Free Republic

The Liberals are trying to turn Chief Electoral Officer Jean-Pierre Kingsley's sudden resignation into some kind of political scandal. But the only true scandal here is that Kingsley wasn't fired years ago. Simply put, Kingsley was a terrible chief electoral officer, more interested in pushing his own ideological agenda than in administering the law. And I should know. My organization, the National Citizens Coalition (NCC), has had many run-ins with Kingsley over the years on issues related to freedom of political expression. The problem was that Kingsley never seemed to understand the value of this freedom. Indeed, six years ago,...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee on Friday said potential 2008 presidential rival John McCain's campaign finance reforms gives the Republican senator an advantage over other candidates by allowing him to transfer money easily. "If you're a senator, you can take the money you raise in a Senate campaign and transfer it to a presidential, but you can't take money you raise in a state campaign and transfer that to a federal campaign," Huckabee, a Republican, told The Associated Press in an interview Friday. "McCain was very smart in creating a system where he could take all of...

A Santa Clara County judge Tuesday said it appears that county officials violated campaign laws by using public funds to oppose a controversial initiative on the Nov. 2 ballot. In a long-awaited ruling, Judge Socrates Manoukian blocked county officials from spending money to sway voters against Measure C, which would grant three unions the right to have an arbitrator resolve contract disputes. County officials staunchly oppose the idea, known as binding arbitration, saying it would diminish their ability to keep payroll costs in check. But by offering other unions large pay raises in exchange for a written vow not to...

Artists back effort to unseat Bush Several leading Norwegian artists are donating works to a local campaign aimed at driving US President George W Bush out of office. The campaign, called "Tellhim.no," is raising money to place an ad in the Washington Post just before the US election in November. The artists include painter Frans Widerberg and photographer Morten Krogvold. One of Widerberg's paintings, for example, will be auctioned in August over the campaign's web site, with proceeds from a sale going towards efforts to unseat Bush. "We are frustrated and shaken over what's been going on," Widerberg told Norwegian...

NEW YORK -- Having already won an Oscar, a Palme d'Or, and international fame, filmmaker Michael Moore is launching his latest film, ''Fahrenheit 9/11," this week with an even more ambitious goal -- to influence the outcome of this year's presidential election. Moore, in front of an enthusiastic crowd of celebrities, said, ''It would be a good thing" if his politically charged documentary about Sept. 11 and Iraq inspires Democrats to vote against President Bush. In keeping with the Democratic movement to elect ''anybody but Bush," Moore did not say a word about the presumptive Democratic nominee, either on screen...

''Fahrenheit 9/11'' finds domestic distributor GARY GENTILE, AP Business Writer Tuesday, June 1, 2004 (06-01) 17:30 PDT LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Michael Moore's award-winning documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11" has picked up a U.S. distributor and will hit theaters June 25. The film will be released by a partnership of Lions Gate Films, IFC Films and the Fellowship Adventure Group, which was formed by Harvey and Bob Weinstein specifically to market Moore's film. The Weinsteins, who run Miramax Films, bought the rights to the movie from The Walt Disney Co., which owns Miramax and refused to distribute Moore's film. The Weinstein brothers...

In April, Zack Exley was named director of Internet organizing for presidential candidate Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, making him the Democrat's point man on the cyber front in the battle for voters. His background: the operator of a satirical website called GWBush.com and the subject of a federal complaint filed by lawyers for George Bush, according to a report in the LA Times. Exley’s GWBush.com site in 1999 featured doctored photos of then-Governor Bush with cocaine residue under his nose. Exley also posted fake campaign statements under such headlines as "George II: Restoring the Throne to its Rightful...

SPARTANBURG, SC (Talon News) -- Liberal anti-Bush online political activist group MoveOn.org sent a warning message to its members this week regarding the upcoming ruling by the Federal Election Commission about the legality of so-called 527 groups accepting soft campaign contributions to run political ads."The Republican National Committee is pressing the Federal Election Commission to issue new rules that would cripple groups that dare to communicate with the public in any way critical of President Bush or members of Congress," MoveOn.org charged in an e-mail to supporters.In the e-mail, MoveOn.org attempts to scare "conservative, progressive, labor, religious, secular, social...

Choose or Lose: 20 Million Questions for John Kerry Special MTV - Music Television Airing Time: Tue 3/30, 10:30PM (30 minutes) Categories: News, Special, News/Public Affairs, Special/Other Future airings of Choose or Lose: John Kerry Special: • Wed 3/31 11:00 AM MTV - Music Television Wed 3/31 8:30 PM  MTV - Music Television (Satellite) Fri 4/2 12:30 AM  MTV - Music Television (Satellite) And airing other times. Kerry gets 30 minutes to tell his lies to the youth of America. I wonder if they will also give President Bush his own "Choose or Lose" Special?

