Deadhead

Apparently there's a battle going on among right wing talk radio over which Repub candidates are authentically "conservative." (Is there anything comparable over which Dem is authentically "liberal"?)

I know this because last week I heard about ten minutes of Michael Medved complaining all the other talkers are ganging up on him for his support of John McCain. He then invited callers to argue against McCain.

The first called brought up, quite properly, the McCain-Feingold law. As far as I'm concerned, unless you support government regulation of political speech, this law is indefensible.

Medved responded with a classic specious argument. He said the law is misguided but it's done no damage because people are still as free as ever to speak. While I question the conclusion, the claim it's done no damage won't do. McCain fought hard over the years to pass a law that limited our most precious right. That his law hasn't been as successful in this aim as he'd hoped is no excuse.

Furthermore, the ultimate solution is to have the law completely overturned by the Supreme Court. (It's been partially overturned thanks to a couple of new Justices, one of which McCain has allegedly said is too conservative.) It's not good enough for Congress to repeal it (though that would be nice) since that would imply they still get to decide if we have free speech or not. And while Medved claimed McCain would pick conservative Justices, I have trouble seeing him choose someone who'd overturn his own law.