Gloves off: Now, Obama calls for prosecuting GOP donor; Update: AIP responds
Scroll down for updates…
I noted this morning that the Obama campaign’s Chicago-style thug effort to shut down the independent ad on Bill Ayers is part of the larger effort to intimidate conservative donors and curtail the free speech of The One’s critics.
It’s getting uglier, people.
Obama’s lawyer has sent a second letter to the Justice Department calling for the head of Dallas billionare Harold Simmons, who funded the Ayers ad that the Obama campaign doesn’t want the public to see.
Feel the chill:
Obama general counsel Bob Bauer today sent a second, sharper letter to the Justice Department, directly attacking the Dallas billionaire funding a harsh attack ad, Harold Simmons.
“We reiterate our request that the Department of Justice fulfill its commitment to take prompt action to investigate and to prosecute the American issues Project, and we further request that the Department of Justice investigate and prosecute Howard (sic) Simmons for a knowing and willful violation of the individual aggregate contribution limits,” he wrote.
He called the group’s activities “patently illegal.”
Bauer made the case that Simmons’ group [is not] fulfilling its [...] nonprofit charter because it hasn’t spent any money on anything other than attacking Obama. Simmons’ spokesman, Christian Pinkston, told me yesterday that plans to, and dismissed the complaints as an effort to lawyer away charges the campaign can’t rebut.
I posted AIP’s rebuttal here yesterday. And as I’ve noted today and will note again: Obama has some nerve whining about campaign finance integrity after getting caught hiding $800,000 in ACORN payments.
What’s going on? Simple: The Left has its George Soros sugar daddy and can’t stand that conservatives have their own committed benefactors. They’ve got a massive non-profit infrastructure funded with taxpayers and operating flagrantly in an illegal, partisan manner (hello, ACORN Watch!). They want the playing field all to themselves. And they are fighting for that turf by any means necessary.
Can they do it?
No, they can’t. Not if you don’t let them.
***
AIP responds again:
American Issues Project Calls Obama Campaign Efforts to Prosecute Political Opponents “Bullying” and “Censorship”
AIP Responds to Second DOJ Letter from
Obama Campaign Demanding Donor Prosecution
Washington, DC – August 26, 2008 – The Barack Obama campaign has now sent a second letter to the Department of Justice calling for the prosecution of one of American Issues Project’s donors for his role in funding a political advertisement in full compliance with all election laws.
“Having failed in its attempts to get our legal, factual and fully-supported ad off the air, Barack Obama’s campaign now wants to put our donors in prison for exercising their right to free speech,” said Ed Martin, American Issues Project’s president. “These over-the-top bullying tactics are reminiscent of the kind of censorship one would see in a Stalinist dictatorship, with the only difference being that those guys generally had to wait until they were in power to throw people who disagreed with them into jail.”
In addition to two letters sent to the Department of Justice asking the government to investigate American Issues Project, its officers, board of directors, and donors, the Obama campaign has been contacting stations running American Issues Project’s ad in an unsuccessful attempt to compel them to pull the spot. With no success on either front, the campaign has also begun running its own ad in response. Notably, this ad fails to dispute a single fact in the American Issues Project’s initial ad.
American Issues Project is a 501(c)4 organization, similar in structure to NARAL and the League of Conservation Voters, two liberal organizations that have claimed status as “qualified nonprofit corporations” for two decades. In accordance with federal law, American Issues Project only solicits and accepts contributions from individuals and not from any business corporation. The FEC also sets out specific regulations for the activities of a qualified nonprofit corporation, which American Issues Project follows.
The American Issues Project’s ad began airing Thursday, August 21, and will continue through the Democratic Convention. An electronic version of the ad and full documentation of all statements made are available at American Issues Project’s website: www.americanissuesproject.org.
About American Issues Project
American Issues Project is a 501(c)4 organization representing a coalition of conservative activists committed to raising important issues that deserve deeper examination given their impact on policy and politics. In accordance with federal law, American Issues Project only solicits and accepts contributions from individuals and not from any business corporation. For more information, visit: www.americanissuesproject.org.
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Trackbacks
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52 posts.
Just. Cite. My. Post.
atheling #182
Which does in fact describe chapoutier. No surprise here.
53 and still no cite.
Now 53 posts of mine since I have asked chapoutier to defend his double standard. Actually it’s probably been more, since I remember distinctly asking in another topic.
atheling, help him out. If you don’t mind please cite to the post or posts where I said what he is claiming.
