Wingnut Hero Forever

by digby

Many years ago I wrote about the adventures of a young wingnut named David Bossie. There was a time when he was a disgraced criminal unfit for decent company, but today he goes into the pantheon as a conservative hero of epic proportions. His political propaganda group Citizen United took campaign finance campaign laws all the way to the Supreme Court. And he won big for corporations everywhere:

In response to today’s Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. FEC, People For the American Way president Michael B. Keegan released the following statement:

“Today’s ruling is yet another example of selective enforcement of constitutional rights by the Roberts Court. Chief Justice John Roberts and other conservatives on the Court claim to be committed to judicial restraint and respect for precedent. But they demonstrated that they will gladly set those principles aside when it suits their ideology.

“It is a long-established principle that the government can act in the interest of democracy to prevent corporations from pouring in billions of dollars to unduly influence elections. Congress and state legislatures across the nation have enacted legislation based on this principle for decades and with bipartisan backing. But today the Roberts Court decided that it knew better. Given conservative rhetoric about deference to the democratically elected branches, today’s ruling is stunning.

“The Roberts Court seems to be most concerned about constitutional rights when they pertain to business, government, or other powerful interests. Today, not for the first time, the Court privileged corporations over individual Americans. This decision is proof positive that the Supreme Court has lurched dangerously to the right.”

The crisis of plotocracy continues apace.

And let’s give a big shout-out to former president Bush who made sure that the most business friendly Supreme Court in history was his legacy. Whatever else the results of the election of 2000 gave us, this was the gift that will just keep on giving.

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