Help Document Right-Wing Attempts to Game the '08 Election

A two-headed dragon slayer by the name of Dave Johnson and James Boyce—see their important blogs Smoking Politics [1] and Seeing the Forest [2]—have a job for you. Let Boyce describe it here [3]:

Democrats remain obsessed with stopping 'swiftboating' and ending the smears. They are lining up to fight the last war in droves, no one will get swiftboated this time, they cry.

Well, that part is right, no one will get swiftboated because the Republicans aren't going to use the same tactic twice. Yes, swiftboating is a tactic, not a strategy.

The core reason that won't be used again as a tactic is that the swiftboating on John Kerry, and I was there on the campaign, with John's family and friends and fellow veterans, was a once-in-our-lifetime occurrence -- more about that later.

This issue of tactic not strategy is the one thing all those Democrats are falling over themselves to not understand.
The strategy is to use the money of extremely wealthy Republicans, T. Boone Pickens, Bob Perry, men who invest in projects created by right wing consultants and strategists. Invest I say because the payout that they receive from winning the election is a tremendous return on investment. This is why Sam Fox, our nation's Ambassador to Belgium can truthfully claim that he didn't know he was funding veteran attacks on John Kerry. He was committing money to the strategy, the tactics and the execution? He had no idea.

The strategy then is to use the money to attack and destroy and ridicule the Democratic opposition in a race. With the Swift Boat Veterans, it was attacking John Kerry's military record. With Democrats last cycle and the Economic Freedom Fund, funded with $5,000,000 of Bob Perry's money, it was to go off the "Democrats will raise taxes" mantra.

The strategy is to lie and diminish and attack Democrats, always has been, always will be. Jimmy Carter, Walter Mondale, Al Gore, Hillary Clinton, all greatly impacted by this strategy, none swiftboated....'

How do they do it? Front groups. This year, James and Dave are convinced the key front group is called "Freedom's Watch." Who are they [4]?

Freedom's Watch, operating like the opposite of a grassroots-funded progressive group like MoveOn.org, was founded by major donors like [5]

... Sheldon G. Adelson, the chairman and chief executive of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation, who ranks sixth on the Forbes Magazine list of the world's billionaires; Mel Sembler, a shopping center magnate based in St. Petersburg, Fla., who served as the ambassador to Italy and Australia; John M. Templeton Jr., the conservative philanthropist from Bryn Mawr, Pa.; and Anthony H. Gioia, a former ambassador to Malta who heads an investment group based in Buffalo, N.Y. All four men are long-time prolific donors who have raised money on behalf of Republican and conservative causes.

as well as [6]

Richard Fox, one of the major building, development and real estate management companies in eastern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey and a longtime GOP activist. He co-founded the Republican Jewish Coalition.

Gary Erlbaum, owner of Greentree Properties in Ardmore, Pa., who tried to rally Orthodox Jewish support for last year's failed reelection bid of conservative Christian Sen. Rick Santorum.

Freedom's Watch has direct connections with the Republican Party and is staffed by Republican Party operatives like Ari Fleischer, former White House Spokesperson; Bradley A. Blakeman, a former deputy assistant to George W. Bush; Kevin E. Moley, a senior adviser to Dick Cheney during the 2000 campaign.

Check out their site [7] and their rhetoric. It is a major right-wing group, and here's the scary part:

Freedom's Watch says it plans to raise over $250,000,000 to play in this election [8]. But Freedom's Watch is a 501(c)(4) organization, which means they can engage in political activity but not as their primary mission. They are allowed to lobby on issues but not support candidates. Yet the group appears to be primarily designed to influence elections in favor of Republican candidates.

But who is going enforce the laws? The Federal Election Commission? The Justice Department? Perhaps Senate Democrats can issue one of their strongly-worded statements of disapproval.

So what do we do?

We watch them — and we start exposing them now, every day, all day.

You can help. Start here [9].