}

Monday, July 07, 2008

Special interest attacks begin

Well, that didn’t take long. Already Republican special interest groups have begun running ads to help John McSame’s election campaign. The groups, called “527 Groups” because of the section of Internal Revenue code they operate under, are always conservative and clearly back Republicans, even if, by law, they are “officially” independent of a party or campaign.

In 2004, the infamous Republican group “Swift Vote Veterans for Truth” used lies, smears and innuendo to defame John Kerry in order to help elect Bush-Cheney. This year, a group calling itself “Vets for Freedom” is trying to help John McSame by defending the Bush-Cheney-McCain Iraq War.

According to the Washington Post, the group has targeted Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia, all of which are battleground states in the November election. Nevertheless, the Post reported that the group’s leader said “the states were chosen… not because they are crucial swing states for McCain, but rather because the heightened interest in those states will give it a larger audience.” Right—and I suppose they have a bridge they want to sell me, too.

The group claims to have supported the occasional Democrat in the past, but admits that its ad line is almost identical to the standard rhetoric of John McSame. The group also claims, according to the Post, that McSame “has been the ‘strongest advocate’ for the veterans of the two wars.” It’s pretty clear who this “independent group” is backing.

This is the first special interest group to start running ads for McSame, but it won’t be the last. Other groups will probably use lies, smears and innuendo to try and help McSame, but this time there are plenty of people who will call them on it.

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