Public Campaign Action Fund - McConnell: My Troops for an Mp3 Player! - Comments

Ad and Clean Elections

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 14:25:35 -0500

Thank you all for posting your comments here -- it is great to see debate on this issue. Public Campaign Action Fund, in addition to advocating for Clean Elections has as a part of its mission the goal to raise awareness about ties between special interest money and legislators and the unfavorable policy atmosphere that results. Many of our ad campaigns have this focus. We have found it's an important component in defining the problem which Clean Elections addresses and brings lots of new people to the work. The majority of our work, and the work of our sister org Public Campaign is spreading the word about Clean Elections which, as you rightly pointed out, many voters think is a great idea once they've heard about it. So, we do both!

The Ad has the wrong Focus

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 12:53:39 -0500

I'm not sure I understand your post. I would argue that the ad does not represent Clean Elections so much as it bashes another candidate. Clean Elections asks for our money to run the ad, but I don't see how it gets across the clean elections message. I really doubt that many people will go to the website (listed for three seconds at the end of the add) which is the ONLY reference to clean elections in the entire ad! Why don't we spend the money sending informational packets to registered voters? Most of my friends have never even heard of clean elections, but when I explain it they think its a great idea. "Protesting is good, having an alternative is better" -Jim Wallis

Claim that AD is off target

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 20:18:32 -0500

Wrong! Clearly you are not looking at this ad subjectively. You are looking at this ad as a smear campaign. Try looking at this ad again, thinking how low some people have to go, in order to get enough money to run their reelection campaign just to keep that power. This AD clearly shows a great need for public campaign financing and while it is being set up, include sharp teeth in this, that everyone, regardless of their wealth, must participate in this manner of obtaining all of their campaign money for all federal elective positions and no other money will be acceptable from anyone! Otherwise a person with the wealth of someone like Mr. Bill Gates could practically buy the presidency. Witness the recent event of the Mayor of NYC, Mr. Bloomberg, a multi billionaire thinking of running for President, but changed his mind. Imagine such a person with fewer scruples, but same amount of money and willing to spend almost all of those multibillions for that office! Then if someone did something like that ad shows being done, nail that person because it would not be needed for reelection, it would be for themself.

This ad is off target

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 12:15:08 -0500

The ad weakens the campaign for publicly financed elections. It is obviously partisan and is an example of EXACTLY what we condemn, on principle: buying air time for negative attack ads! PFCs is not a partisan issue. In any case, the issues you tried to use as fulcrums, for triangulation (information devices, and the body armor issue) are offensive to experts in those two domains. You're outside your depth and you took the opposite position to experts working to inform educate and communicate in the third world with information devices, such as Negroponte.

Campaign Finance Reform or Candidate Bashing?

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 11:11:24 -0500

I fail to see how this ad promotes the adoption of clean elections. In all honesty it looks like a smear ad invented by Mr. McConnel's opponents. I have a hard time believing that this furthers the clean election cause.
Also, the Afghani tribesmen were portrayed as automatic rifle toting terrorists, which I find down right insulting.
Overall, I'm not impressed with the advertisement and I don't see how it furthers Clean Elections. I don't know why we're being asked to pay for it.

Mitch McConnel

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 10:28:32 -0500

Sunlight is the best antiseptic -in politics as in Nature. Let the sunshine in! http://www.youtube.com/gyrfalconeye

McConnell: My Troops for an Mp3 Player!

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 11:07:36 -0500

Sen. Mitch McConnell backed a company that wanted $8.3 million to send mp3 players to Afghan tribesmen, while the lobbyist for the company helped line up $120,000 in campaign contributions for McConnell from his clients. Then McConnell voted -- twice -- against giving our troops abroad better body armor. We think it's time to tell this incredible story, and hold McConnell accountable, so we're rolling out a new ad today in Kentucky to do just that.