Crossroads GPS, America Rising, Citizens United: The $100 Million Anti-Hillary Smear Machine

[Skinner]

This is what we are up against...

Inside the war rooms plotting a battle against Hillary Clinton
BY ANITA KUMARMCCLATCHY WASHINGTON BUREAU
Updated 04/23/2015 3:39 AM

ARLINGTON, VA. -- In a nondescript high-rise in the suburbs of Washington, a group of 20-somethings is waging war on Hillary Clinton.

They’re tracking her every move, analyzing her utterances during decades in public life and updating a library of 1,000 videos dating to the early 1980s.

(snip)

America Rising isn’t alone in its work on Clinton. She faces a trio of major independent organizations, each armed with different tools but all with the same mission: Defeat her.

The groups – America Rising, Citizens United and Crossroads GPS – are expected to have more money, more staff and more ways than ever to get out their message this year than in any previous presidential race.

More: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/article19252827.html

[AuntPatsy]

1. Who's paying them are these transactions even legal?

[jeff47]

5. Billionaires, and yes they are legal. (nt)

[AuntPatsy]

14. I'm in the wrong line of work, I can mix facts with fiction, perhaps I should apply....

[brooklynite]

11. ...and we do the same thing...

...take a look at AMERICAN BRIDGE (the only SuperPAC I give money to)

Americanbridgepac.org

[emulatorloo]

53. Except we do not lie

[brooklynite]

55. And neither do they...

...certainly not in this context. If you're going to make things up, there's no point in wasting your money tracking a candidate. The goal is to get something juicy in her/her own words.

[sabrina 1]

59. All of it should be illegal. Voters should be presented with where candidates stand on the issues

and not bombarded with trash about who they slept with or other personal, non-relevant information.

Paying for dirt on a politician, and we know they do it, some of our 'Security Contractors' eg, bid on contracts to smear outspoken journalists who report on the Banking Industry, eg, and here we thought they were keeping us safe or something, is despicable and should be against the law.

It interferes with the democratic process. At least they should have to declare who they are and what conflicts of interest they have. And who is funding them.

And candidates should sue them so that they are exposed in courtrooms where they can't lie. Even if they lose, the process can be used to put their faces on the front pages. Suits can be dropped after the election. Meantime they can be confronted and let the public see the deceptions big money is paying for to try to influence their choices.

[brooklynite]

63. That's not what trackers do...

...they track the candidate throughout their day and capture their statements and comments. Which strikes me a perfectly legal and appropriate. If candidate A gives you his "stand on the issue", and the next day says something different to another group, isn't that useful to know?

[sabrina 1]

64. I think the public is capable of doing that themselves. That is the job of Journalists, to report

facts to the public. Why do we need secret groups, with agendas, to do the work the Press is supposed to do?

[brooklynite]

65. Because the press doesn't...

Remember George Allen's "Macaca"comment? That was caught by a tracker for Jim Webb's campaign.

Complain if you want; I'll go with the ole First Amendment...

[sabrina 1]

66. 'The press doesn't' because our Representatives allowed Corporations to take over the press.

I am a huge fan of the 1st Amendment. It protects the Press which is why a #1 issue for the public is to restore at least the Fairness Doctrine so we can start going back to Real Journalists, not memo readers such as we have on all of our 'news' media now

A real journalist would have reported accurately on Allen's remarks and it wouldn't have cost millions of dollars.

There is a real danger to these private agenda driven groups. If both sides are doing it with an agenda involved, it's a wash, isn't it? We take one of their guys and they take out one of ours. Turning politics into a childish game of 'gotcha'.

Whereas real journalism reporting from a neutral standpoint, informing of the public position, gives the people unbiased information they can then use effectively.

They lower the political discourse also, pitting people against each other sometimes blindly defending things they might normally defend if they didn't suspect it was the 'enemy' who was 'lying' about their candidate.

Too much 'managing' of the population in terms of attempting to influence with stuff to sway them this way or that, distracting from what is really important. which is why trust in our government is at such an all time low. The people know they are being managed.

[brooklynite]

67. Would the press have covered every single event that Allen or another candidate attended?

Even with the best of intentions, the media has limited resources and other stories to write.

[emulatorloo]

62. "Her own words" that they will then heavily edit until she appears to say

something she never said. I've seen this movie before, lol.

