Well since it is completely non-functional now its hard to get too worked up about that.

If McCain suddenly gets a lot of oil money, Obama's going to be OUTRAGED about campaign finance reform. For other people, of course.

Obama did bring change. He was the first candidate to opt-out of the system in 32 years.

(Oh, you mean, you wanted some other kind of change?)

I dont understand how...

/DNRTFa

Why doesn't McCain just ask Bush if he could listen in on all the wiretaps Obama doesn't care about, he wouldn't need too much money with that kind of access.

Obama's decision not to accept public funds for his presidential campaign puts the financing system at risk

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't that the general idea?

So people could donate their directly to the campaign of their choice; rather than $3 of their tax return money to a pool that could be used by ANY politician running for Presdent, whether or not the person who checks the box supports the politician(s) taking from that pool?

And as quickdraw said, the system is broken anyway. After all, how many people check the box that says "Reduce my tax return by $3 so some politician can use it toward swift-boating his/her political opponent(s)" when they fill out their tax papers?

News: Obama ops out of taking tax payer money for his campaign.

Party of lower government spending: Booo!

Obama would have been absolutely stupid to accept public funding when he raised a quarter billion dollar in the primary alone. Now with Gore and Clinton helping, who knows how much he could raise. And the kicker? 98% of it comes from individuals donating less than $100.

Let e get this straight... Republicans are complaining about a candidate who is refusing to spend tax dollars?

LOL WUT?

Excuse me sir, I couldn't help noticing your pants are on fire.

Republicans,don't let the fact that you've been against campaign finance reform up until now get in the way of your mock outrage.

McCainDemocrat: (Oh, you mean, you wanted some other kind of change?)

You're trying to think of something, danlpoon. There is some way to spin this.

You can do it! Spin, my friend. Spin hard!

I'm sure you can keep it up.

Discuss how it will create the downfall of the american election system.

I imagine McCainDemocrat will be in here trolling his little heart out.

And unless one of you idiots goes ahead and quotes him, I'll remain blissfully unaware of that retard. Let's keep it that way, people!

Also, since when did the Republican party decide that declining to use taxpayers' money and instead use money that people have willingly given you is a bad thing?

The system is broken, so Obama's doing it his own way, and doing it more effectively to boot -- sounds good to me.

This is stupid. I bet the Mccain camp will whine that if Obama is not using his half of the money, then McCain should be able to.

I can't believe how disconnected politics and reality are.

politics am crazy

Except Obama IS publicly financed. Maybe if I get it in early in this thread it will preempt some of the whining. Not holding my breath tho.


Obama: I will try to come to an agreement re: public financing with McCain.
McCain: (borrows against public loan, then turns down money, ignores spending limits, then accepts public money)
Obama: Hmmm...
Obama: (raises a gajillion dollars from small public donors)

Obama: I renounce all 527s and will direct my donors not to give to them
McCain: There's nothing I, the presidential candidate and standard bearer of my party can do about Republican 527s attacking you.
Obama: Hmmm...

Obama: (refuses to take $85M of taxpayer money and put himself at a disadvantage)
McCain: Hypocrite! How dare you not hamstring yourself while I flout the very law I helped write? How dare you try to win? Don't you know your place?

Mouthbreathers: ZOMG Hypocrite! John McCain would never do something as shady as not take taxpayer money and rely on his base of small donors!
Opiate: (gets all stabby)

McCainDemocrat: Obama did bring change. He was the first candidate to opt-out of the system in 32 years.


McCain was the first candidate to break the very same public financing law he wrote
Link (new window)

So I mean, you tell me what's worse. Financing your own campaign without wasting the governments money, or breaking the law which you wrote.

bulldg4life: McCainDemocrat: (Oh, you mean, you wanted some other kind of change?)

You're an obvious troll.

I'm putting you on ignore.

That's a great idea, bulldog!

DoctorCal: That's a great idea, bulldog!

I'm sorry, but that just wouldn't be any fun at all.

McPoontheUniterDanlemocrat is probably one of the greatest things associated with Fark.

