You really can't blog these days without running into something about the 527 political groups. Kerry denounces the Swifties' right to exist while praising MoveOn. How very unbiased of him. Meanwhile, MoveOn has sponsored swift boat ads of their own.



Ah, but the difference, says the Kerry group is that MoveOn is independent, whereas one of the people in the Swifty ads, retired Air Force Col. Ken Cordier, was a member of the Bush-Cheney campaign's veterans' steering committee, and a lawyer advising the Swifties, Benjamin Ginsberg, has served as counsel for the RNC regarding a suit on campaign funding laws. So, the argument goes, that means that MoveOn's ads are fine and dandy, while the Swifties have to be denounced.



Unfortunately, you can't get anything past these pesky bloggers. Antioch Road points out that the AP article which discusses Ginsberg's involvement as both RNC counsel and informal counsel for the Swifties includes this quote:



"Joe Sandler, a lawyer for the DNC and a group running anti-Bush ads, MoveOn.org, said there is nothing wrong with serving in both roles at once.



In addition to the FEC's coordination rules, attorneys are ethically bound to maintain attorney-client confidentiality, Sandler said. They could lose their law license if they violate that, he said."



So then Kerry reciprocates and denounces MoveOn's anti-Bush ad regarding Bush's service record.



Now, the Des Moines Register points out that both sides are calling for the repeal of these groups.



Why?



If the money is not coming from the RNC or the DNC, can't politically-minded Americans choose to separately fund ads for (or most likely against) a particular candidate? Isn't that what the whole "free speech" thing is about?



If the ads slander someone, let the legal system take care of it. Don't muzzle all independent groups simply because you're afraid the campaign will get to negative. Negative campaigning is basically an American tradition.



Actually, I'm rather surprised Kerry took the tactic of calling for the denouncement of the Swifties, which eventually gave him no choice but to denounce MoveOn. He's had the advantage when it comes to 527 groups and independent campaigning. As the UI hastens to point out in this article to the DI, the Americans for Change concert with the Dixie Chicks coming to Hancher is all funded by MoveOn. And whether you agreed with Fahrenheit 9/11 or not, you have to admit it was a brilliant piece of propoganda. Do you remember the MoveOn ads comparing Bush to Hitler? The DNC denounced those, though Kerry didn't say much specifically about them. Regardless, they didn't create the flak we're seeing now.



The Daily Kos speculates that the Swifties' ads were actually a calculated plan by Bush to entice Kerry to shut down the 527's and deprive himself of the massive benefits he's been reaping from the "free" publicity.



Hmm. That would mean GWB is rather Machevellian, and Kerry silly enough to fall for it.