I think Bush's approach has been all wrong, but the encouragement of 527s isn't necessarily a good thing.
Before CFR, people pumped their money into the two major parties, and there was accountability for the message. CFR basically encourages uber-wealthy folks like Soros, etc., to sit behind the scenes and pull strings. It has, with the aid of the MSM, enabled Kerry to distance himself from a message his surrogates are putting out. I don't care for that a bit.
And, in my opinion, 527s actually make speech much harder for the average folk.
Before I could simply pool my money together with other like minded Republicans and give to the candidate or party.
Now, unless there is some incredibly wealthy Soros-like figure out there ready to prop up a 527 for a guy like me, I'm going to have a hard time finding an outlet for a medium range contribution.
For all the talk about them, there are not many 527s really making that much noise. On the right, where no billioniares have stepped in, there really is only the SBV having much of an impact. On the left it is mainly MoveOn, which would be nowhere without the millionaires backing it.
I'd rather be able to give to may party or candidate than have to organize a separate group that can't coordinate its message with the candidate.
I think that's what Bush is getting at.
Club For Growth has come out with some pretty damning stuff on Kerry, but Kerry hasn't tried to stamp them to bits through the FEC. Kerry is trying to stamp out the SBV's, because too many of the Swifties know Kerry all to well, more so than most Massachusetts voters do.
I guess you think that folks who want to address issues in a campaign that aren't the same message as a candidate or party must be silent. In that case, gun owners, pro-lifers, and even free-speechers need not apply. Our 527 could get a lift from a donation of a dollar but President Bush said he wants to end not just TV ads but "all that stuff" (Does he mean flyers, phone banks, etc.?).
We may not care for surrogates but anonymous pamphleteering was part of the founding of our country. Why can't you pull your money together now with the 527s?
I wish Campaign Finance would go away, too, but you don't keep pinching it till there's nothing left of free speech.