Trousers Aflame

Seems like I keep pointing to this one, don't I?

demagogue: a leader who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises in order to gain power

President Obama Once Again Makes Erroneous Claim That Foreign Entities Can Spend Unlimited Amounts in U.S. Elections

President Barack Obama on Monday incorrectly stated that a landmark campaign-finance ruling allows foreign entities to pour money into U.S. elections. It’s the second time he’s made such a claim, and this time it happened while he was promoting the Democrats’ DISCLOSE Act in a Rose Garden speech...

“Tomorrow there’s going to be a very important vote in the Senate about how much influence special interests should have over our democracy,” Obama said. “Because of the Supreme Court’s decision earlier this year in the Citizens United case, big corporations -- even foreign-controlled ones -- are now allowed to spend unlimited amounts of money on American elections.”

Obama made a similar claim in his State of the Union Address, prompting Justice Samuel Alito to mouth the words “not true.” The majority opinion itself and liberal commentators attested that Alito was correct...

The Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling in Citizens United vs. the FEC lifted restrictions on companies, unions, and other organizations, allowing them to make independent expenditures in political campaigns.

That ruling, however, did not allow corporations to contribute directly to a campaign or to coordinate expenditures with a campaign. Nor did the ruling lift existing law that blocks foreign contributions to political campaigns.

Under the FEC regulation 11 CFR 110.20(i): “A foreign national shall not direct, dictate, control, or directly or indirectly participate in the decision-making process of any person, such as a corporation, labor organization, political committee, or political organization with regard to such person's Federal or non-Federal election-related activities, such as decisions concerning the making of contributions, donations, expenditures, or disbursements in connection with elections for any Federal, State, or local office or decisions concerning the administration of a political committee.”

Further, federal law, under 2 USC 441-Sec. 441e, also prohibits foreign donations to political campaigns...

Obama keeps on lyin', but all the press gets worked up about is when Sarah Palin has a typo in one of the Facebook posts they follow breathlessly.