Showing posts with label PAC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PAC. Show all posts
Friday, May 18, 2012
Mr. Ricketts' Hate-the-President Plan Halted. Let the Fancy Butt Covering Dance Begin!
Yesterday the New York Times “outted” Joe Rickett’s plan to infuse race into the 2012 presidential campaign, creating a whirlwind of negative responses. Even Mr. Romney was quoted as saying "I repudiate that effort", albeit after having to think about it for a while.
Mr. Ricketts has decided to withdraw his plan for “The Defeat of Barack Hussein Obama”. A spokesman for Mr. Ricketts said late yesterday that the plan was “merely a proposal” and “reflects an approach to politics that Mr. Ricketts rejects and it was never a plan to be accepted but only a suggestion for a direction to take”.
what eye thynk: That sounds like there is a lot of butt covering going on.
Mr. Ricketts may want us to believe that this was some simple preliminary outline, “only a suggestion”; but, in fact, it was a 54 page, professionally produced, full color document that had been viewed in its polished form several times by Mr. Ricketts without any hint of rejection.
There is the fact that Mr. Ricketts liked the divisive ad designed for John McCain’s 2008 campaign that used Jeremiah Wright in essentially the same manner as this new proposal--an ad that John McCain would not allow to run. The McCain ad was what Mr. Ricketts told his people he wanted to imitate saying, “If the nation had seen that ad, they’d never have elected Barack Obama”.
Then there is this quote to Mr. Ricketts from the final proposal’s architects: “With your preliminary approval at the New York meeting, we have discussed this plan in highly confidential terms with the following proposed team members (who) are ready to jump into action upon plan approval”. (The underline is mine.)
Brian Baker, president of Mr. Ricketts’ PAC, met with Mr. Ricketts and two of Mr. Ricketts’ sons in Chicago last week to view the proposed plan. Mr. Baker is quoted as saying that he was “troubled by what I saw. It was not what we asked for”. When asked if Mr. Ricketts had rejected the plan, Mr. Baker could only say that no decision had been made.
None of this sounds anything like it "reflects an approach to politics that Mr. Ricketts rejects”. It sounds like he got exactly what he wanted and got caught.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Republican PAC Strategists Want us to "Hate the President"
Republican super PAC strategists are ready to introduce into the presidential campaign a Joe Rickett financed plan called “The Defeat of Barack Hussein Obama: The Ricketts Plan to End His Spending for Good”.
what eye thynk: The particulars of his plan demonstrate a new low, even for a Republican. A detailed copy of the proposed plan, a plan contrived to bring race into the forefront of the presidential campaign, was leaked to the New York Times by someone not involved in its development but who was “alarmed by its tone”. The document given to the Times is a 54 page proposal, professionally bound, with color photos. They want to, in their own words, “do exactly what John McCain would not let us do”. (Thank you, John McCain for proving once again that you can be a politician and still remain a gentleman.) The polished presentation demonstrates that this plan is well past the discussion stage. Their strategy is to use billboards, full page newspaper ads, a TV blitz, radio spots and to fly banner pulling airplanes over the convention center in an effort to interrupt and upstage the Democratic Convention.
The plan, financed by Joe Ricketts, founder of TD Ameritrade, and overseen by Fred Davis intends to reintroduce Jeremiah Wright in an effort to assail President Obama’s “character and competency”. They may call this a “Plan to End His Spending for Good“, but it is a racial attack, plain and simple. Ask yourself, what does Jeremiah Wright have to do with spending or federal budgets? The only element he can add is the fact that he is black. Their registered domain name, “Character Matters” seems more to their essential point--that they don’t believe a black man has the character to lead this country.
One particular line in their plan stands out: they lament that voters “still aren’t ready to hate the President”. And THAT is why they want to use Jeremiah Wright. They recognize that Jeremiah Wright’s words can be used to incite their white, conservative base--to use the innate Southern prejudice against people of color, a prejudice that exists to some degree in many of even the most liberal of us--to make it okay to “hate the President“.
Attitudes like this have always existed in this country, but those who held them were forced to play on a level field with the rest of us. The Supreme Court’s approval of PAC type campaign financing has rocketed affluent, special interest attitudes well past the mainstream and onto the mountain top. We are a country based on one citizen-one voice-one vote; but now, thanks to the debacle created by the Supreme Court’s ruling, the rich are afforded a Bose sound system to broadcast their views while the rest of us are left with a battered megaphone. And when a PAC backed candidate gains office, who do you think that office holder will be beholden to, you and me with our one vote, or the billionaire who bought the airways?
We should all be “alarmed”. No final sign-off has been made on Mr. Ricketts' plan though there is mention of a meeting with Mr. Ricketts in which he apparently voiced his approval. Maybe the exposure of his dirty politics will send his group back to the drawing boards. We can only hope; because character DOES matter, and theirs is seriously in doubt.
what eye thynk: The particulars of his plan demonstrate a new low, even for a Republican. A detailed copy of the proposed plan, a plan contrived to bring race into the forefront of the presidential campaign, was leaked to the New York Times by someone not involved in its development but who was “alarmed by its tone”. The document given to the Times is a 54 page proposal, professionally bound, with color photos. They want to, in their own words, “do exactly what John McCain would not let us do”. (Thank you, John McCain for proving once again that you can be a politician and still remain a gentleman.) The polished presentation demonstrates that this plan is well past the discussion stage. Their strategy is to use billboards, full page newspaper ads, a TV blitz, radio spots and to fly banner pulling airplanes over the convention center in an effort to interrupt and upstage the Democratic Convention.
The plan, financed by Joe Ricketts, founder of TD Ameritrade, and overseen by Fred Davis intends to reintroduce Jeremiah Wright in an effort to assail President Obama’s “character and competency”. They may call this a “Plan to End His Spending for Good“, but it is a racial attack, plain and simple. Ask yourself, what does Jeremiah Wright have to do with spending or federal budgets? The only element he can add is the fact that he is black. Their registered domain name, “Character Matters” seems more to their essential point--that they don’t believe a black man has the character to lead this country.
One particular line in their plan stands out: they lament that voters “still aren’t ready to hate the President”. And THAT is why they want to use Jeremiah Wright. They recognize that Jeremiah Wright’s words can be used to incite their white, conservative base--to use the innate Southern prejudice against people of color, a prejudice that exists to some degree in many of even the most liberal of us--to make it okay to “hate the President“.
Attitudes like this have always existed in this country, but those who held them were forced to play on a level field with the rest of us. The Supreme Court’s approval of PAC type campaign financing has rocketed affluent, special interest attitudes well past the mainstream and onto the mountain top. We are a country based on one citizen-one voice-one vote; but now, thanks to the debacle created by the Supreme Court’s ruling, the rich are afforded a Bose sound system to broadcast their views while the rest of us are left with a battered megaphone. And when a PAC backed candidate gains office, who do you think that office holder will be beholden to, you and me with our one vote, or the billionaire who bought the airways?
We should all be “alarmed”. No final sign-off has been made on Mr. Ricketts' plan though there is mention of a meeting with Mr. Ricketts in which he apparently voiced his approval. Maybe the exposure of his dirty politics will send his group back to the drawing boards. We can only hope; because character DOES matter, and theirs is seriously in doubt.
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