Negative Ads work -- anyone remember the Swift Boaters?
Thing is saturating the Air-ways with such Ads -- is expensive.
But under the guise of Free-Corporate-Speech -- Money is no Object ...
'Super PACs' already a winner in 2012
by Tom Hamburger and Melanie Mason, LATimes.com -- January 3, 2012
[...]
That group, Restore Our Future, has spent $2.8 million in the state, contributing to an advertising total that has already topped $16 million, according to NBC News.
[...]
But it's the super PACs, and particularly Restore Our Future, that are getting the attention, in part because of aggressively negative ads the committee is running against Newt Gingrich. Romney acknowledged that Restore Our Future is operated by former aides when he was pressed about the supposedly independent groups during an interview Tuesday with Fox News.
“They want me to win,” Romney said. “And under the law, they can establish these entities and run ads.”
It pays to have friends with Deep Pockets, hey Mitt? -- even if you only know them by 'Temperature they keep in their Kitchen'.
Well, pro-Mitt PAC "Restore Our Future" has some very generous friends with Deep Pockets too, as I recall ...
Firm dissolves after giving pro-Romney PAC $1M
Associated Press, KVUE.com -- August 4, 2011
[...]
W Spann LLC was incorporated in Delaware on March 15 and then made a $1 million contribution to Restore Our Future on April 28, according to records with the Federal Election Commission. W Spann then folded on July 11, two weeks before the PAC made its first disclosure of its donors this year.
The company was formed and dissolved by a Boston lawyer, Cameron Casey of Ropes & Gray. According to her online bio, Casey provides "comprehensive estate planning advice to high-net-worth individuals and families" and "advises nonprofit organizations and their donors with respect to charitable planning matters."
Tim Larimer, a spokesman for the law firm, said it "does not discuss confidential client matters."
[...]
"Does not discuss confidential client matters." -- How convenient!
So much for that overriding principle of Free-Corporate-Speech.
Free to the highest bidder maybe.
Free to the PAC founders and directors maybe.
But freely-heard Speech by the Public, it is not -- That anonymous Million dollars, by that Virtual Corp, just may have help torpedo the Newt ship, in Iowa.
Negative Ads work -- that's why nearly everyone seems to want a piece of the Mud-slinging action.
Ron Paul, big spender
by Chris Cillizza, WashingtonPost.com -- 01/03/2012
[...]
Restore Our Future, the Romney super PAC, spent almost $750,000 on television ads last week including a massive $603,000 in Iowa. Make Us Great Again, Perry’s super PAC, spent $581,000 with the lion’s share of that money — $315,000 — going to ads in South Carolina. Taken together, Romney and his super PAC spent $1.1 million on ads last week. Perry and his super PAC spent a similar amount.
[...]
Other affiliated super PACs are spending — though far less than Restore Our Future or Make Us Great Again. The Red White & Blue Fund, which is supporting former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum , dropped $150,000 in Iowa while Our Destiny PAC, which is backing former Utah governor Jon Huntsman , spent $144,000 in New Hampshire.
All told, candidates spent $1.24 million on Iowa ads and nearly $1.7 million on ads across all early states in the week leading up to Christmas. Super PACs spent just over $1 million on commercials in Iowa and just over $1.6 million on total ads during that same time period.
No wonder Newt was crying.
And do you know who are the Big-winners with this Free-Corporate-Speech doctrine -- the principle that says Money is no Object?
The TV Stations airing those Ads for a fee.
Funny I can remember a day when the Airways belonged to us -- to the Public.
They were part of The Commons -- they were a Public service.
No longer. It's all 'Pay to Play' now.
If you (or your PAC) ain't got the Green -- well you (or your Message) ain't gonna be Seen.
That is the country, that Free-Corporate-Speech has bought to life ...
Democracy for sale to the highest bidders ...
How do you start one of those LLC-PAC things, anyway?
I think were gonna need a bigger Megaphone, before we're through, don't you?
----------
Side Note:
Newt almost got a $20M SuperPac going himself -- but the public outcry about it, apparently stopped it, before it happened ...
This is what Democracy for sale to the highest bidder -- looks likes
by jamess -- Dec 16, 2011
No wonder Newt ran such a "positive campaign"
-- he had no other choice, (er, I mean funds).