Political Quotes

“I am here to speak today because Washington, DC, and the rightwing outrage machine are all abuzz about the scandal that the IRS appears to have targeted organizations for inquiry based on tea party affiliation. Obviously, that is wrong, but let's not forget that is not the only IRS scandal--that is not the only scandal in town. There are two IRS scandals. The other is the IRS allowing big, shadowy forces to meddle in elections anonymously through front groups that file false statements with the IRS. Let's go through this. Let's begin with the principle that it is pretty clear that Americans have a strong democratic interest in knowing who is trying to influence their vote in elections. That is kind of democracy 101. Even the Supreme Court, which can hardly agree 8 to 1 on what time it is, agreed 8 to 1 that knowing who is trying to influence our votes is really important. Here is what they said: ``Effective disclosure'' would ``provide shareholders and citizens with the information needed to hold corporations and elected officials accountable for their positions and supporters.'' That is very much a part of the democratic process. Some folks don't want us to know who they are when they meddle in our politics, such as big companies taking positions that would annoy their shareholders or their customers and secretive billionaires who want influence without accountability. They want to pull the strings behind the scenes.…”