PFAW’s Predictable Smear Campaign (On Roberts)

Republican National Committee ^ | August 25, 2005

[RWR8189]

“The fact that far left groups like NARAL and People for the American Way (PFAW) would smear Judge Roberts with outlandish inaccuracies to advance their political agenda, is hardly newsworthy. Ralph Neas and Company have been railing against the President's nominee before one was even nominated. The only group that should be truly concerned with PFAW’s report is the Sierra Club, given how much paper was wasted to print this dishonest and disingenuous report.”

 Tracey Schmitt, Press Secretary

PFAW Attacked Roberts Selection Five Minutes Before President George W. Bush’s Official Announcement:

People For The American Way Issued A Press Release Denouncing The Nomination Of John Roberts, Five Minutes Before The President’s Official Announcement. (People For The American Way, “Bush Nominates John Roberts For Supreme Court,” Press Release, 7/19/05)

• “People For The American Way Is Extremely Disappointed That The President Did Not Choose A Consensus Nominee In The Mold Of Sandra Day O’Connor.” (People For The American Way, “Bush Nominates John Roberts For Supreme Court,” Press Release, 7/19/05)

• “John Roberts’ Record Raises Serious Concerns As Well As Questions About Where He Stands On Crucial Legal And Constitutional Issues – It Will Be Extremely Important For Senators And The American People To Get Answers To Those Questions.” (People For The American Way, “Bush Nominates John Roberts For Supreme Court,” Press Release, 7/19/05)

• “Replacing O’Connor With Someone Who Is Not Committed To Upholding Americans’ Rights, Liberties, And Legal Protections Would Be A Constitutional Catastrophe.” (People For The American Way, “Bush Nominates John Roberts For Supreme Court,” Press Release, 7/19/05)

PFAW’s Daily Assault On Roberts Continues:

“The Press Is Beginning To Uncover How Supreme Court Nominee John Roberts Began His Career: As One Of The Right-Wing Activists And Political Operatives Reagan Brought To Washington Who Set Out To Reverse A Generation Of Civil Rights Protections.” (People For The American Way Email, “Press Cuts Roberts’ Honeymoon Short,” 7/29/05)

• Ralph Neas: “It Is Clearer Than Ever That The Confirmation Of John Roberts Would Mean Replacing Sandra Day O’Connor With Someone Who Has Viewed Her As An Impediment To The Ultraconservative Legal Movement He Helped Lead As A Political Appointee During The Reagan And First Bush Administrations.” (People For The American Way, “Roberts Called Rehnquist Court ‘Not Very Conservative,’” Press Release, 8/7/05)

• Neas: “Without Question, [Roberts] Was A Charter Member Of The Policy Team That Attempted To Dismantle The Civil Rights Regime That Had Been Enforced By Democratic And Republican Administrations For Decades.” (Rick Klein and Charlie Savage, “Leading Liberal Groups Likely To Fight Roberts,” The Boston Globe, 8/18/05)

• Neas: Roberts Led “Efforts To Turn Back The Clock, Especially With Respect To Protections For Women, For People With Disabilities, Older Americans, Racial Minorities, Indeed The Rights Too, Of All Ordinary Americans Across The Country.” (C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal,” 8/23/05)

PFAW Routinely Teams Up With Liberal Groups Such As MoveOn And NARAL:

“On The Left, Not Long After Bush Was Elected, People For The American Way Banded Together With Other Prominent Progressive And Liberal Groups -- Including The Alliance For Justice, The Leadership Conference On Civil Rights, And The Abortion Rights Group NARAL -- To Form The Coalition For A Fair And Independent Judiciary.”  (Maeve Reston, “Lobbyists Can’t Wait To Push Justice Favorites,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 6/27/05)

“Third-Party Groups, Such As The Liberal Moveon.Org And People For The American Way … Have Taken The Lead In Running Ads In Targeted States.” (“Partisans Study ‘06 Implications Of Senate Filibuster Battle,” National Journal’s Congress Daily, 5/20/05)

• “[H]undreds Of MoveOn Members Joined Senator Byrd And Seven Other Leading Senators To Rally For Fair Judges In Washington DC. ... Senator Byrd Was Joined By ... Our Friends From ... People For The American Way.” (MoveOn.Org Email, “Save The Courts With A New TV Ad,” 3/17/05)

PFAW’s Message Echoes Other Out Of The Mainstream Groups’ Disingenuous Attacks:

NARAL Announcer: “Supreme Court Nominee John Roberts Filed Court Briefs Supporting Violent Fringe Groups And A Convicted Clinic Bomber.”  (NARAL, Television Ad, 8/8/05)

The Non Partisan Group, Factcheck.Org On NARAL Ad: “The Ad Is False.” (FactCheck.Org Website, “NARAL Falsely Accuses Supreme Court Nominee Roberts,” www.factcheck.org, 8/9/05, Accessed 8/9/05)

