Making a Dent in Democratic Disinformation: The Swift Boat Veterans
by Lester Dent
Monday, August 30, 2004
Continuing series: Making a Dent in Liberal Disinformation
Talking Point 8: Bush and the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth
The Democrats have advanced an interesting theory that because Republicans fund anti-Kerry ads it means that the content of those ads are false. Because people who give money to Republicans and also gave money to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (SBVFT), they are a Republican organization in violation of IRS 527 guidelines. And because there are associations between members of the Bush administration and members of the SBVFT, there is obvious control by the Bush administratin.
Let's consider Bob Perry, Republican, and Steven Bing, Democrat.
According to the records at OpenSecrets.org, which tracks FEC and IRS reports on spending:
* Including contributions that are probably not his (from a retired Robert Perry in Texas), Bob Perry, from 01/12/99 to 5/18/04 donated $288,360.00 to Republican candidates, causes, PACs, and 527s. Based upon media reports, he has contributed an additional $200,000 to SBVFT this year, making his total ''Soft and Hard Contributions'' to Republican causes from 1/12/99 to date $488,360.00.
* Steven Bing, Democrat and Hollywood producer/writer/director, from 04/27/99 to 5/16/03 gave $10,561,000.00 to Democratic causes. Going to the Media Fund web site, and pulling its IRS reports, we find that on 11/21/03 Bing gave an additional $848,916.02, on 11/22/03 he gave $150,282.44, and on 03/18/04 he gave $4,966,448.82. ''Total Soft and Hard'' contributions from 4/99 to 3/04: $16,526,647.00.
Bob Perry, fiendish moneyman of the Right, has contributed 2% of what Steven Bing, enlightened progressive Democrat, has given to the Democratic cause in the same period. And Bing is probably only the Number Three contributor to the Democrats.
Now, since we're here, let's discuss the other prong of the assertion that the Bush campaign controls SBVFT.
The connections are made between SBVFT book ''Unfit for Command'' author John O'Neill and Merrie Spaeth and various Republicans including Carl Rove. True enough. No direct connection between Bush and O'Neill, but let's acknowledge that they have some shared friends, associates, and donors. One SBVFT was a volunteer for a state Bush vets committee, but when it was noted by the Bush campaign that he had appeared in the second SBVFT ad, he was asked to resign and the story was given to the press by the Bush campaign. When it was revealed that attorney Benjamin L. Ginsberg who worked for the Bush campaign was also advising the SBVFT on legal issues regarding 527s, the attorney withdrew from representing Bush. There is no evidence that the attorney facilitated between the groups or passed along any confidential information between the groups (which could cost him his license), but the hint of impropriety (which the FEC stated was not a problem) was enough for him to sever his ties with the Bush campaign.
Thus, whenever a direct connection is discovered, it is severed. There is no evidence of wrongdoing, but it is the avoidance of the appearance of impropriety. It's the honest, transparent thing to do.
Now let's look at Dem ties to 527s.
Central to the critique of Bush campaign ties to the Swift vets is their use of Spaeth Communications, founded by Merrie Spaeth, who has worked public relations for a number of Republican causes and married a Rep with ties to Bush, Rove and O'Neill. Her group was accused (well, convicted is a better term) by the left of creating negative ads in the Republican South Carolina 2000 primary, which she denies to this day.
Yet no one criticizes MoveOn.Org for using the PR services of @dvocacy, Inc., whose client list reads like a Who's Who of Democratic campaigns (they list over 20 Democrats--and no Republicans--on their web site as clients and former clients, including the Dick Gephardt and Bob Graham aspiring presidential candidates and the Georgia State Democratic Party . (<http://www.advocacyinc.com/clients.html>.) Spaeth Communications is indicted by the main stream media because of past ties, while the current ties of @dvocacy, Inc. are ignored.
The Kerry campaign's director of online communications and organization, Zack Exley, just happens to be the former organizing director of MoveOn.org. Media Fund was founded by Harold Ickes, deputy chief of staff in the Clinton White House. Jim Jordan, Kerry's former campaign manager, is Media Fund's spokesman. Might be a Democratic connection there.
In April, Peter Schurman, executive director of MoveOn.Org, stated that the organization's goal was to get Kerry elected. Perhaps that is a Democratic agenda? Cecile Richards was an aide to Nancy Pelosi and is the daughter of Ann Richards. She is now the president of America Votes which is funded by the Media Fund and Joint Victory Campaign 2004 (JVC04). If you have any questions about the partisan nature of the JVC04, consider its self-description:
Our country has moved dramatically off course since we were saddled with the ''unifying,'' ''compassionate conservatism'' of this Republican Administration. Like millions of Americans, we are terribly concerned about the extremist agenda of the Bush Republicans...
Victory Campaign 2004 supports an aggressive national strategy that is attacking the right-wing on the ground and on the air. We are combining an innovative grassroots program ( America Coming Together ) with a sophisticated and powerful media operation ( The Media Fund ), which, together will expose the real Bush Republican record and deliver progressive victories at all levels in 2004. (<http://www.victorycampaign2004.org/about.php>.)
If you have any questions about the non-partisan nature of America Votes, all you need do is read the list of partner groups. (<http://www.americavotes.org/>.)
