Big Bucks Let Freedom Ring

We know that Let Freedom Ring is one of the most active anti-Obama organizations this election. It's spending millions of dollars on a seemingly infinite supply of new ads.

And now we know who's bankrolling the massive effort.

Benefactor number one is John Templeton Jr., who is also chairman of Let Freedom Ring. He plunked down $2.7 million so far. He may have given more, for activities the group doesn't have to report.

Templeton, whose father was a famous investor, was a co-chair of the faith and values steering committee of unsuccessful Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. A born-again Christian, he's also one of the biggest donors to a ballot initiative in California this year that would ban same-sex marriage; he and his wife gave $1.2 million.

Some of Templeton's other gifts this year: $776,000 to the College Republican National Committee, $550,000 to the Republican State Leadership Committee and $200,000 to the Club for Growth.

Let Freedom Ring also received $500,000 in September from Virginia James aka Virginia Manheimer, a school voucher activist and donor. James is also a co-founder of the Club for Growth, which she gave $700,000 this year.

"Smaller" donors to Let Freedom Ring include Foster Friess and Nathan Bachman, who each gave $100,000. Friess is a sucessful Wyoming investor who formerly served as president of the Council for National Policy, an umbrella group for the religious right. Friess explains his opposition to Obama via YouTube. Bachman is an Ohio investor who gave $10,000 to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in 2004.

And here, below, is a sample of what that money buys: an emotional "Best Of" compendium of conservative complaints against Obama: Rev. Wright; Bill Ayres; Tony Rezko; "clinging" to guns and religion; contributions from Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae; ACORN; and taxes and spending. Let Freedom Ring put up the ad on TV this weekend.

-- Will Evans

11:24 AM ET | 11- 3-2008 | permalink

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Reagan Endorses Obama! Or Not

Okay, so Ronald Reagan isn't around to actually endorse anyone. But that won't stop political operatives from invoking his presidency to boost their candidate. A new, liberal Colorado-based group called Progressive Future is bringing back the Gipper to put in a plug for Obama, while the conservative Let Freedom Ring calls Obama the "anti-Reagan."

Progressive Future's ad, airing in Florida and Ohio, starts off with footage of Reagan delivering his powerful rhetorical question of the 1980 debate against Jimmy Carter: "Are you better off than you were four years ago?" (One of the strategists who came up with the line later modestly called it "probably the most devastating line Mr. Reagan used against Mr. Carter." The strategist was writing a column hoping that John Kerry wouldn't use it with success against President Bush.)

The ad continues with Reagan's speech, set against images of Dick Cheney, Osama Bin Laden, rising gas prices, a home foreclosure, and, crucially, Bush together with John McCain. Reagan says, "If you don't think that this course that we've been on for the last four years is what you would like to see us follow for the next four, then I could suggest another choice that you have." And just as he mentions "another choice," there is Obama set against a giant American flag, gazing off into the distance at those Reagan Democrats he needs on Tuesday.

Obama himself played off the line last week at a Florida rally, saying, "At this rate, the question isn't just 'Are you better off than you were four years ago?', it's 'Are you better off than you were four weeks ago?'"

But Obama isn't running against an incumbent, as Reagan was. McCain aired his own ad saying, "We're worse off than we were four years ago," distancing himself from Bush's legacy.

Let Freedom Ring -- as part of an endless stream of new ads, some on TV and some Web-only -- tries to cast some of Reagan's glow on McCain instead of Obama. This new video calls Obama the "anti-Reagan" and says to McCain, "Your economic policies are the policies of Ronald Reagan."

We already dug up the background on Let Freedom Ring. Now let's take a look at Progressive Future and its dizzying array of affiliated groups, after the jump...

Continue reading "Reagan Endorses Obama! Or Not" »

2:54 PM ET | 10-30-2008 | permalink

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Uppercase Or Lowercase -- Big Difference

Let Freedom Ring is putting a lot of money behind its current kitchen-sink blast of anti-Obama ads. Attention must be paid.

