BACKGROUND.
Todd Beeton, whose work I've come to respect immensely here on MyDD, has another great piece running at the top of this blog (as I post this diary) entitled: "McCain: Obama To Blame For High Gas Prices."
THE REALITY: McCAIN'S CAMPAIGN IS NOW VIOLATING A SLEW OF CAMPAIGN LAWS.
Regrettably, for all intents and purposes, this particular McCain ad "flight" represents a slap in the face to every law-abiding individual that's ever run for office in this country (regardless of party affiliation). Oddly enough, James Carville and David Plouffe have been speaking up about this--at least in Plouffe's case--for about eight years.
You see, as even a ten-year-old would would interpret the current campaign finance laws in the U.S., what the McCain camp is now doing, as far as their advertising is concerned, is illegal.
Gene McCarthy used to say that the function of liberal Republicans was that, when they saw a drowning man, they would throw him a rope exactly halfway too short to reach him. Under the ironclad economic rule that there are no progressive multimillion dollar corporations, the New York Times is now, and always has been, a liberal Republican paper. In the editorial today, "New and Not Improved," the Times is letting its desire to appear loftily superior outrun the facts. Just as it did when it permitted the discredited Judith Miller to shill for the Iraq war, the Times is now flacking for the Republicans with today's arguments. As usual, it does so just to create the appearance of being evenhanded while proclaiming a nonexistent equivalence of disreputability between the candidates.
We're up against 3 formidable independent forces in this election: a complacent (or complicit) media pushing pro-McCain, anti-Obama stories, 527 groups that are waiting to attack, and voting machine problems.
We tell ourselves "never again" about 2000 and 2004 - these three forces were in large part to blame for the losses in those years. What are we willing to do to ensure that "never again" do we repeat 2000 or 2004? In other words, how can we, independent of the Obama campaign's machinery, overcome these forces? How much of a vote margin do we need to give Obama to overcome these 3 forces?
Read on to see why I believe we must recruit 198,000 new volunteers who will garner 9.9 million new votes.
While the McCain campaign blasts Obama for not taking public financing, his 527s and PACs are raising unlimited money to trash Obama with bigoted lies. The latest, an ad from the National Campaign Fund, calls Obama a liar for not "admitting" that he was a Muslim and features pictures of him in Somali garb:
I had trouble deciding whether or not to even write this because I don't want to give this the free coverage the group wants it to get, but the McCain campaign must denounce this or suffer the consequences of being associated with it.
The conservative swift boaters are at it again. The National Campaign Fund sent out an email to supporters today titled "Was Barack Obama Muslim?" in an attempt to promote a bigoted smear ad they produced about a week ago and released on the internet. The email was authored by Bruce Hawkins of the National Campaign Fund and ExposeObama.com. What is shocking the the ties they have to the McCain campaign. The National Campaign Fund operates the site HelpJohnMcCain.com, featuring McCain's name, pictures, and portals to donate to his campaign. What is more unconscionable that this ad is that John McCain allows them to sport his brand in their spreading of hate.
Even if you don't read to the bottowm, please rec this diary and take the time to contact the McCain campaign and call on them to 1) denounce the ad, email, and website and 2) force the National Campaign Fund to remove McCain's picture and name from their website. The McCain Campaign MUST do something about this.
Since Obama announced he was opting out of public financing, the MSM and the McCain campaign have been are beside themselves with spin, with McCain trying to take the high road, and the media paving the way. This despite McCain's lack of integrity on the issue of campaign finance reform.
One thing is certain, Obama's move, while not a complete surprise, is about to shake up the political establishment.
TPM is reporting that MoveOn.org will not use 527s, in response to Obama's efforts to keep 527s out of the election. Obama wants the campaign to be about ordinary people, and not about loopholes where unaccoutnable big-time donors can tilt the playing field if they just flash enough cash.
This, my friends, is huge -- and it is a call for supporters to step up to the plate.
Barack Obama’s decision to reject public financing for the general election was the right decision. It’s not only the best way for him to win. It’s also the most progressive stand to take, and the best way to help reform the campaign finance system. This is a broken system, and Obama will actually reduce the influence of big money in politics by refusing public financing. Obama is not breaking a promise to take public financing because he never made such a promise.
The Million Wallet March for Barack Obama by his donors has been incredibly impressive, and shattered all records. Obama has transformed campaign funding from the worst symbol of corruption in Washington to one of the best examples of a new movement for democracy.
Maybe he's too old, too infirm, or simply lacks the mental capabilities we need in a commander in chief, but John McCain is simply not a strong enough man to be president. How do we know this? He told us so.
I've been observing the furor over Joe Lieberman's support of John McCain, and I fear that unless we parse this correctly, it could backfire. Disastrously. We welcome Repubs' endorsement of our presidential candidates with open arms, so how do you justify the anger over Lieberman? It's very simple, really.
