Oh, I think this is a bad move. A bad move indeed…

But then again - I don’t know what he’s thinking, or what his plans are. There’s little doubt in my mind he’d do this without seeing a decided advantage to it. Bush doesn’t react to political jabs.

J.

Posted by: JLL3 at August 26, 2004 02:09 PM

IMHO this was a smart move by the Bush campaign.

Kerry’s complaining about the SwiftVets gave Bush an excellent opportunity to push this agenda. If we take a look at the 527’s the Democrats have much more to lose if they go than the Republicans do.

I’m eager to see how Kerry will respond. Based on the Kerry campaign’s recent response to Bush’s comments about 527’s on Monday my guess is this is definitely not what they wanted. The 527’s supporting Kerry have far superior funding that the few supporting Bush.

Posted by: Lackey at August 26, 2004 02:17 PM

This move is somewhat a “check” move more than anything else. Now the ball has been returned to Kerry’s camp to see what they do with it. I do not think that Kerry’s people want the spotlight taken off their agenda item of blaming Bush and trying to connect him to the SBVT group. This forces the discussion in the media away from this and offers up ample opportunities to compare relative strengths of the 527s which will show them more in the Kerry side than for the Republican side. This twist helps the Republicans.

It will not be a leap of faith then to draw the conclusion that Kerry wants to condem only the opponenet’s single 527 while trying not highlight similar activities by their own. It’ll be hard to spin this one, but I’m looking to see how effective their effort might be.

It also nails down McCain as part of the Bush camp followers and not available for any “bipartisan” efforts initiated by the other side.

Meanwhile, MoveOn.org and SBVT keep rolling out ads and hogging the limelight that should be set aside for policy and issues.

Posted by: steve at August 26, 2004 02:31 PM

The more I think about this move, the more I like it.

First, nothings’ gonna happen until after the election, so it’s a moot point for this campaign.

next, as other posters have noted, it puts Kerry in a position where he must respond. This give Bush the opportunity to point to the money the Kerry supporting 527’s have spent. Should be interesting.

Another interesting point, although a bit on the subtle side: This decision is likely to be roundly condemned by the conservatives, especially the talk show hosts. This is a good thing in that it will support their credibility. They can point to their dislike of this move as a response to the “you never criticize Bush” complaints.

Yeah, it’s a political move, no I don’t really like the campaign finance laws, but it keeps Bush on the offensive.

I like what I’ve seen for the past few weeks.

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Posted by: leaddog2 at August 26, 2004 04:09 PM

Good points, Skip. Now instead of Kerry’s surrogates getting on the Sunday talking shows, they will be all hosting McCain who will speak against ALL 527s. Message interuptus for the Dems?

The American Spectator is now reporting that the Dems have unleashed their personal attack PIs to dig up dirt on any and all of the SBVT members. Seems that this tactic worked well for ol’ Bill to silence those pesty women, right?

Posted by: steve at August 26, 2004 04:21 PM

McClellan said McCain told Bush that he thought it was a good idea that the two men work together.

Yes, that pesky First Amendment is so inconvenient to politicians that it’s time to double team it in the courts. Soon we’ll be revisiting the Sedition Acts so that we can bypass the FEC and go straight to prosecution for political speech that is critical of incumbents.

Posted by: capitano at August 26, 2004 04:36 PM

This is so totally bone headed I cannot believe it.

Has the President forgotten he has to govern after 3 Nov? You know he seems intent on driving the RINOs he needs to govern out of the party. He will get support on the war and 51/49 Senate opposition on every thing else.

He wants to make more anti-free speech laws post election? Does he want to run on that platform?

BTW I‘m a Bush supporter.

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Posted by: M. Simon at August 26, 2004 05:05 PM

Ok, “shadowy”. Can someone explain to me what “shadowy” means in American English.

Weren’t the Iraqian terrorists “shadowy” figures that came out to kill democratic freedom fighters?

Posted by: symptomless at August 26, 2004 07:25 PM

Capitano & Steven:

Step back and think a moment. The 1st amendment doesn’t really apply to elections anyway in the traditional sense. The recent reforms were designed to create a more level playing field so that no single person can buy themselves more voice than any of the rest of us.

527’s bypass that concept. I’ve disliked them from the beginning, and they should be either removed completely or entirely overhauled. It’s ridiculous when someone like Soros can buy himself a big chunk of media exposure with what is to him a little pocket change.

Besides which the 527’s out there are really walking a fine line between obeying the letter and the spirit of the law with their very specific attack ads. I personally think they (all of them) are violating the spirit of the law that governs them.

Posted by: Lackey at August 26, 2004 08:37 PM

Steven?? What was I thinking… That should be:

Capitano & Simon

Posted by: Lackey at August 27, 2004 07:32 AM

Whew… I thought for a minute I might have gotten up in the middle of the night and posted something I could not recall!

Anyway, I too respect freedom of speech, but I think that there are far better ways to debate issues and make points than the way the 527s are doing it. Unless its regulated more strictly with limits on the funds that can be raised, it could very well get to being all propaganda all the time.

I really do not know how anyone can think that either party is not really coordinating the actions of the 527s. The high profile power brokers and players from both parties are in this stuff up to their necks. They may not communicate directly, but you know that there are plenty of stealth exchanges going on via third parties, etc. In my opinion, the real pros who work these 527s behind the scenes do not need direct communication to stay in synch with the major party strategies.

Posted by: steve at August 27, 2004 09:52 AM