For your reading pleasure, I offer the text of the latest press release from Claire McCaskill’s senatorial campaign below. For a little context, note that McCaskill isn’t a Johnny-come-lately to the issue of campaign financial disclosure; as her press release notes, she was an early supporter of legislation, such as the failed Disclose Act, that would have required corporations to disclose their political donations, and has consistently decried the effects of the Citizens United decision.  

Nor is McCaskill alone in her concern about the efforts of anonymous corporate entities to buy the election in 2012. Yesterday, the Obama re-election campaign entered the fray against Carl Rove’s Crossroads GPS, asking the Federal Election Commission to require the Rove organization to register as a political entity and disclose its donors. For the record, Crossroads, along with the Chamber of Commerce, mounted early, intense and patently dishonest attacks on McCaskill. We’ve written about the nasty situation here and here.

McCaskill Calls on New SuperPAC to Disclose Its Donors

McCaskill has consistently called for greater transparency, disclosure in campaign finance



St. Louis, Mo.-The McCaskill for Missouri campaign released the following statement today in response to news reports about a new SuperPAC called “Heart of America” PAC.

“Claire is adamant – outside groups need to disclose their donors and the same goes for groups looking to support her, if not more so,” said Erik Dorey, McCaskill for Missouri spokesman. “Whether they’re secret money groups that are never required to disclose, or a group like this one that has quarterly reporting requirements, Claire is making herself crystal clear: disclose your donors.”

Claire has consistently called on outside groups to disclose their donors and has repeatedly decried the Citizens United ruling that allowed some groups, such as Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS, Americans for Prosperity, the Chamber of Commerce and 60+, to raise unlimited funds without ever disclosing their donors.

In January, Claire sent a letter to all three of her opponents asking them to join her in calling on any outside group that spends money in this race to disclose their donors and she stands by that today.

Unfortunately, none of her opponents ever responded to Claire’s letter, or her challenge to outside groups.

According to the News-Leader, this new group indicated it is planning to disclose its donors when quarterly reporters are due July 15.

I assume that none of you missed the part of McCaskill’s missive about the failure of all of her opponents to respond to her invitation to stand up for honest and transparent election funding? Of course, we all know that integrity is in short supply in the political world – but when did it become okay to just ignore a challenge to one’s supply of same and hope nobody notices?

Worth reading today: the New York Times editorial titled “A Senator Fights Back.” The Times piece describes the unfair fight facing Claire McCaskill as she opts to try to fight back against the GOP SuperPACs that are pouring money into Missouri to try to unseat her.

The money (literally) quote:

Republican interest groups are outspending Ms. McCaskill and other Missouri Democrats by a 7-to-1 ratio; Ms. McCaskill herself is being outspent by 3 to 1. Though she has raised nearly $10 million, the amount could be dwarfed by the unlimited money at the disposal of Republican-oriented groups.

A sample of what the money is buying:

“Fourteen thousand dollars,” one Crossroads GPS ad intones, while a beleaguered father holds his head in his hands. “Under President Obama and Senator Claire McCaskill, that’s what every man, woman and child in America owes in new government debt.” The ad wrongly suggests that individuals will “owe” the government a check for that amount, and of course never mentions that Mr. Rove’s patron, President George W. Bush, was responsible for nearly five times more of the current debt than President Obama.

What the Times thinks about the situation:

Crossroads GPS claims to be a tax-exempt social welfare group, so it does not have to disclose its big corporate donors. That lie is no less outrageous than it was in 2010, when these groups first started sheltering their political activity under a tax loophole. It is long past time for the Internal Revenue Service to begin investigating and prosecuting this clear violation of the law.

Meanwhile, while a few politicians and pundits fret about the situation, those of us in Missouri and other similar states can sit back and watch the unedifying spectacle of corporations trying to buy our democracy.