I believe it is second only to the Fark Independents that properly correct people by reminding them of their resounding hatred of all politicians even though they spend all day long bashing Obama for anything under the sun while simultaneously defending and clarifying many of McCain's missteps.

I'd be quite sad to see a political thread without both of these two fine examples of intelligent discussion and amazing examples of true American patriots.

They are fighting the good fight, my friend. And that cannot be ignored.

Did anyone see Michelle's dress on The View? It was sooooooo cute.

I want one.

what are you talking about?

Obama says the system has been gamed, and isn't authentic as it was when it was established as a means of reform.
I love Joe Biden, but he crapped out early in the primaries, so I doubt he even used the system.
If a system's integrity is compromised, why would you want to perpetuate it unless you somehow profited?
TIs a puzzlement.

If Obama said "Hmmm, I think babies are cute," McCainDemocrat would find something negative to say about that.

I think it's sad when an entire thread gets to be about bashing McCainDemocrat, because it's usually so far from the topic at hand. We don't discuss the article; we discuss how we know he is gonna come in and troll. Then he trolls. Then 40 people (myself included) quote him and say "OMGGGGGGG McCainDemocrat is a KNOEN TROEL!!!!!!oneoneone1111 dont feed da trollz!!!!!"

On the otherhand, I feel sad that trolling on FARK is this only way McCainPoon can get an erection.

/Somebody get that boy some viagra

When the Republicans were bringing in cash hand over fist in 2000 and 2004, I didn't see them handicapping themselves to make things fair. In fact, all we heard was that the Republicans had built the greatest political fundraising machine ever.

Go ahead and call Obama a hypocrite. I'm sure he'll feel really bad while he does his Scrooge McDuck swim through piles of $100 bills.

Obama's probably being a bit of a hypocrite here, but in his shoes I'd do the same thing.

Personally, I despise the very idea of publicly funding candidates. Anything that holds it up to ridicule is fine by me.

I'm sorry, but it is very tough to have an actual discussion in Fark threads. The sound to noise ratio is ridiculous and it just isn't worth it.

But, it's some fantastic postage and if he gets paid to infiltrate websites and make stupid statements so people talk about McCain...he's...well...he's doing a crappy ass job because not one single person takes him seriously anymore.

But, that's beside the point.

signal to noise...

Gosh. What the bloody f*ck is the sound to noise ratio

Mentat: Go ahead and call Obama a hypocrite. I'm sure he'll feel really bad while he does his Scrooge McDuck swim through piles of $100 bills.



/race cars, lasers, air planes
//it's a duck-blurr

Before McCain Democrat comes in, I have a few words:

-nobody cares, shut up
-even though you haven't said anything yet, your comments/troll will be incorrect, irrelevant and asenine and many people will agree
-we all know you are secretly an obama supporter, because you spend more time talking about him than McSame
-i don't want you on my ignore list because your comments amuse me. I never pay attention to who said what. I just read. but your comments are so blindingly YOU that I know its you before I look to confirm

On the topic of trolls:

I don't really like calling people like McCainDemocrat "trolls" simply because I don't consider what he does to be true trolling. When I think of a troll, I think of the old Usenet-type troll that would enter a thread incognito, make one or two provocative posts and then sit back while everyone else flamed each other. Concern trolls are a good example of this.

I prefer to call McCainDemocrat and the like "harpies", because at the first sign of a popular thread, they fly in screaming their heads off and shiatting all over the discussion. Nothing they say is remotely provocative, just loud and obnoxious. Harpies are sad because they aren't even smart enough to be trolls. If nothing else, it gives me another image library to work with.



/Internet minutiae rant over

DarthBrooks
If McCain suddenly gets a lot of oil money, Obama's going to be OUTRAGED about campaign finance reform.

Would that necessarily be hypocritical? Obama's amassed a ridiculous "warchest", the lion's share of it from small individual donors. If he goes up against somebody who raises money by going to a few wealthy executives, isn't that a fair contrast?