The latest in the freedom-ringing fusillade shows Obama saying he will not develop new nuclear weapons and will "slow our development of future combat systems." The footage is from what the ad calls an "Obama campaign-produced solicitation video" from last October.

Notice that the ad uses the lowercase form for "future combat systems," implying that Obama wants to slow development of all combat systems. McCain has used the same line against Obama. But as the Army Times and the libertarian Cato Institute point out, Future Combat Systems -- uppercase -- is a specific military program that McCain also has opposed.

In any case, the ad segues to Reagan appointee Frank Gaffney, who says that leaders who convey an unwillingness to use military might show weakness to "our enemies" and "weakness invites agression." Gaffney's dead-serious monologue also featured in the gaffe ad starring Joe Biden. Joe the Gaffer makes another appearance in an extended version of the ad (also on TV), with his much-publicized prediction that "it will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama."

-- Will Evans

5:38 PM ET | 10-29-2008 | permalink

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From "Oops" To On-Air In Five Days

How long does it take to go from gaffe to attack ad? Five days, based on our most recent example.

You'll recall that on Sunday, Democratic VP candidate Joe Biden said, "Mark my words. It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy...Watch, we're gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy."

Biden is famous for flubs, and this seems to be his biggest during the general election. Or as the New York Post put it, "JOE D'OH PUTS O IN 'CRISIS' MODE."

So that was Sunday. Already McCain, Palin and conservatives have rubbed it in Obama's face. And now, Let Freedom Ring has launched an ad in battleground states with the audio of Biden's remark. It starts running tomorrow and will eventually be up in Nevada, Ohio, Colorado, Pennsylvania and the pricey Virginia-Washington D.C. market. The ad also features Reagan appointee Frank Gaffney arguing, on something of a tangent, that "weakness invites aggression."

It's guaranteed that Biden didn't look as happy as he does in the ad when he realized the impact of his gaffe. But let's not put all the blame on Biden. Obama gets his own gaffe ad after the jump...

Continue reading "From "Oops" To On-Air In Five Days" »

6:28 PM ET | 10-23-2008 | permalink

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Letting Freedom Ring -- Loudly

The conservative advocacy group Let Freedom Ring has been quiet for a while, but apparently it was just saving up for the big clang. The group, which helped turn out battleground-state voters for President Bush in 2004, announced a $5 million ad blitz Tuesday, hitting Obama -- often without even mentioning him -- from nearly every conceivable angle.

One ad, already running in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia and Colorado, focuses on legislation that opponents say will eliminate the secret ballot in union elections. The ad features a "man on the street" who thinks the policy would be a violation of privacy. Then comes the cryptic ending, "Decide for yourself, whether you want a president who supports card check, or one who supports free elections."

Unless you look up the candidates' positions on the bill (or read this post) you might not figure out that the bill is cosponsored by Obama and opposed by McCain. Let Freedom Ring probably doesn't get more specific out of respect for the tax code, which limits its ability to get overtly political, but does let it keep its donors secret. Up until now, we only know that retired physician and Republican donor John Templeton Jr. has partially funded the group.

There's also a similarly vague ad promoting the presidential candidate who supports offshore drilling, whoever he or she is.

Let Freedom Ring has produced not just several ads, but multiple series of ads to run from now through the end of October. In the second series, which will start next week with $1.5 million to burn, one ad features the conservative niece of Martin Luther King Jr. and a conservative black pastor arguing that voters (presumably black voters) should vote based on the Bible, not the "color" of the candidate.

Still another ad shows a conservative legal scholar...

Continue reading "Letting Freedom Ring -- Loudly" »

3:00 PM ET | 10-15-2008 | permalink

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"Both Ways Barack"

airs an ad on cable TV calling Obama "Both Ways Barack" and "worse than a flip-flopper."

11:16 PM ET | 07-22-2008 | permalink

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