[Beartracks]

85. Yep: Take true words, put them in false context. Voila!

"Truthiness!"

=====================

[Fred Sanders]

2. The Fascist War Room must be full of Post-it Notes: "Drive a wedge between Warren and Clinton fans".

"Use the confusion over the TPP and the natural tension with unions"

[DemocratSinceBirth]

4. It is amazing how eager...

It is amazing how eager they are to create dissension in our party

[erronis]

22. It also amazes me how young people with a possible future

Will work against their own self interests and promote the right-wing mantras and try to trip up true democracy.

I wonder if it's not like every kid on a Little League baseball team seeing themselves at some point on a professional team.

The Junior Repugs dream of being masters of all the evil empire. Someday they'll realize that they are just another poor pawn being rewarded by crappy safety nets, no health care, and no concern by their gated-community bosses.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

27. When I was younger I had a friend who tried to ingratiate himself to the Republican powers that be

When I was younger I had a friend who tried to ingratiate himself to the Republican powers that be In Florida. For his efforts he got a crappy job trying to get individual retail outlets to sell lottery tickets. I believe he expected more.

[MineralMan]

40. And how eager some of us are to listen to them.

That's what's surprising.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

41. I want to know what they're up to...It is important we know what our opponents are up to.

The difference is what they're up to upsets me and not fills me with glee.

[MineralMan]

47. Yes, we need to know that stuff. We shouldn't be using it, though.

Anytime we attack Democratic candidates we give aid and comfort to the Republicans. We should support the Democratic candidates our our choice. We should refrain from using right-wing talking points to attack Democratic candidates we don't like. Focus on the positive qualities of your own favorite candidate, not the supposed flaws of another Democrat. Helping Democrats win elections should be the goal, in my opinion.

[Tarheel_Dem]

70. +1. And on a site called "Democratic" Underground, no less. It's time for a revamp. nt

[MineralMan]

71. I don't know. As long as there are people here who will point

out such things when they happen, I think it's fine. People say stuff, and others speak up to counter it. There's a broad range of political positions held by DUers. While there are a few who are trying to sabotage Democratic candidates, it's impossible to tell which people are doing that and which are just making a political point they truly believe in.

Anyhow, it's not my website, so I'm just here as a guest. People post here, and I'm one of the active posters. That's DU for you. Eventually, some of the pretenders end up being banned, but they often return with a different screen name. I don't care, really. I just post what I think, either way.

[aquart]

89. We hone our skills demolishing these attacks.

Grab, rephrase with positives, push it forward until they have to abandon it. Word tennis. Sorta.

[demmiblue]

3. K&R, but trashing before the internecine DU accusation drama begins. n/t

[jeff47]

6. You know what would be really cool?

To make that $100M a waste of money by nominating someone else.

[stevenleser]

15. It's cute that you think that would matter. They would have a full suite of oppo research on

Warren and Sanders within a week.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

18. They turned Obama into a crypto Muslim who is here illegally and palled around with terrorists.

They turned Obama into a crypto Muslim who is here illegally and palled around with terrorists to his detractors.

[stevenleser]

20. Exactly. They would turn Sanders into Pol Pot, and Warren into a serial liar about being native

American. And that's just for starters. And yes I know both of those accusations are B.S. That doesnt matter to the GOP

[DemocratSinceBirth]

24. Rove turned a war hero (Kerry) into a feckless Naval officer who shot himself....

Rove turned a war hero (Kerry) into a feckless Naval officer who shot himself and shot a teen age combatant in the back as he ran away to his detractors...


That's one of the reasons I have faith in Team Clinton. They will fight back.

[JaneyVee]

42. Yup. I could picture the Bernie ads with him say "IM A SOCIALIST! IM A SOCIALIST! IM A SOCIALIST!"

As much as I love Bernie, he has zero chance.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

44. Their attacks are commensurate with the threat.

IMHO, the last more or less positive campaign they ran was in 1984 and that is because the outcome was never in dispute though they did try to dirty up Geraldine Ferraro's husband.

[RecoveringJournalist]

84. And that worked so well - twice

Let them waste their money - again.

[jeff47]

48. The $100M is already spent. That "full oppo research" would be new spending.

(Or at least it's partially already spent)

[stevenleser]

52. And they have several Billionaires funding them for whom $100 million, divided by several

billionaires, is nothing.

