CYA
Posted in: 2008 Election, Adwatch, BushCo, Iraq, Random Wingnuttery
Bush White House allies in the private sector have begun a campaign to swiftboat their own GOP members of Congress — in an enormous ad buy of over $15 million dollars nationwide — that can mean only one thing: the WH is in full panic mode over how bad the report is going to be in September. And that GOP members are getting far more pressure at home from constituents than the corporate media is reporting.
It’s the “Buy George Bush A Legacy” campaign in full swing, with former WH flack Ari Fleischer presenting the PR face forward. And damn the consequences for the long term to the re-election hopes for all of the Republican members involved.
Seems to me, there’s more than just how members of Congress are going to vote in this — spending that much money on public ad buys says their wingnut base support is eroding as well, and they know it. From the NYTimes:
Mr. Fleischer said the central message of Freedom’s Watch is that “the war in Iraq can be won and Congress must not surrender.” The ads will run as Congress is awaiting the Sept. 15 release of a report from Gen. David Petraeus that will evaluate progress in Iraq.
Who are the folks involved with “Freedom’s Watch,” the 501(c)(4) group set up to pay for this WH CYA advertising blitz? According to their own press release:
Former U.S. Ambassador Anthony Gioia, Former U.S. Ambassador Kevin Moley, Former U.S. Ambassador Mel Sembler and Former U.S. Ambassador Howard Leach; Dr. John Templeton, Edward Snider, Sheldon Adelson, Richard Fox, Ari Fleischer, Gary Erlbaum, and Matt Brooks.
Quite the assemblage of neoconnery and GOP donor money, isn’t it? And that’s just the folks on the public listing at the moment.
Here is something that Ari Fleischer failed to tell the NYTimes — the vast majority of the money spent by this group from everything I can find on it is going toward ads directed at Republicans. As Tom Matzzie points out at Americablog, 37 of the 41 members of Congress they are targeting are Republicans. They are swiftboating their own (YouTube of one of their ads) — to the tune of $15 million dollars for starters — in order to cover the President’s ass and push policy toward their own ends, whether or not that means continued failure.
All of this is to keep George Bush and his supporters from having to own up to errors in judgment. And to keep the base in a lockstep line.
The WH apologists are spending money on a campaign to shove Republicans in Congress in the wrong direction to provide CYA for a President who can’t admit he’s a failure, whether or not those members of Congress lose the next election as a result. These people are willing to eat their own in order to provide the President cover. How’s that working for you, GOP? Sounds like desperation to me…
(Photo via malingering.)
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