(Now That It Is Over) Why Citizens United Was a Lousy Idea (For the GOP)
Two years ago, I speculated that Citizens United---the Supreme Court ruling that gave wealthy corporations (foreign as well as domestic) the right to spend unlimited amounts of money to influence U.S. elections---was a conspiracy cooked up by Scalia and Bush officials. If you did not read it in 2010, here is a link.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9396106
Karl Rove was obviously part of the plan. Who announced the formation of the very first SuperPac----before the ink was even dry on the SCOTUS's opinions in the case? Turd Blossom, of course. Who held out his hand and told some of the nation's richest men "Give me hundreds of millions and I will make you billions (and quash that federal indictment while I am at it)"? Bush's Brain----
Except, Rove is not as brainy as all those billionaires seemed to believe. If he was, he would have realized what a bad idea Citizens United was for the party he claims to love.
What's not to like about legal steamer trunks full of cash (as opposed to Dick Nixon's secret suitcases full of cash)? Plenty, if you are a Republican. As a Democrat, I found the whole thing amusing---and very predictable. According to the rules laid down by Scalia, Super Pac money could be spent in only one way---on attack ads. You know, those negative TV commercials that drive everyone crazy in battle ground states. And what do Americans hate? Negativity. I thought Nancy Reagan taught the Republican Party that truth back in 1984. I guess Rove was not paying attention to those Morning in America ads. He was probably too busy rereading Pat Buchanan's dirty tricks memo from 1972---the one that sent all those people to jail.
Citizens United was the gift that kept giving---to the Democrats. All that rogue money meant that the party lost the power of the purse strings. Rather than rallying behind the candidate with the most money, Romney, they kept rallying behind whatever candidate was the latest recipient of SuperPac cash. And so, the party faithful fell in love with---and then discarded---Michelle Bachman, Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum (!) before finally settling for whatever was left over, namely Mitt Willard Romney, less than affectionately known as Mittens by the Party base. By the time he finally won the nomination, he smelled like week old catfood----and was somewhere to the political right of David Dukes.
And it got better. In the past, candidates had to raise money from lots of folks, meaning that they had to have social skills. After Citizens United, a single wealthy donor could easily bankroll a congressional candidate. As a result, the Republicans were stuck with the kind of greasy little toadies that only a wealthy donor could love. And every time a greasy little toady---like Akins or Mourdouck-- put his foot in his mouth and said something asinine about rape, garnering shit loads of bad press for the party, the wealthy donor would come to the rescue with more steamer trunks full of legal cash....
The obscenely rich love their money more than anything else. I can only imagine what is going through the heads of guys like the Koch Brothers who have handed over millions of dollars for what turned out to be a massive crap shoot. What will they do in 2014 when Rove comes along with his hand out, asking for money again? Will they think to themselves "I should have given more?" and double their investment? Or will they realize that pouring money into SuperPacs is just like flushing it down the toilet?
I think they will double their investment. And I can't wait to see what kind of creepy candidates a handful of wealth megalomaniacs will pick for the GOP next time.
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