Ad blockers: politicians vs. free speech.

• Author: Sullum, Jacob
• Position: Citings

IN MARCH 2000, Face the Nation panelist Gloria Borger asked George W. Bush about independent ads attacking his chief rival for the Republican presidential nomination, Arizona Sen. John McCain. The future president's reply invoked the freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment. "That's what freedom of speech is all about," he said. "People have the right to run ads."

During the 2004 campaign, after Democrats proved adept at raising money for independent ads attacking Bush, he sang a different tune. "I, frankly, thought we'd gotten rid of that when I signed the McCain-Feingold bill," he told reporters in August, referring to the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, which banned "soft money" donations to political parties and thereby increased the importance of independent political groups organized under Section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code. "I don't think we ought to have 527s. ... I think they're bad for the system."

Shortly thereafter, Bush promised to join forces with McCain in seeking an end to what White House spokesman Scott McClellan called "negative attacks from these shadowy groups ... funded by unregulated soft money." Despite Bush's sweeping condemnation of 527s, when his campaign filed a lawsuit in early, September demanding action by the Federal Election Commission...