I saw Riechert's BS ad, paid for by the US Chamber of Commerce, on TV last night. Wasn't that thing supposed to be pulled because it was untrue?

The shot of the yuppie shaking his head while filling his minivan with gas made me want to vomit, and I think she overstresses the word "military" a bit transparently, and the music is satanic, but I guess it's OK. For a political ad. All political ads make me want to vote for the opponent, though.

Reichert's bullshit is insane, I don't understand how you can get away with that.

Personally, I think that campaign finance reform should work like this: remove all dollar limits, but prohibit any TV or radio (or internet video or audio) ads. All media exposure should come from maximally-boring CSPAN-style sitdown talks of an hour minimum duration.

That picture of Reichert freaks me out.

That Reichert ad can't be real, can it? It doesn't have him doing the "I approved this message" bit . . .

Geez, Darcy, it's about time. Less than two months before the general election, no less.

the info for the reichert ad says it was made by a middle/high schooler for government class.

Um, FNARF,

You can regulate dollars, because they're only *sometimes* speech, but you cannot regulate air time. That would be totally unconstitutional.

The way to fix campaign finance is to require that media outlets carry a certain quota of free ads for each candidate. This quota would vary with the significance of the race, but would be enough to completely saturate media markets so that purchasing extra air time, which would still be legal, would be a waste off money.

This option, while not any more feasible than your proposal, at least has the benefit of being legal.

OK, then how about this proposal: you can broadcast as many political ads as you want, but every time you do, I get to hit you with a Taser. Would that be legal?

"but every time you do, I get to hit you with a Taser. Would that be legal?"

Sorry, that would be a clear example of "cruel and unusual punishment". I might be willing to go along with hitting him in the nuts with a wiffle ball bat, though...

Gomez, dude, it's still nearly 3 months until the general, which takes place on November 7.

besides parody is protected speech anyways.

OOPs... yeah, for some reason, my mind melded together September and October.

Nonetheless, why wait until now? Wouldn't getting your message out sooner rather than later be a huge plus for a new candidate?

Gomez, I'm glad you aren't running any Dem campaigns this season!