Bush Supporters Launch Iraq Ad Campaign

[Snazzy]

Source: AP

Bush Supporters Launch Iraq Ad Campaign

Aug 22, 7:07 PM (ET)

By JIM KUHNHENN

WASHINGTON (AP) - Former White House aides are joining Republican fundraisers in bankrolling a $15 million, five-week advertising campaign putting pressure on lawmakers whose backing of President Bush's Iraq war strategy may be wavering.

The group, Freedom's Watch, launched the ads Wednesday, even as Bush delivered a renewed call for keeping U.S. forces in Iraq. The money will pay for ad placements on national cable and local television stations as well as on radio and the Internet.

The ads will run in 20 states and will urge viewers to ask their member of Congress to stand by Bush's plan. Organizers of the effort would not identify the targeted lawmakers, but a review of the initial TV ad placements - done by a group opposed to the war - shows most of them are in Republican congressional districts.

The ads could affect presidential politics as well. The group is paying for a substantial ad placement in Iowa, the leadoff caucus state in the presidential nominating contest. While aimed at members of Congress, the ads will compete for air time with presidential spots and could influence voter attitudes as candidates seek their support.

....

Read more: http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070822/D8R6C4000.html

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NYT Yesterday: Group to Urge War Support

...

Ari Fleischer, President Bush's former press secretary and a spokesman for the group, said it would initially spend $15 million on the effort, which will also encourage voters to put pressure on their representatives for continued support of the war.

...

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/22/washington/22war-web.html?_r=1&oref=slogin


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Edit, good run down on Fliesher's group and tactics here:

Pro-war group launches $15 million ad blitz

By: Mike Allen
Aug 22, 2007 07:29 AM EST

A new group, Freedom’s Watch, is launching Wednesday with a $15 million, five-week campaign of TV, radio and Web ads featuring military veterans that is aimed at retaining support in Congress for President Bush’s “surge” policy on Iraq.

"For those who believe in peace through strength, the cavalry is coming," said former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer, who is a founding board member of the group.

...

The opening ad, by Jamestown Associates of New Jersey, shows a military veteran saying: “Congress was right to vote to fight terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan. I re-enlisted after Sept. 11 because I don’t want my sons to see what I saw. I want them to be free and safe. I know what I lost. I also know that if we pull out now, everything I’ve given and the sacrifices will mean nothing. They attacked us, and they will again. They won’t stop in Iraq. We are winning on the ground and making real progress. It’s no time to quit. It’s no time for politics.”

...

The board consists of Blakeman; Fleischer; Mel Sembler, a Florida Republican who was Bush’s ambassador to Italy; William P. Weidner, president and chief operating officer of the Las Vegas Sands Corp.; and Matt Brooks, executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition.

The donors include Sembler; Anthony Gioia, a Buffalo businessman who was Bush’s ambassador to Malta; Kevin Moley, who was Bush’s ambassador to the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in Geneva; Howard Leach, a former Republican National Committee finance chairman who was Bush’s ambassador to France; Dr. John Templeton of Pennsylvania, chairman and president of the John Templeton Foundation; Ed Snider, chairman of Comcast Spectacor, the huge Philadelphia sports and entertainment firm; Sheldon Adelson, chairman of the Las Vegas Sands Corp. and ranked by Forbes magazine as the third-wealthiest American; and Richard Fox, who is chairman of the Jewish Policy Center and was Pennsylvania State Chairman of the Reagan/Bush campaign in 1980.

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More: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0807/5479.html

[Botany]

1. I heard one today in Columbus OH

"Hello I lost a leg in Iraq but what would be worse is for us to lose
the war on terror by quiting just as we are starting to take the
battle to the terrorists."

Bad quote but that was the spot ... totally filled w/ lies and half
truths talking about surrender and politicians in Washington.

[rodeodance]

10. the last poll said that people are saying give em more time.

[frogcycle]

2. I really, really hate this

"Selling" war like fucking toothpaste.
We have gone completely batshit as a society

Now watch this drive.

[bdamomma]

22. sickening what 3,701 deaths are not enough for this blood thirsty

cowardless and arrogant regime of bush and cheney. May their day in hell come soon.