[MADem]

81. They did a ton of oppo on Warren for the Senate race.

They overplayed their hand on the native peoples business and weren't able to effectively roll out the rest (three cheers for the decency of Bay State voters, who recoiled in revulsion). I'm sure they've hung on to it, though. It wouldn't play well in "decent" Massachusetts, but I'll bet there'd be plenty of fans of that shit across the red states.

They'd just unpack the boxes and keep on rolling. They've got lots of money and they're determined.

[sufrommich]

16. Because they would be cool with someone else? nt

[jeff47]

49. Because they've already spent the $100M. (nt)

[leftynyc]

17. You do realize that's

exactly what they want, don't you. No other candidate even comes close to beating every single con that has thought about running. And you think it's a good idea to give them what they want?

[sufrommich]

19. Yes, there is a reason that they're trying to stop

her in the primary. They're flop sweating a river over her.

[jeff47]

50. And Giuliani crushed Obama in the polls this far out.

It's way too early for polls to be anything beyond an exercise in name recognition.

Any candidate will face massive Republican opposition and spending. Wasting $100M of that spending would be helpful.

[MoonRiver]

45. Nope. The money will go toward defeating whoever we nominate,

because that's what those rat fuckers do.

[jeff47]

51. Except it's already spent

Or at least a portion of it is already spent.

[MoonRiver]

60. They'll just get more money.

The Rethugs are plotting a complete take-over of the US government. Didn't you get the memo? This has been their goal for at least 30 years.

[former9thward]

87. Isn't that the goal of any political party?

[cbdo2007]

46. That's true....make them chase their tails for the next year...

and spend $100 Million + on defeating Hillary, then pull someone else out at the last minute and have Hillary step back. Sure, they have a lot of money....but there is a limit there, and the more we can get them to waste now, is less they'll have to waste in the future.

[emulatorloo]

57. They can turn on a dime. They will smear any Dem

and $100m is pocket change for them

[Historic NY]

7. And some question why this race could cost 2.6 billion....

they obviously aren't paying attention. To weather the storm front one better have a ton of cash raised.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

8. And have a candidate and supporters who are willing to go to the mattresses./NT

[nadinbrzezinski]

30. Per side

Common Cause and The Hill are already talking 5 billion... for some context, that is give or take a few million, my County's annual budget.

This is why I really don't care who runs at the Presidential level. The Dems could run Luke Skywalker and he would still be presented as a Sith Lord, while the Emperor will be the greatest thing since sliced bread. Mind you, niether side is running either a sith lord, or luke skywalker.

Be scared, this is spreading to state and local elections too. Some of the donations for an assembly seat that is quite safe... are down right scary.

I am willing to bet my Congressional district, one of the 10 actual competitive ones, will run more than 17 million when all is said and done... it ran 17 last time around.

[Historic NY]

39. The only way to see change is on the lower levels...

which is why no contest for state houses or local boards should go unchallenged. All politics is local, and the more you do at home means the more that can get pushed up the pike later.

[MineralMan]

43. +100

[nadinbrzezinski]

72. You have no argument from me

but some of these elections are running at a million plus. Why most folks who would love to, don't run They do not have the social or party capital to raise that amount of cash.

The reforms that I would like to see are

1.- Publicly funded elections, nobody, not Unions or corporations or you and me, personally. give money. That ends that corruption. Can bring others, but.

2.- Cut the length of the contest to four months. You think it is only the Presidential that already started? Nope.

Those two require laws, the first one an amendment. Citizens United is the Dredd Scott of our age in my mind. And why I really do not care about horse races, but the mechanics, yes. This is also why you have less and less discussion of policy and a lot of mindless bumper sticker talk.

[2naSalit]

9. Hmmmm

A vast RW conspiracy indeed. She called them out a looong time ago, and guess what, she was 100% correct.

[libdem4life]

10. Democrats have no problem sniffing out the opposition tactics. My question is, who, what and how

should this be copied...not fought or hair on fire...what could/should the Democrats do? We have great subjects...Christie, Bush, et al. Who is going to write the book that puts this together. Maybe name it Public Republican Candidate Research.

