Bush Denounces All 527s (and Challenges Kerry To Do Same)
August 23, 2004
Listen to Rush…
(…explain the president's denunciation of all 527 groups)
BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: President Bush earlier today within the last half hour, denounced TV ads by outside groups attacking both John Kerry and himself (story) on Monday, called for a halt to all such political efforts. He said, "I think they're bad for the system." It's not a specific charging to the swift vets. Don't think that. Look, I can't explain this because, you know, this is a response to a demand of the Democrats that Bush denounce. Bush goes out and denounces the whole thing. Now, I happen to agree that this is bogus. What these 527 groups are, folks, and this is the joke of campaign finance reform. Campaign finance reform had a couple of operating theories. One was, money corrupts good politicians. People in Washington are damn good people, just salt of the earth people. It's all that money that corrupts them. And so, we gotta get the money out of politics.
Then, another operating theory was, the political class does not like people being able to criticize them near elections, so they outlawed certain people being able to say certain things about elected officials, primarily unions and corporations, in television and radio ads prior to elections. They didn't do anything about the New York Times. And it's amazing, you talk about this collaboration between parties and the 527 groups, to hell with that! How about collaboration between John Kerry and the New York Times? John Kerry comes out and says (Kerry impression), "Well, those are all lies. I did what I said I did in Vietnaaaaaam," and the next day the New York Times got the story that says all that's true. There is plenty of collaboration in the media. It's just with the media that's insulted insulated from any campaign finance reform.
So the soft money, the money that was corrupting these politicians, these salt of the earth guys and gals that are corrupted by the money, that money was called "soft money," and that money, you could contribute any amount you wanted, to the parties, and the parties were just required to use that money for get out vote and other such efforts, and they could make commercials now and then with it, but that was judged to be unfair and it was judged to be corrupt.
Well, so we had to get the money out of politics. We've done that, right? Yeah. So, the loophole was, you can't give money to the parties, but they forgot to say you can't set up any other substitute groups for parties that you can't give money to, either. So, here came the quote, unquote, 527s like MoveOn.org and Americans Coming Together, both of which are funded liberally by the likes of George Soros, whose name is never uttered by Democrats. Do you notice this? Never, ever talk about Mr. Soros' name, and he's their number one bankroller, if you will. So the money goes to these groups and you get what you get. You get MoveOn.org, you get Americans Coming Together and both of those groups are run by Clintonistas. Both of those groups are organizations run by or populated by Clintonistas.
The Republicans have one little 527. It's called the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, and it's not even the Republicans. There's one 527 that's working on the Republican side of the aisle in the presidential campaign. And, lo and behold, that little group has spent something like, what, $200,000 on their first ad and all hell is breaking loose. Finally, journalists have seen the problem in campaign finance reform. They didn't see the problem with MoveOn.org. They didn't see the problem with George Soros. They didn't see the problem with Americans Coming Together. They didn't see the problem with the Michael Moore movie. No, no, no, no, that's just fine, because they're exposing truths about George W. Bush.
Here come the little swift boat vets, and all hell is breaking loose. So Bush has got to denounce, Bush has got to denounce them. He denounced them. He denounced them today. He denounced all of this. He didn't denounce anybody specifically. He thinks that all these outside groups, I don't know why, I can't explain it, other than Bush has this vision of the presidency as being above the ebb and flow of daily partisan political behavior. But he said he thinks they're both bad for the system. Hey, I hate to say this, but campaign finance reform wouldn't have seen the light of day had not the president signed it.
Yeah. Dick Armey, former congressman from Texas, he said, "Okay, if you're serious about this I'm going to put in a deal here no soft money to anybody any time anywhere." And, "Oh, no, no, no, no, can't go that far, we got to do this in stages, no, no, no, no." So you can sit there and denounce this stuff all day long, but it wouldn't have happened if it hadn't had the support of the White House, in signing the bill. And I know why.
Everybody gets caught up, you know, the way they sold it, "We got to get the money out of politics." Oh, there's another aspect. We got to get rid of these negative ads. We got to clean up campaigns. This money is leading to negative ads. Okay, so they fixed it, right? They fixed it. All this because of McCain-Feingold. McCain and Feingold both remain heroes. Somehow when the media comes up and complains about campaign finance reform, they ignore everybody that had anything to do with it, and all they do is focus on one little group that's taking advantage of one of the loopholes; ignore all the big groups taking advantage of the loopholes. It's just mind-boggling.
