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[bryant]

CNN:

President Bush wants to work with Sen. John McCain to take legal action against "shadowy" outside groups that have been spending millions of dollars on ads criticizing the president and Democratic rival Sen. John Kerry, the White House said Thursday.

Pesky free speech. What are you gonna do?

The thing is, Bush doesn't get credit for the moral argument against 527s. It is possible to argue that 527s are bad because they tilt the political playing field towards the people with the most money, which of course they do. However, Bush has demonstrated that he doesn't care about that principle, insofar as he opted out of the public financing system in the primaries. If he cared about an even playing field, he wouldn't have done that. The same applies to the schedule of the RNC; it's unusually late so that Bush has more time to spend the money he's already collected before public financing laws kick in.

So he can't legitimately argue that he's doing this to create an even playing field. The only explanation left is that he doesn't want people to be able to speak out against politicians. Or, I suppose, that he only minds a tilted playing field when it's tilted against him.

Comments

[head58.livejournal.com]

What a great strategy. Find a bordeline unhinged guy who hates Kerry going way back, prop up his group, if the public opinion starts to turn against them you yank the rug out from under them to look like you're taking the moral high road (and if the public doesn't turn against them you still win). And since the guy was a nutjob and his credibility was starting to weaken, no one will pay attention when he says that he was set up to take the fall!

If I believed in conspiracies, this is one I would believe in :)

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

So he can't legitimately argue that he's doing this to create an even playing field. The only explanation left is that he doesn't want people to be able to speak out against politicians. Or, I suppose, that he only minds a tilted playing field when it's tilted against him.

I don't know that it matters to the Bush campaign whether anything makes logical sense, only that it's tactically advantageous.

The interesting thing to me is that pointing out that Bush acts for tactical advantage alone fails to connect with the voters.

[bryant]

Odd, isn't it? I'm just gonna be pushing the "Bush hates free speech" meme myself.

[clauclauclaudia]

Patterson, Bush's errand boy in this little drama, is quoted:

About the swift boat veterans' campaign, Patterson said, "I think there's fact-checking under way. But the point is the swift boat folks have a right to their piece."

Dude, check your notes. Kerry didn't say they can't speak, he asked Bush to denounce their ad as false. *Bush* is the one saying they shouldn't have their say.

[bryant]

In all fairness, Kerry has filed a legal complaint against the Swift Boat Vets for Truth for violating FEC regs. This is not saying they can't speak, but it's getting spun that way pretty hard. I think that's the one mis-step Kerry's made during this whole thing.

I think the mis-step

[bluegargantua]

...was caring so much about this issue.

His response is short and simple:

"I earned those medals. But even if I didn't. Even if they were just handed to me for no particular reason, the fact remains that I served in Vietnam, I took part in combat and came under fire. My opponent never went to Vietnam and can't quite fully explain if he managed to show up on time for weekend warrior duty.

Now, I'd like to turn your attention to the fact that over the past three years the number of Americans living in poverty has risen steadily...."

Tom