Yeah. I am agreeing with that. I apologize again for misreading your original post. It made my “refutation” of it obviously flawed.
chapoutier:
It’s not any one post. It’s the way you twist and evade. #48, you were asked a valid question to clarify if you were at least trying to be impartial, and you did not answer it.
It would be exhausting to point it all out, but many people here have noticed your pattern of dishonesty.
It’s cumulative.
Well, at least now I have something substantive to work with. Recall the original claim I was supposed to have made was that I was “calling for” some particular action, I guess action by the DOJ to either leave one or the other group alone or to prosecute one or the other group, with respect to either Soros or AIP.
In the post you cite I was asked in that if the claim Obama was making was weak. First, what does that question have to do with statement JHS claims I made? Second I answered that question here:
Still nothing to show I “called for” action, is there? Cumulative or not.
ahhh…back to the original issue
There is no case here, and the Obama people know it. The effort is to intidimate and silence. All you have to do is look at the success that Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton have had. Businesses will cave knowing that if they don’t, they will be out of business.
Also, if the advertisement was in such flagrant violation of the law, why didn’t the Obama crowd go to the FEC and let them send it to the DoJ? Isn’t that the usual route that these things take?
Of course, if it did go that route, then it probably wouldn’t be settled until after the election is over. The democrats made sure of that so they could stop any Republican challenge to democrat election fraud. Now it may come back to bite them!
Which I am happy to return to since you have failed to make your point on the tangential issue we have been bickering about for 64 posts now.
I didn’t make any claims, chapoutier. I simply saw your double standard and said as such. Then you did a John Kerry.
Nothing has changed since that point.
The only tangent has been yours, chapoutier. It’s only been there because you haven’t wanted to discuss the issue.
You know, you could have discussed the issue at any time.
See…that is how you actually use the quote function to prove someone is lying.
No lies from me, chapoutier. Did you even bother to read what I posted before calling it a lie?
If you read what I actually posted, the you would have noticed that I asked several questions. Those questions were based on your double standard.
The Alinsky Connection
Chicago…Obama’s Kind Of Town
Wow, I see the JV is out in force tonight in the form of atheling (the dark prince) and JHSII. Come on chap. Show a little sportsman ship and invoke the mercy rule.
Atheling’s go to debating technique: call her opponent a silly and immature name and/or claim they are dishonest (dishonest in her very small mind meaning that they disagree with her).
JHSII simply lazily and immediately goes to the “you are a troll” card when faced with an intellectual ass kicking.
Pathetic.
…with raving Nancy and Dirty Dingy Harry and the rest of the surrendercrats all pulls his little strings.
pulls=pulling
And dakine trolls in ad hominums and projection.
The usual suspect with the usual bullclinton.
Thanks for underscoring my point JHSII. You’re predictable and unoriginal if nothing else. Here’s an idea for you: man up and admit you were bested. No shame in that. Happens to the best of us. BTW, save the use of goofy blog terms such as “projection”. Overused, improperly used and highly derivative. Try being original.
You miss the whole point of the post Chap.
The surrendercrats have any number of left-wing groups standing by to get out the vote, register dead people, attack Republican politicians at any level to take them out, etc. Reading the ACORN stuff in Louisiana seemed like a whole spiderweb in itself of money being passed around. Then you have others like Baron funding Edwards bimbo eruption. Are their complaints voiced about this by people here? Absolutely, but little gets done about it. ACORN has been committing voter fraud since at least 2000 in many states (I think like 37 cases in Milwaukee alone this year!), yet there isn’t much being done other than going after the low hanging fruits. IIRC in 2004, Milwaukee had over 1100 voter registrations that could not be verified, and in 2000, the homeless were being rounded up and paid to vote for Gore.
You can include a large majority of the drive-by media in the group…all of them salivating at getting B’HO elected.
Now, when a SINGLE group is effective at telling the truth about the ties between Obama and Ayers, BECAUSE the drive-by media glosses over those ties, those on the left are wetting their pants over it, and the party hacks are doing what they do…running to the courts.
Perhaps if the drive-by media did their jobs, there would be no need for any group to run an ad like this.
Your point was that you are a troll, dakine? I don’t need to help you underscore that – you do a fine job all by yourself.
