Posted on 03/02/2008 7:28:10 PM PST by levotb
Billboard owner bars ad targeting McCain Arizona Republic, The (Phoenix, AZ) April 21, 2005
BILLBOARD OWNER BARS AD TARGETING MCCAIN Author: Jon Kamman, The Arizona Republic
Edition: Final Chaser; Section: Front; Page: A13; Index Terms: ARIZONA; Estimated printed pages: 3
Article Text:
A national organization that campaigns against illegal immigration wants to post a billboard in Phoenix to object to Sen. John McCain's stance, but the owner of the board has rejected the message as "bashing" the Arizona Republican.
The ad, sponsored by ProjectUSA, would say: "Sen. John McCain supports amnesty for illegal aliens." Whether those words are factual depends on the viewer's point of view.
"Obviously, it's not true," McCain's communications director, Eileen McMenamin, said Wednesday. "Senator McCain does not support amnesty."
"Oh yes he does," ProjectUSA Director Craig Nelsen insisted, pointing to five bills the senator has sponsored or supported in recent years that provide opportunities, however limited, for undocumented workers to qualify for permanent legal residency and eventual citizenship.
The most recent example was McCain's support for the so-called AgJobs bill, which died Tuesday in the Senate. The bill would have made an estimated 500,000 undocumented agricultural workers eligible for legal standing.
ProjectUSA, a not-for-profit organization, has been an uncompromising opponent of illegal immigration since 1999. Its placement of billboards across the country, some targeting members of Congress and many proclaiming the negative effects of such immigration, have been denounced as racist and unfair.
Nelsen said the group sticks to the facts and brings its messages to the public "to raise the issue, get it out in the open, get people to talk about it."
The group defines amnesty as "any policy that would release a class of illegal aliens from whatever the penalty is for violating U.S. immigration laws." In contrast, recent immigration-reform bills and their supporters generally refer to such forgiveness as "earned legalization," "earned adjustment" or "rehabilitation to legal status."
Nelsen said his group would pay to submit the definitional question to a certified board of mediators if McCain would agree to abide by the result.
Just Semantics When their honesty is challenged, duplicitous politicians seem to like to hide behind the weasel phrase (or hide behind spokespersons hiding behind the weasel phrase) "just semantics." We call it "just lying." See: Great American whoppers But before the offer was even made, McMenamin said, "We're not going to get into semantics."
The ad was aimed for a billboard at Central Avenue and Indian School Road owned by the global communications and entertainment company Viacom.
Nelsen said a salesman for Viacom Outdoor in Phoenix told him that company higher-ups rejected the text because it was "bashing" McCain.
Marty Schwarzkopf, general manager, said ProjectUSA's wording did not meet Viacom's guidelines on political advertising. Those say the company can reject text that "personally attacks an individual; is obviously false, misleading or deceptive; relates to an illegal activity; and offends local standards of decency and good taste."
Nelsen suggested that political contributions to McCain's 2004 re-election campaign had something to do with the rejection. Viacom's political action committee, company executives and their family members gave McCain's fund nearly $68,000, the fourth-largest amount from a single interest, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Asked which specific guideline was unmet by the McCain ad and whether campaign support influenced the rejection, Schwarzkopf referred questions to an executive in New York who did not return a phone call.
ACLU Unmasked The ACLU's fundraising literature touts itself as the "tireless defenders of the First Amendment," but when a ProjectUSA billboard in New York City advertising Census Bureau data about the impact of immigration on population growth was forced down by pressure from Rudy Giuliani's Department of Buildings, and the Port Authority of NY/NJ, the ACLU refused to defend ProjectUSA, telling the press the non-profit had no case. ProjectUSA sued anyway and won a generous settlement plus attorney fees and court costs. See:Queens TimesNewsweekly Schwarzkopf said Viacom would be glad to work with the advertiser to find acceptable wording. Nelsen said the language can't be changed, in part because it was the text shown supporters who "voted" to target McCain by making $25 donations over the Internet.
Nelsen said Viacom's rejection was an abridgement of free speech. He said it likely was illegal, but the director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Arizona disagreed.
Except in rare circumstances, a private company has no obligation under the First Amendment to publish materials it finds objectionable, Eleanor Eisenberg said.
Oh look.
Something new and different: A McCain-bashing thread.
/s
The only thing he's got going for him is that he is running against the Beast in Revelation, and the Anti-Christ.
If not for those two he'd really be subject to some really severe criticism ~ like "dumped his wife, jumped too many broads at the beer joints he was hanging out in, associates with Democrat dead-heads, etc."
There's more, no doubt. I would imagine he prays to God every night for the safety and security of his Hillery and Obama.
We are SCREWED.
McCain and his liberal friends at the ACLU flocking together!
So who do you support?...
Hillary?
Or Obama?
You’re right, muawiyah!
There IS more, a lot more. At present, the right is slamming McNasty, and for very good reason. Come the general, either Obama or Hillary will be digging up dirt on him. As they say, “It goes with the territory”. Those who can’t accept it as such are destroyed by it.
The key as I see it is what these stories, all of them true by the way, not “made up” by some wacko, begin to affect the Indy vote. There is no way that a majority of conservatives are going to vote for McAmnesty. That leaves RINOs, some crossover Dems who want to continue the war in Iraq and Indies.
I recall it all too clearly. And this is but one reason why I'll never vote for that illegal invader coddling liberal RINO.
For the record, The Arizona Republic is hardly an anti-McCain rag.
Indeed. In fact, the Arizona Republic endorsed McCain. And the AZ Repugnant (as we call it out here) is a ridiculously liberal rag.
Notice how the Communist ACLU came out supporting Viacom's rejection of the billboard. These are McCain's "friends".
And that is but one of many reasons why McCain is nothing but a Democrat with an 'R' by his name.
So who do you support?...
Hillary?
Or Obama?
Answer this: if Hillary or Obama switched to the Republican Party, would you demand that we vote for them as well?
Gee, this is such a surprise - after all, look howe succesfully he squelched our 1st Amendment rights with McInsane-Feingold!
It worked once, why not try it again??
Thanks, Digital!
I’m not from AZ and know little about the AZ rags except what I read at americanpatrol.com.
Which do you support?
Pick one.
Because that’s what you’re doing.
TOUCHE!!
Gee that's tough!
I don't vote for liberals...even if they have that oh-so-magical 'R' by their name. And since you've made it plain that you'd vote for Hillary if she just had an 'R' by her name, you've clearly demonstrated that you have nothing of merit to contribute to this discussion.
Bottom line: McCain has to earn my vote. He's not entitled to it. And I refuse to relegate conservatives to the Republican version of the Democrat Black Caucus.
I suggest you take your conservative-hating RINO master's advice: calm down.
Eggxactly, muawiyah!
Let us conservatives b***h and moan, and let the RINOs and Indies do their thang. In early November, we’ll see if the GOP brass calculated incorrectly by pushing McQueeg down our throats...or if they were masters at the art of maneuvering the chess pieces (forcing Romney and all other conservatives out early). Only time will tell...
Oh look.
Something new and different: A McCain drone.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
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