Bush can't wash his hands of this...

[Joe Fields]

Let's cut the charade. George Bush's "Bart Simpson" approach to campaigning (I didn't do it, man. You can't prove a thing) is as transparent as cellophane. No matter how many times he uses soap and water, his hands still won't come clean.

This week one of the Bush/Cheney campaign's top legal advisors, Ben Ginsberg (you may remember him from the 2000 Florida recount fiasco) admitted to advising the Swift Boat Veterans For (Truth?) 527 organization. That action, we have since learned is not illegal, since attorneys are allowed to play both sides of the same coin. But if Bush hasn't yet gotten caught red-handed violating the letter of the law, he sure as hell has violated the spirit of it. It is nearly impossible now, with so many connections to the Swift Boat Veterans group to continue the Bart Simpson defense. Yet the emphatic denials continue. Do we need to have phone records and memos from the president that prove a connection? Hardly.

Bush's campaign tactics are some of the most unseemly that I can ever recall. But you know the old saying - like father, like son. Number 41 smeared Michael Dukakis with the Willie Horton ads. The son has the swift boat vets. This year we are witnessing an endless stream of distortions and lies, which are being stretched and pulled like saltwater taffy. It would be all too easy to say that the Bushies don't realize that freedom of speech doesn't equate with a freedom to lie. They know exactly what they are doing by taking the campaign directly into the mud.

I don't care about campaign finance laws. If I had my way, we would do away with them completely. Let the parties raise as much money as they can, any way they can. McCain Feingold is a joke, with loopholes in it large enough to drive large truckloads of money through. What I do care about though, is truth in campaign advertising. The FEC and the FCC should go to great lengths to make sure that no ad is allowed to be aired until it has been thoroughly fact checked. Voters deserve no less. Then we just might get back to discussing issues and informing the electorate, instead of trying to assassinate one's character. What a novel idea.

Joe Fields

[MercutioATC]

1. He can't? Watch him.

He got away with it in the 2000 election and I suspect many people will believe him again. I think it's time for the 527 to fight this out between themselves and get Kerry back on message.

[Norquist Nemesis]

2. Nominated!!!

I think you should send this out on media blaster. :) :thumbsup:

[glitch]

3. second that. nt

[napi21]

4. All this is, of course, true! The only problem I see with letting

each party raise as much $$ as they can, and any way they can, as long as they broadcast the truth is, at what point does the truth become a lie? If an ad contains "part of a quote", which can be made to sound like the speaker is saying something comletely different, is that "partial quote" true or not?

I've seen a lot of this tactic in shrubs ads. If there's a way around that, I agree with letting the campaigns raise as much $$ as they can...OR...make all campaigns ONLY public funded! If each party was given $100 million dollars, but NOONE could make any donations, that would force each party to really think about what ads they did. If you want to waste your $$ on slander and liable, fine! When it's gone, it's gone.

[Joe Fields]

5. You raise a good point.

But certainly the two oversight organizations could determine whether a quote is being twisted out of context. One thing is certain, though. They have adopted an approach that invites lies and distortions which skew the whole election process.

[Myrina]

6. Reminder ~

"...Bush's campaign tactics are some of the most unseemly that I can ever recall. But you know the old saying - like father, like son. Number 41 smeared Michael Dukakis with the Willie Horton ads..."

... Shrub worked on Daddy's Presidential campaigns. No doubt those tactics were his idea back then, just as they are now.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

7. I agree with you on the McCain/Feingold-UnConsititutional.....

Campaign Finance "Reform" crap!!!

I was hoping that the SCOTUS would overturn it but that didn't happen.

We need money to fight these Nazis upfront and that damn bill ruined us!

I hate McCain. He is a right wing shill!