For years, John McCain has claimed to be a reform crusader, decrying the role of outside groups in the political process. Now, with his presidential campaign struggling, and his coffers running low, an outside group is stepping in to give McCain a hand when he needs it most.
The so-called Wounded Warriors Act, legislation intended to improve health care for veterans, has attracted nearly unanimous, bipartisan support in Congress. So why would the newly formed Foundation for a Secure and Prosperous America begin running a television commercial urging the citizens of South Carolina to tell Congress to pass it?
The answer lies in the commercial’s glowing images of Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican banking on a South Carolina victory to jump-start his cash-poor Republican primary campaign. The group that paid for the advertisement operates independently of Mr. McCain’s campaign, but was set up and financed by his supporters seeking to help him as much as possible up to the limits of the law.
It’s quite a scam, even by Republican standards. A “non-profit” organization is buying ads to promote a bill that doesn’t need promoting. The ad touts McCain’s work, effectively making it a pro-McCain ad, without his campaign’s formal involvement. The same group is airing the ad on Fox News (the Republicans’ network) in an early primary state (South Carolina).
And while the group, the Foundation for a Secure and Prosperous America, claims to be completely independent of the McCain operation, it was created in part by Rick Reed, a former media strategist for both of McCain’s presidential campaigns.
This is exactly kind of sham McCain railed against for years, but now that he’s desperate — and losing — he’s the beneficiary of a transparent con.
To be sure, McCain is saying all the right things, distancing himself from the obvious corruption, but for reporters to accept the charade at face value is silly.
Digby drove the point home nicely.
I would look for this to be the new paradigm for dealing with independent expenditure groups on the Republican side: decry the ads but claim you can’t do anything about them because of the campaign finance laws. They did it clumsily in 2004 with the swift boaters, but they tend to learn from their mistakes.
In this case McCain is saying that he is against them because he’s a believer in the campaign finance laws he helped write. And he’s getting lots of praise for it from the gullible press who say he’s a straight shooting son-of-gun who might be hurting his (low on cash) campaign by disavowing these hagiographic ads — which the independent expenditure group (headed by his former staffer) are defiantly vowing to keep on the air. How convenient.
Exactly. Not only is McCain pulling a scam, he’s figured out a way to get reporters to praise him for his duplicity.
It’s only a matter of time before every major campaign has a former staffer creating “non-profit” organizations, funded by the candidates’ donors, taking out “issue” ads that just so happen to praise their candidate in early primary states. Asked about this, they’ll all say it’s just a coincidence.
John McCain, taking the lead as a corruption trailblazer.