It's one thing to endorse another party's presidential candidate. But Lieberman's behavior has crossed the line on two aspects that need to be absolutely hammered into the ground--his possibly illegal work with Vets for Freedom and not doing more to combat the "Obama's a radical Muslim" canard. These are tailor-made talking points--let's use them!
You know what the response from Joe Lieberman's backers is going to be to our pillorying of him. After all, Democrats have endorsed Republicans for president before and no one has objected. I don't mind that--as long as the Democrats yanked his superdelegate status (which they did), I could accept him endorsing McCain.
No, no--the real issue here, and the one that needs to be stressed more than anything, is that Lieberman may be aiding and abetting a serious violation of campaign law.
Think about it, folks. As Steven R pointed out on Sunday, you've got Lindsey Graham--one of McCain's national co-chairmen--as an honorary advisor to Vets for Freedom. And you've got Joe Lieberman--co-chairman of McCain's campaign in Connecticut--as an honorary advisor. Am I the only one who hears quacking? Despite concerns that this fact would be scrubbed from the Vets for Freedom page, it's still there as of today.
"John McCain's proposal is nothing more than a political stunt, and we don't need any more 'Mission Accomplished' banners or walks through Baghdad markets to know that Iraq's leaders have not made the political progress that was the stated purpose of the surge. The American people don't want any more false promises of progress, they deserve a real debate about a war that has overstretched our military, and cost us thousands of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars without making us safer."
Salon has a terrific piece today on the unholy and sub rosa alliance between John McCain and Beelzebubba Karl Rove.
It has now been more than three months since Karl Rove first appeared on television as a Fox News political analyst on Feb 5. In no fewer than 57 appearances, he has increasingly been welcomed into the Fox News fraternity, even joking that the "Hannity & Colmes" show should be renamed the "Colmes & Rove" show. After departing from a Bush administration in political tatters last August, he has reemerged to hold forth at length on the 2008 presidential race. And he may have plenty of seasoned political wisdom to offer Fox's audience. Rove, however, is playing a strategic role that he and the network refuse to reveal to viewers.
Fox News hosts routinely introduce Rove as a "former senior advisor to President Bush," "the architect," a "political wizard" and a "famed political consultant." But never has he been introduced as he should be -- as an informal advisor and maxed-out donor to John McCain's presidential campaign.
Consider this a call on Hillary supporters to stop for a second, and try to understand why many of us do not support her being chosen as VP. And it’s also a call on you Obama supporters to start trying to use more reasoned, logical excuses for opposing Hillary as VP. "We don’t like her", or even, "We don't like her policy stances," aren’t good enough reasons.
And lest anyone have any doubt, I think it’s now pretty clear that is what Hillary and her campaign are angling for... pushing for the VP spot. She’s not stupid. She understands that it’s impossible to catch up in the delegate count. She understands that it’s impossible to catch up in the popular vote count -- unless, that is, they include Florida and Michigan (based on the original results), and exclude some of the caucuses. Yet Hillary continues to push on, saying "This thing is far from over." So what’s up? Is she delusional or what?
Nope. She’s just trying to make the case for this being "so close" that Obama has to pick her as his running mate.
Let's be clear: when a 527 forms for the express purpose of electing or defeating a particular federal candidate, and engages in public advocacy towards such ends -- as opposed to discussing issues -- it is breaking the law.
The Clinton 527 known as The American Leadership Project (ALP) just posted it's fifth pro-Clinton TV/Internet ad on it's YouTube account:
The American Leadership Project continues our commitment to highlighting issues of importance to the middle class with this new ad, now running in Oregon, focusing on clean energy and good jobs.
Three things come immediately to mind; First, in front of people who have a certain relationship to Hitlerian abuses, why, er, bring it up? Then, Bush quotes a US Senator from 1939 about talking to Hitler and stopping the war, leading me to ask, "Was the senator's first name Prescot?"
Lastly, Obama ain't gonna be 527'd, I guess. He'll actually take on the very powerful, I guess.
Sorry for the short Diary, but no Open Thread now up. I'll delete if broader discussion comes up.
It should hardly come as a surprise that Karl Rove has no intention of leaving politics quietly, thankful for having avoided the criminal prosecution he richly deserves.
He is plotting a comeback. But this time he has his eyes on a prize more suited for his unique talents -- leading the 527 assault against Barack Obama in the fall.
This revelation comes by way of Howell Raines, formerly editor of the New York Times, who was a panelist along with Rove at an awards dinner in Georgetown attended by all the old dinosaurs of the media elite. Raines wrote about the evening for Portfolio magazine.
Please, people of Indiana and North Carolina, end this already.
I'm tired of this magical mystery tour of the Pantsuit that Just Won't Leave, & whopper after whopper that comes out of the Clinton campaign operatives.
