Today’s word is…
Shadowy! Scooby McClellan speaks:
the President has called on Senator Kerry to join him in calling for all of these ads and activity by these shadowy groups … Let’s call for an end to all of these ads by these shadowy groups … The President has been on the receiving end of more than $63 million in negative attacks from these shadowy groups … Well, he believes we should get rid of all of this activity and ads by these shadowy groups. … That is the answer: Senator Kerry should join us in calling for an end to all of this unregulated soft-money activity by these shadowy groups … These ads are another example of the problem with these shadowy groups.
Did President Bush call for an end to these shadowy groups in 2000?
One of the most often cited examples was Republicans for Clean Air, a group that ran $ 2.5 million in TV ads supporting Texas Gov. George W. Bush during his GOP presidential primary fight against Sen. John McCain. [Tampa Tribune, August 14, 2000.]
When two brothers from Texas can form a 527 overnight, fund $2.5 million in last-minute ads and anonymously turn a probable McCain win into a Bush victory, voters have a compelling right to know: Who’s footing that bill? What contractual relationship might they have with a Bush administration? [Plain Dealer, Cleveland. July 5, 2000.]
And finally:
The measure, which cleared the Senate 92-6, will no longer allow groups organized under Section 527 of the tax code to raise unlimited amounts of money for political purposes without identifying the donors and how the money is spent. …
Other tax-exempt interest groups and companies – which some Republicans tried unsuccessfully to include in the bill – will remain free to run ads without disclosing their donors as long as the groups stick to advocacy issues and do not directly advocate a candidate’s election or defeat.
“Passage of this bill proves that public interest can triumph over special interests,” Clinton said in a statement urging lawmakers to approve other election-law changes. The legislation also was praised by Vice President Al Gore and Texas Gov. George W. Bush. [Emphasis added] [The Houston Chronicle, June 30, 2000.]
Added: Related comments from the very funny Outside the Tent.
It’s more than this. Bush himself, until he got outspent this year, criticized limits on corporate and union soft money AND said there should be no limits on individual soft money, relying on the First Amendment then. Apparently, the First Amendment must have been written in disappearing ink on Bushs’s copy of the Bill of Rights because he isn’t saying a word about it now that he’s on the hot seat.
The First Amendment is only good to the extent that it allows Bush supporters to speak. Speech by Bush opponents is an “abuse of the system.” Likewise, there are good “shadowy groups” and bad “shadowy groups.”
In reality, MoveOn PAC, which sponsored some (maybe all, I’m not sure) of the ads Bush doesn’t like, is not a shadowy group at all, since it’s required to publicly disclose, and does disclose, the names of its donors and the amounts of their donations.
And Liar Bush just said that he signed McCain-Feingold to do away with this sort of advertising. But McCain-Feingold permits this kind of advertising. Doesn’t he read what he signs? Or understand it?
Don’t bother to answer. We know the answer to that.
Man, this Bush is one stupid clown. He is just plain stupid. That’s all there is to it. They can’t let him speak without someone smart telling him what to say anymore. He just says stupid stuff all the time.
Doesn’t he also refer to Al Qaeda as a “shadowy group”?