There's a front page article about the Dems raising a ton of cash for the upcoming election. That ton of cash will, however, look tiny when next to the amount of cash that Citizen United will allow special interest groups to raise on behalf of Republicans. In countering this financial offensive waged by the right...I suggest the dems pull a Karl Rove.
We all know turd blossom was great at using an opponents strength and using it against them. That's what dems need to do to combat these front groups. It need to be done at a local level as well as a national one. It needs to be done by every candidate who is targeted by one of these groups and one of these ads. In each case as soon as the ad comes out the dem should hold a press conference and call the ad out for what it is: A billionaire trying to buy public opinion.
I know dems are usually not dirty-tricksters...but they might as well get into the game a little bit. Since donors to these groups don't have to be disclosed the dems might as well tell the voters who these mysterious donors are. If I'm my rep (mary jo kilroy whom is awesome!! click on her to donate) and American Future Fund runs an ad telling the voter's that I'm accountable for the runaway deficit, I immediately call the press to my office to tell them how special interests have officially backed my opponent Steve Stivers (click to donate to Kilroy). Explain that this group is represents billionaire's who helped craft the economic policy of the Bush administration. This group represents the lawlessness that led to the housing crisis and they endorsed Stivers with this ad. I'd wonder out loud why the former execs of Bear Sterns and Goldman Sachs were running ads against me...could it be because they fear the reform and change I've represented? Could it be because I want to pass laws that will help keep jobs in America and make sure they pay a living wage? Could it be because it's Dick Cheney and he doesn't want anyone being prevented from profiting off war like he did?
Now, I've not seen an ad like this against Kilroy, and I have no idea who donates to the AFF. And that's the point. Dems can get out there and define the donors to these groups. They don't need to have facts...the ads don't have facts...so why fight bullshit with silence? Fight it with bullshit and fight it hard. This site has lots of discussions about framing and why do the dems lose the framing fight? It's because they don't get out of the gate early. They know these groups are planning a major offensive...so get out there define them as the billionaire's who stole the people's pensions. Define them as the Wall Street hucksters who took home the people's money in billion dollar bonuses. Define them as CEO's who shipped their jobs overseas so they could buy another house. Define them as the business leaders who would rather spend a million dollars keeping dems out of office instead of hiring Americans and helping to rebuild this economy. Just define them before the Repubs define them as grassroots efforts which we all know is pure bullshit.
This diary is a bit incoherent and jumps around...but I hope you enjoy it...and if you see an ad from one of these groups against your candidate...write a letter to your paper calling these groups out for who they are (or whomever you want them to be).