Posted on 08/05/2004 12:44:11 PM PDT by truthandlife
Q Do you -- does the President repudiate this 527 ad that calls Kerry a liar on Vietnam?
MR. McCLELLAN: The President deplores all the unregulated soft money activity. We have been very clear in stating that, you know, we will not -- and we have not and we will not question Senator Kerry's service in Vietnam. I think that this is another example of the problem with the unregulated soft money activity that is going on. The President thought he put an end -- or the President thought he got rid of this kind of unregulated soft money when he signed the bipartisan campaign finance reforms into law.
And, you know, the President has been on the receiving end of more than $62 million in negative attacks from shadowy groups. The President is calling for an immediate cessation to all the unregulated soft money activity. He believes that it should all be stopped. The unregulated soft money activity that is going on does nothing to elevate the discourse. We hope the Kerry campaign will join us in calling for an end to all the unregulated soft money ads and activity.
Q So the President joins McCain in criticizing this particular ad?
MR. McCLELLAN: We hope the Kerry campaign will join us in calling for an end to all the unregulated soft money ads and activity that are going on. Again, the President has been on the receiving end of more than $62 million in negative attacks from shadowy groups. And the President thought he got rid of this kind of activity when he signed the bipartisan campaign finance reforms into law. This campaign should be about the issues and it should be about the records.
Q Scott, more specifically, though, will the President or the campaign ask this particular group to pull this particular ad off the air?
MR. McCLELLAN: We're calling for a cessation to all the unregulated soft money activity, and we hope that the Kerry campaign will join us.
Q Scott, during the primaries in 2000, or I guess during the Republican Presidential Primaries, an unregulated ad was run against John McCain. At the time, the governor said, "We don't have anything to do with it." Can you give us a sense of the evolution, what's changed from, we don't have anything to do with it, to, let's all stop it.
MR. McCLELLAN: The President supported the bipartisan campaign finance reforms that were passed, and he felt that they improved the system. And that's why he signed them into law. We should have a level playing field for candidates and parties. You have, right now, a problem with these unregulated soft money groups. These were loopholes that we thought were closed when the President signed the campaign finance reforms into law. And so the President believes that all the unregulated soft money activity should stop. We hope the Kerry campaign will join us in calling for an end to all this kind of activity.
The President knows what it's like to be on the receiving end of more than $62 million in negative attacks from these kinds of shadowy groups.
Q Scott, today Senator Kerry was speaking at the Unity Conference, where President Bush will speak tomorrow. And he called America, "a house divided," and said that minorities in America still do not have enough civil rights, and that he would move to fix that. Is there any response from you guys?
MR. McCLELLAN: I think the campaign probably has already responded to some of those comments. I think they're familiar comments that we've heard. The President has a proven record of expanding opportunity for all Americans and has a strong record that he is proud of when it comes to improving the quality of life for all Americans. And we welcome the opportunity to talk about the records and the agendas that the candidates have. And you heard the President recently speak to the National Urban League. And the President is going to continue reaching out to all Americans, including the African American community and Hispanics -- and the Hispanic community, based on his record and his agenda for America. He believes that he will receive strong support from people from all walks of life.
Q Any idea what he is going to talk about in his speech tomorrow?
MR. McCLELLAN: Obviously, the President will talk about his record and his agenda going forward. I don't have any more to preview at this point, but he looks forward to going and speaking there tomorrow and taking some questions when he's there.
Q Scott, have you called previously for an end to these 527 ads?
MR. McCLELLAN: We're calling for an end to all these kind of activities today, and certainly we've spoken out against unregulated soft money.
Q Scott, going back to Kerry at the Unity Convention. Evidently, it seems to be the first time that he's actually criticized the President's handling on the morning of 9/11, when he was at that school in Florida and took those five to seven minutes to finish his reading to those children there. Kerry said how he would have handled it would have been to excuse himself, and said, I have matters to attend to. Is that a fair criticism of the President by Senator Kerry?
MR. McCLELLAN: Like I said, I haven't seen this conference. I would want to take a look at what he said, but it sounds just more like -- it sounds like more of the same kind of political attacks he's been engaging in, rather than trying to defend his record and discuss the issues, and the differences on those issues. But, again, I haven't seen those remarks. You might want to talk to the campaign about it. I'll be glad to take a look at them, as well.
All right, thanks.
The WH response should be "We support the 1st amendment.Period."
I've come to expect nothing less from CBS.
BUSH ADMIN IS STICKING TO ITS GUNS! THEY'RE NOT CONDEMNING THE SWIFTVETS BECAUSE KERRY HASN'T DENOUNCED MOVEON, SOROS, AND MICHAEL MOORE!
McClellan said as euphemistically as possibile: "You can dish it out but you can't take it!"
Great find!
CBS can't ignore the ad, so the lie about it to discredit the ad. That's their approach. They will not delve into the charges, they will go after the messenger.
Isn't known as See-BS for nothing.
Was McClellan wearing a Cheshire cat grin when he said all this?
The dems can spend all the money they want, but an effective, truthful ad will cut through the incessant BUSH LIED noise.
The dems wanted McCain-Feingold, so they got it. They wanted their 527s, so they got 'em. They don't like it, they can shove it.
Total, naked, rank hypocrisy from the Left.
Exactly. McClellan said that the Republicans would denounce the soft money ads after the Democrats move to stop them. The ball is in their court.
I agree. Despite Scott McClelland's attempts to deflect the controversy, it needs to be said that advertisements made by 3rd party groups are, or should be, protected speech under the First Ammendment.
I wouldn't expect anything less from CBS. And the WH said it the way that they needed to.
Gooooo BUSH!!!!
MR. McCLELLAN: We're calling for an end to all these kind of activities today...
I'm sorry, but that sounds to me like the WH just cut the Swift Boat Vets off at the knees. The Left can do it, but the Right can't?
CBS is a 527 for the Kerry campaign
"The WH response should be "We support the 1st amendment.Period."
Yes, it certainly should be. Why shouldn't anyone be able to run ads for or against any candidate, as long as they are not libelous? Why the hell not? This irritates me so much. I hate Planned Parenthood, for example, but if they run an ad supporting someone, I get information from that. I can then decide not to support that person, since PP does. What is wrong with that?
Hehe! I like the WH line. Ain't politics fun?
Quick! Somebody go get McCLELLAN an athletic supporter. He has finnaly grown some!!!!!!!!!!
Since CBS asked a question about this at the briefing, I wonder if they will make a story about it on the CBS news tonight ....
The more coverage will get more people interested ....
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