NYT: Group Says It's Ready to Wage Ad War (GOP 527s ready to go)

[DeepModem Mom]

CAMPAIGN FINANCING
G.O.P. Group Says It's Ready to Wage Ad War
By GLEN JUSTICE

Published: August 25, 2004


WASHINGTON, Aug. 24 - A day after President Bush called for an end to campaign spending by independent groups, one such Republican organization said on Tuesday that it had raised $35 million to counter Democratic attacks on television and hoped to wage a $125 million advertising campaign through Election Day.

The organization, the Progress for America Voter Fund, is the first Republican group to announce that it had raised a substantial amount of money to compete with Democratic-leaning groups that have collected tens of millions of dollars to attack the Bush-Cheney campaign on television.

Others may be poised to follow....

***

On Wednesday, the organization will begin commercials in Iowa and Wisconsin that attack Senator John Kerry's record on national security. Mr. McCabe said his group hoped to keep the spots running in the two states through the election and to add states as it raised money....

***

The group used a team of professional fund-raisers around the country to gain access to major Republican donors and then cited the threat of Democratic advocacy groups in securing contributions and pledges....


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/25/politics/campaign/25money.html

[Fovea]

1. Roll out the astroturf boys!

Time for Republican grass roots organizations to shine.
Paid for by thousands of average American CEO's.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

2. The evidence is right there in front of America's face

More money from small donors has gone to the liberal 527's than the right wing ones.
Clearly, liberal politicians and their causes are more in line with mainstream America than anything the GOP has to offer.
There is no comparison.

[mzmolly]

3. It's time for US TO ATTACK BUSH on National Security!

Why * is perceived as "tough on nat'l security" is beyond me.

Rove say's attack people in their area of strenght, so I say it's time to go after Bush's (perceived) strength.

[Dawgs]

5. Agree.

Being nice about Bush's record has gone on for to long.

Time to attack.

[DeepModem Mom]

27. Welcome to DU, Dawgs!

[farmbo]

6. Bush botched Tora Bora then diverted Special Forces to Iraq...

The biggest National Security blunder since Vietnam. As a reault, al Queda and the Taliban were allowed to peacefully evacuate and re-organize.

Time for us to start running ads on it

[mzmolly]

17. Absolutely!

:hi:

[Catfight]

18. YUP...time to show his dumbass inaction sitting reading My Pet Goat

while the nation was under attack. Time to CLARIFY that he KNEW the nation was under attack and decided to CONTINUE with a photo op AFTER the second plane hit the building....I don't think this point has been clarified yet. They also need to show the August PDB "AlQuida determined to attack in the United States," one month before it happened, and then cut to Bush sitting doing nothing in the classroom, back to "may use domestic airplanes to run into buildings," cut back to bush sitting in class room doing nothing with ALL that information! And play this OVER AND OVER AND OVER again!

[mzmolly]

20. Indeed!

:hi:

[THUNDER HANDS]

4. 527s have to go

Since they can only be used for attack ads, and since our party frowns on being mean, I say we shut all these groups down. In the end, the GOP will be better at this too.

[Guaranteed]

8. Mmm...maybe we should read the Constitution first.

Again, these organizations need to be financially liable for the things that they say.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

13. I agree

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[THUNDER HANDS]

11. whatever dude

YOu honestly believe we can beat the GOP in a money game?

Just because we started the 527 wars with Moveon.org doesn't mean they can't hit us back 10x as hard once they figure out how to get all these operations up and running.

Inherently, it will work against us because Democrats don't like going negative and the sole purpose of a 527 is negative advertising since they can't advocate on a candidate's behalf and thus, put out glowing positive portraits of Kerry and whoever the Democrats nominate in the next few election cycles.

Call me a baby now, but I see bad things on the horizon.

[markses]

12. whatever, yo

Be a scared little tadpole if you like. The rest of us have work to do.

[THUNDER HANDS]

15. lol, tadpole

Some day I'm gonna grow up to be a big ol' frog. :)

:hi:

Anyway, I'm just saying be careful what you wish for with these things.

[ChrisK]

7. Its a bit odd

I have for a short while wondered why the right has not seen the power the 527's have in some states and act on it sooner... till now.

The funny thing is that a 527 like Move on.org is just airing the kinds of truth the major media organizations are not willing to or have down played in some ways when it comes to George Bush Jr and what he is doing to this country (homeland security, Iraq war, health care, joblessness, tax breaks for the 1% richest, No child left behind fund cutting, vets who will loose there benefits with his cuts to there programs and so on.

I wonder how long till one of the persons working for this group is tied directly to the Bush-Cheney ticket.

[sam sarrha]

10. they are trying to make us want to had over our 'rights to free speech'

just to get rid of their crap... *ush just said he wanted to get rid of them... and now he is presenting the reasion...

WE WILL HAVE NO VOICE AT ALL IF THE 572's ARE DISALOWED....

the Murdock's will take over the media..or the REST of whats left of the "free" media.

there should be a SERIOUS fine and the loss of their 572 status

[shockingelk]

23. Ben Ginsberg is tied to this group

This is the same 527 that put out the anti-Kerry "What If?" ad they are the daughter of Progress for America, a 501c - Ginsberg came up with the "game plan" - they just made a 527 so they could attack Kerry and promote Bush:

Progress for America has also recruited Brian McCabe, a New Hampshire-based grassroots specialist, as its president. According to sources, Progress for America is aiming to raise $40 million to $60 million to fund grassroots work, issue advertising, and "truth squads" to burnish the Bush record on tax cuts, the economy, energy, and other issues. Over the past few months, the group's counsel, Ben Ginsberg, who is also the chief outside counsel for the Bush campaign, has been telling potential board members about a game plan that would allow Progress for America to answer liberal advocacy groups.

http://www.progressforamerica.com/pfa/wrapper.jsp?PID=1101-165&CID=1101-052804A

Here's a detailed rundown of the connections, bump it up if you think it's worth it:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=665629&mesg_id=665629

[PATRICK]

14. Magic Rat is right about one thing

There ARE tactics that give the other side the final edge. Even a seemingly neutral tactic where WE see limits(truth, decency, morality whatever) that can be easily- with more money, access and professionalism- be outplayed by the other side, is not in the end going to be fair. Their ads can lie, ruthlessly savage and bully their way into a media numbed American consciousness.

