Note: 4/23: Brian Wise of Defense of Democracies has written to say that the ad has never run in Ron Paul's district and only ran in nine congressional districts, rather than eleven as the Raw Story article claimed. Duly noted. [end update note]
Note: we've edited this post to reflect changes in the Raw Story article.
We appreciate the traffic from being mentioned in an article in Raw Story. Somehow, we don't think that Ron Paul supporters who caucused with the Republican Party in the First back in February will be listening much to what Defense of Democracies has to say.
Some excerpts from the article:
New radio ads are running in districts of several Democratic members of Congress, as well as Texas Republican Rep. Ron Paul, targeting the lawmakers for their opposition to a White House-backed surveillance bill. The ads play on national security fears in an attempt to spur these lawmakers to give in to the administration's demands.
Critics of the administration-backed bill say it does not guarantee enough civil liberties protections and would eliminate oversight of President Bush's warrantless wiretapping program.
Meanwhile, Politico reports that Democrats, Republicans and administration officials have met to discuss the stalled bill in question. It's the first time since February parties on all sides of the issue have met.
The ads come from the ostensibly nonpartisan group Defense of Democracies, following up on an earlier campaign from the group targeting many of the same lawmakers. The organization is urging the House to pass a Bush-approved update to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that would provide legal immunity to phone companies that may have violated the law in facilitating the warrantless wiretapping of Americans after 9/11. Civil libertarians and privacy advocates say the White House version of the bill, which already has been approved in the Senate, also does not provide enough judicial and congressional oversight for the administration's proposed surveillance program.
Defense of Democracies is running ads in a dozen districts across the country, targeting 11 Democrats and Paul who voted for an alternative FISA bill that passed the House last month. . . .
. . . The group claims to be bipartisan, but its earlier effort caused several Democrats to jump ship, and May told the Washington Post he has discussed conservatives' lagging fundraising efforts with former Bush strategist Karl Rove. . . .
. . .The Defense of Democracies ad also claims that vital intelligence was lost because of the delay in passing a new law, citing claims from administration officials. The Los Angeles Times reported the administration backtracked form this claim soon after it was made.
Looks like the group is up to its old tricks of simply not being straight with citizens. If it wants bogus, it should try the local funhouse mirrors. See the Newsweek/Factcheck.org article to see the way the group twisted the facts the first time around: Fear and False Claims--Playing the terrorism card, a GOP-linked group twists facts about a controversial electronic surveillance bill.
We need a clock that shows the days since the old FISA expired and how many times the Bush Administration has complained that no new legislation has been passed. My clock says that it was February 25 … almost two months ago. If this was so critical, Bush should be complaining everyday …. It’s a political ploy.
Posted by: MinnesotaCentral | April 23, 2008 at 09:58 AM