My favorite new quote:
"For too long, some in this country have been deprived of full participation in the political process," [Republican Senator Mitch] McConnell said. "With today’s monumental decision, the Supreme Court took an important step in the direction of restoring the First Amendment rights of these groups."
Break out the guitars and cue up "Kumbayah." It's like the Civil Rights movement all over again. Now try it with filling in the antecedents:
"For too long, [corporations] in this country have been deprived of full participation in the political process," McConnell said. "With today’s monumental decision, the Supreme Court took an important step in the direction of restoring the First Amendment rights of these [companies]."
A sentiment to which the current best example of an actual liberal congressional firebrand, Alan Grayson, said:
"In the same way that Republicans always do their best to suppress voter turnout in elections, the Republicans are doing their best here to increase the amount of corporate cash," Grayson said. "They are, in essence, a wholly-owned subsidiary of corporate America."
It's certainly interesting that McConnell retreated to the euphemistic "some," fully aware, no doubt, that defining "some" wouldn't play even to conservative constituents. That certainly underlines that this shouldn't be a partisan issue. It's fairly incredible that even this is being played that way–does anybody on any part of the political spectrum really want more corporate influence in politics? Who is willing to take up that cause in something other than McConnell's disingenuous and obfuscating fashion?
If that's the way it's to be, there's a massive political vacuum in need of filling, and someone on some part of the spectrum is going to fill it. If the Democrats (or anyone else) want a new rallying point that can play to liberals, centrists and at least some conservatives, they've got it in this issue. It will be interesting to see if they figure that out. Early signs are, remarkably, almost promising. But that crew can mess up walking in a straight line (and is currently reeling around like a bunch of cabin boys full of rum).
Taking up this cause could unite some pretty strange bedfellows–even McCain has showed up to express displeasure. Just as the "Strange Bedfellows" coalition, formed some time ago around the issue of domestic spying, brought together Ron Paul and the ACLU, this issue has the potential to engage folks who don't often agree. Which would make it yet easier to deal with conservative blowhards like McConnell who are clearly configuring their statements to hide the truth of the matter. I am genuinely curious to see how the Tea Party folks will react.
So that's all for now. Maybe something on a different subject later.
Till then, here's an image from some time ago that illustrates the congress-to-be under this new Supreme Court decision (that, terrifyingly enough, is Kay Bailey Hutchison):