This tarnishes more than just Clinton...it tarnishes the Democratic Party and makes good candidates hesitate or decide not to run. I'm betting this is one of the major reasons Warren did not run...they would have done worse to her.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

21. Mother Jones does a lot of great work...They unearthed the 47% comment

The challenge is there are so many Republicants running expecting a individual book exposing the perfidy of every one of them is unrealistic but books about Bush lll, Rubio, and Walker would be a good start.

[libdem4life]

28. Agree about Mother Jones. They even get a correspondent on MSM occasionally now. I just think each

should be about a chapter...the most egregious/printed/vetted things. Keep it short and make the font large.

Give a bit of time, maybe we could come up with a spiffy title. I'll think about it. We could have it published by one of the Democratic PACs as opposition research...that way they pay for it themselves just to see what's in it and give Democrats some info to use...that's what they've done to her. Books are flying off the shelf, so they say. It sure made the News Cycle.

Our turn. Republican Research.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

29. Ever read something and wish you copied it?

I was reading a book about Phil Jackson and the author quoted a famous quote which basically said if you look for information that makes anyone look like a scoundrel you will find it but this isn't that kind of book...


I suspect if it's a person's raison d'etre to make any politician, left or right, look like a scoundrel he or she could do it.

[libdem4life]

33. I see, so Hillary's the only Scofflaw in the race? Equal time...that's why they made that rule.

It is an "expose" on a presidential candidate. This is the attitude that gets me...oh, we can't to that. Yes We Can. Double Entendre noted. Just takes a writer with political skill, not running for office, and not afraid of the Republic wrath...in other words, doesn't have a job or position to lose. Although, nothing will happen this cretin who wrote the book about Hillary. I'm I not even a fan of hers, but she is the Visible Democrat...and this reflects on All Of Us.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

35. The miscreant who wrote this book was one of Bush ll's speech writers and...

The miscreant who wrote this book was one of Bush ll's speech writers and Sarah Palin's foreign policy advisors.

[libdem4life]

37. You make my point. We need to find one of those "miscreants" to write an equal time book. In fact,

that's a thought for the title..."Equal Time: Republican Research." So what would be wrong with that? It's not lying, it's just informing and pulling together information that is all over the place. That's what a good writer, even a miscreant, would do.

Just kidding about the equal-opportunity miscreant. I'll settle for an unknown political author looking to get noticed and make a few bucks. I know that no known author would likely dare.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

38. This miscreant also leaked details of the book to several Republicans including ...

This miscreant also leaked details of the book to several Republicans including Marco Rubio and Rand Paul.

[libdem4life]

69. We need to fight fire with fire. I know it's not PC, but they certainly don't care and Hillary is

out there getting bludgeoned by both Rs and Ds. And the Democrats are just outraged...so where is the Equal Time? Outrage is expected. They love it. Remember, she was the one they feared...thus...

[hrmjustin]

12. A good reminder. Some people will stop at nothing to stop Hillary.

[Iliyah]

25. Even on the DU

[hrmjustin]

32. Yes.

[emulatorloo]

56. Even to the point of embracing smears from the likes of Karl Rove

and his ilk.

The recent gleeful promotion here of the "Clinton Cash" smear actually shocked me. But it also opened my eyes.

[hrmjustin]

58. What angers me is when people link to rw sites to trash her.

It does happen occasionally.

[Zorra]

13. We should employ strategy here, and totally confuse them by nominating Bernie.

I will happily vote for Secretary Clinton in the GE, just for the pleasure of helping to crush these fascist PAC's.

[Iliyah]

23. Monies from outside countries as well.

Corporate media is gonna run with the BS "cash" book and any and all BS against her and Dems.

Also, those who believe another Democratic candidate would fair better concerning anti-money against them, and answer is No.

GOP/RW/Libertarians want a one party purity party with no Dems nor Indies nor Green or any other political group who don't have an R (GOP).

And the GOP besides other anti-American rules, laws and legislation, truly want a "World War".

[Motown_Johnny]

26. The real problem is....

...that her response team is not up to the task.

It took them over a week to come up with the "two phones" response to the email BS. If they had done that in the first 48 hours it might have flown. As it is now that is one more thing for the vast right wing conspiracy to use against her.

She may have the makings of a great president but she is a terrible candidate. She may very well take another election that is hers to lose, and lose it.