/wtf is this guy's problem
//obama's olympics commercials: the gop's problem

my dad and i were talking about this and i totally called him on the doublespeak.

dad - "did you hear obama opted out of public financing?"
me - "yeah"
dad - "you're guy flip flopped"
me - *laughing* "sure. you support john mccain. where does he stand on the issues today? besides, he already flip flopped on public financing himself"
dad - "but he made mccain-feingold"
me - "and then he broke it"
dad - "i don't like that stuff anyways, i think it's a limit to free speech."
me - "then why would you be upset that obama opted out of a system you think limits your free speech, and chose to fund his campaign through direct voter donations?"
dad - "i think i might just vote libertarian."

Subby:accept public funds for his presidential campaign puts the financing system at risk

I've seen this before.

(Feb 2008) No public funds for McCain
With the Republican presidential nomination within reach, John McCain is reshaping his campaign to press on without public financing that could limit his spring spending, senior advisers say.

The Arizona senator's rejection of the presidential public financing program he once defended is just the latest evidence of how ineffective the post-Watergate reform has become in an era of multimillion-dollar candidacies.

Plus

days before affirming that "he would abide by his proposal," McCain advisers had said that he would not abide by his proposal and would opt not to use public funds.

and

while the McCain campaign now says McCain will not opt out of public financing because he is "keeping his word to the American people," McCain himself previously indicated that his decision over whether to take public financing if Obama opted out would depend not on "keeping his word" but on whether it would be financially prudent to do so.

MENTAT:

I agree. I used to go to school with this kid we'll call Mike. He was a total geek, but not a bookworm, straight A geek.

he was SO insecure that he kinda became a fail-bully. he would taunt me but it didn't affect me.

he came in with a butane lighter once. I had never heard of butane (in the 5th grade) so he goes "you know what this is?"

"a cigarette lighter"

"NO pffft hahah you're a moran. its a butane lighter!"

and he always did these card tricks and would scoff that I didn't know how he did it.

he say "do you know what the atomic weight of radon is?"

"no"

"hahahahah!"

in fact, I think McD may be the same guy

the best part about mike was that he would chew his fingernails down to the cuticle, leaving hot nerves exposed. he also licked his lips so much, he had a red rash around his mouth. all you had to do to get him to back off was slap the top of his hand and hed wince and then cry.

I was in no way a bully. but I was everyones target for some reason. so hit his hand often to pay the love forward

I think his rejection of public financing now is a little bit of a backpedal from his earlier statements, and I think that his rationale for doing so was simply invented (though it is a good one) in order to find a way for doing that backtracking.

I also think it's a fairly minor thing, in this case, and not really even much of a lie since the nature of McCain's financing issues would have made it extraordinarily tough to come to some kind of "agreement" with him until super-late in the game.

And I like the rest of what his campaign's done (largely excluding PACs and lobbyists and helping reign in 527s).

Let's see, the whole point of public financing was to try and stop the graft and influence buying that was going on during the Nixon administration. As Obama's money appears to be mainly coming from small doners, there's no influence being bought, so what's the problem?

Hey McCainDemocrat: You missed This thread(^) earlier. Everyone's wondering where you went! Someone needs to tell us how this is an example of McCain's superior integrity!

=Smidge=

Ditch the whole thing.

So the American people are supposed to be mad at Obama for not stealing our tax money??? What a non-issue, this whole election has been one of non-issues, on both sides. Can we start talking about the issues yet, or are gonna focus on percocet, the business of the VP pickers, and other pointless shiat that has nothing to do with being president.

far_cue: Excuse me sir, I couldn't help noticing your pants are on fire.

well, i don't think thats accurate. for him to be just another lying politician he'd have to get caught taking bribes or something. all that was was a smart move politically that even mccains supporters admit that he would have done, were he in that position.

circumstances change sometimes. and when they do you adapt. sometimes that means reversing your opinion. that doesn't make you a liar.

I'm not an Obama supporter, and I don't care that he opted out. In fact, the McCain-Feingold bill is one of the major problems I have with McCain.

My system of election financing is as follows: if you can legally vote in an election for a candidate, you can give him as much money as you want. The only caveat is, all donors must be immediately available in a publicly searchable database by amount.