Steve Rosenthal, chief executive officer of America Coming Together, was Clinton's associate deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor where he acted as former-Secretary Robert Reich's chief advisor on union matters. Prior to that he was deputy political director for the Democratic National Committee under Chairman Ron Brown and Political Director Paul Tully.
Outrage over Benjamin L. Ginsberg working as counsel for both the Bush campaign and the Swift Vets? Not from Joe Sandler, DNC counsel: Joe Sandler, a lawyer for the DNC and a group running anti-Bush ads, MoveOn.org, said there is nothing wrong with serving in both roles at once. msnbc.msn.com
The case for the Bush-SBVFT connection is based upon sourced money, two individuals (one a volunteer in no position to effect policy, the other a lawyer bound by rules of professional conduct) who worked with both groups, and friendship and affiliation between various involved parties. This is what I think of as the Michael Moore conviction: you know people who know other people, so you are in cahoots with those other people. If it weren't being pushed by the mainstream media it would be laughable.
Face it: the Kerry campaign has presented no evidence of coordination or control between the Bush campaign and the SBVFT. None. Ties, yes. Coordination, no.
But what about coordination between the Democrats and the liberal 527s supporting Kerry. Let's take a look, and pay attention to the sites where these quotes were taken from:
Picture caption: ''DNC Chief Operating Officer Josh Wachs (left), Senator Leahy, and Zack Exley from Moveon.org pose with the more than 310,000 signatures.'' democrats.org
''The Democratic Party is partnering with MoveOn.org, People for the American Way, Campaign for America's Future, and dozens of other groups representing millions of Americans to organize a massive public mobilization.'' (<http://www.democrats.org/wvc/weekinreview/200305120002.html>.)
Here's a message from Moveon.org:
''This Sunday, during the Super Bowl half time show, join us in changing channels on CBS. At 8:10pm and 8:35pm EST, switch over to CNN to watch 'Child's Pay' [MoveOn.org commercial] on a channel which doesn't censor its ads. We'd like to keep a tally of the number of people who participate--you can sign up here.''
democrats.org
A letter to MoveOn members from John Kerry
Dear MoveOn Members,
...If you agree with me that there should be no equivocation, no double-speak, no avoidance of the issue, then sign my online petition today at: petition.johnkerry.com
(<http://www.moveon.org/pac/cands/kerry.html>.)
The "Mother" of All House Parties
''The East Bay for Kerry/MoveOn House party on December 7th combined the forces of two grass-roots organizations based in San Francisco East Bay Area. We had 200 guests eating, drinking, and watching the MoveOn Documentary 'Uncovered' featuring Joseph Wilson and Rand Beers from the Kerry campaign.''
''When Teresa Heinz-Kerry arrived, she handed me a pin that read in the center: 'Asses of Evil' with 'Bush,' 'Cheney,' 'Rumsfeld,' and 'Ashcroft' surrounding it. She met, greeted, and talked to a jam-packed room of Kerry supporters and others who came for the MoveOn documentary. Many were curious, others undecided, or belonging to other candidate camps....Just as she was about to add more to the story, the phone rang. It was the senator.''
(<http://blog.johnkerry.com/blog/archives/000871.html>.)
Sam Kaplan, one of Kerry's biggest and earliest fundraisers in Minnesota, said he plans to continue raising money working with Americans Coming Together (ACT), a new progressive political action committee that's out to unseat Bush. ''We're having a very large fundraiser at our house on August 20 with Bette Midler performing,'' he said.
64.233.167.104
The following was when the Bush campaign alleged coordination between the Kerry campaign and his 527s earlier this year:
''But Bob Bauer, a lawyer for America Coming Together, said [Benjamin L.] Ginsberg was misinterpreting the law. He said there was nothing in the laws that barred Kerry from socializing with any members of the 527s. The question is whether Kerry and his campaign are coordinating their strategy with the independent groups, Bauer said.''
''Coordination occurs when a candidate provides material information to an organization, the effect of which is to shape the organization's creation, product or distribution of advertising,'' he said.
Bauer dismissed Ginsberg's contention that a federal ''former employee rule'' banned Jordan from doing anything for a 527 unless he ''put his brain on hold and ran the Xerox machine.''
The 527s say that although some of their staff and volunteers have links to the Democratic Party and the Kerry campaign, that is not proof of coordination.
(http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-independents1apr01,1,162463.story>.)
Now the Kerry campaign is saying that simply knowing or associating with people professionally is evidence of ''control.'' They offer no substantive proof of any active control or coordination, merely guilt by association. Associations which are much clearer and ongoing between the DNC and the various 527s are ignored by the main stream media.
Can you imagine the uproar if Laura Bush attended a Swift Boat Veteran's for Truth fund-raising party?
In every way, the connections between the Democrats and their 527 groups are much stronger than between the Republicans and their few 527s. The money issue is total hypocrisy, and the Kerry campaign has refused to fire Exley for having worked for MoveOn.Org. The Democrats have openly partnered with 527 groups--and yes--on the surface it is probably legal if they stick to issue advocacy and do not coordinate their efforts. I'm sure they don't...
Democrats are masters of offense as the best defense. They seem to have no problem with outraged accusations of wrongdoing against the Republicans when they do the same and more themselves. With a willing elite media working with them, they usually get away with it. Perhaps, just perhaps, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth will shatter this alliance. |
