Baring any implosion in his campaign, John McCain will be the Republican nominee. Now what remains to be seen is whether or not the hot rhetoric surrounding his “not conservative enough” stance will chill out. But waiting in the wings is this plea for help from the Democratic National Committee:
Dear [Fellow Democrat's name here],
Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney are done. John McCain will be the Republican nominee — he’s the only one with a reasonable path to the nomination.
So how do we beat him? We stand up — right now — start fighting, and show the American people that he’s not who they think he is.
We can’t wait for Hillary or Barack to win the nomination. Now that the Republicans have a candidate, the dollars are starting to pour in from special interests who will do anything to beat the Democratic nominee. They’re just waiting for us to decide so they can start smearing.
Here’s what U.S. News and World Report recently reported about how the RNC is getting ready…
[RNC Chairman Mike] Duncan and his aides want to be ready to go on the offensive against the Democratic nominee presumptive in an effort to define the opposition candidate on GOP terms. Opposition research is already well along, and the plan is for surrogates to talk to the media around the country while a TV ad campaign in key states and media markets as soon as the Democratic nominee is determined.
We must be ready to fight back, and fight back hard, today.
Now that we know our opponent, it’s time to build a national effort on the programs you and I have worked so hard to create over the last four years – from our cutting-edge technology to our voter protection programs, it’s time to shift gears.
I need you to contribute $25, $50, or $100 to help us fight John McCain right now:
http://www.democrats.org/FightMcCain
John McCain is a media darling, but don’t trust his carefully-crafted image – he’s worked for years to brand himself. From Iraq to health care, Social Security to special interest tax cuts to ethics, he’s promising nothing more than a third Bush term.
After championing campaign finance reform and ethics legislation to score political points, he now has a staggering amount of lobbyists involved in every aspect of his campaign. In fact, two of the top three sources for John McCain’s campaign cash are D.C. lobbying firms, and he looked the other way as Jack Abramoff bought and paid for the Republican Party and the Culture of Corruption.
On immigration reform, he’s run as far to the right as he can, aligning himself with the most extreme elements of the Republican Party.
On the war, McCain scoffed at Bush’s call to leave troops in Iraq for 50 years, saying “Make it a hundred!”
On a woman’s right to choose, McCain has vowed to appoint judges who would overturn Roe v. Wade.
On the economy, one of the issues that the American people care most about, McCain has said: “I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues. I still need to be educated.”
We can’t afford four more years with a President who drives the economy into the ground. We can’t afford four more years with a President who fights an endless war in Iraq. We can’t afford four more years with a President who gives tax cuts to companies who ship jobs overseas; with a President who can’t get every American the health care they deserve; with a President we just can’t trust.
I don’t just want to beat John McCain – I want it to be a landslide. If you’re as committed as I am, I need you to make a contribution today:
http://www.democrats.org/FightMcCain
Only the Democratic Party is legally allowed to spend unlimited amounts of money to back our nominee and tell the real story about John McCain. We proved that our strategy worked in 2006, and it will work again this fall.
Help us today:
http://www.democrats.org/FightMcCain
Let’s get going,
Howard Dean
Asking for help from fellow Democrats… well and good. But please tell the truth. As usual for a campaign, some of their claims are interpretations of facts or are outright lies…
- The DNC declares that McCain favors “endless war” and “Make it a hundred” years presence in Iraq. FACT: What he actually said was this in a townhall meeting on January 3rd (see this video):
Make it a hundred. … We’ve been in Japan for 60 years. We’ve been in South Korea for 50 years or so. That would be fine with me, as long as American, as long as Americans are not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed. It’s fine with me and I hope it would be fine with you if we maintained a presence in a very volatile part of the world where al Qaeda is training, recruiting and equipping and motivating people every single day.
So what the DNC is portraying is not accurate.
- The DNS says McCain “looked the other way” on Jack Abramoff and the Republican “Culture of Corruption.” FACT: Even the left leaning HuffingtonPost had to admit McCain did do something about the corruption :
As chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, John McCain directed the only Congressional investigation of the Indian gaming scandal. A Justice Department investigation of the same scandal sent lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Congressman Bob Ney (R-OH), and a number of other lobbyists and federal officials to prison.
McCain points to his role in putting Abramoff away as proof that he is an “agent of change.” His investigation did, in fact, keep the pressure on the Justice Department while it investigated Abramoff.
Yet McCain limited the scope of his investigation to lobbyists who had given money, gifts and trips to members of Congress. His did not allow the committee to investigate any member of Congress. He busted the pimps and johns but granted immunity to the prostitutes who provided services in exchange for money and favors.
This one is an outright lie. The proof is in the record.
- The DNC message makes criticisms of McCain that could be directed at its own leading candidates as well. It notes that he lacks training in economics, which is equally true of Clinton and Obama. And it accuses him of “staggering” reliance on lobbyists for campaign help, when Clinton also has substantial aid from lobbyists and Obama has some from former lobbyists.
I am sure that the McCain campaign will create some creative means of painting the Democratic candidates in an unfavorable light. And if/when they do that I will call them on that as well.
Filed under: 2008 Elections