The issue for politicians like Claire McCaskill is that the opposition, thanks to their unlimited funds, can keep lobbing lies like Groucho Marx used to lob his jokes, so fast and furiously that it doesn’t make any difference if a few miss their mark. Or, in the current case, so fast and furiously and with such relentless repetition that it becomes impossible to respond effectively or to lay any particular calumny to rest. No matter how fast you clean off spitballs, enough of them will leave a sticky film.

The issue for the rest of us is that the attacks on both our democratic process and the governmental structures that have shored up the American middle class are subject to such a fast and furious onslaught that we are unable to focus and set priorities. We are always rallying to put out brush fires and never get to the major conflagration that is threatening us.

Surely, though, pushback against the conditions that permit the subversion of our elections by big money has to be our most important focus. Electing officials who have our interests at heart is essential if we are to form a bulwark against the current GOP attack on essential social structures.  Sadly, as the Times observes on the topic of legislating greater transparency in campaign finance, the fight may already be nearly lost:

Congress could also require disclosure of donors, and end the coordination between outside groups and political parties. That is increasingly unlikely, however, as long as some members of Congress owe their elections, and their allegiance, to the same groups.

Conservatives have been bursting a vein over President Obama’s totally unsurprising statement that negotiations might be more fruitful once U.S. pols are no longer engaging in the ritualized puffing and strutting of their electoral mating dances. As a matter of fact, some of those on the right who are especially easy to inflame have dubbed his rather mild nod in the direction of realism, “unilateral disarmament.” Never mind that nobody can show the slightest bit of evidence that the President has any intentions of stripping the U.S. and only the U.S. of our entire nuclear arsenal (or of any type of arsenal) – which is what would be required if we were to disarm unilaterally.

The point that I really want to make, however, is that those on the right do seem to recognize that unilateral disarmament is foolhardy. So why do so many of them think (or pretend to think) that when politicians refuse to endorse what amounts to unilateral disarmament in the electoral sphere, it is “hypocrisy.” I allude to the GOP response to the VoteVets ad that is running in support of Claire McCaskill:

For years, Claire McCaskill has feigned outrage over political spending by outside interest groups that she accuses of trying to “buy your government”-but now that she is benefiting from an outside interest group funded by radical environmentalists, she is strangely silent,” the state GOP said in a statement.

To make matters worse for McCaskill, the nonpartisan OpenSecrets.org has investigated VoteVets and unmasked the interest groups behind it. As it turns out, VoteVets has raked in millions of dollars from radical environmental groups such as the Sierra Club and Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection.

Let’s sort it out: McCaskill has been hammered and will, no doubt continue to be hammered with dishonest third party ads, most recently from Crossroads GPS. The GOP can rely on enough third party moolah from their corporate and financier pals to gold-plate Everest if they didn’t prefer that it be used for carefully calibrated attack ads instead.  All of which brings home the fact that it’s definitely not a level playing field.   Walking unarmed out onto this far from level battle playing field is surely the political equivalent of unilateral disarmament – which the GOP clearly considers criminally stupid, even if they don’t exactly know what it entails.

McCaskill has to play the hand she’s dealt and that means taking help where she can get it. But at least, she knows that we need to reform the rules that govern the playing field and her condemnation of the bad faith that forces her hand, is far from hypocrisy, even if she still retains a clear concept of what current realities demand. On the other hand, GOP pols really, really seem to want to perpetuate the money laden status quo. Otherwise, they’d join their Democratic colleagues’ efforts to do something about the efforts of a few rich men to purchase our government.

Oh – I almost forgot – the claims about VoteVets?  How purile can you get. VoteVets consort with environmentalists? You gotta admit – they’re a classier bunch than either the Kochs or Carl Rove who’re among the sugar daddies behind the groups spending big bucks to knock McCaskill out of the ring.  

This one has been polluting my tee-vee set of late:

Announcer: Here’s Claire McCaskill, using special interest cash….

Think about that for a second. Crossroads GPS accusing anybody else of using special interest money?:

….Crossroads GPS was formed as a 501(c)(4), a nonprofit that does not have to disclose its donors.

