Freedom's Watch doing attack ads financed by billionaires, at the request of the White House

[dajoki]

A Conservative Answer to MoveOn
Political Advocacy Group Formed by Former Bush Aides Plans a Broad Agenda
By Paul Kane and Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, January 20, 2008; Page A05
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/19/AR2008011902309.html?wpisrc=newsletter&wpisrc=newsletter&wpisrc=newsletter

When a group of former White House aides formed a political advocacy group called Freedom's Watch last summer, its initial wave of ads featured battered Iraq war veterans pleading for support for President Bush's "surge" of troops.

<<snip>>

Freedom's Watch has loudly announced that there will be no limits to what it might do. From its $15 million summer ad campaign defending the Iraq strategy to its six-figure effort in the House special election in Ohio, the group has put Democrats on notice that its agenda will go far beyond the conservative principles of its largest financial backers.

"We're a permanent political operation here in town. We're not going to be Johnny One Note," said Joe Eule, executive director of the expanding group, a nonprofit organization that many are describing as the MoveOn.org of the right.

<<snip>>

And Freedom's Watch will have money -- a lot of money. While initial reports suggested a budget of $200 million, people who have talked to the group in recent weeks say the figure is closer to $250 million, more than double the amount spent by the largest independent liberal groups in the 2004 election cycle.

<<snip>>

Freedom's Watch, on the other hand, is "doing attack ads by Beltway operatives, financed by billionaires, at the request of the White House," Boyd said by e-mail. "MoveOn helps millions of real people get engaged and be heard and is solely funded by these same people."

<<snip>>

Democrats are particularly concerned about the impact these groups can have against vulnerable incumbents from rural districts, where TV advertising is less expensive. "Those are congressional districts where a little bit of money can go a long way," Van Hollen said.
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http://www.freedomswatch.org/

Welcome to Freedom's Watch

For too long, conservatives have lacked a permanent political presence to do battle with the radical special interest groups and their left-wing allies in government. Freedom’s Watch was formed to be the conservative voice fighting for mainstream conservative principles – today, tomorrow, and for generations to come. We engage in grassroots lobbying, education and information campaigns, and issue advocacy to further our goals and objectives. We create coalitions and collaborate with like-minded groups and individuals to further our common goals. Freedom’s Watch provides bold conservative solutions to pressing domestic and international issues to keep America strong, safe, and prosperous. Your support is urgently needed. Please join us today in helping to build a better America. Click here to learn more:
http://www.freedomswatch.org/About/tabid/38/Default.aspx

<<snip>>

CORE ISSUE AREAS: We will have four fundamental issue areas that are generational in breadth and scope.

-The dangers of radical Islam and the emerging Iranian threat
-Advancing a conservative agenda and market-based solutions to pressing domestic problems
-Standing up to Big Labor’s radical agenda
-Preventing the degeneration of our society by stopping the legalization of controlled substances.

[floridablue]

1. Is KKKarl involved in this ??? Ted Olson ????

Do we know where the money is coming from ?L Scaife perhaps.

[dajoki]

2. Sheldon G. Adelson...

naned in article.

Many in Freedom Watch's donor base -- including Adelson, the chairman and chief executive of the Las Vegas Sands Corp., and Sembler, the strip-mall magnate from St. Petersburg, Fla. -- have always been strong supporters of Israel. The group's initial ad blitz in defense of Bush's troop buildup in Iraq came naturally out of those interests.

[ralbertson]

3. Freedom's Watch is creepy stuff.

For a change, this one's not primarily by funded by the usual old-school vast-right-wing-conspiracy moneymen like Richard Mellon Scaife. It's funded by their moral and ethical (ahem) equivalents, but it represents an additional set of players on the field now.

Freedom's Watch was co-founded and is publicly led by Ari Fleischer, Bush's former press secretary, and its main purpose is to push the PNAC-dominated, aggressively pro-Israel neoconservative agenda favored by Dick Cheney and his ugly ilk.

We can expect Freedom's Watch to be a serious and very influential player on behalf of that neocon agenda in the 2008 elections. And it's just one of several high-profile, heavily-funded right-wing 527-type groups that are going to be a major factor in politics this year and beyond. (Thank you, McCain-Feingold bill -- what hath ye wrought?)

I encourage you all to read the article on Freedom's Watch on Congresspedia's SourceWatch site -- which is, by the way, an invaluable resource when trying to keep an eye on how and where the Right Wing Noise Machine does the voodoo that it does so well:

http://sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Freedom%27s_Watch

[dajoki]

4. Thanks for the link...

This is a dangerous group, something I'm afraid cannot be stopped by our protests. As this sentence says, they may not have the supporters, but they do have the mega millionaires. The same way our country is being run right now by the ultra-rich.

"But, as Eli Pariser, the executive director of MoveOn.org Political Action, argues that Freedom's Watch may have money, but it doesn't have a base of support. ... 'The main difference is that MoveOn is a group of 3.3 million,' he said. 'Freedom's Watch is a few mega millionaires.'"