Russian Mission to the United Nations posts McCain Fundraising Letter

[sabra]

http://www.un.int/russia/new/MainRoot/docs/press/201008eprel.htm

STATEMENT

20 October 2008


ON FUNDRAISING LETTER FROM

JOHN MCCAIN ELECTION CAMPAIGN


We have received a letter from Senator John McCain requesting financial contribution to his Presidential campaign.

In this connection we would like to reiterate that Russian officials, the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations or the Russian Government do not finance political activity in foreign countries.

Letter can be view here: http://www.un.int/russia/new/MainRoot/docs/press/201008eprel2.doc

[AlCzervik]

1. Dayam, he really is the Manchurian candidate!

[ellacott]

2. Is anyone in our media reporting on this?

This seems like a big deal.

[sabra]

4. IMO - it was a goof-up by the McCain camp sending a fundraising letter to Vitaly Churkin

with out checking out who he is...

[struggle4progress]

18. No sympathy: Publicans just today accused Obama of taking foreign donations:

WASHINGTON, Oct 20, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ ... The following was released today by the Republican National Committee:

... The Federal Election Commission (FEC) should immediately investigate allegations of foreign campaign contributions made to the Obama campaign ...

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/rnc-public-finance-fallout/story.aspx?guid=%7B0EEB60B0-C92B-4268-970A-4DEE73B94818%7D&dist=hppr

When they fugg up, they level groundless accusations: that says a lot about how a McCain administration would look

[City Lights]

20. Exactly. No mercy! They're always guilty of what they accuse us of doing.

Hit 'em hard!

[Essene]

41. regardless... it's funny for them to accidentally request donations ...

[Overseas]

3. Yaaaay!! So glad they posted the letter on their website !!

Shows the whole world McHate's desperation.

The campaign is just slinging those letters out there everywhere.

[CitizenLeft]

5. okay. that letter does not necessarily look legitimate

Shouldn't there be a McCain logo/letterhead at the top? I don't see a logo anywhere, or even his senate seal - doesn't he have a senate seal or something? Looks like I could've created it. For that matter, if I had, I would've included the official seal... unless I wanted to deny it, LOL.

On the other hand... that website DOES look legitimate... the domain www.un.int does link to the apparently official http://www.un.org/ site.

Don't know what to think. If that is an honest-to-goodness letter from the McCain campaign, he is SO FUCKED.

*Fingers crossed*

[vaberella]

11. Yup that's what I saw...but I'm hoping as well. n/t

[immoderate]

14. I would think that politcal communications wouldn't have the Senate seal.

But they would have the campaign letterhead.

--IMM

[struggle4progress]

43. Behold the Washington Post:

The Green Zone
McCain Solicits Russian U.N. Ambassador
By Colum Lynch

... "It was just a mistake ..." said McCain-Palin spokesman Brian Rogers. Asked whether there were any other ambassadors that they planned to solicit, Rogers laughed and said, "I hope not. Maybe we'll find out tomorrow" ...

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/10/20/mccain_solicits_russian_un_amb.html

[Submariner]

6. "Commies for McCain" -- That's a catchy Country First slogan

[KansDem]

16. "McCommie" or "McComrade"

The possibilities are endless...

[cliffordu]

7. I hope this isn't real. I don't think I could stop laughing long enough to eat and would

eventually die.....

[CitizenLeft]

8. bwaahahahaha!

oh please oh please oh please be real...!

[stillcool]

9. I'm not getting this..

why have public financing?

[vaberella]

10. Oh SNAP!!! Wow, no way this could be real.

What if it is though? Oy. If it is, send this to KO and Rachel Maddow and CNN.

[MaineDem]

12. "do not finance political activity in foreign countries"

That made me laugh.

Maybe they don't THIS YEAR. I think it may have happened once or twice before in history.

[TheCoxwain]

17. They Dont finance ... they only roll their TANKS in ... I guess they werent prepared to

do that for McCain

[CitizenLeft]

13. and why would they do this?

Because of McCain's stupid "bring-it-on"-like anti-Russian rhetoric and saber-rattling and his almost orgasmic pro-Georgian ass-kissing of Shaakasvili (nope, don't know how to spell it, but I can pronounce it, dammit).

Dumbass.

[CitizenLeft]

15. only thing... the www.mccampalinvictory2008.com url is not legit.

It's on that letter, at the bottom of it. For what it's worth.

However, the other link - www.McCainPalinVictory2008.com/win - IS legit. For what it's worth.

Could that simply be a typo? I mean www.mccampalinvictory2008.com - should be mccainpalin, etc. Could they really, really be that stupid?

