Bush urges immediate end to 'soft money' ads

[Snellius]

The White House yesterday distanced itself from a political ad that questions John Kerry's Vietnam service and called on the Democratic presidential nominee to join President Bush in demanding an "immediate cessation" of all advertisements by outside groups.

"We have not and will not question Senator Kerry's service in Vietnam," White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters aboard Air Force One. "The president is calling for an immediate cessation to all the unregulated soft money activity."

He added: "We hope the Kerry campaign will join us."

http://www.washtimes.com/national/20040805-115811-6900r.htm

[displacedtexan]

1. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!
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HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!
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HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!

[OKNancy]

4. And another

BWHAHAHAHAHAHA

Idiots.

[zbird]

2. Wouldn't that be nice for the chimpster.

Kerry is limited to the 75 million, the chimp has unlimited funds until the RNC is over. So the Pugs will continue with the negative ads and Kerry would have no recourse except spend the 75 million if he wants to rebut. Riiiiggghhhttt.

[LuminousX]

3. I say Kerry should join him

So long as Bush accepts the limitations that Kerry is currently under due to his nomination. Otherwise it wouldn't be a level playing field would it? But the GOP don't like level playing fields.

[Tuttle]

6. By joining, doesn't that infer colusion?

if some wing-nut group, right or left wants to buy some ad space, neither campaign is permitted BY LAW to coordinate efforts.

Tut-tut

[Frances]

23. My thoughts exactly

Bush moved his convention to a date so late that state lesgislatures had to change their laws so that Bush could be on the ballot in Nov legally. (Many states said the candidates had to be nominated before Labor Day.)

So, Bush has a WHOLE MONTH more to spend his own money.

[LiberalFighter]

32. For clarification...

I believe you mean that gw* uses only the 75$ from the FEC just like Kerry has to.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

5. i hope Kerry camp says "BRING'EM ON" that ad sent many fence sitters to

Kerry's side! it was so distateful and prooved just how desperate and low/slimely the bushies are ....imho

[moondust]

7. It's not about soft money activity, Scott.

It's about a disgraceful group of your supporters getting on TV and puking buckets o'lies.

[ItsThePeopleStupid]

24. this is a lose/lose for *

if he condemns the ads, they lose their effectiveness and piss off some of his biggest supporters. If he doesn't, he aligns himself with the lies about Kerry's record.

Pressure on * needs to be increased.

[ChrisK]

8. I wonder if...

After Mr McClellan said "The president is calling for an immediate cessation to all the unregulated soft money activity." ..he mummbled "by the Democrates".

Maybe he was right in the middle of a cough and couldn't get that last line out in time.

Maybe the folks in the Right House are getting worried...

[randr]

9. He should call for an end to lying in ads!

[mumon]

10. He's as clueless as his father!

the "Swift Boat Liars," as everyone who's seen the blogosphere knows, is already a bunch of discredited hacks with ties to the Council for National Policy, Nixon's Plumbers, and, possibly, yes, war criminals.

Any major media light on them- or a commrecial by Moveon, for that matter- would backfire on Putsch's campaign.

Earth to Bush: resign. Seek asylum in Riyadh. The Prosecutor's coming to town.

[Mokito]

11. Nothing more than an opportunistic ploy

to silence groups as MoveOn.org and such. They underestimated their influence and support and now they really, really, really want to make them shut up.

Maybe they should ask O'Reilly for some tips.

[Joanne98]

30. Exactly

this message is shut down moveon and soros and we'll shut down o'neill. NO WAY......

[searchingforlight]

12. Does he mean to distance himself from and discredit FOX news which

is the NO 1 soft money organization for the RNC?

