It remains to be seen. OK - then let's withdraw it, how about Citizens United instead of Freedom's Watch, or Progress for America, which is apparently Freedom's Watch's alter ego - does it really matter? What's your point, that there's no such thing as a Republican 527 so there's nothing McCain can do about them? Because if that's your point it's not a good one.
How about "Vets For Freedom", a 527 group that until recently had two McCain advisors on its board and who's advertising mirrored McCain's message? Do we really think McCain had no influence on that group?
OK, the Supreme Court is excepted. Still, if the Dems have a big advantage in the Senate they could reject McCain's nominees. In fact, they might relish the conflict. What I meant was McCain would have a very hard time pushing any legislative agenda because he'd be a one-term lame-duck and neither party would want to do him any favors.
it's not my point, it's the WaPo's [rquoter] “John McCain’s campaign and the Republican National Committee are fueled by contributions from Washington lobbyists and special interest PACs,” Obama said in his message to supporters yesterday. “And we’ve already seen that he’s not going to stop the smears and attacks from his allies running so-called 527 groups, who will spend millions and millions of dollars in unlimited donations.” To date, no conservative 527 groups have materialized.[/rquoter]
basso might have a point -- via TPM -- Will There Even Be Any Scary Right-Wing Groups Swift-Boating Obama? The Politico has a terrific story today reporting that there really isn't any frightening apparatus of right-wing independent groups gearing up to Swift Boat Obama -- even though the specter of such efforts is central to Obama's justification for opting out of the public financing system. Indeed, the story reports that the super-rich oil baron who was the lead funder of such efforts against John Kerry is not going to shell out a dime this time around: The dynamic on the right is interesting. I'm told by people involved in trying to launch such efforts that the big GOP money-people are genuinely confused by the anti-527 noises John McCain has been making. They don't know whether to bankroll such efforts, because they can't tell whether McCain would tacitly approve, or whether doing so would actually gain them nothing from McCain. Meanwhile, others are trying to decide whether they even care what McCain thinks, and are weighing putting money into them simply to stop Obama, regardless of what McCain has said. *snicker*
Given the existence of "Vets for Freedom" and the fact they ran ads either this year, that is factually incorrect. Just because organizations call themselves "nonpartisan" doesn't make them so - especially when their board contains two top members of the McCain campaign.
That's odd considering that FEC records indicate a number of them are in existence and actively raising money and supporting his campaign, such as Vets for Freedom, Citizens United, etc etc etc
Democrats in Congress haven't shown much indication that they will be relishing the conflict. Given how the Democrats have rolled over to the most unpopular President in a generation on FISA, I'd say we need a much bigger advantage in both houses made up of much stronger Democrats.
To date, no conservative 527 groups have materialized. But Obama portrayed his call as a preemptive strike. "From the very beginning of this campaign, I have asked my supporters to avoid that kind of unregulated activity and join us in building a new kind of politics -- and you have," Obama said. ". . . I'm asking you to try to do something that's never been done before." Couldn't bear to have a LITTLE longer quote, basso?
Note: I write this reaction without the patience to read much of the thread at this time. Obama's decision is a somewhat tough issue to be totally happy about if you want elections driven by the needs of the public at large. Perhaps if the GOP is outspent massively for a cycle or two they will be interested in some sort of real campaign finance reform without the loop holes of the RNC, DNC, the 527's etc.. Next time around you might have a million Republicans give a $2300 a piece or whatever the limit is for a couple of billion or more if they have an exciting candidate. You can be sure that the GOP as the party of the wealthy will reverse this anomaly, perhaps the only time in 50 years that their candidate will be outspent. Complicating matters is the fact that I believe the S. Ct. has said there is a free speech issue if you regulate what can be spent too closely. Hopefully Obama and McCain can have an honest debate about this issue and it can set the stage for a better election finance law in the future. One thing you can be sure of, the moneyed class and the special interests will fight strongly to maintain the dominance of money in national elections.
Organization inside the Republican front seems uncharacteristically bad. They should've chosen a hardcore candidate instead to truly burn up its old diehards.
BS. They were going to do exactly what they did last time... spring the attacks early to either make Obama spend money refuting them and thus leaving him with little money to close out the campaign or allowing the atacks to define him so he could save money for the end. Either option was a bad one for Obama. They're not upset about principle... they're upset because the one strategy they felt comfortable implementing has been rendered moot by Obama opting out of public financing. I have no doubt they're somewhat confused now, but it's not because of the unclear signals from McCain... it's because Obama going to the people totally blew up their strategy.
There is still time to do a Swift Boat strategy or to raise massive amounts of 527 or other money, and it would be naive to think that McCain or the hard core right/ money interests will roll over.
I can't help thinking about how many of the Obama supporters blasted Hillary Clinton for being two faced, not keeping her word and doing anything to win. I will say that I fully understand why Obama is doing this and I'm still supporting him but as I've said before Obama's campaign regarding changing how politics is done was always vague and if this is the way he is bringing change he is changing things for the worse by gutting whatever is left of an issue that he claims to support.
