The MSM is trying to hit Obama hard for opting out of public financing. Dear MSM, screw you.

ProSense

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Thu Jun-19-08 06:28 PM
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The MSM is trying to hit Obama hard for opting out of public financing. Dear MSM, screw you.

Edited on Thu Jun-19-08 06:31 PM by ProSense

Analysis: Obama chose winning over his word

By LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 1 minute ago

WASHINGTON - Barack Obama chose winning over his word.

The Democrat once made a conditional agreement to accept taxpayer money from the public financing system, and accompanying spending limits, if his Republican opponent did, too.

No more.

The chance to financially swamp John McCain � and maneuver for an enormous general election advantage � proved too great an allure.

Obama, a record-shattering fundraiser, reversed course Thursday and decided to forgo some $85 million so he could raise unlimited amounts of money and spend as much as he wants.

"It's not an easy decision, and especially because I support a robust system of public financing of elections," Obama said in announcing that despite his previous commitment, he would rely only on private donations because "the public financing of presidential elections as it exists today is broken."

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Strange Juxtaposition of the Day

This is up on the Yahoo News site at the moment, a story about Obama opting out of public financing:

But check out the photo used to illustrate the piece:

There is no mention of bin Laden anywhere in the story.

Strange? No, complicit.

Dear AP, check your bias and get your friggin facts straight:

Mr. Obama did not rule out the possibility of accepting public financing, but declared on Friday, �I�m not the nominee yet.�

�If I am the nominee,� Mr. Obama told reporters at a news conference in Milwaukee, �I will make sure our people talk to John McCain�s people to find out if we are willing to abide by the same rules and regulations with respect to the general election going forward. It would be presumptuous of me to start saying now that I am locking into something when I don�t even know if the other side will agree to it.�

Last year, Mr. Obama sought an advisory ruling from the Federal Election Commission to see whether his campaign could opt out of public financing in the primary season and accept it in the general election. It was merely an inquiry, he said, not a pledge to accept the financing.

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MR. RUSSERT: Senator Obama, let me ask you about motivating, inspiring, keeping your word. Nothing more important. Last year you said if you were the nominee you would opt for public financing in the general election of the campaign; try to get some of the money out. You checked "Yes" on a questionnaire. And now Senator McCain has said, calling your bluff, let's do it. You seem to be waffling, saying, well, if we can work on an arrangement here.

Why won't you keep your word in writing that you made to abide by public financing of the fall election?

SEN. OBAMA: Tim, I am not yet the nominee. Now, what I've said is, is that when I am the nominee, if I am the nominee -- because we've still got a bunch of contests left and Senator Clinton's a pretty tough opponent. If I am the nominee, then I will sit down with John McCain and make sure that we have a system that is fair for both sides, because Tim, as you know, there are all sorts of ways of getting around these loopholes.

Senator McCain is trying to explain some of the things that he has done so far where he accepted public financing money, but people aren't exactly clear whether all the T's were crossed and the I's were dotted.

Now what I want to point out, though, more broadly is how we have approached this campaign. I said very early on I would not take PAC money. I would not take money from federal-registered lobbyists. That -- that was a multimillion-dollar decision but it was the right thing to do and the reason we were able to do that was because I had confidence that the American people, if they were motivated, would in fact finance the campaign.

We have now raised 90 percent of our donations from small donors, $25, $50. We average -- our average donation is $109 so we have built the kind of organization that is funded by the American people that is exactly the goal and the aim of everybody who's interested in good government and politics supports.

MR. RUSSERT: So you may opt out of public financing. You may break your word.

SEN. OBAMA: What I -- what I have said is, at the point where I'm the nominee, at the point where it's appropriate, I will sit down with John McCain and make sure that we have a system that works for everybody.

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In 2004, the MSM was a free advertising outlet for the Bush campaign when it launched an onslaught in August:

By the time the Swift Boat story had played out, CNN, chasing after ratings leader Fox News, found time to mention the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth�hereafter, Swifties�in nearly 300 separate news segments, while more than one hundred New York Times articles and columns made mention of the Swifties. And during one overheated 12-day span in late August, the Washington Post mentioned the Swifties in page-one stories on Aug. 19, 20, 21 (two separate articles), 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, and 31. It was a media monsoon that washed away Kerry�s momentum coming out of the Democratic convention.

Smeared by Ginsberg

August 27, 2004

BENJAMIN L. Ginsberg is the smoking gun. As national counsel to Bush-Cheney for five years, he has operated continuously at the center of President Bush's political organization. He was James Baker's right-hand man during the 2000 Florida recount challenge.

