DUers, give me a hand here... who was behind the McCain smears in 2000?

[VolcanoJen]

I know one of them is a woman, but I can't remember her name now.

I just want to do a little research; are the folks who are behind the financing of the McCain smears in 2000 (the one about the illegitimate child) the same folks involved with the Swift Boat Vets for "Truth"?

I remember James Carville on "Crossfire" last week, claiming "this was the same crowd." Is it?

I've been all over Media Matters, and can't find it.

Thanks in advance!
JenJen

[flasun]

1. Same ad agency produced both ads n/t

[VolcanoJen]

2. I've heard that McCain is the one who used this ad agency...

... during the 2000 primaries. Is that true? Or is Bush the one who used the ad agency during the 2000 primaries?

I'm getting confused... :-)

[blm]

3. There is a tight group of Bob Jonesers in SC who generated most of the

disgusting rumors about McCain...the black child, Manchurian candidate, drug-addict wife. They craft alot of the chain emails, too, that find their way around the internet. I believe the ringleader is a prof at BJU and he works closely with the GOP in Greenville.

[SidDithers]

4. I think the name you're looking for is Merrie Spaeth nt

Sid

[BurtWorm]

5. Merrie Spaeth, former child star of "The World of Henry Orient"

From a Joe Conason article at salon.com from May:

http://archive.salon.com/opinion/conason/2004/05/04/swift/index1.html

In 2000, Spaeth participated in the most subterranean episode of the Republican primary contest when a shadowy group billed as "Republicans for Clean Air" produced television ads falsely attacking the environmental record of Sen. John McCain in California, New York and Ohio. While the identity of those funding the supposedly "independent" ads was carefully hidden, reporters soon learned that Republicans for Clean Air was simply Sam Wyly -- a big Bush contributor and beneficiary of Bush administration decisions in Texas -- and his brother, Charles, another Bush "Pioneer" contributor. (One of the Wyly family's private capital funds, Maverick Capital of Dallas, had been awarded a state contract to invest $90 million for the University of Texas endowment.)

When the secret emerged, spokeswoman Spaeth caught the flak for the Wylys, an experience she recalled to me as "horrible" and "awful." Her job was to assure reporters that there had been no illegal coordination between the Bush campaign and the Wyly brothers in arranging the McCain-trashing message. Not everyone believed her explanation, including the Arizona senator.

[CBHagman]

6. I knew I recognized that name from somewhere.

Merrie Spaeth! There's a name that's hard to forget. Thanks for clearing that up.

The book "Boy Genius: Karl Rove, the Brains Behind the Remarkable Political Triumph of George W. Bush," by Lou Dubose, Jan Reid, and Carl M. Cannon, covers some of the smears put about in the South Carolina campaign in particular. It's pretty disgusting, and something similar is happening now. I'm actually going to talk to my friends in South Carolina about what to expect, because this campaign is a nasty one.

[BurtWorm]

8. I always liked Tippy Walker better.

She became a poet and an antiques dealer, I believe.

[VolcanoJen]

7. That's it!! Merrie Spaeth!

Thank you, BurtWorm. I knew I had read that article before, but thought it was on Media Matters, instead of on Salon.

Smokin' Joe Conason hits another one out of the park!

Thanks again, BurtWorm. :-)

[BurtWorm]

9. It's a great piece of reporting. Highly recommended reading

for anyone who wants to know what the swiftboat bullshit is about. :eyes:

Thanks, Jen, for making me go off in search of it! :toast:

[SidDithers]

10. Hey - show a little love my way :)

I got it up a minute before BurtWorm

:toast: to BurtWorm

Sid

[BurtWorm]

11. Toast to you, too, sid!

:toast:

[VolcanoJen]

12. Sorry Sid!!! Thank you!

Here's the love!
:loveya:

DUers are the bestest, are they not? You guys always help me out in a bind. :D

[SidDithers]

16. Hugz back, VolcanoJen :) nt

Sid

[Joe Turner]

13. Jen, you might want to check out Warren Tompkins

I Found this story at http://www.democrats.org/specialreports/gop_negative/sc.html They have some interesting stories there about Bush's Slime Machine.

Bush Adviser Outlined Groups Needed To Coordinate Negative Campaign; Said of McCain: "We've got To Take This Guy Out." At the meeting Bush adviser Warren "Tompkins stood up in the motel room and ticked off the groups they needed to win: the Christian Coalition, the right-to-lifers, the evangelicals, the Southern Baptist Convention. 'We aren't going to pussyfoot around,' said Tompkins in his whispery voice. 'We play it different down here. We're not dainty, if you get my drift. We're used to playing rough.' McCain was coming up in the polls. 'We've got to take this guy out,' said Tompkins."

[CBHagman]

14. Thanks for that.

We really need to get that out to more people. I am seriously tempted to pass on the individual stories to my friends across the country. We need to put the nail in the coffin of the Bush-as-nice-guy myth. These people are ruthless and vindictive.

[VolcanoJen]

17. GREAT stuff, Joe Turner!!

Thanks for that... exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for!

[noamnety]

15. more on spaeth

Her late husband, H.J. "Tex" Lezar, was a law partner of O'Neill. Also in the firm was Margaret Wilson, the former counsel to Gov. Bush who followed him to Washington, where she served for a time as a deputy counsel in the Department of Commerce.

In 1998, she coached Kenneth Starr to prepare him for impeaching Clinton. Her daughter's godfather is Ted Olson. He was counsel to the right-wing American Spectator when it acted as a front for the dirty-tricks campaign against Clinton known as the Arkansas Project; he represented Bush in the Florida recount, and was rewarded with the job of solicitor general in the Bush Justice Department.

[CBHagman]

18. Well, isn't that the incestuous thing you ever heard of?

Do these people ever associate with anyone outside the strictly controlled GOP circle? I'm surprised their children aren't born with two heads.

[Leilani]

19. Hey Jen,

As soon as the South Carolina Primary kicked off, right after NH, Shrub had a big rally with vets.

There was a spokesman there, who made a speech about how McCain had left the veterans behind. Lots of bad things said, & Shrub stood there smirking.

McCain called on Bush to refute this guy. Shrub refused. And it was some sort of Vets against McCain...said he sold out MIAs, said he was a collaborator while in prison, called him the Manchurian Candidate, & also said he was nuts.

I think this group is what Kerry is talking about.

The slimy personal stuff was done by the Fundies, in particular a professor at Bob Jones U.

Elizabeth Drew, the political writer, I believe wrote about this stuff.

[rullery]

20. Karen Hughes, too.

Besides Merrie Spaeth, Karen Hughes was much involved in Bush's response to McCain, who was running as a Reformer. Hughes came up with the slogan "A Reformer with Results", claiming that Bush had introduced needed reforms in Texas. A banner with this slogan first appeared at Bush rallies in South Carolina. It worked, to the extent that it blunted McCain's message, and won South Carolina for Bush.