{"id":10,"date":"2012-12-07T11:00:52","date_gmt":"2012-12-07T11:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/politicalbluegene.com\/?p=10"},"modified":"2015-01-28T18:50:03","modified_gmt":"2015-01-28T18:50:03","slug":"december-7-2012-this-that","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/politicalbluegene.com\/?p=10","title":{"rendered":"December 7, 2012:\u00a0 This & That"},"content":{"rendered":"
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  1. In a recent speech to the conservative Federalist Society, the New York Times reported that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito defended the Supreme Court\u2019s Citizens United ruling, saying that \u201cSurely the idea that the First Amendment protects only certain privileged voices should be disturbing to anybody who believes in free speech\u201d and that \u201cThe question is whether speech that goes to the very heart of government should be limited to certain preferred corporations; namely media corporations.\u201d I guess Alito never heard of freedom of the press and he does not understand that in today\u2019s world, media corporations often operate our free press.\u00a0 Even if we don\u2019t like what FOX News, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, etc. have to say, they report the news and are protected by our commitment to freedom of the press.\u00a0 Oil companies report nothing but profits (and very occasionally losses) and are not, by any stretch of the imagination, members of the press.<\/li>\n
  2. Hard to believe, but the 2016 presidential campaign has already begun. The potential Republican candidates are almost too many to mention.\u00a0 They certainly include Ryan, Rubio, Christie, Jindal, Jeb Bush, Santorum, Rand Paul, Huckabee, Haley, Cain (Herman, not Matt), and who knows how many others.On the Democratic side, all probably depends on Hillary Clinton, although she will be 69 years old if she takes office in 2017, a year younger than Ronald Reagan was when he took office in 1981.\u00a0 Joe Biden, another possibility, will be 74, so his candidacy seems unlikely.\u00a0 Others frequently mentioned are New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Maryland Governor Martin O\u2019Malley.\u00a0 If Hillary runs, I would hope the field will clear itself to avoid a potentially damaging primary campaign.\u00a0 It is hard to imagine anyone beating her for the nomination in 2016.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    In a recent speech to the conservative Federalist Society, the New York Times reported that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito defended the Supreme Court\u2019s Citizens United ruling, saying that \u201cSurely the idea that the First Amendment protects only certain privileged (…)<\/p>\n

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