Stuck in the Mud

While Kerry exercises his First Amendment rights, the FEC continues to deny the right to others:

Federal election regulators refused to ease limits on political advertising Tuesday, blocking an effort to let interest groups run radio and television ads mentioning elected officials within weeks of an election.

The Federal Election Commission voted 3-3 on a proposal that would have allowed such ads as long as they addressed public policy issues and did not promote, support, oppose or attack a sitting member of Congress. Supporters of the change said they wanted to strike a balance between campaign ad restrictions and constitutional free speech guarantees.

The measure failed with the commission's three Democrats voting against the proposal and the three Republicans backing it.

Even the proposed regulatory change did not go far enough to correct the damage done by McCain-Feingold, still an appalling stain on our nation's Constitutional record. McCain-Feingold was just another case of public officials thinking that they are protected by divine right from any criticism of their record or their actions.

On a side note, I never cease to be amazed that Democrats who will stand up for the right of free speech for just about anything except God and political campaigns. As Michael Silence of the Knoxville News-Sentinel notes:

If the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the ACLU are on the same side, something must be seriously messed up!