Barack Obama breaks earlier pledge on public financing

[witchcurlgirl]

Originally Posted by Grimmlok

We can still bitch about Bush

that well never runs dry

[mamaste]

You stated the lawsuit was moot. I said it wasn't yet clear. The FEC has not ruled on McCain's behavior. It is also one of the reasons McCain is unable to back out of public financing for the primaries, which is what he wants to do. He cannot use public funds as collateral. There has not been a ruling by the FEC as to whether or not he actually did that.

In any case...

Obama said at an earlier time:
"If I am the Democratic nominee, I will aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election."

Now today he says he will not use public funds in the general....as the first line in my OP says:Barack Obama announced today that he will not accept roughly $85 million in public funds for the general election, breaking his earlier pledge to do so if his Republican rival John McCain opted in to the system.

Yeah, McCain is kind of spending private funds.

[snuffy]

These kinds of issues are my favorites because it shows how biased everyone gets over elections - if you switched the names on that story so that it read like this ....

John McCain announced today that he will not accept roughly $85 million in public funds for the general election, breaking his earlier pledge to do so if his Republican rival Barack Obamaopted in to the system.

He is the first candidate since the 1970s to forego public financing. Obama has already taken steps to suggest he will opt in to the system in the fall.

Both candidates support public financing, and early in the campaign season McCain was a vocal supporter of the system. His campaign, however, has raised unprecedented funds—some $265 million and growing–from a grassroots network of small individual donors.

The McCain campaign argument, in part, is that their campaign is its own version of public financing, since it is built on individual donors and does not accept money from lobbyists or political action committees.

Earlier McCain had pledged that he would sit down with Obama to work out an equitable system if the two candidates were to accept public funds. The Associated Press reported that McCain’s lawyer Robert Bauer said he had met with Obama’s lawyers to discuss terms, but the talks were fruitless.

The decision to opt out of the system will likely set up McCain to have a significant cash advantage over Obama in the general election if the Illinois senator opts in to the system. Even if Obama changes his mind and also opts out, he is unlikely to be able to match McCain’s fund-raising successes.

...I bet you anything Republicans and Democrats would switch the side of the argument they are on accordingly.

These are the "politics as spectator sport" issues that kill me - everyone just arguing for the team they are on. Ya Team!