[struggle4progress]

22. From the AP story: "Brian Rogers, a spokesman for the campaign, said Monday that he was unable to

pinpoint what had caused the blunder"

Russians say 'nyet' to McCain fundraising appeal
By JOHN HEILPRIN
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jwzezLAKBnkvNd5ebeT2v9IZ0HaQD93UC9N00

That sounds like confirmation to me. The peculiarity you discuss seems to result from the Russians scanning the letter into text-recognition software instead of posting an actual image

[CitizenLeft]

26. ah... gotcha! - about the url - you're probably right

They can't "pinpoint what had caused the blunder?"

:rofl:

Classic fuckups!

[TACstrat]

19. Must be fake. I can't imagine they would send a Word document - either hardcopy or pdf. - nt

[tammywammy]

21. Plus it would be on letter head

And his name wouldn't be typed on the top.

And the website for McCain/Palin is spelled wrong.


I'm leaning towards not being legit.

[struggle4progress]

24. The McCain campaign doesn't deny it in the AP link upthread

[gmoney]

25. Right... This is bogus.

It's far from a personal letter... how someone got the Word file is really strange, too.

[struggle4progress]

36. Bloomberg: "... McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said the letter was .. a mistake ..."

Russia Says McCain Campaign Sent Donation Letter to UN Mission
By Bill Varner
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aCh9n3zjSWA4&refer=us

So now the McCain campaign has told two different reporters oops!

[KayLaw]

37. It's not fake.

The McCain camp admits it.

[onenote]

23. as predicted, it looks like a direct mail solicitation sent out in volume

It was probably sent out to thousands of addresses by a direct mail company that purchased mailing lists. As you can see, nothing about the address indicates that it was going to the russian mission.
'
This kind of screw up happens all the time with direct mail.

[struggle4progress]

27. " ... McCain's campaign manager Rick Davis has several ties to Russia. Last January, the Washington

Post reported that Davis set up a meeting between McCain and a controversial Russian billionaire with some unsavory ties back in 2006 ..."
McCain Hits Up Russian Envoy for Donation
http://www.kxmc.com/News/Nation/287681.asp

Direct link to the WaPo story:

Aide Helped Controversial Russian Meet McCain
Davis, Then a Lobbyist, Has Spurred Debate in Reform-Focused Campaign
By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum and John Solomon
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, January 25, 2008; Page A01
A top political adviser in Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign helped arrange an introduction in 2006 between McCain and a Russian billionaire whose suspected links to anti-democratic and organized-crime figures are so controversial that the U.S. government revoked his visa ... http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/01/25/ST2008012500226.html

[onenote]

29. all the more reason to conclude that this was just a mass mailing

If this was an attempt to play on a personal relationship, it wouldn't have come in the form of a "dear friend" letter with references to the website, etc. I get mccain's mailings (i signed up so I could waste their money) and they look just like that.

[struggle4progress]

33. But who put a top Russian diplomat's name in a potential donor list?

[Waiting For Everyman]

35. Maybe the list was built around McC's Christmas card list.

:)

[onenote]

38. Direct mail companies buy lists from all sorts of sources

and they screw things up all the time. I get solicitations (political and otherwise) from all sorts of people all the time. I also get them addressed to the guy I bought my house from ten years ago, even though he's been dead for seven years.

[struggle4progress]

39. Not buyin it: 6 wks before th'election, after a 2 yr campaign, in a tight race, low on funds, no way

McPalin was asking some direct marketing agency to build a list of targets for fundraising letters: if a commercial outfit did actually sent the letter (which we don't know to be the case), the campaign certainly supplied the list

[onenote]

40. I get a mailing from political candidates I've never heard of every week and I've never given a dime

to them or contacted them in any way, shape or form. They got my name and address somewhere.

[struggle4progress]

42. By 2004, GOP has the most sophisticated targeting in history & Mc's been building lists for 2 yrs

Earlier in the process, Mc might've used generic lists -- but not 6 wks before a national election

What lower tier candidates do is irrelevant: they don't have access to the same funding and resources

This is a fugg-up by the national campaign

[struggle4progress]

30. And an indirect confirmation: "Citing reports alleging that Sen. Barack Obama has received illegal

campaign contributions from overseas, McCain campaign manager Rick Davis called for the Obama campaign to release its small-donor list ..."
McCain Adviser Calls for Obama Financial Transparency
By Matthew DeLong 10/20/08 1:42 PM
http://washingtonindependent.com/13766/mccain-adviser-calls-for-obama-financial-transparency

"oops! holding a tiger's tail? quick! try to pin the tail on an opponent"

[Waiting For Everyman]

28. They did it, they own it.

Let the games begin! I'm feeling an impulse to email the media.

[crossroads]

31. Is this for real? My God - how desperate is McSame? lol! k&r

[blogslut]

32. And now, in handy HTML format!

http://shiny911pony.com/mcrussia.html

[Waiting For Everyman]

34. This needs to be sent to the Obama people.

The joint pac at the end of the letter is all of Rethug swing states. Is that legal? Is it legal for campaign funds to go to pacs?

It looks like a for-real mass mailer to me. My daughter works for one (and brings them home to work on a lot).