RNC tells TV stations not to run anti-Bush ads

[numediaman]

RNC tells TV stations not to run anti-Bush ads

GOP committee says MoveOn.org's spots are illegally financed

Sunday, March 7, 2004 Posted: 12:07 AM EST (0507 GMT)
One of the ads in question, called "Child's Play," ends with the tag line, "Guess who's going to pay off President Bush's $1 trillion deficit?"

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Republican National Committee is warning television stations across the country not to run ads from the MoveOn.org Voter Fund that criticize President Bush, charging that the left-leaning political group is paying for them with money raised in violation of the new campaign-finance law.

"As a broadcaster licensed by the Federal Communications Commission, you have a responsibility to the viewing public, and to your licensing agency, to refrain from complicity in any illegal activity," said the RNC's chief counsel, Jill Holtzman Vogel, in a letter sent to about 250 stations Friday.

"Now that you have been apprised of the law, to prevent further violations of federal law, we urge you to remove these advertisements from your station's broadcast rotation" . . .

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/03/07/moveon.ads/index.html

Yes, the RNC gets to say who advertises, what your views will be, who can raise money. Yes, democracy is alive and well in America!

[Neserk]

Wow. They really are terrified, aren't they?

[zimv20]

stelliform -

your claims are at cross purposes w/ what's on the moveon site here (http://www.moveon.org/about/)


Who started MoveOn?
MoveOn was started by Joan Blades and Wes Boyd, two Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. Although neither had experience in politics, they shared deep frustration with the partisan warfare in Washington D.C. and the ridiculous waste of our nation's focus at the time of the impeachment mess. On September 18th 1998, they launched an online petition to "Censure President Clinton and Move On to Pressing Issues Facing the Nation." Within days they had hundreds of thousands of individuals signed up, and began looking for ways these voices could be heard.

The MoveOn Peace campaign was founded independently by Eli Pariser, a Maine native and recent graduate of Simon's Rock College of Bard. In the days following September 11th, 2001, he launched an online petition calling for a restrained and multi-lateral response to the attacks, which was quickly signed by more than half a million people. Eli joined forces with MoveOn soon afterward, and is now MoveOn's Campaigns Director.

Who pays for MoveOn?
Because MoveOn.org has only a tiny staff, our basic operating costs are very low. You can support our work with a secure online contribution. Almost all of our funding comes through these donations from people like you.


soros gave them $5 million. i do not feel, however, that they are "being used for George Soros' political leanings". moveon has at least $10 million raised from sources other than Soros, which is more than enough to cover the ads. from the original article:

But MoveOn.org says it has raised $10 million for advertising from 160,000 donors, in amounts averaging $50-$60. It is running two ads in 67 TV markets in what its Web site describes as 17 "battleground" states.

[zimv20]

But he gave them half of the money that they have.

sorry, i wasn't clear. they have about $15 million, so $10 million (which for purposes of this conversation i'll assume is made up of small donations) is available for ads.


And he has publicly stated that ousting GWB will be his focus this year. I think it is a safe to say that he is using MoveOn to further his own agenda.


in that sense, yeah. but that's a pretty broad agenda. i thought you meant that soros basically formed MoveOn, but i see now that's not what you meant.


And like I said, I think that they should be allowed to use $5000 of his money, and all of the millions received in less that $5000 donations. And you are right, $5 mil can make alot of commercials.


let's say that means $10 million. do you think the RNC should shutup if that's all moveon is going to spend? or should they try to keep moveon from airing anything at all?

[Dont Hurt Me]

RNC is smacking more and more of big brother and only we know what is good for you, this kind of stuff makes me sick and suggest that I pull the democratic lever more and more. what kind of abuse of laws do we get next? oh yeah only corporations can donate? Lobbiest are allready telling these guys how to vote,they dont want to hear from the little guy at all. These kind of tactics are very scary and remind me somewhat of Nazi Germany.

[Thomas Veil]

I think we all remember the ads which depicted Michael Dukakis either in mocking terms (remember the tank ride?) or via outright scare tactics (Willie Horton). So if the left chooses to play the same game, I'm not gonna cry any crocodile tears.

Don't get me wrong, I'd rather nobody ran these kinds of ads. But since this loophole exists, the liberals (for once) have gone on the offensive, and done it to the conservatives before they did it to them.

From my understanding re: the legality...the ads are legal as long as they don't specifically advocate any candidate. They don't. They depict Bush as a reckless spender and a liar, but they don't promote Kerry or anyone else.

In the big picture, this is clearly an effort on the part of liberals to stop playing Mr. Nice Guy (and therefore finishing last), and get just as nasty as Roger Ailes and his ilk...just as Al Franken's book was an effort to counter the lunacy of Ann Coulter, earlier this year. Again, while I hate to see this kind of "spirited" discussion, I also have to admit I'm glad the left has decided to stop just sitting there and taking it.

[pseudobrit]

Wow. The RNC's giving pro bono legal advice now.

How noble.

[zimv20]

the liberals (for once) have gone on the offensive

but what's interesting to me is that this isn't the action of the DNC, or some highly organized lobbyist organization. it's two people (initially) w/ a lot of grass roots support, both through small donation and creative efforts (the scores of commercials that were independently produced and sent it). the soros gift is the only exception.