A little more than two years ago, George Bush -- through gritted teeth -- signed the McCain-Feingold bill. To spite John McCain, who he is so lovey-dovey with lately, he didn't even have a signing ceremony. His statement that day included the following:
"I also have reservations about the constitutionality of the broad ban on issue advertising, which restrains the speech of a wide variety of groups on issues of public import in the months closest to an election."
George W. Bush, 3/27/02
With Bush's encouragement, the Republicans in the Senate had tried to kill this provision. When the Supreme Court upheld this portion of the law, Bush attacked them with outrage.
Cut to two years later. Surprise, surprise... independent advocacy groups, referred to as 527s, have turned out to be a Democratic boon instead of a Republican one. But our Commander-in-Chief is a man of principle, no? Unlike those weaselly Democrats, his political positions don't shift with the wind. Well...
"I say they ought to get rid of all those 527s, independent expenditures that have flooded the airwaves. (...) There have been millions of dollars spent up until this point in time. I signed a law that I thought would get rid of those, and I called on the senator to -- let's just get anybody who feels like they got to run to not do so."
George W. Bush on Larry King Live, 8/12/04
This must be the WASP definition of chutzpah: "I signed a law that I thought would get rid of those." No, you were forced to sign restrictions that you swore were unconstitutional, but now you think even broader restrictions would be just swell. Funny how passion for the first amendment swells and then ebbs, isn't it?