[Gamecock Lefty]

31. They Are All Running Scared!

That's why Repubs are trashing Hillary - and they've been doing it for over a year. All these conservative guys are going to get their a$$ handed to them by a girl and I'll be loving every minute of it!

[LondonReign2]

34. America is well and truly fucked by the amount of money in politics

And it matters little who the nominee is -- the Republicans will pile in with records amounts of cash for smear campaigns no matter who we eventually nominate. Just as they have always done, only the actual amount of cash is increasing at a geometric rate.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

36. thank you Skinner. she's also up against loudedt voices here.

I'm sure they are prepared. This is why Clinton ecxperience will be invaluable.

[emulatorloo]

54. Thank you for posting this. Too many are naive about the smear machine

and the unlimited funds they will employ to defeat Democrats.

[jwirr]

61. And this is just for the primary. More coming for the general regardless who the candidate is.

[William769]

68. There is also a article on CNN today that they have been watching her every move

& analyzing her every word since the start of her campaign.

Knowing Hillary and the team she has assembled, she is ready for them.

[Tarheel_Dem]

73. Which is why sites like this should give no quarter to rabble. We know what the goal is, and....

social media is a big part of that. Those claiming to be the leftiest of the left, who constantly trash the current administration, and the possibility of another Clinton administration seem to travel in some very questionable company, and never the "Twain" shall meet.

[BKH70041]

74. These groups are small potatoes.

We just held a regional Democratic Party conference last week where this was a topic. The big money and attacks on Hillary Clinton's presidential run is and will be coming from within, that is, the populists within the Democratic Party who are not happy with "corporate" candidates. These progressive populist groups are going to be the key ones trying to derail her. And there's little guarantee they will rally behind her in the general election.

[elzenmahn]

83. "Small potatoes" ???????

I think the cash that's behind them this time around has mutated the size of those spuds to something more resembling those overgrown pumpkins you see entered in contests.

These groups have the money and the media access. There's nothing small about them.

I would also say that the vast majority of progressives and left-independents who dislike the Clintons understand the stakes if we don't put a Dem (even Hillary) in the White House: court appointments (especially the SCOTUS), cabinet positions, the budget (if a Republican wins, say hello to the unexpurgated version of the Paul Ryan budget, in all of its hatchet in-glory), and so on.

I think we know this one is too important to sit out. At least for me, IF Hillary is the nominee, then yes, I will vote for her.

[Thekaspervote]

75. The humorous part.. The dems don't have to dig to find craziness with the likes of Cruz, Rubio,

Florida and others. I mean you cant make that kind of shit up. They just open their mouths and remove all doubt

[Thor_MN]

76. Interesting that Conservative fear of symbols doesn't stop them here.

Joe Barton, I think, whined enough that he got a new bill number when his sequentially assigned bill number became 666. Can't do it!!! EVIL!!!1!!

Yet these asshats are perfectly fine with Crossroads GPS, Crossroads Generation and their parent, American Crossroads. I'm sure TurdBlossom is aware of the symbology of "The Crossroads" and thinks he is quite clever.

In many mythologies, one goes to a crossroads to summon a demon to make a deal with the devil. Have to wonder how that would play with the religious right if they ever bothered to read a book.

http://goo.gl/7FO66c

[Cha]

77. Oh yeah, no doubt. They hated it that Obama was a 2 term President and they're determined not

to let that kind of victory happen again.

Too bad, it is.

[davidpdx]

78. Why should this surprise us?

We knew this was coming. There is another 16 months of it coming.

[MADem]

80. Hmmm. Yep. Those sorry bastards are hard at work, aren't they?

All white, mostly male. And noticeably unfit.

[tabasco]

82. Citizens United was perhaps the stake in the heart of US democracy

I am not optimistic about the next election.

[MrScorpio]

86. With a smear machine that big...

I'm quite sure that some of it will find its way into DU somehow. We need to be careful about that.

[AtomicKitten]

88. What WE are up against? No, not WE.

She is not the Democratic nominee and I'm surprised the proprietors of this website are carrying on as if she were. The Clintons don't give a shit about propriety and the appearance of wrongdoing. Why? Because they know their fanclub will defend their questionable behavior no matter what. Their sense of entitlement, their insistence that it is her turn, does not a nominee make.