Obama wants NRA ads banned

[Teresa]

Obama Wants NRA Ads Banned

Saturday, September 27, 2008 8:10 PM

By: Newsmax staff 
The Obama camp has been threatening television and radio stations to keep them from airing anti-Obama ads.
The latest target is the NRA and stations in Pennsylvania.

Earlier this week, the National Rifle Association's Political Victory Fund released a series of radio and television spots to educate gun owners and sportsmen about Barack Obama's longstanding anti-gun record. In response to the NRA-PVF ads, a clearly panicked Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) are doing everything they can to hide Obama's real record by mounting a coordinated assault on the First Amendment.

They have gone to desperate and outrageous lengths to try to silence your NRA by bullying media outlets with threats of lawsuits if they run NRA-PVF's ads.

The Obama camp is particularly angry with an NRA ad entitled "Hunter" which lays out Obama's record on gun control.

You can see the "Hunter" ad —

Other NRA ads include "Way of Life" and another focusing on Joe Biden's record, "Defend Freedom, Defeat Obama."

This week, Obama's campaign general counsel Bob Bauer wrote seeking to censor the ads at stations in Pennsylvania.

"Unlike federal candidates, independent political organizations do not have a 'right to command the use of broadcast facilities,'" Bauer writes. "Moreover, you have a duty 'to protect the public from false, misleading or deceptive advertising.'"

"This advertising is false, misleading, and deceptive," Bauer continued. "We request that you immediately cease airing this advertising."

The NRA says Obama's camp are sending out these "intimidating cease and desist letters" to cable operators and television stations, threatening their FCC licenses if they run the ads.

The NRA charged that "Obama and the DNC have been using strong-arm tactics reminiscent of Chicago machine politics to try and cover up the truth and silence NRA by forcing the stations to assist them in hiding Obama's radical anti-gun record."

And now, Obama and the DNC have opened a new front in their assault on your First Amendment rights by calling on their followers to contact these station managers to demand that the stations not run NRA-PVF's ads.

NRA stands behind the accuracy of these ads, and NRA attorneys have responded to the Obama campaign's despicable and abusive attempt to trample on the First Amendment by sending a thorough rebuttal to station managers. This rebuttal clearly and conclusively refutes the Obama campaign's fallacious claims that the ads are inaccurate.


The NRA has set up a Web site detailing its position on Obama at www.gunbanobama.com.

A copy of the NRA's letter to station, written by its counsel Cleta Mitchell, follows below:

MEMORANDUM

CLIENT-MATTER NUMBER
999100-0130
TO: Station Managers

FROM: Cleta Mitchell, Esq.
Counsel to National Rifle Association

DATE: September 25, 2008

RE: Documentation for Advertising by National Rifle Association Political Victory Fund ("NRA-PVF")

This firm serves as counsel to the National Rifle Association ("NRA") and the National Rifle Association Political Victory Fund ("NRA-PVF"), which is the federal political action committee of the NRA and the sponsor of certain advertising purchased and soon-to-be purchased on your station. It has come to my clients' attention that the Obama for President campaign is engaging in an effort to prevent or stop the airing of certain ads by NRA-PVF, falsely alleging that the ads are 'inaccurate'. The Obama presidential campaign apparently relies on an article appearing in the Washington Post on September 23, 2008 to support its contention hat the NRA-PVF ads should not be aired.

The Washington Post is hardly an objective news source on any subject related to the issues to which the NRA is dedicated, having spent decades attacking not only the NRA but also fighting against the legislation and policies NRA supports to protect the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, as well as supporting every conceivable government proposal or policy any officeholder or candidate suggests to weaken and disrupt the guarantees of the Second Amendment. It is therefore no surprise that the Washington Post would now attack the NRA for advertisements which truthfully disclose the anti-gun, anti-Second Amendment record of Barack Obama, the candidate supported by the Washington Post.

Attached please find the point-by-point refutation of the Washington Post's article about the NRA-PVF ads regarding Obama's record on the Second Amendment, as well as an article disclosing the bias of the decidedly not neutral "FactChecker" on which the Washington Post article is ostensibly based.

