Dem Money Spent To Bash Obama, Pelosi
Major Dem donors who wrote checks to the Democratic Governors Association funded a below-the-radar campaign that attacked Pres. Obama and other Dem all-stars, all in hopes of knocking off a strong GOP challenger.
"Liberal Terry Branstad would make Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi proud," reads one mailer, sent by a shadow group called Iowans for Responsible Government. "When it comes to health care, Terry Branstad sounds a lot like Barack Obama," reads another.
The mailer attacked Branstad, who won the IA GOP primary last month. Branstad, a former 4-term governor, faced a much more conservative contender, '06 LG nominee Bob Vander Plaats, in the GOP primary; Branstad won by about 10 points, a smaller margin than earlier polls had predicted.
Iowans for Responsible Government is a 527 group founded by Rob Tully, the former state Dem Party chairman. Reports filed with the Internal Revenue Service this morning show the group raised $782K and spent $767K in the second quarter. That money came entirely from the DGA, in 3 contributions in May and June.
The fliers repeatedly show Branstad's photo next to Obama's, while one depicts his head on Mt. Rushmore, next to Clinton's, Pelosi's and the president's.
What's more, the mailers that attacked Branstad -- as well as Obama, Clinton and Pelosi -- appear to have been designed by The Strategy Group, a Chicago-area consulting firm that served as a top mail vendor to Obama's '08 campaign.
Iowans for Responsible Government spent $314K with The Strategy Group on "direct mail services," according to the IRS filings. The Strategy Group is the only firm listed as a mail vendor. The 527 group also spent heavily on TV ads with Shorr Johnson Magnus, a prominent PA media firm, and with Harstad Strategic Research, a Boulder-based polling outfit. Both firms worked on Obama's '08 campaign.
A DGA spokesperson wasn't immediately available for comment.
Update: "Terry Branstad saw which way the political winds were blowing and he knew his record of undisciplined and reckless spending would be vulnerable to an attack from the right. He decided to repackage himself as a conservative in order to fit into the Tea Party movement," said Ray Glendening, the DGA's political director. "We saw an opportunity with this political hypocrisy and took advantage of it. Branstad continues to run a false and deceptive campaign, and he is not who he says he is. We have and will continue to expose the parts of his record that he would prefer to keep hidden."
Pres. Obama needs a PR manager. He has done many monumental things to put us back on track and gets no credit for it. It is drowned out by Republican spin and lies. This should not be allowed to continue. You have to fight "fire with fire." Many of our deep-seated problems go back to the Reagan era, then Daddy Bush and on to George Bush...., the GOP has plundered and squandered our assets; People need to know that to go back to GOP rule would be to completely make the U.S. a third-world country.
It seems "angellight" is already doing PR work for Obama. People when are you going to wake up and see the light? We're on the second year of this administration and their policies are getting us farther away from economic recovery.
Hmmm... let's see. With Reagan's policies we went through the longest economic expansion in our history. Sounds like years of terrible ideas. After all, who wants economic expansion?!!
Fact is, Obama is taking this country toward socialism, much like Europe. Is that all that bad? Let's take a look. Every country in Europe that has a socialist government has high taxes and no economic growth for years. Doesn't that sound GREAT! If it does, please take a one way trip to Europe and stay there.
The whole reason the USA has been the dominate economic power for years is because we have had smaller government, relatively low taxes, and freedom. Seems that now it's a bad thing to be successful and wealthy. Pardon me, but I doubt that very few people have got a job from a poor person. The rich are the ones that create jobs. Sure they want to make more money, but who doesn't? When they spend money and invest in making more money... guess what... jobs are created. This is simple economics.
Does there need to be some control and regulation.. sure... but only enough to provide reasonable protections for environment and consumers.
I own 3 companies, and have stopped hiring people because of this Health Care law... and even more scary is the Cap and Tax bill.
You are witnessing the destruction of the US economy using government control. Welcome to European 0% economic growth.
If you have a job... keep voting for Obama, and you won't have one for long. It's just pure economics.
Hmmm . . . sounds like Scott Brown. 'Pretending to be a fiscal conservative' got him support from the Tea Party, got him elected, then "boom!", "I'm really a hard line liberal!" I know that I was buffaloed. We're not even from Massachusetts, and we contributed to his senate campaign, because of his Tea Party support. I hope IA is able to see through the veil of deceit, and I hope the Tea Party does a more thorough job of vetting their candidate support.
@angellight: Obama has gotten more positive press from NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times, and The Los Angeles Times in the last 2 1/2 years (including campaigning) than Ronald Reagan, George Bush, and G.W. Bush combined got from those sources EVER. The problem is, Obama is ALL spin and lies, and the Republican message, even though all those news outlets have been ignoring it as best they can, is resonating with the American people.
Two Things: 1: Bush had a Demcrate full house and senate so everything he tried to do was squashed by Dems.
2: Bush left us 1trillion in debt. We are now 1yr later going on 14trillion in debt.
What part of this dont you understand Angellight???