[OnyxCollie]

3. Oil. It's not just for Ba'athists anymore. nt

[marmar]

4. This is so f**king pathetic.....

A president who's not running for re-election but whose agenda is so unpopular that they've got to resort to paid propaganda to support it. Stop this ride - I wanna get off!

[neuvocat]

5. If 1.6 billion won't do it, neither will 15 million.

[okoboji]

6. got to keep the gravy train going

to spend $15 million dollars campaigning to continue a bad war ....

these people must stand to lose a helluva lot more than $15 million dollars if we were to pull out of Iraq.

Compared to $9 billion per month, $15 million is just change.

[HowHasItComeToThis]

9. IRAQ IS JUST A PROFIT-CENTER FOR THESE GHOULS

DARE I SAY MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX????????????????????

[wtmusic]

7. Most media outlets will refuse to run ads against the war

Either peace is unpatriotic, or it's time to revisit the Fairness Doctrine.

[PaddyBlueEyes]

8. Freedoms watch??

Freedom for who? The Iraqis who cant leave their homes without getting blown up, our troops who are being extended longer and longer and cant come home to their families......

[rodeodance]

11. The WH is in full campaign mode

[Virginian]

12. Is it also funded by tax dollars?

You know, those millions of dollars that went missing in Iraq.

I wouldn't put it past them.

[IndianaGreen]

13. I just saw the ad in our local ABC affiliate

Our local news come on at 5 AM and I saw the ad 5 minutes ago. A chunky white woman was saying that we should call Congress and tell them that defeat is not an option in Iraq.

I am sure the ad will appeal those that think that 60,000 dead GIs in Vietnam weren't enough!

[rhett o rick]

14. What Corporations back Freedom Watch? nm

[MaineDem]

15. I saw an ad this morning urging Senator Collins to end the war

Groups are already fighting back against the Administration's push.

[bemildred]

16. I guess the pig needs more lipstick. nt

[Javaman]

17. I wonder if the swift boat pricks are connected to this somehow. nt

[frogcycle]

24. maybe not the individual perps

but the same cabal that is completing its coup is behind both, for sure

they operate through surrogates

[roseBudd]

18. I'd like to know if any of the donors are part of the military industrial complex

[Supersedeas]

19. b/c this President has proved COMPLETELY ineffective at the bully-pulpit

[Desperadoe]

20. Ed Snider, chairman of Comcast Spectacor

Also, owner and CEO of the Philadelphia 76'ers pro basketball team and the Philadelphia Flyers hockey team. Both teams are the definition of "LOSERS" due to the most inept management in professional sports.

Philly folks who are opposed to the war should have a fairly easy time figuring out what to do about this piece of shit. Ed Snider is a major scumbag.

[bdamomma]

21. how disgusting these people are.

yea, get that soundbite out there to all those sheeple (what that 28%) who still believe in that wacked out job of a president.

shameful.

[54anickel]

23. "Peace through strength"...geez, I'm gonna puke on that one!...n/t

[Tempest]

25. Fleischer Ignorant Of The Name Of Wounded Iraq Vet Featured In His TV Ad

On MSNBC’s Hardball tonight, former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer, who is leading a White House front group to defend Bush’s escalation, was unable to name the wounded Iraq veteran featured in his organization’s pro-war ad. “I don’t have his name in front of me,” said Fleischer when asked by host Mike Barnicle if he knew the soldier’s name.

Later in the program, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America executive director Paul Rieckhoff ripped into Fleischer’s offensive ignorance. “What bothered me the most is that Ari Fleischer didn’t even know the guy’s name.” said Rieckhoff. “He’s willing to run a multi-million dollar campaign, utilizing the personal story of a soldier, and he couldn’t tell you on national TV what that soldier’s name is.”

Rieckhoff described it as part of “a problematic trend” that Freedom’s Watch is using the soldier’s “personal story” as “a backdrop for political rhetoric”:

People on both sides of the aisle, but especially the president and this administration, have continued to use troops as a political prop. As a backdrop for political rhetoric. It’s why the president gave such an impassionate speech today in front of the VFW. It’s why this ad carries so much weight on a visceral level. And it really bothers me because our troops are not political props and they’re not chew toys.

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/08/22/fleischer-rieckhoff/