Independent voices from the TWT Communities
Few subjects garnered more media attention during last year's election than the advent of super PACs -- political action committees that may collect unlimited contributions from individuals, corporations and labor unions for independent political spending.
Despite sentiment that court rulings in 2010 gave rise to revolutionized super PAC campaign financing, three-quarters of the $86 million in ads this election cycle could have been purchased under a little-noticed, decades-old law.
Former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania put his presidential campaign on ice Tuesday, removing the final major hurdle for Mitt Romney to win the Republican nomination and turn his full attention to a general-election bid against President Obama.
This year's presidential election will be a contest between truth and lies. Don't think it's that stark? Let's compare how the media handled two incidents. On Feb. 16, philanthropist Foster Friess, a major backer and adviser to Rick Santorum, cracked a joke that became a media sensation.
There is another horripilation on the campaign trail. Someone has told a joke that has roused the virtue police. I am speaking of the virtue police who are working for the grim forces of political correctitude. They do not find the joke very funny. The jokester is a supporter of Rick Santorum's, and now he, too, is on the hot seat for it. Late last week, his supporter, the amiable Foster Friess, perpetrated the joke.
"For [Red, White and Blue] to do so for such small amounts when they are straining to get big TV buys into place made no sense," Mr. Friess said by email.
Then he quipped, "You know, back in my days, they'd use Bayer aspirin for contraceptives. The gals put it between their knees, and it wasn't that costly."
