From the Drudge Report.

One flaw many Republicans and conservatives often have is a rather fuzzy philosophical outlook on why they hold the positions they do. I posted a while back that many people have moral convictions that have been absorbed throughout a lifetime and are held almost more through habit than anything else. If these are good convictions, this is a lot better than nothing, but it leaves the person vulnerable to situations that are new and have no precedents to draw on. I worry that Bush may be one of these people.

Bush needs to come down on this hard, using the political capital he has accumulated. Of course the Democrats will leap on this immediately, calling Bush a tool of the corporations, and claiming that only Republicans are corrupt and take rotten money. The media will lap this lie up like a starving kitten, pointing their cameras directly at the blinding, actinic glow of the Democratic haloes.

Bush is just going to have to eat it, and go forward from there. I hope he has the guts for this.

The weasel suggesting that Bush sign the bill and let the Supreme Court cover his ass on an obviously unconstitutional law should be immediately fired. One could make a case that Bush signing a bill that one knows is unconstitutional would actually violate the President's oath of office.

As for the worry in the article about "losing Limbaugh," it may be a little late, as Rush has spent a lot of today's show lambasting Bush and wobbly Republicans for a failure to stand up and be counted on this.

This entire thing is a Democratic political ploy from day one. It's an attempt to solidify the power base of incumbents, particularly Democrats, and move us a bit closer to the day when our rulers don't have to deal with us peons every election day, which tends to cramp their style. The Democrats have been on a total war footing since 1994, and they will do ANYTHING to get back the control of the legislature that they enjoyed for four decades.

Notice that campaign finance reform, until recently, did not even appear on surveys of what the American people considered important issues. Notice that Democrats are hell-bent to pass this. Why? Because they are swell guys with great motives for the American People? Pull the other one, it's got bells on it. Notice that the bill does not kick in until after the next election, which seems odd for something that has such a large moral imperative. Why not have the effect be immediate? Obviously so that politicians can spend the filthy lucre while they can. Notice the feature that allows politicians to pay back debts using soft money, so if you put your campaign on the old "credit card," the soft money is okay again.

For reference: Text of the bill.

Amendments. Note which ones passed and which didn't.