Conservative Answer to MoveOn Tanking

[Purveyor]

Last summer's launch of what was supposed to be a counterpoint to the liberal MoveOn.org and Geoge Soros, Freedom's Watch, was heralded as "a never-ending campaign – a stable, credible voice of reason on generational issues that won't rise and fall with election cycles" by founding member and ex-Bush administration scheduler Brad Blakeman. It was rumored that the group would spend upwards of $200 million during this election cycle.

The group is organized under section 501(c)(4) of the tax code, meaning that it can lobby on issues but cannot expressly advocate for specific candidates. Become familiar with this type of group - you'll see many more of them before the fall.

Initially to be mostly funded by casino-rich Sheldon G. Adelson, the chairman and chief executive of the Sands Corporation, and headed up by ex-Bushies Ari Fleischer and Blakeman, The New York Times reported Saturday:

But after a splashy debut last summer, in which it spent $15 million in a nationwide advertising blitz supporting President Bush's troop escalation in Iraq, the group has been mostly quiet, beset by internal problems that have paralyzed it and raised questions about what kind of role, if any, it will actually play this fall.

The group was conspicuously absent this week as Gen. David H. Petraeus, the United States commander in Iraq, returned to Congress to testify. Moreover, the troubles at Freedom's Watch come as some Democratic-aligned groups are seeking to take the offensive, with one group, Progressive Media USA, planning to raise $40 million to spend on advertisements and other efforts to undermine Senator John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive Republican nominee.

---EOE---

http://news.aol.com/political-machine/2008/04/14/conservative-answer-to-moveon-org-tanking/

[annabanana]

1. This stuff will never succeed because

they only have cash. They do not have the people with them.

[drmeow]

2. MoveOn was largely

a grass roots movement if I recall correctly. You can't create a grass roots movement with 10 years of history overnight. The repugs should know better - until now they have been the masters at building their deceptive movement.