Its one of those little stories sitting in the background that just happens to be pregnant with implications for the general election.
Wealthy Democrats are preparing a four-month, $40 million media campaign centered on attacks on Sen. John McCain. And it will be led by David Brock, the former investigative reporter who first gained fame in the 1990s as a right-wing, anti-Clinton journalist.The planned campaign is the product of a shakeup in the top ranks of the struggling independent Democratic groups. Brock, now best known as the ex-conservative founder of the liberal group Media Matters, last month quietly assumed the chairmanship of what's expected to be the main vehicle for independent Democratic attacks on McCain, now called Progressive Media USA.
The thing to note here is the word preparing. McCain has been out on the hustings for a couple of months now, looking presidential, reminding people of his heroic qualities. Meanwhile, the media has been focused on the horse race between Clinton and Obama and the unfortunately series of revelations concerning their lack of character, judgment, experience, wisdom or redeeming qualities in general. Democrats are not stupid--they know this is a very bad situation for them, yet they are, at this late date preparing to deal with the problem.
Politico drops the other shoe...
The move comes after the groups that had been expected to spearhead attacks on McCain — the Fund for America and Progressive Media USA's previous incarnation, the Campaign to Defend America — failed to raise the money needed to dent McCain's armor.
Now that's interesting, particularly when you consider how much money the 527s were rolling in during the 2004 election. Billionaire Democrats were giving millions and millions to destroy Bush and organize new voters, but once burned, twice shy. Soros etal have no intention of throwing good money after bad. Progressive Media USA hasn't actually raised any money yet, only claiming commitments of 7.5 of the 40 million dollar goal--this in an environment where the wilting Hillary Clinton still managed to raise 20 million dollars in a month. Add to this the fact that we are supposed to be in a Democratic year, and the reticence of fat Democrat wallets to fund the slimers is curious indeed.
Well, maybe not so curious.
Donors had begun to complain that while the Campaign to Defend America had built a large organization — it has, Brock said, 29 staffers, most devoted to "research" — it had failed to show it could mount a large-scale media campaign.
There is a delicious irony in this--Democrats refusing to fund a top heavy bureaucracy.
So far, the group has aired only a single ad, tipping their hand as to strategy. The ad replaces McCain's head with Bush's and tries to drive home the point that McCain is simply an extension of the Bush administration.
Good luck with that.
There is more to this than we are seeing. I'm only guessing, but it may well be that the 527 phalanx is essentially a Clinton construct and that her declining fortunes have brought down everything else with it. The Obama wing wants to see the Clintons gone--all the way out, and that means all vestiges of their institutional power as well.
Its an interesting situation, but not an unexpected one. The Democrat party has always been about special, meaning self-interest. When an alliance of self-interested parties has the prospect of real power within their grasp, the predictable reaction is going to be tooth and claw infighting to get the upper-hand . The election of 2008 may not in the end, be a fight for the presidency, but a fight for the soul of the Democrat party.
Posted by Mick Stockinger on April 10, 2008 2:09 PM
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