• Factcheck.Org’s Brooks Jackson: “That’s Right. And We Don’t Characterize Things As False Very Often. More Often Ads Are Misleading Or Twisted Or Distorted Or Out Of Context, But This One Is Absolutely False.” (CNN’s “Live From ...” 8/11/05)

• ABC’s Jake Tapper: “Walter Dellinger, A Former Solicitor General For President Clinton And A Supporter Of Abortion Rights, Says The [NARAL] Ad Is Misleading.”  (ABC’s “World News Tonight,” 8/10/05)

• The Tampa Tribune: “NARAL Pro-Choice America … Was Forced To Pull A Vile Advertisement Recently. Even Supporters Of The Group Denounced Its Suggestion That Roberts Had Supported Bombing Abortion Clinics.” (Editorial, “Court Nominee Unfairly Smeared,” The Tampa Tribune, 8/18/05)

NARAL Sent Out Email Less Than Twenty Minutes After President Bush Made Supreme Court Announcement Attacking Judge John Roberts’ Nomination.  “With Bush in the White House and Congress in the grip of anti-choice leadership -- a woman’s right to choose cannot afford to have John Roberts on the Supreme Court. The worst news, John Roberts has actually argued before the Supreme Court that Roe v. Wade should be overruled.”  (NARAL Email, “Bush Picks Anti-Choice Activist For Supreme Court,” 7/19/05)

MoveOn Political Action: “Instead Of A Mainstream Jurist ... Bush Chose Another Right-Wing Crony.” (William Schneider, “De-Escalation,” The National Journal, 7/30/05)

• MoveOn.Org: “In Nominating John Roberts, The President Has Turned To A Right Wing Corporate Lawyer And Ideologue For The Nation’s Highest Court.” (MoveOn PAC, “MoveOn Opposes Right Wing Corporate Lawyer Roberts For Supreme Court,” Press Release, 7/19/05)

• Top Donors To MoveOn.Org Voter Fund Were Herbert And Marion Sandler ($2,505,014), Peter B. Lewis ($2,500,000), George Soros ($2,500,000) And Stephen Bing ($971,427). (Political Money Line Website, www.tray.com, Accessed 3/18/05)

PFAW Is Out Of The Mainstream:

The Associated Press, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, And The Washington Post, All Describe People For The American Way As “Liberal.” (Hilary Roxe, “Critics Say Frist Connecting With Religious Groups For Political Ends,” The Associated Press, 4/23/05; David D. Kirkpatrick and Sheryl Gay Stolberg, “Frist Is Drawing Criticism From Some Church Leaders,” The New York Times, 4/22/05; Charlie Savage, “Ad Wars Mount As Republicans Rea dy Ban On Senate Filibusters,” The Boston Globe, 4/21/05; Michael A. Fletcher, “Anti-’Activist’ Activism,” The Washington Post, 4/15/05)

• “PFAW Founder Norman Lear, The Liberal Philanthropist And TV Producer …”(George Rush and Joanna Malloy, “Jacko-And-Chimp Tale,” [New York] Daily News, 3/3/05)

• Lear Has Given $529,655 To Democrats And Democrat-Aligned Groups Since 1989. (The Center For Responsive Politics Website, www.opensecrets.org, Accessed 4/5/05

• Founder Of PFAW Norman Lear: School Prayer Is A “Joke.” “I grew up with prayer in schools. It was a joke.  We also pledged allegiance to the flag.  But when you are six or seven, you cannot do anything by rote without finding funny ways to change it. It grows less meaningful each time. Unless you’re living in an entirely different culture with somebody behind you banging a drum at you. But that’s not America. So prayer in school was a joke.” (Thomas M. Landy, “What’s Missing From This Picture? Television Producer Norman Lear; Interview,” Commonweal, 10/9/92)

• Billionaire Financier George Soros’ Open Society Institute Contributed At Least $450,000 To People For The American Way Since 1999. (Open Society Institute Website, www.soros.org, Accessed 4/5/05; Capital Research Center Website, www.capitalresearch.org, Accessed 4/5/05)

PFAW Proudly Opposes Internet Porn Filters In Public Libraries. “Supported by the People for the American Way, several Loudoun County, Virginia residents and members are claiming the Loudoun County Library Board’s decision to require all Loudoun County public libraries to install Internet filtering software violates their rights under the First Amendment.” (“First Internet Censorship Case Raises Serious First Amendment Concerns,” Your School And The Law, 5/8/98)

[FormerACLUmember]

He or She Is The Wrong Man or Woman For The Court
Critical Urgent Community Action Bulletin
from the Progressive Action Network For American Progress
For Immediate Release

The Progressive Action Network For American Progress is extremely concerned by today's news that President Bush has selected ___JOHN ROBERTS___ as his nominee for the vacancy on the United States Supreme Court. Unlike outgoing Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the widely respected and admired moderate consensus-building sensible mainstream compromisist, ___JOHN ROBERTS___ has a shocking record of extremely extreme fringe legal positions that fill us with grave concerns about ___HIS___ fitness for this critically crucial office.

