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Karl Rove’s money-laundering shop has ordered up a series of ads attacking Democratic Senate candidates. But despite them clearly being electorally focused, Rove’s team tries to make them “issue ads” by adding a bill unrelated to the spots in the end plate.
You can see all four ads, backed by “American Crossroads,” the Rove/Ed Gillespie outfit designed mainly to attract donors who want no part of the RNC, here. Two of them attack sitting Senators, Harry Reid and Michael Bennet. But while the spots clearly are generic, attacking the stimulus package and various studies to fund ant research and the effects of cocaine on monkeys (This is on the “McCain principle” that any funding involving animals is necessary funny and therefore wasteful), at the end of the spots, a billboard comes up at the end requesting the viewer to call their Senator and tell them to “vote no on S.Amdt 4594.”
Surely, every viewer watching this ad will know exactly what S.Amdt. 4594 is all about. But in case you don’t, it happens to be the small business lending bill, scheduled for a vote when the Senate returns from recess on September 13.
Nowhere in this ad does it mention the small business lending bill, or small businesses in general. The line right above “vote no on S.Amdt 4594″ says “Nevada needs jobs, not more spending.” The small business lending bill, which is fully paid for, is designed to provide credit to small businesses so they can expand their operations. I don’t think it’s bound to be particularly effective, the Independent Community Bankers of America estimated that it would create 500,000 jobs.
You don’t have to believe them, but my central point is a bit different. This doesn’t come close to being an “issue ad,” in any reasonable sense of the term. Rove’s group is giving the impression of one to avoid disclosure and probably keep the tax-exempt status of Crossroads GPS, the umbrella organization supplying the ads.
The fact that the FEC is basically non-functional at the moment and the changes to the law in the Citizens United decision make it almost impossible to stop this kind of clear fudging. This is the post-Citizens United future, full of very rich interests pretending to care about issues and not raw power.
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judas priest — i don’t think there has ever been a rule that karl rove hasn’t ignored or twisted to enable his dirty tricks.
I heard that Labor Day is being dumped (so no more Labor Day Weekend).
But good news, all the Republicans and the Blue Dog Democrats in Congress are planning legislation (if November goes their way), getting rid of Labor Day and replacing it with Goldman Sachs Day, so there’ll be a Goldman Sachs Weekend over which all American workers, who used to have off Labor Day Weekend, will be required to work…and for free…along with their children.
The Republicans and Blue Dogs haven’t exactly settled on Goldman Sachs Day. Other lobbyists on Capitol Hill are lobbying for Koch Industries Day (and weekend), British Petroleum Day (and weekend), Walmart Day (and weekend), News Corp Day (and weekend), but hey, there are 52 weekends in a year, so maybe all will be taken, kind of like putting corporate names on ball parks. Or maybe the corporate-bought Republicans and Blue Dogs will settle for a generic Wall Street Day and a three-day Wall Street Weekend? Maybe Republicans and Blue Dogs will instead choose a Celebration of Small Businesses Day to replace Labor Day and it’s celebration of American workers? Nawwww. Small businesses, especially of the mom-and-pop sort, aren’t corporate/investor behemoths, so they’re all viewed in the same conservative vein of contempt as America’s workers are veiwed…expendable…they’re all a dime a dozen…why should the corporate Masters of the Universe care.
(Oooops, I hope my little joke doesn’t give any nation-damaging worker-hating small-business-destroying corporatists any ideas. But their hatred of labor unions is well-documented. As is conservative hatred of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the Education Department and anything public, versus privately-owned. So, the idea that conservatives might eventually get around to canceling Labor Day really isn’t that far-fetched, especially if conservatives gain seats in November, enough maybe to take back control of Congress).
Karl Rove, showing the GOP the way to more lies and dirty tricks.
You can always count on Karl.
Your comment about the FEC weakness is well stated. There was a possibility that we could have used the FEC rules to force some talk radio stations to start counting meetings with republican guests as donations from the Radio parent corp. But that possibility got thrown away after Citizens United.
Imagine forcing Fox to account those 10 minute interviews with Hannity as donations with a cap of 2,500. It would force them to either limit their interviews or have on Democrats so they could get their “press exemptions”
I blame the Dim-0-Fuck$ for this bullshit.
Ever since I was a 20 year old 4 buck an hour cook in 1980, recently dropped outta student loan hell, trying to stay the hell off of the crappy welfare system I grew up on -
ALL the Dim-0-Fuck$ can do is whine about how thieving lying fascist scum have
boo hoo ! lied!
Oh yeah, I spent the 80′s cooking in Boston – guess how many ivy fucks would sniff down their noses while deigning to enliten me blah blah blah blah the corporate media blah blah and I better elect sell outs like dud-crap-kis (later that pathetic fuck kerry) or …
what? we’d get REAL fascist scum, instead of political pathetics? yawn.
rmm.
“I don’t think it’s bound to be particularly effective, the Independent Community Bankers of America estimated that it would create 500,000 jobs.”
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We need a constitutional amendment that sets up REAL campaign finance reform. It must be a constitutional amendment, otherwise the Supreme Court will be able to overturn it.
One should point out that this was a campaign platform of the Democratic party. Yet, has anyone heard about that since they got into power? Anyone? Anyone? Even after the Citizens United case. Not a peep. That should be the central cause of the NEW PROGRESSIVE PARTY.
By the way, 500,000 jobs is nothing to sneeze at in this economy. Especially for people who have been out for a full year. People are desperate, and corporations aren’t hiring.
I can’t believe this stuff works sometimes. Making fun of studies using insects? How do people think biology is done, on a blackboard?