Here are some ideas for you: Stop being a troll. Start thinking for yourself. Stop projecting.
btw, I wasn’t “bested”. Maybe if you weren’t a troll you might figure that out. Then again, that would be too much to ask.
Obama bin Biden wants to kill the country and end free speech. Vote McCain (even if it hurts).
Weathered underground?
Billy-bombed?
How about this. He couldn’t restrict the truth from coming out.
The attack by him is similar to what Jon eFing Cary tried with the Swiftboat vets. Attack them early and get the media to spin lies, while ignoring all of the charges made.
Problem Obambi has is that there is too much out there on Ayers that is irrefutable, and the impact of being buds with a domestic bomber can be visualized a little better by Joe SixPack.
Yeah, dakine is a troll.
Those who can’t handle the truth…
try to silence those who speak it.
Communist activists such as Obama associate and terrorist William Ayers (quoted in the September 11, 2001 New York Times as saying, ”I don’t regret setting bombs…I feel we didn’t do enough”) think the United States is a great country for completely different reasons than we do…Dancing on a US flag, saying, “Guilty as sin, free as a bird, it’s a great country”. The only reason that man is free is because another Communist intentionally botched the case against him. (That would be the same Communist who played a major role in bringing down President Nixon.)
These links make the point perfectly. If the drive-by media were doing their jobs, there would be many more questions about B’HO’s ties to Ayers, and there would be no need for AIP.
So when a free press no longer acts responsibly, free speech should be shut down as well?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/27/world/middleeast/27abuse.html?_r=2&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
If you can not get the people to believe the other side is lieing, then call it racism or do whatever to shut them up so the truth will not be heard.
B. HUSSIEN change is to stiffle and shut down anything that is of truth against him. Sounds like change to marxism to me.
I’d prefer waving the Bob Bauer letters in McCain’s face and scream – “You did this to yourself!” and force him to admit it was a MISTAKE to enact that law and vow to work to repeal it, (Hey, it was just a “bad experiment”…) Had that law had been in place in the late 70’s it is VERY likely that the Berlin Wall would still be standing today because Reagan wouldn’t have received sufficient funding early on from a few key rich donors to have gotten started on the path to the White House. Consider that we now have to battle things like this and George Soros at the same time thanks to McCain Feingold.
i just wonder how much money he gets from germany???
Chap, JSM…
Are you two on the west coast, or do you just not sleep?
As to the ad, Chap, I partially agree with you. McCain Feingold is a bad law and needs to be overturned. That’s not judicial activism, that’s just the court saying “What part of ‘Congress shall make no law’ do you idiots not understand?”
And, if the AIP is pulling Shenaigans, then they need to be brought to court under the (bad) law. It’s one thing to defy a law bluntly in protest (and please do not try to equivocate Obama-fundraiser Ayers ‘lets blow up the government’ with say, me running ads in defiance of M-F) and accept the consequences, it’s another to try to hide behind the loopholes in the bad law and then scream when you’re caught.
Imus goes on Cavuto yesterday and discusses Obama, Biden and McCain.
http://bellalu0.wordpress.com/2008/08/26/imus-on-obama-biden-and-mccain/
What is Bob Bauer’s telephone number and e-mail? Justice demands that we be able to contact him and tell him that his efforts to subvert free speech are criminal.
What’s all the hubbub about?
Federal Election Commission rulings after the 2004 election put advertisements which questioned a candidate’s character and fitness for office off limits to 527s specifically.
AIP is not a 527 group! AIP is a 501(c)(4) exemptions are given to civic leagues or organizations not organized for profit and operated exclusively for the promotion of social welfare. MoveOn is also a 501(c)4 group.
McCain-Feingold has nothing to do with this.
I still think Chap’s moral equivalency thrust lies on the other side of the fence. Obama’s camp is the entity with the mental reservations.
If you feel you need a marker consider the General Petraeus smear MoveOn orchestrated months back; no different than what AIP is doing.
Have a nice day.
The question is whether or not they are acting as a 501(c)(4) or as a 527. Some political activity is allowed for 501(c)(4)s but it cannot be their primary activity.
Come on, this group is not the Kiwanis Club.
chapoutier: Whatever they are, this is a clear attempt to supress political dissent. Is this what we can expect if Obama wins? The supression of all dissent? Marxism 101, everyone must support the party line or face punishment.
Some political activity is allowed for 501(c)(4)s but it cannot be their primary activity.
————————
So why is moveon.org still running?
