IMNAL but … seriously, it’s the fact that you sent it with that particular intent. It then counts as an indirect contribution from you and needs to be reported as such. If you are not elgible to donate (either more because you’ve reached a limit or because you don’t qualify for another reason) then you may not do that. That’s different then just giving a birthday present of cash to your child.
I take it you’re referring to her health care plan.
Failure to specify that point is an aggravating factor, not a mitigating one. Trumpeting the fact that her plan “covers all Americans” and Obama’s doesn’t means that she has to take her lumps when somebody points out the dark side of that (some people who would choose to forego coverage under Obama’s plan would be forced to take it, and pay for it, under Clinton’s). Caviling over the details of just what mechanism would be used to enforce that is simply weaselry.
I find it incredibly ironic that so much attention could be paid to Red Fury sending his son a few bucks, while many, if not most politicians are outright owned by big corporations. It’s just that the corporates have clever lawyers to hide their malfeasances. Typical forest/trees myopia.
Yeah, no kidding. I finished paying my child-support duties over four years ago when I my ex was in a financial bind and needed help, so I gave her a lump-sum in order to help them both – under the agreement that a certain amount would go into his College fund. Does that mean I am not allowed to slip my son a c-note here and there? Kid’s a hard-worker and not just in school, puts in a lot of hours at a Gamestop and has his own, small weekend DJing business – but even that is not enough for many of his needs. College applications come to mind as do Prom expenses and DJ gear.
If anything I might have been too earnest and naive by saying that whatever I sent this time was going directly to Obama, but come on! Like I have control over what my kid does when I give him a couple of bills! He might say he’s going to “contribute” to Obama, but knowing him as I do, I doubt that more than a tenner will end-up that way. Seriously, where any of you* hormone-laden, carefree seventeen, like, ever? One thing to say my son likes and knows American politics more than the average kid as his AP poli-sci class would suggest, quite another for me to pretend he’s not a typical teenager when it comes to his priorities and behavior. I mean given a choice between watching an Obama speech and a GGW vid, I’m pretty sure I know which one he’s going to pick.
So let’s guesstimate that ten bucks will find its way to Obama – if he’s “lucky.” Enough to change the course of American History no doubt. Please, I dislike the use of rolleyes as it is.
The End.
*Query obviously directed at those questioning me.
Seems to me that RedFury sent the money with the intent their son could buy groceries, and he donated his grocery money to the campaign. YMMV.
Seems to me RedFury is a good dad. Sending his kid a c-note just because is a very cool and honorable thing to do. I’d guess, RedFury himself is behaving towards his son in a way either his father behaved towards him, or he wished his father did. Either way, he’s 100% in the right to send his kid whatever the heck he feels like sending his kid. If his son wants to shoot BHO a tener to show support - who gives a rats ass?
Redfury, you can send the money to me and I’ll make sure it goes to a good cause.
Yeh, Red – tenners for everybody! Who knows whose coffers they’ll find their way to?
The laws against smoking marijuana are ridiculous too, but if I had a teenage kid, I’d warn him that if he ever got caught with any dope on him, there’s no guarantee I’d be able to rescue him from the legal consequences.
Just because the law’s an ass, doesn’t mean you don’t warn a friend if you think the ass might be about to kick them.
See? You gals feed me straight lines such as these and then blame me because I make you blush.
Point being, I’ll be in Orlando for a week as of this Sunday. Meet me there and I’ll provide the dough in person.
Oh wait! Never mind, now I’ll be accused of soliciting. 
To continue the hijack (if such a thing is possible in this never-ending thread), damn straight we’ve (his Mom included) read him the book on that one – as any responsible parents should. But I still fail to see how on Og’s Green Earth I’m breaking any law by sending my son a bill here and there. As myself and others have noted what he does with it once he gets it is out of my control.
Would I like him to contribute to Obama’s campaign? Sure. Can I make him do that? Not a chance.
Lastly, can I also be charged for the fact that he’ll more than likely be voting for Obama if he gets the nomination or is free-will still legal in the US?
PS-I still haven’t heard anyone address my nephew’s situation. In his case, his Dad provides complete financial support so he can concentrate solely on his studies. But he’s chosen to do volunteer work for Barack’s campaign. And some might argue he is not “as American” as my son, as unlike him, he was born but not bred there. Heck! My son’s Spanish is average at best. Certainly no better than the other kids in the Spanish classes he took.
So, is his father also guilty of unduly influencing the US political campaign? Because he fully well knows what his son is doing.
Is there such a thing as laws taken to ridiculous, unsupportable extremes? Or as Barack would say, is this silly season?
Silly season. The day we can’t give our children a small amount of money without the government horning in in some manner is the day we have too much government.
Unless Obama pulls a huge mistake tonight, the trends look like he will go 4-0 next Tuesday and Hillary will withdraw Wednesday morning.
Oh, you Reagan Democrat, you!
Would that be an example of POTUS interruptus?
Wouldn’t a baguette be tastier?
Just as long as it’s not contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
I thought we weren’t supposed to hurl insults in GD! 
I don’t understand what you’re saying here. Why is the applicable MoE the MoE of a difference? The poll isn’t conducted by collecting two samples, one of Obama people and one of Clinton people. It is conducted by sampling all likely voters for their preference. Doesn’t that yield just one applicable MoE? I admit, my statistics are pretty weak. However, I was relying on SurveyUSA’s statement that the result was indeed slightly above the MoE.
Texas is teetering on the verge of irrelevancy…
You heard it folks, Hillary has just now started preparations for making Texas not an important state to win. I wonder what she’ll possibly say about Ohio? Seriously.
She is such a fool. Her conduct over the last weekend has been reprehensible. If she doesn’t bow out after March 4 then there needs to be a coup. How selfish can you possibly get? Can she really believe that Barack Obama would be such a bad candidate?
If she were smart, and not counting on a miracle like Huckabee, she would get out now, and appear to be humble. John Edwards did so. It looked pretty classy in my book. He knew he couldn’t win and by getting out he managed to look good for it.
So yeah…
You do realize, don’t you, what I could do with this line, right? 'key then, I’ll be a gent and leave it at that. But pleeaze…stop feeding moi!
Bwaahahaha!
Dip.
RT is absolutely right. The fact that this confuses people is due both to the incredibly sloppy way the media reports statistics and due to widespread innumeracy.
A poll result for either candidate is a random variable due to the fact that it is derived from a sample. The margin of error reflects the magnitude of sampling error around one predicted random variable. If your survey says 45% for Obama and you repeat the survey 100 times, 95 surveys will return results from 41 to 49.
I repeat, this margin of error is only around individual point predictions, not around the difference between them. This difference is also a random variable whose margin of error can be calculated, but this calculation is more complicated. What is usually good enough for me is to calculate the probability that one candidate actually leads another given two point estimates and a number of observations in the survey.
This is why the idea of a “statistical tie” is such a load of malarky. Suppose Obama and Clinton are at 48 and 46, respectively, and the sample size is 800, and the margin of error is about 4%. Given these numbers, there is about a 75% chance that Obama is actually leading Clinton, regardless of the margin of error around each of the individual point estimates. The fact that both candidates’ point estimates are within the margin of error of each other is totally irrelevant.
No, RedFury’s money to the kid is no big deal, but it is of note what the law is.
Let’s give an example. My brother is a lawyer and wants to contribute to the campaign of a paerticular judge. His contributions are limited and must be declared. If he gave me money in order for me to contribute it to this judge, then he would be breaking the law.
That’s why the contribution page specifically asks that question. I had to specify that my small Obama contribution was not being made with money given to me by someone else for that purpose.