<...>

Here we have a group of bitter veterans who detest Kerry's leadership in opposing the war 30 years ago and are willing to say almost anything -- frequently contradicting their own earlier statements -- to hurt Kerry's candidacy. They turn to Bush's top political lawyer for advice on campaign finance laws and then to one of Bush's top campaign contributors to fund their attack ads.

No memo trail needs to be found linking Bush personally to Ginsberg and the veterans' group; the connection is apparent.

For far too long this attack has worked to Bush's advantage. Even when Kerry and other veterans were defending his war service effectively�

Ginsberg resigned his Bush campaign position with unintended comedy, saying he was saddened that his role had "become a distraction from the critical issues at hand in this election." Was he suggesting this bogus smear is a critical issue?

...The members of the Federal Election Commission, appointed by Bush and Bill Clinton, have betrayed their office by not reining in groups that are too closely aligned with both campaigns.

But that is not the issue with the anti-Kerry veterans. The issue is Bush -- his refusal to condemn a patently false attack, his willingness to try to reap some political reward on the cheap, his utter lack of leadership in brushing off the role played by his close political aides.

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Fundraiser Admits Illegal Bush Donations

Associated Press
Thursday, June 1, 2006; Page A10

TOLEDO, May 31 -- A coin dealer and prominent GOP fundraiser at the center of an Ohio political scandal pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal charges that he illegally funneled about $45,000 to President Bush's reelection campaign.

Tom Noe, who also raised money for Ohio Republicans, also is charged with embezzlement in an ill-fated $50 million coin investment that he managed for the state workers' compensation fund.

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How about Jeb Bush's letter thanking the Swift Liars:

McCain was counting on limiting the amount of money Obama can spend, thereby leveraging the monies that will be spent by the GOP swiftboating 527s on his behalf. McCain has already come out and said he has no control over them. Yeah, like Bush had no control over the Swift Liars (wink-wink).

In 2004, Kerry agreed to public financing. As a result, during the five weeks after the Democratic convention, when the Swift Liars launched their attacks, Kerry was hamstrung by FEC rules limiting the amount of money he had to spend for a GE that lasted five weeks longer than the GOP's. That's the period between the Democratic Convention, which ended July 29, and the Republican Convention, which ended Sept. 2.

McCain: I Can't Stop Outside Groups From Attacking Obama

By Greg Sargent - June 12, 2008, 11:15AM

John McCain has claimed that he doesn't want independent groups to attack Barack Obama, but in a new interview he says that, well, there really isn't anything he can do about it if those groups do decide to swift boat the Democrat:

GOP presidential contender John McCain says he can't control every attack ad aimed at Democrat Barack Obama and fully expects he'll face a similar barrage, sounding the bell for a raucous general election brawl.

"I can't be a referee of every spot run on television," McCain told the Herald in an exclusive interview. "I admire Sen. Obama and his accomplishments, but we all know there are groups who want to attack me."

The Arizona senator's hands-off posture on attack ads by now-infamous tax-free and unaccountable political groups called 527s marks a softening of his view on the negative campaign tactic -- and opens the door to a no-holds-barred five-month scramble.

Via The Page. As McCain says, there are in fact groups who want to attack McCain. But guess what -- Obama's finance team has explicitly instructed donors not to give money to those groups. McCain, by contrast, seems to be saying that he can't control the groups on his side.

If McCain can't stand up to the 527s, how is he going to take on Al Qaeda?

Statement from Obama's campaign:

Trevor and I met at my office on June 6, and we discussed the June 18 panel and then, for 45 minutes, the public funding issue.

I asked him to address a serious of issues of concern to the Obama campaign � such as the McCain campaign's active raising and spending of private money since February for a general election campaign, including for media, while we were still in the middle of a primary contest. He gave me his perspectives � the best arguments he could offer for an agreement on both sides to accept public financing � and it was clear to me that these offered no basis for any further exchange.

Not too long thereafter, John McCain announced he could not and would not "referee" 527 activity.

I am sure Trevor will clarify that I did not at any time counsel him on what choice the McCain campaign would make about accepting or not accepting the public grant.

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John Kerry: Obama's Public Financing Decision Will Enable Him To Avoid My Fate

Kerry knows what Obama is up against, and he also knows what real campaign finance reform means.

Obama has the right strategy in place

Edited to fix link.