The Daily Digest: Republicans vs. YouTube

A YouTuber implores the Republican candidates to remain in the YouTube debate

Cato president Ed Crane recently asked if Hillary is a neocon? His libertarian colleague Steve Chapman, of the Chicago Tribune, answers in the affirmative: "A Hillary Clinton presidency promises to unite Madeleine Albright's zeal for using bombs in pursuit of liberal ideals with Dick Cheney's vision of the president as emperor."

Reviewing Milton Friedman: A Biography, by Lanny Ebenstein, Doug Bandow relates a lesson in market-based parenting: "'Once, when the family was traveling across country by train, Milton gave [daughter] Jan and [son] David the choice of a room with berths or the difference in cash between the price of the room and the price of riding in coach. The children chose to sit up in coach for two days.'"

Before there was Freakonomics (2005), the best-selling book that popularized the "dismal science," there was Tyler Cowen, the modern-day cult hero of libertarian economists.

A tipster leaks to Jim Geraghty a selection of Fred Thompson's vocal support for McCain-Feingold, "legislation that tends to a level of support among NRO readers roughly comparable to the Ebola virus."

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The Daily Digest

"The decision to adopt Hillary and drop Clinton has nothing whatsoever casual to it," observes Tod Lindberg.

David Frum notes three elementary mistakes in Bob Novak's memoirs: (1) Novak and Frum lunched, only once, at the Oval Room on November 21, 2001, not at the Hay Adams on September 19, 2001. (2) Frum began work as a White House speechwriter in January, not March, 2001. (3) Frum does not live in Georgetown, which Novak should know because he's been to Frum's house for dinner.

Check out the best of Reagan's TV ads from his 1984 campaign.

Does Daily Kos violate McCain-Feingold? According to a complaint filed with the FEC, "It surely spends at least $1,000 per year in hosting and based on what they charge (and get) for advertising, their support of candidates is certainly worth over $1,000 per year. Lastly, their self-identified purpose is to influence elections in the Democrats favor." David Freddoso draws the appropriate conclusion: "None of this is an argument for regulating Kos, but rather an argument for abolishing the silly campaign finance regime that that the Kos-krazies and their ilk have pushed on us for a generation now."

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A Victory for Free Speech

"Where the First Amendment is implicated, the tie goes to the speaker, not the censor."

—Chief Justice John Roberts, in the majority opinion in FEC v. Wisconsin Right to Life, handed down today, which curtailed without eliminating McCain-Feingold's restrictions on TV ads.

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Fred Dalton McCain?

Perry Bacon (who recently left Time to join the Post, where he's been lighting up the Web site's list of most-popular articles) reports:

Thompson was perhaps McCain's strongest Republican supporter, even advocating an early version of McCain's bill that would have banned contributions from political action committees. (In recent interviews, he has complained that the enacted law has not had the effect that was intended.)

To me, this sounds strikingly similar to Mitt Romney's position.

Perry, however, draws a different comparison: "[T]he man some in the GOP are touting as a dream candidate has often sounded like the presidential hopeful many of them seem ready to dismiss: Senator John McCain." Indeed, there is more than unites McCain and Thompson—hawkish interventionism, good government, campaign-finance reform, etc—than separates them.

Consider foreign policy (my hyperlink):

In a 2004 speech to the American Enterprise Institute, Thompson said that "every politician that describes Iraq as another Vietnam gives our enemies hope for success."

"If someone says, 'This is Vietnam,' they're predicting defeat," Thompson said. "They're predicting an early pullout. I think that is irresponsible."

He called for "regime change" in Iran in a recent interview with the Weekly Standard, although he did not detail how that would happen. . . .

In 2000, he infuriated business groups, a rock-solid GOP constituency, by insisting that a trade bill with China include provisions that would allow sanctions on Chinese companies that sent weapons to rogue nations. He was unsuccessful.

This sounds like McCain on steroids to me.

Nonetheless, there are some differences. Whereas McCain was overtly hostile to the religious right, which consequently still distrusts him—who can forget his “agents of intolerance” and “forces of evil” remarks in 2000?—Thompson seems indifferent toward it. Similarly, against McCain's regulatory instinct, Thompson, as a federalist rather than an ideologue, is more inclined to favor market-based solutions.

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Another but Less-Noticed Romney Flip-Flop

Mitt Romney's been on a tear regarding campaign-finance reform. In February, he trashed McCain-Feingold as "one of the worst things in my lifetime." Most recently, he bristled, "The American people should be able to exercise their First Amendment rights without having to think about hiring a lawyer."

These are eloquent and forceful words, but, like so many other things with Romney, they flatly contradict his history (HT: Eyeon08.com). Even though he was a governor and not a senator in 2002, when Congress passed McCain-Feingold, that same year he advocated some dramatic ideas, like public funding of campaigns and taxing political contributions. Eight years earlier, he wanted to outlaw political action committees and cap how much congressional campaigns could spend.

"All told," concludes Ramesh Ponnuru of National Review, "those positions place him to the left of McCain-Feingold."

Hyperbole? Decide for yourself:



Update (5/6): According to Pat Toomey, Romney has also pledged to repeal McCain-Feingold.

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