The Lonely Centrist

A place for reasoned debate about the issues of the day.

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Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Another Contender for Most Naive Man?

Regular readers of this blog - and the three of you know who you are - know that we've dubbed Fred Wertheimer of the lobbying group Democracy 21 the Most Naive Man in America, though we did suggest a competitor in Larry Noble of the Center for Responsive Politics.

Today, a new contender emerges. Here is Norm Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute, on new Federal Election Commission designee Hans von Spakovsky:



The Bush approach to presidential power is simple,
straightforward and clear: “L’etat, c’est moi.” As conservative constitutional scholar Bruce Fein puts it, even King George III would blush at asserting this level of bald, unchecked power. But the way in which the president is handling the revelations of secret wiretaps on Americans--unapologetic, and promising to continue doing it--makes it clear that this is just what the president believes.

Of course, we can feel better with the administration’s assurances that there were checks on the president’s wiretapping--by the Justice Department. Especially since those assurances come at the same time we have learned that the unanimous career-staff recommendation that the Texas redistricting scheme engineered by Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas) that violated the Voting Rights Act was derailed by Justice Department politicos. That followed on the heels of the revelation that the abominable Georgia voter identification law, also challenged by career Justice attorneys as a poll tax, was derailed by some of the same politicos.

We can be even more reassured since this week one of the key
politicos in these cases, Hans von Spakovsky, was rewarded with a nomination to the Federal Election Commission.



Well, duh, ya' big idiot! How do you think one gets nominated to the FEC? Do you think people who get these appointments are not supporters of the President? It's a political appointment. The naivete of the campaign finance reform lobby never ceases to amaze.

If anyone cares, the Skeptic addresses the merits of some of Ornstein's arguments on the voting issue.

LINKS
  • The Skeptic
  • Andrew Sullivan
  • Michael Barone
  • The New Republic
  • National Review
  • Democracy Project
  • Bob Bauer
  • Center for Competitive Politics
  • Ryan Sager
  • Going to the Matt
  • Professor Bainbridge
  • Volokh Conspiracy
  • Mystery Pollster
  • Amitai Etzioni
  • Alexander Chrenkoff
  • Middle East Media Research Institute
  • Right Democrat
  • Democrats for Life