The Only Ad John McCain Should Run

(from Ace)

John McCain should run this version of the ad. Republicans across the country should modify it to be more general and make it the only ad they run too.


If you have tips, questions, comments or suggestions, email me at lybberty@gmail.com.

Who Are Obama's Supporters?

Add this to "who is the real Obama?" John Fund in yesterday's WSJ Political Diary, reports on Obama's "grassroots" financial supporters--you know, all the small-time donors that supposedly made Obama a new kind of politician. Turns out Obama (read: Axelrod) won't turn over the information related to these donations. Legally, he doesn't have to, but McCain did and we're able to find out that none of his were shady in the least. Meanwhile, Obama ...

More than 2.5 million Americans have contributed to Barack Obama's campaign, an impressive accomplishment. But are all of them Americans, as required by law?

John McCain's campaign has identified its entire donor base, including those contributing under $200, whose names are not required to be legally disclosed. But the Obama campaign hasn't identified individual donors for nearly half of the $427 million his campaign has raised. Small donations account for much more of Mr. Obama's donation take than most candidates.

That concerns the Republican National Committee, which cites Federal Election Commission records that show some 11,500 Obama donors trigger one or more warning flags that they may be foreign nationals -- including use of a foreign bank account or foreign address. About one out of seven of the donors in question are clearly U.S. diplomats or military personnel since they used an APO address overseas. But the others may be worthy of inquiry, especially given the tale of Palestinian brothers Hosam and Monir Edwan, who contributed more than $31,300 in small increments to the Obama coffers even though they are residents of the Gaza Authority. The FEC flagged their donations and alerted the Obama campaign, which acted in slow motion to refund the money. Almost a year after the last donation by the two brothers, the campaign has still failed to return $891 of their contributions.

The problems with possible foreign donations could have been resolved if the Obama campaign had simply agreed to the transparency rules suggested by the Center for Responsive Politics and seven other watchdog groups. "We asked both campaigns for more information on small donors," Massie Ritsch, a spokesman for the Center, told Newsmax's Ken Timmerman. "The Obama campaign never responded," she notes, while the McCain campaign has made all of its small donor data available online.

For its part, the Obama campaign responds to questions about its small donors by saying "we will continue to review our fundraising procedures to ensure that we are taking every available step to root-out improper contributions." No mention of why it won't post the names of donors online.

The FEC will eventually unravel the mystery, but it usually requires three to four years to finish any probe. Should Mr. Obama become president, the full extent to which his 2008 campaign may have skirted the law will be known about the time he seeks re-election.

(emphasis added)

My position on campaign finance reform is the same it has always been: I disagree with McCain's signature piece of legislation, McCain-Feingold. I think it's a horrible, anti-speech bill. I say let anyone donate any amount to anyone, but let there be transparency. Also, limit donations to American donors (though I can be persuaded on this point).

This way we wouldn't have shady 527s accepting donations from who knows where and run by who knows what group with no responsibility to anyone. This way, if there is an ad in bad faith, we would know who to castigate.


If you have tips, questions, comments or suggestions, email me at lybberty@gmail.com.

Liberal 527's Attack McCain's Age, Cancer

You know, because making fun of how painful it is for him to use a computer didn't quite make the electoral waves they'd hoped.

And seriously, something is wrong with this country when you can't make fun of disabled vets. What's next? No making fun of oldsters and cancer surivors?!

No, it seems those last two are still fair game. The NYT's Caucus blog reports:

Two liberal groups – one of them directed by a brother of the Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean – will begin running a graphic attack advertisement Thursday morning raising questions about Senator John McCain’s health. Showing vivid and unflattering images of the fresh scar that appeared on Senator McCain’s face immediately after his last operation for melanoma skin cancer eight years ago

[...]

To their credit, CNN refused to air the ad:

Brave New PAC and Democracy for America, said they were only showing the spot initially on MSNBC over the next few days, a limited run intended to draw news media attention on a network that has increasingly catered to liberal tastes.

[...]

Leighton Akio Woodhouse, a spokesman for Brave New PAC, said late Wednesday that CNN declined to accept the commercial after reviewing its contents this week.

What else are these guys responsible for?

The ad comes from the same two groups that recently released an advertisement questioning whether Mr. McCain’s time as a prisoner of war in Vietnam adversely affected his ability to lead.

This is exactly the type of ad that would appeal to, you guessed it, the twentysomething hipsters who already support Barack Obama. To them, old people are gross and The Man and if you don't (can't?) use a computer, well, what the hell is wrong with you?(!)

These types of ads don't resonate with most Americans. Most people see them as hateful and mean spirited. Though I'm sure Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann love 'em.


If you have tips, questions, comments or suggestions, email me at lybberty@gmail.com.