A Hail Mary pass is a sports term for a football team, desperate to score before the time runs out and they throw a long pass, praying their own team member catches it and scores.FactCheck.org has analyzed the Democrats and Obama's latest attempt to motivate their base by accusing the Chamber of Commerce of using foreign funds to produce political ads aimed at defeating Republicans going into the November 2, 2010 midterm elections.
Titled "Foreign Money? Really?", sub header "Democrats peddle an unproven claim."
Analysis
As we reported last week in an Ask FactCheck item on this subject, the claim that money from foreign corporations is funding Chamber of Commerce attack ads originated with a Democratic-leaning organization headed by John Podesta, former chief of staff for President Bill Clinton. That report noted that the chamber took in foreign dues (without reporting the amount) and then said that the chamber is "likely skirting longstanding campaign finance law" against foreign spending in U.S. elections. The word "likely" made clear the author was engaging in speculation, which the chamber flatly denied. Tita Freeman, the chamber’s vice president of communications and strategy, told us that money the chamber takes in from foreign corporations "is not used for political ads."
Now others have challenged the claim. The New York Times reported:
New York Times, Oct. 8: [T]here is little evidence that what the chamber does in collecting overseas dues is improper or even unusual, according to both liberal and conservative election-law lawyers and campaign finance documents.
In fact, the controversy over the Chamber of Commerce financing may say more about the Washington spin cycle — where an Internet blog posting can be quickly picked up by like-minded groups and become political fodder for the president himself — than it does about the vagaries of campaign finance.
The Times reported, for example, that U.S. subsidiaries of corporations based overseas have set up more than 160 political action committees. The Federal Election Commission states that this is perfectly legal so long as U.S. residents make the decisions and provide all the funds. The Times also noted that groups such as the AFL-CIO and the Sierra Club also have international affiliations. The AFL-CIO has pledged to spend $53 million on the midterm elections, mainly supporting Democrats.
Nevertheless, the Democratic National Committee repeated the foreign-money claim in an ad it released to weekend news shows. It was played on CBS’ "Face the Nation."
They conclude:
It’s certainly true that millions are being spent without public disclosure, and that much of the money is coming from corporations taking advantage of a Supreme Court ruling easing restrictions on political spending. But using foreign funds to finance political ads is still a legal violation. Accusing anybody of violating the law is a serious matter requiring serious evidence to back it up. So far Democrats have produced none.
Obama and Democrats have let desperation make them irresponsible in making accusations they cannot produce evidence to support, although some Democrats are now becoming uncomfortable with those attacks against the Chamber, as reported by LA Times.
Democrats expressing reservations have worked on behalf of moderate candidates with business backing. They recalled past attacks on former President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore for receiving foreign money and warned that White House charges now could lead to GOP reprisals, particularly if Republicans gain control of the House.
"The White House may reap the whirlwind," said one top Democratic staffer. "What are we going to do next year if a Republican Congress is making baseless claims about President Obama? We'll want the media to hold them accountable to the facts and the evidence."
The Democratic staffer and a handful of other prominent Democrats spoke on condition of anonymity because of the political sensitivity of the topic.
ABC News also reports:
Yet while Obama is trying to tie Republicans and some of their backers to the specter of foreign interference in U.S. elections, an examination of the evidence provides little support for the claims.Pamela Geller says "Finally":
"We have no idea if the Chamber or any 501(c) organization as defined by the IRS code, is taking foreign money for the purposes of playing politics," said Dave Levinthal of the Center for Responsive Politics. "Saying that that foreign money is actually going toward attack ads or any type of messaging in the political realm, you just don't know. It's speculation and nothing more."
Some funding for the Chamber of Commerce does come from foreign companies and foreign-based Chamber affiliates (called "AmChams") similar in operations of some international nonprofit groups and labor unions.
Chamber of Commerce director of media relations J.P. Fielder said that money goes to the group's general fund and then to the international division, keeping it away from any political activities.
"No foreign money is used to fund our political activities," the Chamber said in a statement, citing the rules established by Congress more than a century ago.
"We are seeing an attempt to demonize specific groups and distract Americans from a failed economic agenda," said the Chamber's vice president for government affairs Bruce Josten of the charges.
Finally.
I have been calling for a special prosecutor for years, ever since I exposed the millions Obama received from Muslim nations, Hamas-controlled Gaza and other foreign countries.
David Axelrod has asserted it is the responsibility of the Chamber of Commerce to prove these baseless claims wrong, but Axelrod forgets we live in America where people are innocent until proven guilty and the obligation to prove their claims falls on Obama and Democrats.
Then again, it never was about the ads per se, it was all about Democrats trying to distract American voters from the economic situation and unemployment numbers and to motivate their base to attempt to prevent the landslide that is due to hit them in November.
The attacks against the Chamber of Commerce have another motive behind them as well though and that is to give far left progressive liberals something to cling to to explain the massive loss Democrats and the White House is expecting in November, to their readers.
The spin is already starting because they know what is in store for them.
HEH
Looking at the headlines over at Memeorandum today, I predict this line of unsubstantiated attack on the part of Obama and Democrats, isn't going to go over so well.
LA Times' Top of the ticket- Nearly half of Obama's supporters have now given up on him: poll
The Hill- Gallup poll shows GOP isn't losing steam with likely voters
Fox- Fox News Polls: GOP Sees Senate Chances Improve
New York Times- For Democrats, Even ‘Safe’ Seats Are Shaky
Public Opinion Strategies- The Myth of the Democrat Surge
As Hail Marys go, this one was thrown short, the receiver wasn't even in the right place and the other team intercepted it and is running it back the length of the field to score yet another touchdown with the timeclock ticking down toward the end of the game.
If this is the best that Obama and Democrats could do after so many months of polls showing major GOP gain projections, then they are in more trouble than we originally thought.
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