Make no mistake: no one should be fooled by the administration's public relations efforts or ___JOHN ROBERTS___ 's seemingly "moderate" appearance. ___JOHN ROBERTS___ has a record that suggests that ___HE___ would deny women the right to reproductive choice, stop important life-saving medical stem cell research by extending the Patriot Act to draft their unwanted fetuses, and turn these conscripted fetuses over to dangerous tax-supported 'Creationist' religious indoctrination laboratories. The Supreme Court is a lifetime appointment, and America needs to know whether ___JOHN ROBERTS___ supports the GOP's secret plan of a Rush Limbaugh Jesus army of unwanted, unquestioning fetus zombies programmed to urinate on the Korans of Guantanamo detainees.

We should also point out that our opposition to ___JOHN ROBERTS___ has nothing to do with the nominee's race and/or gender. We at the Progressive Action Network For American Progress have long been on record of standing up for the civil rights of ___WHITE MEN___ , rights from which ___JOHN ROBERTS___ ironically, has benefitted. Sadly, rather than create programs and begin to work on the real problems that concern ___WHITE MEN___ , the Bush administration has cynically forwarded an unqualified, token candidate like ___JOHN ROBERTS___ to mask its callous indifference to the plight of the ___WHITE MAN___ community.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

In response to this shocking nomination, we here at the Progressive Action Network For American Progress are joining forces with other mainstream grassroots progressive activist organizations -- organizations like Peace Power Community Now Network, Grant Proposers for Justice, NairBusters, Out of Our Wombs!, UpChuck.org, ToothACHE, and Sitcom Producers for the American Way. Over the next few weeks we will be encouraging the Senate Judiciary Committee to take a close look at ___JOHN ROBERTS___ and ___HIS___ extremist views on the critical legal issues that face all of us. While we will be working hard to get out the word in Washington, ordinary progressive citizens like you can do your part as well. First, write your newspaper and/or Senator and let them know that you will not stand by idly while Bush and Company install a pseudo-" ___WHITE MAN___" like ___JOHN ROBERTS___ on the nation's highest court. Here's a letter to get you started!



Dear Senator __________

As a constituent and a voter in our great state of ___________, home of the famous ___________, I am proud that our state enjoys the the nickname of "Cradle of ____________s." This is why I must strongly urge you to oppose the nomination of ___JOHN ROBERTS___, a dangerous extremist whose legal rulings threaten to endanger our state's beloved ___________, making us no better than Mississippi.

Sincerely,

Your Name Here

Be polite and remember to fill in your Senator's name and pertinent facts about your state. If you are from Mississippi, replace "Mississippi" with "California". Also, replace "Your Name Here" with your name, unless your name is actually "Your Name Here."

Another thing you can do to help is to find more information about ___JOHN ROBERTS___ . The people who know ___HIM___, what do they say about ___HIM___ ? Was ___HE___ ever in trouble with the law? Frequently, ___WHITE MEN___ like ___JOHN ROBERTS___ have arrest records in their youth. If you are near ___JOHN ROBERTS___ 's hometown of ___UNKNOWN___, try searching in the local police archives for the ___JOHN ROBERTS___ name or possible aliases. Also, think hard -- are you certain that you have not been personally victimized, or assaulted by ___JOHN ROBERTS___? Search your recollections carefully. Scientists tell us that millions of us suffer from Repressed Memory Syndrome -- a debilitating psychological problem where victims are unable to recall a painful physical or emotional trauma, such as being physically violated by ___JOHN ROBERTS___. If you do not remember this happening to you, please call us and we will get you the help you need to recover your mind and start the road to healing.

Consider the consequences of inaction: with ___JOHN ROBERTS___ on the bench, millions of Americans may lose their cherished constitutional rights, Air America, perhaps even their grant money from George Soros. We here at the Progressive Action Network For American Progress ask you to please do your part. Our very democracy depends on the grassroots action of committed progressives like ___YOUR_NAME_HERE___ .

(from the great IowaHawk)

[GSlob]

Well, it is simply that their idea of what should constitute the American Way is rather peculiar and not shared by many bona fide Americans. But then the absence of uniform idea about the American Way is indeed the American Way, so after all they are cointributing to it, albeit indirectly.

[Still Thinking]

?People For The American Way Is Extremely Disappointed That The President Did Not Choose A Consensus Nominee In The Mold Of Sandra Day O?Connor.?

Are there any quotes from PFAW opposing Klinton's Kommunist nominations like RB Ginsburg? No? Oh, I see. They only expect conciliation and collegiality from Republicans. Ignore them, they have no credibility.

[trubluolyguy]

Well, that tears it, if the left is this up in arms over this guy, he can't be all that bad! He has my total support.