of 527s to run the attack ads you can't afford?

    Unfortunately, while Obama's argument is nuanced and reasonable to an intelligent person, all you'll hear from the GOP is "Barack Obama broke his promise to the American people."

    But fortunately, Ragu is right. People likely aren't going to care about this. There's bigger fish to fry right now.
     
    Dickens Cider, Jun 19, 2008
    #9
  10. Human_Paraquat

    Human_Paraquat Well-Known Member

    Obama won't accept public financing

    http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/06/19/obama.public.financing/index.html

    This seems like a pretty shrewd political move (for once) from the Democrats.

    Question: if Obama once said he'd accept public funding, but then raised so much money that he didn't need to, do you consider that a broken promise?
     
    Human_Paraquat, Jun 19, 2008
    #10
  11. andyouare?

    andyouare? Guest

    Obama would be an idiot to accept public financing.

    Oh you mean the funds to staff volunteers in all 50 states and the funds that give me huge advantage in terms of campaign infrastructure? Yeah, I'll give all of that up.

    He'll take a hit. And he should. But there is absolutely no way any sane person would pass up that much dough.
     
    andyouare?, Jun 19, 2008
    #11
  12. Lugnuts

    Lugnuts Well-Known Member

    What complicates the issue is McCain using the promise of public funds as collateral on a loan he needed to keep him from going belly up. He then didn't take the public funds.

    It's probably a violation of election law, and I believe there's a lawsuit pending.

    As for Obama, I hope he did try to broker a deal with McCain. If not, it's bullshit. And I sure as hell hope Obama isn't doing this to help Hillary pay off her debt.
     
    Lugnuts, Jun 19, 2008
    #12
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