So if Bill Gates donates (pinky finger) 1 billliiiiion dollars to my campaign, y'all farkers can figure out whether or not I'm in his pocket.

And remember, PACs, unions, and corporations can't legally vote, so they can't contribute.

/hint, for a billion, I'm in his pocket, writin' MS-favorable laws.
//don't vote for me

I don't get how McCainDemocrat's comment was inflamatory. Sarcastic, but trolling? I think maybe y'all are seeing closet monsters when it's just dirty laundry in a pile.

And if Senator Obama doesn't take general fund money, so what? IT's not manadatory, he doesn't need it, and taking money from anonymous tax payers who 1)may not vote for him, 2)may not vote at all and 3) comes from a money pool that every politician has peed in... well, good on him, then.

He wouldn't be a hypocrite if he *did* take the cash, but he's more respectable for not taking it.

/2 cents
//hehehe...pile...

Mentat: I prefer to call McCainDemocrat and the like "harpies", because at the first sign of a popular thread, they fly in screaming their heads off and shiatting all over the discussion.

A thousand internets you win

I somehow doubt Obama is going to lose any votes over this silliness. Anybody actually falling for it is voting McCain anyway.

That said, campaign financing is a real paradox. On one extreme, you're restricting free speech, and just not any free speech. You're restricting political free speech, which arguably should be the freest speech of all. On the other extreme, candidates are openly accepting what amounts to bribes by a tiny minority of wealthy people and multinational corporations.

Ugh, what a mess. No easy answers.

========================================

Wow. This thread has actually become more about a certain troll than public financing of presidential campaigns.

Please keep in mind the goals of a troll. When you do, it becomes obvious that anyone who mentions the screen name of or quotes a troll has become his BIATCH. And some of you losers were bending over for him even before he showed up!

Now THAT, my fellow farkers, is a successful troll.

And it's really really sad. I think the modmins should start being more liberal with the banhammer.

Of course it's important to be careful with who you kick because it's sometimes hard to tell major assholes from actual trolls. That said, there are several very well established threadshiatters on Fark that are really bringing down the quality of the threads. The ignore list is all but useless now because every damn post a troll makes gets quoted 30 or 40 times.

Oh well. I guess I'm just pissing in the wind here.

Damba

Well your corrupt, but your honest. You have my vote.

bulldg4life: They are fighting the good fight, my friend. And that cannot be ignored.

Wanna bet?

RedEyedWings: I imagine McCainDemocrat will be in here trolling his little heart out.

And unless one of you idiots goes ahead and quotes him, I'll remain blissfully unaware of that retard. Let's keep it that way, people!

Also, since when did the Republican party decide that declining to use taxpayers' money and instead use money that people have willingly given you is a bad thing?

The system is broken, so Obama's doing it his own way, and doing it more effectively to boot -- sounds good to me.

I agree with every point you made. I really hope that Obama can get a good attack on McCain about financing. It is not even election day and Obama decreased federal spending by $200 million.

Aracnix: I don't get how McCainDemocrat's comment was inflamatory. Sarcastic, but trolling? I think maybe y'all are seeing closet monsters when it's just dirty laundry in a pile.

And if Senator Obama doesn't take general fund money, so what? IT's not manadatory, he doesn't need it, and taking money from anonymous tax payers who 1)may not vote for him, 2)may not vote at all and 3) comes from a money pool that every politician has peed in... well, good on him, then.

He wouldn't be a hypocrite if he *did* take the cash, but he's more respectable for not taking it.

/2 cents
//hehehe...pile...

It's not that his specific comment in this thread was inflammatory, it's that he is in all these threads trolling. He's become a staple of these threads by now, so we all just assume he's trolling all the time.

Just because he made this announcement:



It's my second donation to the campaign. So apparently I can do this 90 more times.

/yay, freedom of speech!

it would be hilarious for the media to dig up the Keating Five and flog that for all its worth in response to any maundering about public funds. At least Obama doesn't want to dip his paws in the trough like every other congress critter.