John McCain is taking public financing for the general election portion of his campaign. $84 million dollars from US taxpayers who check that little box each year on their tax returns.

I have checked that box every year since the US Treasury gave us the option to do so. I thought it was a good idea. Not any more.

When you check that box, you don't designate whether your three bucks goes to any particular candidate. The government doesn't ask if you are a Democrat or Republican or Independent or Libertarian (although they might not be paying taxes just on principle) or Green or Socialist or Communist Workers' Party or American Nazi Party or any other party. Your money is not segregated.

People who checked that box did so because they thought they were helping reform elections. They did not intend to finance blatant, outright lies by one candidate against another. They did not intend to participate in the dirtiest, sleaziest campaign in recent history. They did not intend to buy lying attack ads, and facilitate a candidate lying, his running mate lying, his campaign lying.

They thought they were buying a quality product. A campaign that would focus on the issues -- because candidates wouldn't be in the pockets of special interests who would encourage them to, well, lie, cheat and steal their way to an election. Campaign finance reform was supposed to stop that.

Barack Obama's money comes from people who support his ideas and what he stands for. People give to him wholly voluntarily. When I contribute to Obama I do so because he represents my ideals and I support his vision.

John McCain's money doesn't. It comes from average Americans who thought they were doing the right thing. Earlier this year, McCain made a big deal about public financing of this election.

I say John McCain has made a mockery of it. He has taken the hard earned money of Americans of all stripes to run the most un-American campaign.
John McCain, I want my money back. If this is the kind of campaign you are going to run, pay for it your damn self.

Attention Server Administrator:   I am a user at Talkingpointsmemo.com (tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com, Port 80). For the past several weeks, this site has been plagued with Internal Server Errors:

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Please contact the server administrator, domains@stinson.com.au and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.

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The staff at TPM seems to be unable to figure out what is wrong. This error results in multiple entries of data, failure to enter new data. They claim is it an increase in traffic. Would you please do what ever is necessary at your end to troubleshoot and/or correct this problem?   With regard to my actions prior to receiving this error, I simply entered new text in a comment box and clicked the submit button. After a delay, the internal server error message appeared. Please note that this error also occurs when attempting to submit a new blog from the reader blog interface page. This happens constantly, morning, noon and night.   Thank you.   Jade7243

REPLY

I am travelling at the moment.

It might take me a couple of days to respond.

For emergencies please call my mobile phone.

Thank you,

Andrew Stinson


So much for that notification thing...

So the McCain camp's out with a Rovian attack ad on Barack Obama and claiming he supports teaching kindergarteners how to  have sex.

Disgusting.

Alright, let's put the creative team from TPM Reader Posts Ad Agency to work on a blistering, Rovian attack ad of our own. The more lurid and far-fetched the better. Enter your ideas here.

For example:

Title screen: John McCain Supports Child Molesters?

Fades to kids playing on playground, laughing. Camera pulls back to reveal parents chatting to one another on park bench turned partially away from children. Lurking in background is "Predator," an older man who bears a general resemblance to McCain, with baseball cap pulled low, watching the children and trying to lure them away to help him find his lost puppy. He looks creepy and sinister.

Female V.O.: Every year, thousands of American kindergarteners and grade schoolers learn how to protect themselves from sexual predators. In schools across the country, kids like ours learn how to protect themselves from inappropriate touching and how to tell their parents and teachers when someone touches them the wrong way.

John McCain claims this kind of education is wrong. John McCain claims kids don't need to know how to protect themselves from predators. John McCain would rather keep your kids vulnerable to child molesters.

John McCain just doesn't get what our children need.

Cut to Obama with his daughters and their friends playing and laughing with Michelle and parents in the background smiling approvingly.

In his home state, Barack Obama supported legislation to protect our children. He gets it.

This November 4, protect our children. Vote for Barack Obama.

Barack Obama: I'm Barack Obama and I approve this message.