It's the Lies, Stupid.
Before the new meme from Rove, Inc. gets converted from Bush propaganda into "accepted wisdom", as so many others have, let me just make this point. Feel free to make it when talking with others, over and over again.
It's not the 527 groups that are the problem. It's the LIES!
Corollary: Ads from 527 groups that use factual arguments, which can be supported with documentation, are A-OK, even if, as it turns out, many of those facts are ones the President would rather not be talked about.
Corollary: Presenting facts that the President would rather hide is not an "attack", in the same sense that presenting lies and slander is an attack.
Misleading and corrosive ads are bad, regardless of the tax code section governing the advertiser. In my humble opinion, the previous leader in the "misleading ad" race was an official Bush campaign ad showing weapons disappearing from around a soldier in the desert, while claiming Kerry had voted against them. The actual vote, by the way, was against a huge defense appropriations bill, not against those weapons specifically.
Second place, until the Swiftie entries, were the ads, and the repeated mention, of Kerry voting against $87 Billion for the troops in Iraq. Was Kerry voting against the war? Or the troops? No.
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(Remedial primer for those unfamiliar with our representative governmental system: Senators often vote many times on bills, in the process of getting a bill that is the best compromise they can manage. That's how we run our country, in shades of grey. Sometimes they vote yes, and no, on the same bill at different times! Wacky! But legislation doesn't usually (ever?) involve simple yes/no votes on particular weapons systems. This is why Senators learn to see complexity in issues, and tend to speak in complete sentences.)
It's not the 527 groups that are the problem. It's the LIES!
Corollary: Ads from 527 groups that use factual arguments, which can be supported with documentation, are A-OK, even if, as it turns out, many of those facts are ones the President would rather not be talked about.
Corollary: Presenting facts that the President would rather hide is not an "attack", in the same sense that presenting lies and slander is an attack.
Misleading and corrosive ads are bad, regardless of the tax code section governing the advertiser. In my humble opinion, the previous leader in the "misleading ad" race was an official Bush campaign ad showing weapons disappearing from around a soldier in the desert, while claiming Kerry had voted against them. The actual vote, by the way, was against a huge defense appropriations bill, not against those weapons specifically.
Second place, until the Swiftie entries, were the ads, and the repeated mention, of Kerry voting against $87 Billion for the troops in Iraq. Was Kerry voting against the war? Or the troops? No.
"I would gladly and proudly vote for any proposal this President offers that protects the troops and provides an effective plan to win the peace," Kerry wrote in an October 16, 2003, statement. "I am voting 'no' on the Iraq resolution to hold the President accountable and force him finally to develop a real plan that secures the safety of our troops and stabilizes Iraq."You don't need to have a special tax designation in order to spew nonsense onto the airwaves. Let's get angry about the spewing of lies, slander and nonsense, not about the regulations. Oh, and by the way, George W. Bush, concerned about legitimate campaign finance reform? "It is to laugh."
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(Remedial primer for those unfamiliar with our representative governmental system: Senators often vote many times on bills, in the process of getting a bill that is the best compromise they can manage. That's how we run our country, in shades of grey. Sometimes they vote yes, and no, on the same bill at different times! Wacky! But legislation doesn't usually (ever?) involve simple yes/no votes on particular weapons systems. This is why Senators learn to see complexity in issues, and tend to speak in complete sentences.)
posted by Paul at 10:13 PM |
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