Now that’s real chutzpah.

They really do think Missouri voters are that stoopid.

Previously:

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D): and you shall know her by her political enemies (June 22, 2011)

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D): and you shall know her by her political enemies, part 2 (July 8, 2011)

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D): and you shall know her by her political enemies, part 3 (November 10, 2011)

Previously:

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D): and you shall know her by her political enemies (June 22, 2011)

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D): and you shall know her by her political enemies, part 2 (July 8, 2011)

Crossroads GPS, a republican right wingnut astroturf organization, continues to dump a ton of money into television ads attacking Senator Claire McCaskill (D). The latest attack ad:

Narrator: Claire McCaskill and Barack Obama. Their idea for a next step on the economy? Four hundred fifty billion in more wasteful spending. Senator McCaskill calls this new spending a step in the right direction? Just like their wasted eight hundred thirty billion stimulus last year. And billions more in auto and bank bailouts. Spending billions while step by step unemployment just continues to rise. Perhaps it’s time for them to step in a new direction.

[Paid For By Crossroads Grassroots Political Strategies]

“…And billions more in auto and bank bailouts….”

Uh, who was President in 2008 when the automaker bailouts and majority of bank bailouts occurred?:

History of U.S. Gov’t Bailouts

● Bear Stearns 2008 JP Morgan Chase and the federal government bailed out Bear Stearns when the financial giant neared collapse. JP Morgan purchased Bear Stearns for $236 million; the Federal Reserve provided a $30 billion credit line to ensure the sale could move forward. $30 billion

● Fannie Mae / Freddie Mac 2008 On Sep. 7, 2008, Fannie and Freddie were essentially nationalized: placed under the conservatorship of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Under the terms of the rescue, the Treasury has invested billions to cover the companies’ losses. Initially, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson put a ceiling of $100 billion for investments in each company. In February, Tim Geithner raised it to $200 billion. The money was authorized by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. $400 billion

● American International Group (A.I.G.) 2008 On four separate occasions, the government has offered aid to AIG to keep it from collapsing, rising from an initial $85 billion credit line from the Federal Reserve to a combined $180 billion effort between the Treasury ($70 billion) and Fed ($110 billion). ($40 billion of the Treasury’s commitment is also included in the TARP total.) $180 billion

● Auto Industry 2008 In late September 2008, Congress approved a more than $630 billion spending bill, which included a measure for $25 billion in loans to the auto industry. These low-interest loans are intended to aid the industry in its push to build more fuel-efficient, environmentally-friendly vehicles. The Detroit 3 — General Motors, Ford and Chrysler — will be the primary beneficiaries. $25 billion

● Troubled Asset Relief Program 2008 In October 2008, Congress passed the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, which authorized the Treasury Department to spend $700 billion to combat the financial crisis. Treasury has been doling out the money via an alphabet soup of different programs. Here’s our running tally of companies getting TARP funds. $700 billion

● Citigroup 2008 Citigroup received a $25 billion investment through the TARP in October and another $20 billion in November. (That $45 billion is also included in the TARP total.) Additional aid has come in the form of government guarantees to limit losses from a $301 billion pool of toxic assets. In addition to the Treasury’s $5 billion commitment, the FDIC has committed $10 billion and the Federal Reserve up to about $220 billion. $280 billion

[emphasis added]

Karl Rove must think we’re all stoopid. And such chutzpah.

“…while step by step unemployment just continues to rise….”

From the Bureau of Labor Statistics October 2011 employment report:

THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION — OCTOBER 2011

Nonfarm payroll employment continued to trend up in October (+80,000), and the unemployment rate was little changed at 9.0 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment in the private sector rose, with modest job growth continuing in professional and businesses services, leisure and hospitality, health care, and mining. Government employment continued to trend down.

Household Survey Data

Both the number of unemployed persons (13.9 million) and the unemployment rate (9.0 percent) changed little over the month. The unemployment rate has remained in a narrow range from 9.0 to 9.2 percent since April….