A Democratic-leaning online group will run television commercials in 17 presidential battleground states starting Thursday to counter President Bush's multimillion-dollar advertising blitz that will begin the same day. The MoveOn.org Voter Fund has been airing commercials assailing Bush for months in several swing states, but this $1.9 million, five-day effort will be its most far-reaching. The ads will ensure that there is a Democratic presence on the TV airwaves in key states as Bush begins to make his case for re-election.

RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie Statement on MoveOn.Org Ad Buy 3/2/04 6:05:00 PM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: National Desk, Political Reporter Contact: Christine Iverson of the Republican National Committee, 202-863-8614 WASHINGTON, March 2 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Following is a statement by Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Ed Gillespie: "A month ago I noted that Democrats seemed intent on running one of the dirtiest campaigns in modern presidential politics, and I cited a litany of early examples of disturbing tactics." "It appears we can now add to that list a willingness to blatantly violate the new campaign finance laws." "According to the Associated...

<p>BERKELEY, Calif. -- The biggest powerhouse in progressive politics had decidedly inauspicious beginnings: an overheard conversation at a local Chinese restaurant, a high-tech chain letter, and $89.</p> <p>Five years ago, tech entrepreneurs Joan Blades and her husband, Wes Boyd -- whose company gave the world the flying-toaster screen saver -- were eating lunch and listening to a group at a nearby table lamenting the time and energy wasted on the President Clinton-Monica Lewinsky scandal. Blades and Boyd decided to start a petition urging Congress to forgo impeachment, censure Clinton instead, and move on. They e-mailed it to their friends, asked them to pass it on, and paid $89 to set up a website where people could register their support.</p>

WASHINGTON (AdAge.com) -- Viacom's CBS today rejected a request from liberal group MoveOn to air a 30-second anti-President Bush ad during the Super Bowl, saying the spot violated the network's policy against running issue advocacy advertising. Network policy A CBS spokesman said the decision against broadcasting the spot had nothing to do with either the Super Bowl or the ad's specific issue but was because the network has had a long-term policy not to air issue ads anywhere on the network. A MoveOn spokesperson said the group hopes to appeal the decision within CBS. Produced as a personal project by...

Terry McAuliffe, head of the DNC, just said he was going to quit his job as of February 2005. He's given 25 years of public service to the Party of Dependence on Government, and he's outta here.Judge Napolitano was asking McPunk some good questions.To my horror, Terry said he had five kids. Those poor children.

Oct. 4, 2003, 1:34AM Scheme to confuse voters in mayor's race is thwarted By JOHN WILLIAMS Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle Political Writer An aborted scheme to dilute support for a major candidate by putting another man with the same name on the Nov. 4 ballot has touched two campaigns and is roiling the rhetoric in Houston's mayoral race. It is a bizarre tale that includes a Democratic U.S. congressman, a secret tape recording, a $5,000 campaign check and a floppy straw hat sold for $1,200. And it is a tale that raises as many questions as it answers. At the...

In Search of Bogus Bill How a would-be dirty trick became campaign comedy BY TIM FLECK Even by Houston's offbeat political standards, it was a very strange meeting indeed. In Internet whistle-blower Brenda Flores's humble Spring Branch-area bungalow sat an unlikely confab of political power: Congressman Chris Bell, mayoral candidate and millionaire executive William H. "Bill" White and Metro board member Janie Reyes. They had come calling on a Sunday afternoon, the day before the municipal election filing deadline, to implore Flores not to follow through on her confessed scheme to recruit another Bill White to run for mayor. In...

Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean has been -- and I quote -- "paying `bloggers' or professional Internet surfers to keep the enthusiasm up on his website," according to The Hill, a newspaper which reports on the U.S. Congress. The shocking revelation appeared in an October 8 article titled, "Dem Presidential Rivals Suffer `Growth Pains' Chasing Dean." James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal's online Best of the Web page comments: We're all for free enterprise, but this does point up an advantage of "old media" over bloggers. Professional journalists may have their biases, but those of us who work for...

If it's allowed to stand, an FCC ruling will feed media merger mania BY BILL CLINTON "It's your money," says President Bush when he promotes tax cuts. I disagree with his tax policy but admire his spin. The same argument applies with greater force to whether big media conglomerates should be allowed to control more television and radio stations: "It's your airwaves." The American people own the bandwidth that broadcast media companies use to deliver programs to our TV and radio sets. Because the space on that bandwidth is limited, the Federal Communications Commission regulates who has access to our...

Michael Moore is trying to tie Bush to bin Laden! His film is scheduled to be released in 2004, in the middle of the campaign! And Disney's Miramax is reportedly financing this hit piece!Of course we must boycott Disney and Miramax. But letters (hard copy ones, ones they have to hold in their hands and look at) are another effective way of getting the message out that America doesn't want Michael Moore's Bush-bashing films in their marketplace!!Here are some contact numbers and street addresses to mail your letters to. Please remember: the person who answers the phone may have NO...