We have three sound bites here from President Bush from the press conference today in Crawford, Texas, where he denounced the 527s but there are a couple other things about this. I just want you to get ready here, folks. Some of you may be scratching your heads at some of this. In the first bite an unidentified reporter says, "Mr. President, some of your supporters…" Just get this question. This is just unbelievable. I mean it's unbelievable but it's not. "Mr. President, some of your supporters are re-fighting the Vietnam War with their comments about Kerry's war record."
Why not, "Mr. President, Senator Kerry has chosen to highlight his Vietnam War record as part of his quest for the presidency. This has brought up a number of comments from your supporters. What is your…" Why can't the truth be posed in the question? What is this half-truth here? "Some of your supporters are re-fighting the Vietnam war. Do you think, Mr. President, these attacks are unpatriotic? Are these attacks on your opponent un-American, for sending young people to war at this time?"
BUSH: I think we ought to be debating who's best to be leading this country in the war against terror. And that's what I continue to try to convince the American people of is that I'm the right person to continue to lead the country in the war on terror. I think we ought to be looking forward not backward, and that's the kind of campaign I'll continue to run.
RUSH: So the president is going to continue to look forward. And the president is. The president is not talking about Vietnam. He's not talking about Kerry, of any substance at all. So the unidentified reporter followed up with, "Well, why won't you, something? I didn't understand the words here, "Why don't you, blah, blah, the charges that your supporters are making against Kerry?"
So Bush is supposed to denounce the charges. Get this now. This is unbelievable. Bush is supposed to denounce the charges the swift vets are making. Kerry is not supposed to refute them. In this case the seriousness of the charge is outrageous and ought to be done away with. Other times, of course, the seriousness of the charge warrants the investigation. But in this case the seriousness of the charge is so bad, we got to get rid of the charges and it's up to the president to get rid of the charges and why the hell don't you denounce the charges, you SOB president?
BUSH: I'm denouncing all of the stuff being on TV of the 527s. That's what I've said. I said this kind of unregulated soft money is wrong for the process, and I asked Senator Kerry to join me in getting rid of all that kind of soft money, not only on TV, but used for other purposes as well. I, frankly, thought we'd gotten rid of that when I signed the McCain-Feingold bill. I thought we were going to once and for all get rid of the system where people could just pour tons of money in and, you know, and not be held to account for the advertising. And so I'm disappointed with all those kinds of ads.
RUSH: Okay, fine, we'll leave it at that. You heard him, when he thought he signed McCain-Feingold, thought the money was going to be gone. Yeah, I can understand that. And here again another reporter. "Well, this doesn't have anything to do with other 527 ads, Mr. President. You've been accused of mounting a smear campaign. Do you think Senator Kerry lied about his war record?"
BUSH: I think Senator Kerry served admirably and he ought to be proud of his record. But the question is who best to lead the country in the war on terror. Who can handle the responsibilities of the commander-in-chief? Who's got a clear vision of the risks that the country faces?
REPORTER: Some Republicans such as Bob Dole and some Republican donors such as Bob Perry have contributed and endorsed the message of these this 527 Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ads. When you say that you want to stop all --
BUSH: All of them.
REPORTER: Does that mean --
BUSH: That means that ad, every other ad.
REPORTER: -- encourage Republicans --
BUSH: Absolutely, I don't think we ought to have 527s. I can't be more plain about it. I hope my opponent joins me in saying, condemning these activities of the 527s. I think they're bad for the system. That's why I signed the bill. McCain-Feingold.
RUSH: All right. (Laughing.) Okay, so he's upped the ante. All right, "I'll denounce my guys but you got to denounce Soros. You've got to denounce MoveOn.org and all that." And I'll tell you what's going to happen today, when you just heard in this bite you'll never hear. All you'll hear is "Bush says Kerry serves admirably and denounces the swift boat ad." That's all you're going to hear. You're not going to hear that Bush also challenged Kerry to get rid of his. You won't hear it. Bush has given them what they want, if they use it. He denounces the swift boats and, and he said Kerry served admirably. And so Kerry will be out there (Kerry impression), "I'm proud to say that George Bush supports my version of what happened, because he is a fellow veteran, and he knows. But I'm telling you what I still have questions about his missing in action from the National Guard. I think we need to get to the bottom of."
Well, there you have it, folks. That's the president today in Crawford, Texas, with of course our fair and balanced primary news media out there with these questions. "That doesn't have anything to do with other 527 ads. You've been accused of mounting a smear campaign!" (Laughing) It's so ridiculous, it is funny. It's just unbelievable.
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