Tuesday, February 9, 2016

J.E.B.!: More Political Corruption Would Be Nice


As House of Bush princeling and pay-to-play candidate John Ellis "J.E.B.!" Bush's well-financed campaign slowly circles the drain, looking at a likely finish in fifth, or at best fourth place in New Hampshire today, he's searching for an issue to portray himself as an "outsider," despite having scooped up over $100 million in "donations" from fellow plutocrats. Under the infamous Citizens United decision by the Republican-controlled Supreme Court, super PACs can collect unlimited funds from wealthy donors to sponsor ads that indirectly support a candidate, as long as there's no "coordination" with the candidate.  By contrast, contributions made directly to candidates are limited to $2,700 per person per election. In J.E.B.!'s words, he wants to "turn that on its head if I could." He thinks he can sucker the public with this three-card monte:
"Bush’s framework, by contrast, would even eliminate the thin wall between donors and candidates that remains after Citizens United. Under his proposed rule, it’s unclear that anything would prevent a billionaire from walking into Bush’s office with a massive check and a list of demands, and then refusing to turn over that check until they are sure that Bush will comply with those demands. Simply put, Bush would permit a level of corruption that even the Roberts Court views as intolerable." (emphasis added)
Apparently desperate times call for desperately corrupt proposals.  But then, the Bush dynasty is no stranger to the influence of big money.