[Population: One] <A HREF="http://popone.innocence.com/ar

CNN:

President Bush wants to work with Sen. John McCain to take legal action against "shadowy" outside groups that have been spending millions of dollars on ads criticizing the president and Democratic rival Sen. John Kerry, the White House said Thursday.

Pesky free speech. What are you gonna do?

The thing is, Bush doesn't get credit for the moral argument against 527s. It is possible to argue that 527s are bad because they tilt the political playing field towards the people with the most money, which of course they do. However, Bush has demonstrated that he doesn't care about that principle, insofar as he opted out of the public financing system in the primaries. If he cared about an even playing field, he wouldn't have done that. The same applies to the schedule of the RNC; it's unusually late so that Bush has more time to spend the money he's already collected before public financing laws kick in.

So he can't legitimately argue that he's doing this to create an even playing field. The only explanation left is that he doesn't want people to be able to speak out against politicians. Or, I suppose, that he only minds a tilted playing field when it's tilted against him.

[Population: One] <A HREF="http://popone.innocence.com/ar

I just wrote up a little fictional piece, but it sucked and while I know what I need to write, I don't currently have the brainpower to write it. So here's the straight dope.

Jerry Russell is a right-wing talk radio host at KTLK, in LA. He has a medium-sized and devoted following; he pushes the talking points of his ideological friends and runs down the opposition like any good talk show host on any side of the political spectrum. He rules the airwaves from midnight to 4 AM, and has always been a little nervous about trying to go daytime. In fact, he's turned down opportunities more than once because he's afraid he couldn't compete with the big boys.

He is not a Michael Savage or an Ann Coulter. He has a bit of Art Bell in him, ranting about conspiracies from time to time. He does not tell people that the moon landing was a hoax, however.

A year ago, Jerry Russell and his entire production crew at KTLK were killed and turned into vampires by a small coterie with a yen for irony. He doesn't know anything else but broadcasting, so -- he's still broadcasting. He has the station manager under his Discipline-enhanced thumb, and he has sleeping quarters for him and his crew in the station. Just as he was worried about venturing into the rough world of daytime talk, so he worries about going out into the night and meeting other vampires. Besides, he has to keep to his schedule.

I'm not entirely sure where the premise goes, but that's the setup.