Labor unions have long said that it is only a necessity to match the other side a bit that makes them defend their PAC's. Once you enjoy the results of your weaker forays into this field, however, you are loathe to let them go- even if the other side is better at it. You succeed. You get things. You hurt them and are feared.

There are other tactics being developed in the grass roots that it is painfully obvious the GOP cannot match- at least under the extremists of Bushco. Excluded from a fair media and suffering from a perpetual money disadvantage, the Dems have nonetheless found their own fields in the Internet, grass roots fundraising that have begun to erase the strenuous and determined grass roots fundraising of the GOP with decades of a head start. We simply represent more people and their best interests. Indeed, the just interests of all. The only problem- thank you, Mr. Bush- was in rousing them from mainstream hypnotism.

Bush needs almost to run security checks and brain scans of all people attending his campaign events to ensure they are thoughtless devotees and confirmed votes. His is totally a TV campaign, only the illusion of a stump tour. Kerry can draw crowds that match in size the crowds of protesters Bush would draw were he to open the barbed wire a bit.
Were the media to look in awe upon this startling contrast instead of missing the point entirely the GOP would be dumping Bush in NYC. Our advantage against theirs. Apples and kumquats

We used to have a spoils system. Now, the winner gets to spoil the system. It should be our turn after November to get money out of the national forums for campaigning as much as possible. The GOP knows a fair advantage or a level playing field spells disaster for their illusion. The same with the now defunct Fairness Act in the media. The very need to have a "fair" debate about keeping undemocratic money power against the "masses" reminds us how our strength and weaknesses are viewed by people who have no legitimacy to speak in any way for America or its majority. We are living in a dangerously insane framework for choices in a democracy. It is so unhealthy we should be really detached from enjoying means and victories achieved in this irrational, poisoned atmosphere.

The enemy of democracy has the advantage of using only the mask, not its spirit or reality, and using brutal power and ruthless immorality to achieve dominance.

In any struggle against such it is also possible to become the enemy- or simply allow the enemy to move in and use morally neutral means against us.

I see the same thing with Move0n.org as Labor PAC's. Yes they are really great, needed, now. Just don't get attached to the means in a war that does not prove democracy is healthy. It is under siege.

[freedom_to_read]

16. PATRICK is right about a lot of things

great post.

to my mind it comes down to this:

We will never beat the Republicans ON THE AIR.
We'll only beat them ON THE GROUND.

[KittyWampus]

19. I Somewhat Disagree. Democrats Are WAY More Creative

and much more likely to go negative in a way that doesn't make people want to puke.

The GOP ends up being so out of touch with normal people that they make ludicrous attack ads.

Remember that idiotic one they did against Howard Dean... where 2 older people started streaming insults at h im.

Latte drinking, Volvo driving bla bla bla.

That ad was so fucking stupid it ended up seeming like a joke and making the Right look like clueless idiots.

Now think of the MoveOn ad where there are kids working on a factory line to highlight Junior's legacy of debt.

[AlGore-08.com]

22. Patrick, Magic Rat, Freedom_To_Read are all right - - money is a trap

One of the reasons that the 527s exist is they're a loophole in McCain-Feingold designed to get around the campaign finance reforms that the majority of Americans overwhelmingly wanted in 2000.

Get ready to scream bloody murder when wealthy Republicans pour their own unlimited wealth into their own 527s. It's not surprising that they've held back until now. They're better at marketing than we are - - they know that you launch a new product line when? After Labor Day, of course.

If Smirk wasn't the GOP candidate, campaign finance reform would still be a major issue with the left. It will be again, once our folks have figured out that 2004 set some really bad precidents as far as financing goes.

And when the backlash cometh, the good things about the 527s (the ability to mobilize voters etc) will be tossed out with the bathwater.

[shockingelk]

24. Ben Ginsberg has advocated mining the 527 loophole

See post #23 here , or

Connections between Progress for America (501c), Progress for America Voter Fund (527), Bush/Cheney '04, Ben Ginsberg and even perhaps National Journal, the think tank that decided Kerry was the most liberal senator:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=665629&mesg_id=665629

[RobertDevereaux]

21. Better ads, like moveon's, will surely win the day.

Or so we must hope and pray.

[iamjoy]

25. It's Going To Get Even Uglier....

because one of these 527's, the November Fund, intends to attack trial lawyers, including John Edwards.

John Edwards is just such a nice guy, but that's a pet peeve of his, this villification of trial lawyers. When they attack, I bet he's going to fight back.

Go Johnny Go!

[Child_Of_Isis]

28. You know he will!

And he will win. This bunch has messed with the wrong crowd. How mean and ugly it will get, is hard to say. As morbid as this is, it is exciting. We are just going to have to get as mean, and dirty as the shrub camp. I don't see any other way. And I believe Kerry to have it in him. It has come to the point where it is all that the sheeple understand...talking and working through differences is no longer an American concept. No man, we have got to slug it out. Gotta do what ya gotta do!

[alcuno]

26. Remember the giddy media reporting on the "Fundraiser in Chief."

They loved it when * had 125 million, prancing about the country to collect cash, and Kerry started at about 6 million. WHO'S CRYING NOW!

[Karenina]

29. Bringumon!

*smirk