For right wingnut republicans doing everything they can to defund government and devastate public employment and then crowing that unemployment continues to rise takes some serious chutzpah. Never mind that private employment is up and the unemployment rate has, as the Bureau of Labor statistics stated, “…remained in a narrow range from 9.0 to 9.2 percent since April…” with current unemployment at 9.0%. Not only do right wingnut republicans have chutzpah, they are seriously number and fact challenged. But we already knew that.  

Unlimited money doesn’t necessarily equal substance and originality. Karl Rove’s right wingnut astroturf organization is spamming the Missouri airwaves with another ad attacking Senator Claire McCaskill (D):

The transcript:

First person: We’re paying double for gas.

Second person: More for groceries.

Third person: Our homes are worth less.

Fourth person: More people are out of work.

Fifth person: And it’s a lot harder to save for retirement.

Sixth person: But instead of fixing our economy…

Fourth person: …politicians like Claire McCaskill voted for billions in new taxes.

First person: …and racked up trillions in crushing debt.

Fifth person: Now President Obama wants to continue the reckless spending.

Third person: And he wants to raise taxes even higher.

Sixth person: That costs us more jobs.

Third person: Senator McCaskill…

Fourth person:…no more blank checks.

“…We’re paying double for gas…”

You might want to talk to the big oil corporations about that. You know, the ones with record profits and those lucrative tax breaks that the republican controlled House fights to preserve.

“…Our homes are worth less…”

Really. When did that happen? Oh, yeah, during the previous republican administration, under dubya.

“…More people are out of work…”

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D): and you shall know her by her political enemies, part 2 (July 8, 2011)

From the office of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D).

Gee, that chart shows a very different trajectory from the previous republican administration, don’t you think? Or are the republican hacks at Crossroads GPS insinuating that the stimulus wasn’t big enough? Just asking, but hardly probable.

“…And it’s a lot harder to save for retirement…”

Especially when the republicans finish destroying Social Security and Medicare.

“…and racked up trillions in crushing debt…”

….The Bush Tax Cuts Are The Primary Driver Of Federal Budget Deficits Over The Next Decade….

Uh, dubya’s administration did the racking. Big time. Where was Crossroads GPS when that was happening. Oh, right, Karl Rove was helping do that racking.

“…And he wants to raise taxes even higher…”

Yep, on those who have been getting a windfall for the last eleven years. It doesn’t look like anyone in this ad makes more than $250,000.00 a year does it?

CNN/ORC [pdf]

Interviews with 1,009 adult Americans conducted by telephone by ORC International on July 18-20, 2011. The margin of sampling error for results based on the total sample is plus or

minus 3 percentage points.

The sample includes 856 interviews among landline respondents and 153 interviews among cell phone respondents.

[….]

24. Now I’m going to read you some of the specific proposals for cutting government spending and increasing taxes that have been suggested as part of the discussions on the debt ceiling. For each one, please tell me whether you favor or oppose that proposal as a way to reduce the amount that the government owes.

[….]

Increasing the taxes paid by people who make more than 250 thousand dollars a year

Favor 73% Oppose26%

[emphasis added]

So much for convincing a majority that millionaires and billionaires have it tough.

Gee, they’re running the same ad in Montana:

And Ohio:

And Nebraska:

And Florida:

Fancy that. Heh, leave it to republicans, spam and astroturf.

Though, isn’t the diversity of America inspiring?

Previously: Sen. Claire McCaskill (D): and you shall know her by her political enemies (June 22, 2011)

Crossroads GPS, a republican right wingnut astroturf organization, has dumped a ton of money into a television ad attacking Senator Claire McCaskill.

Senator Claire McCaskill (D): All of us need to realize the debt is a real problem, the deficit is a real problem.

Announcer: Oh, really, Senator?

[U.S. Debt up $5.6 Trillion Since 2007]

You voted for skyrocketing debt, the failed stimulus…

[Stimulus Bill $830 Billion]

…and Obamacare.

