Having Your Cake

Last week I wrote Hypocrisy on my personal blog. I was not the first person to point out the glaring hypocrisy in John Kerry and his camp calling for the end of SBVT ads and accusations coordination between Bush's campaign and the 527 group, nor have I been the last. But a recent look into the history of Kerry and his use of the 527's brings even more of this to light.

Let's look at some facts:

Another 527 organization called 'Americans for Jobs, Heath Care and Progressive Values' aired ads attacking then Democratic front runner Howard Dean, accusing him of being incapable of fighting a war against terror since he has no military or foreign policy experience. The organization was put together by supporters and former staffers of John Kerry and Richard Gephardt.

A list of supporters included: Robert Gibbs, the group's treasurer who just weeks before taking on that role was a campaign spokesman for John Kerry's campaign. Leo Hindery and Daniel Abraham, the groups two biggest contributors who each gave $100,000 to the group after both had given contributions to Kerry. Others who funded the group were also giving contributions to Kerry's campaign.

The group spent $633,000 on the ads, a third of that from Kerry supporters. Kerry's campaign insisted there was nothing wrong with Kerry supporters to also support this group attacking his candidate. Is this another Kerry 'flip-flop'?

But there's more!

Jim Jordan ran the Kerry campaign until last November when he left to run both ACT and The Media Fund. Robert Gibbs is now working for ACT also. Harold Ickies advises both ACT and the DNC. Bob Bauer who use to work for Kerry until a few months ago now advises both ACT and the DNC. Zack Exley, Moveon.Org's former organizing director now works directly for the Kerry campaign while Joe Sandler gives legal advice to both groups, the same actions that caused Ginsberg to decide to resign from the Bush campaign this week.

This, of course, ignores George Soros as well as Michael Moore who was happily moving around the Democratic National Convention recently.

And now the Kerry campaign, who knew that this group existed and was going to come after them, decided to make his Vietnam service the center of his campaign. Then when they attack and show that they are having an effect, instead of responding to and countering their accusations (something that gives them even more credibility in some minds) they go on a character assassination of decorated veterans, who may or may not be lying, and attack Bush in an attempt to make political points!

Their 'proof' of coordination between the Bush campaign and the SBWFT? Ben Ginsberg had given legal advice to both organizations. A friend of Carl Rove, Bob Perry, gave $200,000 to the 527 group. Another Texas Republican, Merrie Spaeth, has done public relations for the SBVFT and for the Bush administration. And retired Air Force Col. Ken Cordier, a member of the Bush campaign's veterans steering committee who appears in the latest TV ads from the SBVFT and who was dismissed by the Bush campaign when this was discovered.

Now, you can either like or dislike the 527s. You can argue whether or not they deserve their free speech rights or if the McCain-Feingold laws are unconstitutional. You can call the efforts by the groups like SBVFT, moveon.org and ACT smear campaigns that are coordinated by the campaigns themselves. But, unless you are hopelessly partisan, you have to agree this is an attempt by John Kerry to 'Have his cake and eat it too'.