On paper the Citizens United case has all the makings of a solid liberal issue.  First Amendment protections, considered sacrosanct by the left when a reporter is leaking classified information, are strengthened for those speaking truth to power.  Both the ACLU and AFL-CIO support the decision.  So why are prominent liberals speaking out so vehemently against it?

It would be easy to chalk up liberal outrage to a general hatred for all things corporate.  But is that enough to overcome what otherwise seems like a tailor-made liberal issue? After all, the ACLU said “[the prohibition on corporate speech] is facially unconstitutional under the First Amendment because it permits the suppression of core political speech.” Moreover, the corporate gains, which liberals might feel benefit the right, are offset by those of the unions and other liberal issue groups that benefit from the ruling just the same.  The net political impact is thus neutral, suggesting that their opposition isn’t political in nature.  Neither is it based on the merits. Rather, it is philosophical.

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From NowHampshire.com:

Democratic Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (NH-01) is not one to keep silent about a major controversy.

Before she even ran for Congress Shea-Porter was removed by police officers from a George W. Bush town hall and frequently disrupted then-incumbent Jeb Bradley’s town halls.  She has called this year’s conservative town hall protesters “tea-baggers” and refused to apologize when informed about the deliberate sexual connotation of that term.  And she harshly criticized Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina when he called President Barack Obama a “liar” during a speech to a Joint Session of Congress a few weeks ago.

But Carol Shea-Porter is remaining silent about the increasingly bizarre behavior of her colleague Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson of Florida.

In fact, her most recent comments of record on Mr. Grayson are overwhelmingly positive.

“I love both of these men and I will tell you that they are both driven by a moral compass that is just wonderful to behold,” said Shea-Porter while appearing with Rep. Grayson on a panel at the Netroots Nation summit in August.  “And we share almost all the same kinds of goals and values and Alan and I do as well.”

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