[mhollis]

13. This is their response

to an article in yesterday's New York Times that deals with how the soft money people have, of their own volition, decided to "fill in the gaps" in the Kerry-Edwards advertising schedule. In order to stay even with the incumbent, Kerry-Edwards has pulled all advertisements, leaving a one-month gap until after Shrub accepts the Republican nomination. During this month, Shrub can advertise all he wants. He was hoping to be able to gain ground in this four-week period:

Either his opponents would (wisely) not spend to advertise for a month and he could advertise all he wants without answer, or;

His opponents would have less money to spend later because they spent it this month, or;

The un-coordinated advertising campaigns of the anti-Shrub organizations supporting Kerry-Edwards would be so "off message" that Kerry-Edwards would have to repudiate their message.

None of these have happened. So he's crying foul because his carefully-crafted plans have unraveled. The organizations advertising have carefully crafted their messages to fit the themes expressed in the DNC. They have not launched off on their own and the Republicans have not (so far) been able to show any links between the Kerry-Edwards campaign and these groups.

[trogdor]

17. But they all watched the convention on TV.

I bet a bunch of them even taped it. Therefore, there was a clear link between MoveOn and the Kerry campaign. /bush_logic

[Walt Starr]

14. So Kerry says, I disavow these soft money ads.

and they continue coming out. And Bush has to adress them.

Nothing wrong with that. Kerry can't tell Moveon not to run ads.

:shrug:

[robbedvoter]

15. Shades of Rick Lazio...asked Hillary to "join him - sign at the debate

Then, his goons advertised for him anyway, he just denied he knew them. But it was that stunt that decisively knocked him down!

[trogdor]

18. Really?

I thought it was the regurgitated Bush talking points and no real message (vote for me because I'm not Hillary), coupled with Lazio's Quayle-esque demeanor that killed his campaign.

[markses]

28. Much more accurate

Lazio had not a fucking snowball's chance in hell of beating Hillary, before the debate, during, or after. They pumped him up in bullshit polls to make the race seem close, but I suspect Hillary was beating him 55%-45% the entire time. I believe he conceded before 9pm election night! Little Ricky (Little Icky) Lazio. He did a front page of the NY Times Magazine that made him look like a mental defective. It was laugh out loud funny.

[0007]

16. In desperation is junior hollering "uncle"?

[bushwakker]

19. How convenient! Not on your life AWOL!!

These are the same ads atht are gonna keep JK alive until the RNC.

[Der_Alte]

20. end to soft $$ ads

o-o-o-o-o. there's an ox out there somewhere got gored.

[MallRat]

21. A candidate CAN'T call for cessation of 527 activities.

That's ILLEGAL COORDINATION under the new campaign laws.

-MR

[ItsThePeopleStupid]

22. Bush* refuses to denounce the slanderous ad

McClellan is just trying to change the subject, which was the lies in the ad and whether Bush* will denounce it like McCain did.

[recidivist]

25. Whatever happened to the CFR lobby around here?

Sure, it looks like Rove & Co. missed the boat on 527's. The Republicans apparently thought the courts were going to prohibit the current spending and failed to have their backup plans in place. Big mistake: this could cost Bush the election as -- between Kerry, the DNC, and the 527's -- he has been significantly outspent in battleground states for several months.

But win or lose, there's always another election around the corner. The DNC and the Democratic 527's have just shredded BCRA. My prediction: by 2006, the Republican 527 machine will be leaving us in the dust, and Democrats will be limping around saying we need more "reform." After our performance this cycle, that call is going to sound pretty hollow.

[jwcomer]

34. yup, what he said!

I agree 100% with your analysis. The 527's will come back to haunt us from 2006 on.

[calimary]

36. But it DOESN'T HAVE TO be that way! Unless we all drop our guard.

NO! We need to make sure MoveOn and the other 527s in our court STAY VIABLE AND STAY ACTIVE.

I suggest we all refocus, after a Kerry win, to martialling the public's support of all the reforms and repairs that will have to be undertaken to reverse the damage and clean up the mess these assholes will have left behind. It will be SUCH a colossal effort, both domestically and internationally, that it will take ALL our resolve, and as much work as we can handle, to keep the public focused on this. That's where MoveOn comes in.