Just a note – sort of off the topic but not. I have always been suspect of people who like to put themselves in hostile situations. Such as, the libs that come here. I suspect it is more about their personal issues than it is any political issue. I watch them zone in on a subject (knowing full well they will come up against hostility, it is afterall, a conservative blog) and then it becomes a battle. Most times they become hateful, caustic and I wonder if that’s not why they visit – it gives them an excuse to be angry in the name of some moral just cause. Now, if any good came from these exchanges, I may feel differently, but generally nothing is accomplished. lgm, mj, dakine, nyc – none have managed to change anybody’s views.
I was talking to a couple of people recently who said they “knew very little” about Obama. I referred them to this blog.
Michelle, thanks for all you do, not only in keeping us informed, but also providing this forum for all to continue the discourse.
from the moeon.org web site.
Yet 90% of thier articles are for electing obama.
Misscheryl, what you said sounds just like my sister-in-law. I used to think it was just some personal chemistry between us, which I admit could still be the case as well, but the more exposure I have to libs the more I realize this type of pathological behavior is MUCH more widespread.
Then I am sure some intrepid conservative group can ask the DOJ to investigate their activities.
chapoutier, please answer the question I asked you in post #40.
Sound anything like ACLU or La Raza or maybe like a civil rights lawyer running for Pres?
WWOD…What Would Obama Do…for places like Hazelton, Pa?
If you can find a significant difference between what AIP is doing to Obama and what MoveOn did to Petraeus then maybe you’ll convince me.
But really, this is nothing more than a war of attrition and I think a billionaire should be able to handle it. My bet is the DoJ won’t touch it.
Perhaps someone has already brought this up, but another issue regarding Ayers is the refusal of his university to release boxes and boxes of papers that have been requested. I suspect there is much more to be discovered, not only about Ayers, but about his association with Obama. As others have said, “Get the National Enquirer on this story!” If the Swift Boat Veterans had not been tenacious, if they had allowed themselves to be intimidated by the left, we would have a President john kerry and first lady theresa (prounounced terayza, and roll the r).
Corkie,
I did in Post 41.
But without conceding that they do or do not have a case, yes. I agree that if the Obama campaign has any colorable claim against this group, even if it is weak, they are going to hit them with it.
Conservatives are “man enough” to take it. Unlike liberals, we don’t run crying to our mothers at the DOJ when Democrats say something mean about us during an election. We fight our own battles – and we win!
Can the brown shirts and jackboots be far behind?
I could, but I ain’t.
Ah… wouldn’t the ObaMafia make a wonderful President. Get ready for the re-education camps.
Why are we arguing about this. It looks like AIP isn’t going to back down, which I find laudable. . .so we leave it to the courts to decide, and live with that decision.
No matter if AIP is right, or wrong, the Obama camp is naturally going to claim their doing something illegal or shady. . . because they cannot refute the article on its facts. Politics as usual.
It certainly isn’t worth several dozen-odd posts of schoolyard back-and-forth.
You did not answer in #41, but thanks for answering above.
I am happy that you concede that the Obama campaign may be taking these actions despite the possibility that they have a weak case.
If the case is weak, then I doubt that the American people will favor a candidate whose campaign makes big threats to people using weak cases.
Typical liberal moral equivalence, propping up the obvious despicable military hate MoveOn lie by associating it with an ad that portrays facts that are unflattering to an idolized liberal.
Goldwater Knight #241
The difference – and it is significant – is that the “General Betrayus” ad was a hit piece designed specifically to smear and defame one of America’s better generals, while the ad by the AIP just puts the facts out there.
Guys go back and read my thread stream between Chap and I before you come across as unresearched. Do I look like a
f*cking hippie dude? Lol.
Scans blog…….doesn’t see LGM, Bemusedlib or Rusty….
hmmmm……
When you nominate a lawyer for the White House, this is the kind of crap you get. When his wife is also a lawyer, it’s just more crap at double-depth.
If Obama comes out tonight in a blue turbin we’re all screwed.
I disagree. I made an attempt to engage in civil debate on the Daily Kos (with some success) mainly to improve my own debating skills and to see what the other side would bring to bear on the subject.
I don’t remember who said it but the quote is,”I read the New York Times and The Bible everyday so I know what each side is up to.”
Consider – the DOJ under Clinton:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Inselian.jpg
A repeat under Obama if you disagree?