[Healthcare Takeover: $1 Trillion]

You voted for reckless spending. And how’d you pay for it?

[McCaskill Voted To Raise The Debt Limit Six Times]

Billions in new taxes and trillions in crushing debt.

Senator Claire McCaskill (D): The debt is a real problem.

Announcer: Sorry, Senator McCaskill, no more reckless spending, no new taxes, and no more blank checks.

[Paid For By Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies.]

The republicans believe everyone with a television set in America is stoopid.

Failed stimulus? Really?:

From the office of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D).

Gee, that chart shows a very different trajectory from the previous republican administration, don’t you think? Or are the republican hacks at Crossroads GPS insinuating that the stimulus wasn’t big enough? Just asking, but hardly probable.

Skyrocketing Debt? Who took a budget surplus and wasted it? Waiting, waiting, waiting…

….The Bush Tax Cuts Are The Primary Driver Of Federal Budget Deficits Over The Next Decade….

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r): town hall in Blue Springs, part 2 (April 30, 2011)

We have a “debt crisis” because dubya gave a windfall tax break to the top two percent, thereby increasing the distribution of wealth upward, and significantly decreasing revenue.

Because millionaires and billionaires have suffered so greatly over the last few years, right? That’ll sell with everyone else.

And voting on the debt limit?: Pot, kettle deeply acquainted

Yep, republicans think everyone in America is stoopid.

…Total spending on the Missouri effort is more than $219,230…

And they have an unlimited amount of money.

Since I spent some time examining how Todd Akin (R-2) has tried to spin his support for extending the tax giveaways for the super-rich with his on-going hectoring about deficits, I thought I would mosey over to look at the response to the issue by another Missouri GOP favorite, Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-9).  And guess what I found out? Good old, by-by-the-GOP-rule-book Blaine is hewing close to the Crossroads GPS strategy outlined earlier today – feign outrage and talk lots and lots about jobs, small businesses and the recession:

Today is a disappointing day for our job-creating small business owners, who are greatly affected by the job-killing tax increases that Democrats support, which will take effect in less than a month. Today’s job-destroying vote will continue to subject our small businesses to damaging tax hikes, which will only perpetuate the ongoing uncertainty that small business folks have been dealing with for months. My pledge to the people of the 9th District was to oppose all tax increases and to cut spending during these tough economic times. …

Once again, loud and clear – Blaine Luetkemeyer voted for tax increases for 98% of the American taxpayers, and his “pledge” to oppose “all” tax increases amounts to a willingness to sacrifice that 98% for the sake of those with enough of the green to fork over the big campaign moolah. Nothing more, nothing less.

But Luetkemeyer is right in line with the recommendations suggested by Glen Bolger in a Crossroad GSP GPS funded report on how to obfuscate those facts: Pretend, despite clear evidence to the contrary, that the tax giveaways for the wealthy would affect a majority of small businesses, and that they could have more than a minimal stimulative effect in general. He also deftly uses Bolger’s suggested ploy of conflating the tax giveaways for the wealthy with the middle class tax cuts put forward by the Democrats, creating an image of himself as a fighter for equal treatment for all, even those who have had an unequal advantage for the past eight years at least.

Just in case anyone’s inclined to take the equality bait, it is useful to look at this chart (source: The Joint Committee on Taxation, via Ezra Klein) that shows just how unequal the middle tax cuts vs. the wealthy tax giveways really are:

Somehow makes Luetkemeyer’s (and Akin’s) rhetoric about about extending the tax cuts for all “equally” seem just a little hollow.

Today I received a remarkable email from the infamous Crossroads GPS, Carl Rove’s gift from the Roberts court, about the battle over tax giveaways for the wealthy. It heralds the release of a survey executed by Glen Bloger of Public Opinions Strategies that purports to show strong majorities favor extending the Bush tax cuts for everyone, including those in the top brackets.  However, when one examines the survey and the accompanying summary memo, it is clear that the survey does not deal with actual public preferences, but with ways to spin the unpopular Republican drive to extend tax cuts for the wealthiest so that their payback to their big contributors does not bite them in the pants. It is, in Bolger’s words, “messaging” research that:

… identifies powerful arguments that Republicans and other limited government advocates can use to puncture the Democrats flimsy rationale for raising taxes on anyone in the midst of a deepening jobs crisis.

