Fund Raising Follies

I saw on the telly today that several groups supporting President Obama’s election bid have taken out ads attempting to demonize the Koch brothers.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_activities_of_the_Koch_family  If you have the stomach for that sort of nonsense, go to YouTube and type in Koch.

Not that anyone asked me, but I think that attempting to demonize donors to campaigns is a real bad idea for a number of reasons.

One.  Not all of the people who have raised money for Obama are pure as the driven snow.  Remember Tony Rezko?  Jon Corzine?  Imagine the fun that the Republicans could have with international currency manipulator and major donor to left wing causes George Soros. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soros  Attacks of this type can easily degenerate into a mud throwing contest, which cheapens the political process and is totally irrelevant to the decision of whom to vote for on election day.

Two.  Someone who gives money or raises money for a campaign or a candidate is not necessarily a public figure for purposes of  the test of New York Times v. Sullivan,  376 U.S. 254 (1964).  If this sort of nonsense continues, litigation will be the end result. If actual malice need not be proved, there could be some very rich plaintiffs’s lawyers at the end of the day.

Three.  Publicizing and criticizing people for exercising their First Amendment rights is unAmerican and very, very tacky.

Four.  As attempts at intimidation go, this one is almost risible