John McCain criticizes Supreme Court decision to grant corporations rights to free speech

While prominent Democrats and their defenders regularly lambaste the Supreme Court decision that corporations are people in the Citizens United case, it is rather surprising to find a prominent Republican also taking a very jaundiced view of the decision.

  However the former Republican presidential nominee John McCain claims to be very worried by the decision. McCain noted that billionaire Sheldon Adelson may contribute up to 100 million to support the campaign of Mitt Romney through a Super Pac. While it is unusual for Republicans to worry about donations to their own party, McCain is also worried that the decision will allow unions to finance the Democrats. However the unions do not have the deep pocket of large U.S. corporations.

McCain said:“I’m not only worried about him, I’m worried about may others,”“I’ve always been concerned about the labor unions who take money from their union members and without their permission, contribute to causes that they may not support. So am I concerned about the incredible amount of money that’s washing around? Yeah.”

McCain continued in criticism of the Supreme Court decision:: “I think there will scandals as associated with the worst decision of the United States Supreme Court in the 21st century,” Since Adelson earns some of his billions from a foreign casino McCain even suggested that his donations involved foreign money entering the campaign.

McCain's musings may not sit well with Romney and his supporters. Romney himself has said that corporations are people. McCain's gloss on his statement is that Romney was saying simply that they are made up of people. For more see this article.

Robert Reich on Sheldon Adelson and Newt Gingrich

Robert Reich is Professor of Public Poicy at the University of California Berkeley. He was secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton but served in three administrations. On his blog he has an entry titled: ""Who is Sheldon Adelson and What Has Newt Promised Him?""

Sheldon Adelson is a rabidly pro-Israeli casino owner. When Gingrich said that Palestinians were an invented people in an interview, the comment was almost universally condemned. However Adelson defended and approved the remark. See this article in the Huffington Post.

Actually the Huffington Post article has much more informatioon on Adelson and his Israeli connectionsl than does the Reich article. Reich does point out though that in defending Gingrich Adelson puts his wallet where his mouth is.

Adelson wrote a check for 5 million dollars to finance a pro-Gingrich Super Pac Winning Our Future. Reich sees this donation as part of what is wrong with U.S. campaigns. They are funded by the rich who no doubt expect to have influence on policies in return.

The decision of the Supreme Court that ruled that corporations are persons and have the right of free speech have opened the way for campaigns to be even more influenced by corporate donations.

The donation to Winning our Future was immediately used to produce an expensive anti big business ad against Mitt Romney. Billionaire Adelson helped fund the ad. A friend of Adelson noted in the Daily Beast:"Sheldon has always loved Newt," "He stuck with him when he stumbled. Newt, I think, is very reflective of Sheldon's mindset. Particularly with Israel." Gingrich obviously will have the support of some in the Israel lobby. For more see Reich's blog entry.