And indeed, if you read the survey results you will find that the only way the response comes out in favor of extending tax cuts for the wealthy is when the questions are asked in a specific, emotively misleading way. When people are asked straightforwardly if they favor extending the tax cuts for the wealthy, even a highly partisan survey can’t get more than an even split – which is still many more in favor of the giveaways than almost every other non-partisan survey has found to date. This survey and its resultant messaging formula is relatively weak, and it is not surprising that its author recommends that the GOP continue doing what they have already been doing to poor effect:

— frame the issue as tax increases not extensions of tax cuts;

— fail generally to distinguish between middle-class tax-cut extensions and those for the wealthy;

— seek cover by invoking the recession and beat the “jobs” dead horse until it’s even bloodier than it is now (how this works for the folks who killed  the unemployment benefits extension is hard to say);

— neutralize the deficit question by casting the issue as letting people keep their own money, not denying the government its dues.

Of course, this particular pseudo-survey is itself part of the messaging game, the effort to manipulate appearances. It doesn’t, however, strike me as worth the money Crossroads GPS probably paid for it.

What should we do to counter it? We may actually be doing just fine as we are.  For example, for the first time in a long time, we may have our Democratic Senator, Claire McCaskill, on our side as indicated by her on-the-money comments after the Senate votes last Saturday:

I’m trying to figure out how anyone can keep a straight face and say they are for deficit reduction when they insist on a permanent tax cut for the wealthiest Americans, completely unpaid for,” McCaskill said. “If they think it is OK to raise taxes for the embattled middle class because they are going to pout if we don’t give more money to millionaires, it really is time for the people of America to take up pitchforks.

For once, her wrong-headed deficit hobbyhorse may be working to our advantage. Now it is our turn to contact her and let her know that we approve of her strong stance on the tax giveaways for the wealthy. The Republicans have a weak hand and, as the Bolger memo shows, their bluff hasn’t been working – if we let them win with these cards, we’ll deserve to see our country demolished by the GOP wrecking crew over the coming decade. The next few days will show us if Democrats are just too strongly programed for capitulation to manage a victory, albeit one that will hurt more now than it would have if they had taken it when it was first offered before the midterms.

Nothing says Washington DC outsider like seven-term Congressman (and former Republican Whip) Roy Blunt! He’s such an outsider that there are dining establishments in DC that he has only been to once!

(Wonder how much of that debt is in stuff that he voted for, but wants you to forget about)

More under fold

No, they did not get that semissourian.com thing wrong (seeing as it’s a newspaper, you would think that).. they’re citing a USER SUBMITTED STORY titled “Robin Carnahan now likes TARP” from “Tim O’Toole”

Oh yeah, they also stretched “made a good case” into “would have voted for”. After all, if you admit something has a good case, you obviously support it. If only they taught logic to the O’Toole Family. Then the letter to the editor (errrrrrrr… I meant User-Submitted Story) quoted Rich Chrismer a few times.

Head on a pedestal. I need to get that photoshop program!

Also, how much was the bailout out of that $2.5 trillion? A trillion was added from Oct 2007 to Oct 2008 pre-bailout.

But then again, it’s OK if a Republican does it.

BTW, do they need more Robin headshots for their collection?

Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies? Nothing says Grassroots like anonymous fliers in millions of homes and a company headed by Karl Rove.

Granted, if they went with Crossroads Astroturf Policy Strategies, they would have an unfortunate acronym.

I wish people who talk about fiscal conservatism wouldn’t carpetbomb the voters in mailers. Yes, that means you Turfroots Mailer Factories. And tell Tim O’Toole that I said “Howdy!”