[Investblogger]

[bensabath]

Oerdin is jockeying for the position of whomever is next prez, can have, "Don't Blame Me. I Didn't Vote." bumper sticker.
Who are you for, Oerdin? I'd like to have it on record.
Or do you just ***** as an avid hobby?

[santorio]

At least my articles are funny.

[Pwy9egVW]

From your esteemed MoveOn correspondent.

[Nekas48]

McCain has done NOTHING wrong yet I don't think that's clear. I would say that he has legal problems if he has broken the spending limit (which he's no more than a couple million away from doing - so that likely will be the case in a week). That's problematic because:
a.) He qualified to get on the OH ballot based on public financing certification. Note that qualifying for ballots can be very expensive processes otherwise (campaigns have spent a couple million to get on all the ballots), so McCain already took advantage of the public system.
b.) He used staying in the race if he were losing and taking public money (effectively defrauding the taxpayer) as collateral for a loan he took out. Which may or may not legally count as taking advantage of the public system.
c.) Because of the second point, the Republican FEC Chair had some sharp questions for McCain which he subsequently ignored. It's not clear that the other issues aside, that a candidate can remove himself from the public system without getting FEC authorization.

And legal issues aside, all this was certainly skeezy as hell.

[Indinehon]

Originally posted by Oerdin
Yep, breaking the law no longer matters. Rather, it would seem that non republicans breaking the law doesn't matter to you given how little we see of you complaining about it.

[RooldpalApata]

Based on what I have seen from across the ocean McCain seems like a stand-up guy.

Is he ?

[QbCp7LaZ]

One is that the six-member commission lacks a quorum, with four vacancies because of a Senate deadlock over President Bush's nominees for the seats. Democrats intefereing in the democratic process.

Why do you hate democracy Oerdin?

[Ettiominiw]

Originally posted by Geronimo

Rather, it would seem that non republicans breaking the law doesn't matter to you given how little we see of you complaining about it. Bah, up yours. I condemn law breaking where ever it occurs.

[DextExexy]

Originally posted by Ramo


b.) He used staying in the race if he were losing and taking public money (effectively defrauding the taxpayer) as collateral for a loan he took out. Which may or may not legally count as taking advantage of the public system. If that is actually true, then he legally cannot withdraw.

[unlomarma]

It is true and even more ironic is that McCain seems to be guilty of breaking the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Law.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalra...d-dean-to.html

"John McCain cannot unilaterally withdraw from his spending limit," said Dean on a conference call with reporters. "He cannot be let out of the matching funds program if he's already used the promise of matching funds for loans or collateral for private loans." McCain took the money and opted in for public financing using the money to pay for most of his early campaign. Then his campaign took off and suddenly McCain was flushed with cash. Now he wants out of the system he helped create but he legally cannot because the President and Congress are at odds over FEC appointments such that there isn't enough sitting members for the committee to legally convene.

McCain has decided to simply break the Campaign Finance law and spend in excess of the limits. That's a crime.

[FYvWldC0]

Originally posted by Oerdin


I don't normally post articles about rapists, street thugs, or numerous other types of criminals either but I still condemn them. So you admit it, all Dems are criminals?

Unless they are GOP, I don't really care, but it gets annoying seeing you bash one party over and over and over.

I hope Obama wins, just to shut you up about this for a while.

ACK!

[romalama]

It is true

Because Howard Dean says so?! The McCain campaign is denying it, and you'd think since they took out the policy, they'd know better than others.

McCain has broken his own campaign finance law

What exactly has he broken right now? And when has ANY candidate who was found in violation of a campaign finance law been sent to jail (btw, President Clinton, Senator Dole, President Bush, Vice President Gore have all been found in violation and forced to pay a fine).

You are incredibly full of ****.

[Jimambol]

If Obama broke the law to continue accepting money we'd never hear the end of it from the GOP. Every single debate McCain's first point would be "My opponent is currently in violation of election law."

Let's hope we hear the same from the Obama camp. And make sure to make it "the election law he authored."

[tramadoldiscountes]

Originally posted by Oerdin
Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, A.K.A. the McCain Feingold Campaign finance law, was passed in 2002 as the name implies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biparti...ign_Reform_Act

The first version was passed in 1995 but it was amended in 2002. Why is that important, Imran? Because your examples are from before 2002. How did he violate said law?

[Alulursuifold]

This is really worse than some wacky Right wingers have for Hillary Clinton (the fact that Oerdin also hates Hillary Clinton is part of the fun here).

[vipBrooriErok]

McCain was about $5 million from the public spending limit as of the last filing (1/31). It seems likely that he has already broken it, and if that's not the case, there's no doubt that he will within a couple weeks.

If that is actually true, then he legally cannot withdraw. For the record, here's the WaPo's description:
The second issue is more complicated. It involves a $1 million loan McCain obtained from a Bethesda bank in January. The bank was worried about his ability to repay the loan if he exited the federal financing program and started to lose in the primary race. McCain promised the bank that, if that happened, he would reapply for matching money and offer those as collateral for the loan. While McCain's aides have argued that the campaign was careful to make sure that they technically complied with the rules, Mason indicated that the question needs further FEC review. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...T2008022102994

As I was saying, really goddamn skeezy...

There's another irony here: the public financing system that McCain looks like he's locked into is widely acknowledged as broken, and there's a significant reform effort to change that. McCain was a part of that effort, up until a couple years ago when he had to appease conservatives skeptical about his public financing advocacy. His withdrawal helped to kill the effort.

[mealiusarses]

Originally posted by Oerdin
Bah, up yours. I condemn law breaking where ever it occurs. Oh? Do we have to go look at the proportion of your threads that attack Republicans, and the proportion that attack Democrats, or will you just admit on your own you're just a hack?

[Theateetetuig]

What I really don't understand is that idea that violating campaign finance laws in reference to federal matching funds would make McCain subject to jail time. I'm doubting there are criminal penalties for raising more than the mandated amount.

[Pheboasmabs]

sergeant Oerdin actually.