A conservative nonprofit group with a past link to Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign wants to spend $2.8 million on an ad questioning Democrat Barack Obama's relationship to a founder of the 1960s radical group Weather Underground.And:
Never fear! I had on the Steeler-Viking game last night (it was KDKA) and I saw the ad in all it's nasty guilt by association.American Issues Project, the sponsor of the ad, is a nonprofit 501(c)4 organization. One of its board members, Ed Failor Jr., was a paid consultant for McCain's campaign in Iowa last year. The campaign paid his firm $50,000 until July 2007. American Issues Project spokesman Christian Pinkston said Failor has no connection to the McCain campaign now.
The ad signals the emergence of the type of tough advertising by independent organizations that operate outside the financial limits of campaign finance law. It is reminiscent of the Swift Boat ads aired against John Kerry four years ago questioning his military service and are widely blamed by Democrats for contributing to his defeat.
Organizers sought to air the ad on Fox News Channel, but a Fox spokesman said the network declined to run it. He would not say why.
Good to know that KDKA will show a smear ad that even Fox "News" refuses. Good going!
More on the American Issues Project later.
