The Swift Boaters are back

[Jeffersons Ghost]

Despite tea party energy, outside groups funded by Swift Boaters, other old hands

Funders of the stealth campaign against presidential candidate John Kerry have returned in force six years later, giving millions of dollars to independent groups targeting Democrats in the November midterms, according to election disclosures and other records.

The donations are part of a broader pattern of giving this year dominated by longtime party fundraisers, Wall Street financiers and energy tycoons. Despite the burst of new political energy surrounding the tea party movement, only a thin slice of the population is donating, with the number of Americans giving $200 or more dropping dramatically.

Records suggest that much of the money fueling a wave of negative attack advertising comes from a stable of old political hands with roots going back as far as the Nixon era.

American Crossroads, one of this year's biggest Republican-friendly spenders, has received 42 percent of its money from a dozen supporters of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the independent group that ran ads in 2004 accusing Kerry of lying about his war record, according to a Washington Post analysis. The single biggest contributor to the group, with $7 million, is Bob J. Perry, the Texas home builder who was the top Swift Boat financier.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/22/AR2010102203567.html?hpid=topnews

[hamsterjill]

1. You know, in Texas

I'm sure there are some good people whose last name is Perry. But I know if we could get rid of TWO of them, it would make me very happy!

[JustAnotherGen]

2. Hmmm

Wonder what T. Boone is doing . . .

[Jeffersons Ghost]

5. who is T. Boone?

[Dogtown]

6. Here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._Boone_Pickens

"In 2004, Pickens contributed to Republican 527 groups, including a $2 million<14> contribution to the Swift Vets and POWs for Truth..."

[JustAnotherGen]

7. T. Boone Pickens

The Rat Bas-tuhd!

http://firedoglake.com/2007/11/16/john-kerry-to-swift-boat-funder-t-boone-pickens-wheres-my-million-dollars/

He was a big 'proponent' of the lies told about Senator Kerry.

[JustAnotherGen]

8. T. Boone Pickens

The Rat Bas-tuhd!

http://firedoglake.com/2007/11/16/john-kerry-to-swift-boat-funder-t-boone-pickens-wheres-my-million-dollars/

He was a big 'proponent' of the lies told about Senator Kerry.

[karynnj]

9. Actively funding liars again

He and other SBVT liars are mentioned here. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/22/AR2010102203567.html Including Sam Fox, who Kerry grilled before the SFRC when Bush appointed him Ambassador to Belgium. He tried to avoid Kerry going after him by including in his statement that he knew Kerry was genuine war hero - "an no one could take that away". (Except, of course, when the RW needed to not let it and other parts of Kerry's life speak for themselves in showing that he was a man of integrity, strength and courage - unlike his opponent, whose life showed none of that.)

[texastoast]

3. Just got this from Public Citizen

Stunning Statistics of the Week:
• $7 million: Amount Republican donor Bob J. Perry, who helped finance the Swift Boat Veterans campaign against presidential candidate John Kerry, has given to the conservative group American Crossroads for the upcoming election
• $4.8 million: Amount given to American Crossroads by Robert Rowling, CEO of a company whose holdings include Omni Hotels
• $15 million: Amount American Crossroads raised in 43 days
• $24.1 million: Amount American Crossroads has raised this year

1912 Montana campaign finance law is tossed out
A 1912 Montana law banning corporations from making independent political expenditures – money spent on such things as ads to help elect or defeat a candidate – has been tossed out in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United. The Montana attorney general said the state would appeal.



And here's a link we should all be interested in.

http://www.citizen.org/stealthpacs

[USA_1]

4. Will Dems Remain Passive & Silent Again?

Dems stayed quiet as the ultra fascists attacked Kerry with disastrous consequences. This is the price you pay when you allow yourself to get trampled on. Silence is death. And it is a choice - a bad one.

[Initech]

10. Who is funding these fucking psychos?

[texastoast]

11. ...

Here's some info. And I'm sad to say some very wealthy, evil, greedy asshole Texans.



http://www.citizen.org/stealthpacs

Bob Perry – $7 million to American Crossroads; $50,000 to First Amendment Alliance

Robert Rowling – $2.5 million to American Crossroads. Rowling is the CEO of TRT Holdings, a company that owns the Gold’s Gym and Omni Hotel chains

Wayne Hughes Sr. – $2.3 million to American Crossroads. Hughes is the chairman and founder of Public Storage Inc

Alliance Resource Group – $2 million to American Crossroads. Alliance is a holding company for various coal production and marketing operations, most based in the eastern United States.

Fred Eshelman – As much as $5.1 million to RightChange.com, for which he is the primary funder. Eshelman’s company, Pharmaceutical Product Development, is a drug development company based in North Carolina

Jerry Perenchio – $1 million through a trust to American Crossroads. Perenchio is the former chairman and CEO of Univision Broadcasting,

Southwest Louisiana Land LLC and Dixie Rice Agricultural Corporation – $1 million each to American Crossroads. Large or controlling stakes in both companies are held by Harold Simmons, a Texas investor who is worth $5 billion

Trevor Rees-Jones – $ 1 million to American Crossroads. Rees-Jones is a Texas oil and gas investor worth $3 billion, and is among the 200 richest Americans, according to Forbes

Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America (PHRMA) - $775,000 to Citizens for Strength and Security

H. Wayne Huizenga – $50,000 to American Crossroads. Huizenga was the founder of Waste Management and Blockbuster Video

Donald Trump – $50,000 to American Crossroads.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

12. thanks for this post. very informative