Transcript of Defense of Democracies' new radio ad in Mn-01

Update:  Welcome Raw Story readers.  We welcome the mention and the visit. [end update]

Brian Wise, communications director for the Defense of Democracies, wrote yesterday to let us know that the group would be running a new radio ad in the First. He kindly sent us the following transcript this morning:

Since 9/11, the terrorist threat to America has increased.

But since February 16^th…our ability to stop that threat has been interrupted.

The law allowing us to intercept communications from new terrorist groups has expired – risking vital intelligence that could prevent future attacks.

Senate Democrats and Republicans voted overwhelmingly for a bipartisan compromise to extend terrorist surveillance.

And twenty-one House Democrats signed a letter supporting the Senate’s plan -- because failing to pass it, quote “could place our national security at undue risk.”

But two months later Nancy Pelosi and some House Democrats still refuse to bring the Senate’s bill to a vote.

Instead, they passed a sham bill that fails to restore the authority our intelligence agencies need.

Tell Representative Tim Walz and the House to do their job – and pass the Senate’s Terror Surveillance Bill.

The disclaimer notes that the Defense of Democracies Action Fund paid for the ad. 

We'll have more on this later, but at first glance, we remember that a number of the "twenty-one House Democrats [who] signed a letter supporting the Senate’s plan" changed their mind after they actually saw the legislation brought before them in the House.

Update: We're a little late in our reading of the Washington Post article, Leading GOP Donors Push To Catch Up to Liberal Groups. 

Fearless Leader Clifford May, president of Defense of Democracies, shows up in the second paragraph [emphasis ours]:

With Sen. John McCain facing the prospect of being dramatically outspent in the race for the White House, a collection of major Republican donors and party leaders that includes former Bush strategist Karl Rove is scrambling to catch up with the efforts of liberal groups aiming to influence the outcome in November.

"The folks on the right may have a rude awakening when they see how sophisticated the infrastructure is that's been built up on the left," said Clifford May, who heads the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, which could figure into the Republican effort. May, who said he has discussed the imbalance with Rove, added: "We're the little leagues compared to them."

So this ad campaign isn't just about scaring the heck out of everybody? Who knew?  May a Republican donor?  Heavens to Betsy!

Note: this post has been revised to reflect corrections in Raw Story article.

Comments

[MinnesotaCentral]

What happened between this April 22nd story and the MN-GOP convention that pushed the Telecom Immunity bill off the TalkingPoints ?

In all my reading of various accounts of the MN-GOP event, only Karl Rove bashed the Democrats on FISA. Did Alex Carey (per the Rochester P-B editorial) and Dr. Davis forget that they are supposed to attack Walz on this ?
From the 6/3/08 P-B editorial :
"Having accepted the task of rallying Republicans for a tough fight, Rove delivered. Hitting on all the key talking points -- small government, free enterprise, low taxes, personal responsibility, the Second Amendment and the right to life -- he made it clear that to win the presidency and make gains in Congress, the GOP can brook no compromises. Instead of inching toward the middle, his advice was to stand in stark contrast to the Democrats. "No nation has taxed and spent its way to prosperity in the history of the world!" he said.
Furthermore, on topics including health care reform, the war in Iraq, Sen. Barack Obama's foreign policy experience and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Rove's speech could serve as a blueprint, or at least a reference tool, for plenty of GOP speeches and literature that will be delivered across the country."

WOW ... FISA is only implied with the overall speech.

If I am wrong and someone made this a prime issue, I hope it gets posted online ... because for now, it looks like everyone has forgotten about it. I guess the Defense of Democracies group better save their money.

Ollie Ox says: Karl Rove did talk about it and groused about Democrats who exchanged national security for pandering to trial lawyers. I think this talking point may be one of the reasons the RPM is treating the Ron Paul people so badly. They typically don't go in for this sort of wiretapping. Some of the most adamant criticisms of FISA at one of Walz's town forum came from Paulites in Rochester.