An organization some are calling a White House front group is running advertisements targeting members of Congress.
In and of itself, that's not so unusual. What's unusual is which members of Congress the Republican advocacy group is targeting: Republicans.
Under normal circumstances, a Republican advocacy group would publish attack ads in districts held by Democrats. But Freedom's Watch is different: in Minnesota, indications are that the organization, fronted by former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer, is running ads targeting Sen. Norm Coleman and U.S. Reps. Jim Ramstad and Michele Bachmann -- all Republicans.
The ad includes a statement from a veteran who says "they attacked us ... and they will again. They won't stop in Iraq." The ad then flashes a toll-free number for viewers to call their representatives and senators: 1-877-222-8001. This number does not connect callers to congressional offices -- it connects them to an operator who offers organizational talking points and then does a brief survey. One of the questions is whether the caller believes surrendering in Iraq will harm our ability to fight the terrorists; if the caller answers negatively, the operator offers thanks for the call and prepares to hang up.
A National Public Radio report on Wednesday indicated that the tax status of Freedom's Watch will shield it from having to disclose the identities of its donors, but that the current ad campaign will see the organization spend in excess of $15 million before the mid-September progress report on Iraq. Research by Americans Against Escalation in Iraq indicates that Freedom's Watch is spending more than $220,000 in the Twin Cities media market to focus on Coleman, Ramstad and Bachmann, constituting a small part of the 90 percent of their total expenditure focused on Republican officials.
Sourcewatch.org identifies several of the organization's donors, two of whom also donated to the legal defense fund for I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the former aide to Vice President Dick Cheney convicted earlier this year for perjury and obstruction of justice and later pardoned by President Bush.
Brad Woodhouse of Americans United for Change, an organization actively pushing these same three Minnesota Republicans to stand against the White House, said of the ad campaign, "The last thing these members want to talk about is Iraq -- an issue which cost so many Republicans their jobs last November. I don't know Ari Fleischer -- but if I saw him, I'd hug him. These ads -- combined with the one's we've run in many of the same states from the other side -- will either move these members towards voting to end the war or will likely run them out of office."
Tom Mattzie, Washington D.C. director of Moveon.org, said in an open letter to Fleischer: "Our researchers tell us your ads are targeting 90% Republicans (37 out of 41). We?ve had strong fundraising but we never thought a $15 million TV buy was in the works. Every extra minute of TV time talking about Iraq is another drip, drip, drip of bad news for politicians who won?t break with Bush. So, thanks."