We just have to make sure we don't get complacent. Besides, if the election goes for Kerry in ANY numbers larger than 51 - 49, I suggest we all start hollering MANDATE!!! And LANDSLIDE!!!!! As ferociously and relentlessly as possible. It'll need to be DRUMMED into the enemy, over and over and over.

What we need to promote is the idea that the enemy is not only beaten, he/she is COMPLETELY DEMORALIZED. They'll be spending some time licking their wounds and trying to figure out what happened (the news media, too, I'll betcha). THIS IS RIPE FOR EXPLOITATION!!!

Pat Buchanan said last week during the convention that, "win or lose," the republi-CONS have some rough times ahead. There is such a deep divide opening up, and becoming just a wee bit more obvious every day. Consider: WHY do we have websites like "Conservatives Against Bush"? Because the real, true, what-it-means-to-be-Republican Republicans complain that they don't even recognize their own party anymore. The moderates complain that they don't have a voice anymore. And the fundies complain that their dominance over the party isn't complete enough. And the neocons are complaining that these assholes botched their wonderful plans, besides wanting THEIR dominance to be even more widespread. So there may be a big shake-out. Which means the moderates may start falling away. The fundies' take on it will be that bush and their cronies weren't conservative enough, and either THEY will look elsewhere, or they'll stay and drive more of the level-headed people off. WHICH MEANS that what's left of the republi-CON party will be so splintered, and - if some big faction bails - SMALLER.

WHICH ALSO MEANS we CANNOT afford to let down our guard. Neither do our friends in the 527s. We have to remain on the offensive, and KEEP them off their guard, so they CANNOT rise again in 2006. Kerry can win. But that, alone, won't get us all the way home.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

26. Call for it...

It won't shut me up.

[markses]

27. You fucking WISH, Bushie!

Too bad for you. We got people power to counter the corporate power - an open source ad campaign, and you think we're gonna stop because your Texas millionaires foisted garbage on the American public. FUCK YOU, PHONEY ASS PRESIDENT. I'm sending $50 to MoveOn.org right fucking now!

[Jade Fox]

29. Didn't they start this whole 'soft money' attack ad thing?

Now when its used against the GOP they don't like it.

[msanthrope]

31. Our 527's are better than your 527's. Ha Ha. n/t

[recidivist]

33. How long do you think that will last?

Think strategically. The pubbies let MoveOn, etc. steal a march while BushCo attempted to get the FEC and the courts to intervene. They didn't, so Bush ends up at a disadvantage. Enough of one to swing the election? I don't know.

But make no mistake: however 2004 turns out, the DNC and Democratic 527's have destroyed CFR. They have laid out the roadmap. The Republicans will follow. Big money is back. The "reform" era sure didn't last long, and we killed it.

[FredScuttle]

35. That's like pissing in the pool

and then screaming that the pool should be closed because the water's contaminated.

Nice try, Scotty Boy.

[pschoeb]

37. how about a simple 527 regulation?

A cap on individual donation per year to a 527 organization, say something like $2000. This would mean 527's would be more grassroots. if this regulation was in place, "Swiftboat Vets for Lies" would be out of the water since most of their money comes from huge donations by three persons. Organizations like MoveOn would still be in good shape.

The need for 527's is largely necessary because of our crap media, so we should make some regulations to break up big media.

[Malva Zebrina]

38. Does this ill suited moron think he has any credibility at all?

He thinks he is a real president who wants to sound presidential by what he has observed in other presidents who actually did have the talent to lead ad country, by using this type of rhetoric.

This jerk hasn't got a clue==someone else told him to "urge" others. His real reaction is to "tell" to "order" others and to " bully" others and to "threaten" others--that's what cowards who have little confidence in themselves do, in the hopes that it makes him look like a real man and a real president who has strength and purpose. All is image to him--he is pathetic.

[stepnw1f]

39. And I Urge Bush To Jump Off A Very High Edifice (nt)