Re: NBC- What ever happened to secret meetings ?

On Wed, 07 Dec 2005 11:37:27 -0800, Evolution <myname@xxxxxxx> wrote:

>And how much did they spend AFTER 8/24/04? And do you not distinguish
>between negative ads which tell the truth and negative ads which are all
>lies?

When all was said and done, the Kerry Campaign and its supporting or
anti-Bush 527 groups spent far more than did the Bush Campaign and its
supporting or anti-Kerry 527 groups on attack ads. I responded to
someone who brought up what Bush had done to Kerry in 2004 Campaign.
I thought it was ridiculously partisan to just focus on that without
taking into account what Kerry and his supporters had done to Bush
during that campaign, where Bush was subject to far more money overall
spent on ads attacking him as was spent on ads attacking Kerry.

As for whether political attack ads are honest or not, I guess that
all depends on the eye of the beholder. It's absurd to claim that
attack ads on Bush were all true while those on Kerry were all lies.
Only one blinded by partisanship would make such a claim.

What I object to, and have always objected to, are many of the double
standards that are engaged in. Back in 1988, I voted for Michael
Dukakis because I was disgusted by what I thought was the incredible
negative campaign waged against him by Bush's father. But with regard
to 2004, I think it was President Bush who was subject to the more
negative campaign. And I think it's hypocrisy when many Democrats try
to claim that it was their candidate who was so unfairly maligned.

Hypocrisy on political advertising
San Diego UNION-TRIBUNE
August 27, 2004

When MoveOn.org posted not one, but two ads on its Web site that
likened George W. Bush to Adolf Hitler, John Kerry uttered nary a
discouraging word.

When the Media Fund ran attack ads that falsely claimed "President
Bush says he's going to help companies outsource jobs" to other
countries, the Massachusetts senator was mum.

But when the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth opened up a can of
you-know-what on Kerry, running ads raising questions about his
four-month tour of duty in Vietnam, the Democratic presidential
nominee got his drawers in a bunch.

He sicced his lawyers on TV station managers, not-so-gently suggesting
that they ought not run the Swiftie ads. He beseeched the Federal
Elections Commission to muzzle his estranged band of brothers.

And finally, desperately, he accused President Bush of being behind
the Swift Boat ads. "The longer he goes without specifically
condemning this terrible smear," Kerry's campaign spokesman said this
week, "the clearer it is what's going on here."

Well, what's clearly going on here is hypocrisy. John Kerry hasn't
said a thing about the $60 million worth of ads hating on Bush,
purchased on the Democrat's behalf by so-called 527 groups like
MoveOn.org and the Media Fund.

Yet, Kerry is screaming bloody murder ? maybe he'll "earn" himself
another Purple Heart ? about the Swiftie ad buys, which haven't even
amounted to one-twentieth of what the pro-Kerry, anti-Bush groups have
spent.

The Kerry campaign has made a big deal about two members of the Bush
campaign having ties to the Swift Boat vets. Well, both men, Ben
Ginsberg, the Bush re-election team's outside counsel, and retired Air
Force Colonel Ken Cordier, a campaign volunteer, resigned.

But there have been no similar resignations from the Democratic Party
apparatchiks, including past and present members of the Kerry
campaign, who have ties to MoveOn.org, the Media Fund and other 527
groups.

Indeed, Harold Ickes, a member of the Democratic National Committee's
executive committee, heads the Media Fund and is chief of staff for
America Coming Together, another Bush-hating 527 group.

Bill Richardson, the New Mexico governor who chaired last month's
Democratic National Convention, has been an adviser to the New
Democratic Network, another anti-Bush 527.

Joe Sandler is the DNC's general counsel, while also serving as legal
counsel MoveOn.org and Moving America Forward, yet another anti-Bush
527.

Jim Jordan, Kerry's former presidential campaign manager, founded a
consulting firm that represents the Media Fund, America Coming
Together and America Votes, another pro-Democrat 527.

Bob Bauer, a Washington lawyer, is legal counsel both to the Kerry
campaign and America Coming Together.

MoveOn.org's Zack Exley joined the Kerry campaign as its director of
online communications and organizing. And the Kerry campaign also
hired Bill Knapp, who was the Media Fund's ad consultant.

Under the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act, better known as
McCain-Feingold, there was not supposed to be coordination between
"independent" 527 groups and political candidates.

But clearly the Kerry campaign has been coordinating its
election-related activities with the Bush-hating 527s. If it is not a
downright violation of the law, which Kerry enthusiastically
supported, it clearly is contrary to the spirit of the law.

That's why Bush issued Kerry a challenge this week. "I hope my
opponents join me in ... condemning these activities of 527s. I think
they are bad for the system."

But that was not good enough for Kerry. He wanted the president to
specifically repudiate the Swifties' ad; to urge the vets to pull
their TV spots.

But how in the name of McCain-Feingold can Kerry demand that Bush
repudiate the Swift Boat ads when Kerry hasn't denounced the plethora
of attack ads by MoveOn.org, the Media Fund and other Bush-hating
527s?

When Kerry hasn't urged those groups to refrain from running any more
anti-Bush TV spots between now and November?

It is a wonder that Kerry can keep a straight face when he dares to
accuse Bush of "hiding behind front groups." If the Swift Boat
brouhaha has revealed anything, it is that the Democratic presidential
nominee is an unabashed hypocrite.

(end of article)

.

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