The NRA devotes 100% of its time and resources to protecting the Second Amendment and fighting for government policies and legislation furtherance of the rights of the American people to keep and bear arms.

The legislative and policy record of candidates and officeholders such as Barack Obama are well known and documented by the NRA on an ongoing basis. NRA-PVF's advertising during the 2008 election cycle is based on that extensive research and documentation, which is being furnished to you with this Memorandum.

Accordingly, we respectfully request that your station disregard the shamefully false assertions from the Obama campaign and its attorneys regarding the NRA-PVF ads and that the ads run in accordance with the purchase(s) made by NRA-PVF in the media buy.


© 2008 Newsmax. All rights reserved.

http://www.newsmax.com/politics/Obama_Wants_NRA_Ads_Banne/2008/09/27/135118.html?s=al&promo_code=6BBA-1

[Diane Amberg]

I'm in no way for gun control, but I wish someone could come up with something to help big cities. Philadelphia lost another police officer last week. The Mayor was really upset. I can't quite quote what he said, but it was basically that there are people out there hunting humans and somehow it has to stop. I sure don't have the answer. Do you think a total gun registry would help?

[srkruzich]

I'm in no way for gun control, but I wish someone could come up with something to help big cities. Philadelphia lost another police officer last week. The Mayor was really upset. I can't quite quote what he said, but it was basically that there are people out there hunting humans and somehow it has to stop. I sure don't have the answer. Do you think a total gun registry would help?

Sorry there diane, i would die before i would register my weapons with any government.  The slaughter of 6 million jews started with a gun regsitry.   

[frawin]

Diane, do you think the criminals are going to register their guns. The criminals will show up to see who does register so they will know who not to try to rob in their home. There is no way you can ever get all of the guns out of the hands of the criminals anymore than you can legislate to stop drugs and other illegal activities. If you take the guns from the innocent the criminals will know they can rob, rape, murder and do anything they want anywhere, they just have to avoid the police. As it is now they know that 80 million Americans are gun owners and will shoot back. It is a proven and well documented fact that in the countries that have banned gun ownership crime has gone up dramatically.

[Diane Amberg]

Yeh, I have to agree with you both. But I don't think most of these gunfights on the streets of big cities have people involved who have given much, if any, thought to who does or doesn't have guns. A lot seem to be impulse shootings, or they are trying to shoot people who they know are armed, just as they are. We did have a good one here recently. A lady shot an intruder. Everyone knew she had a gun and would use it. She did! What do they say about dumb criminals? Why would he have picked her house?

[srkruzich]

Yeh, I have to agree with you both. But I don't think most of these gunfights on the streets of big cities have people involved who have given much, if any, thought to who does or doesn't have guns. A lot seem to be impulse shootings, or they are trying to shoot people who they know are armed, just as they are. We did have a good one here recently. A lady shot an intruder. Everyone knew she had a gun and would use it. She did! What do they say about dumb criminals? Why would he have picked her house?

Its one for the darwin awards.  Genepool just got a little clearer with her contribution to society.

No i really am not trying to be a snot here, but when it comes to my guns and rights to my guns i am ready and willing to defend them
as far as i have to go with it.   
Once they manage to disarm this country were screwed.
Those idiots out there shooting up areas are idiots.  All it would take to stop it is a few armed citizens to be ready for them to come through and the second they start firing on citizens, those armed citizens take em out right there in the streets.  You can be assured that there are more of us than there are of them!

[Roma Jean Turner]

A group of Democrat prosecuters and sheriffs, calling themselves  part of the Truth Squad announced here in Missouri, (sorry I don't know for sure what part of the state), that they would in effect be legally coming after anyone who e-mailed anythng or said anything that was considered untrue about Obama.  It was to me very threatening.  Our governor, Roy Blunt's son was immediately on Fox News this morning about this.  He was very clear that the citizens of this state were not going to be intimidated by law enforcement in this way.  To imply they would use their position in law enforcement in this way was unacceptable.  I thought, here is the true elitest, socialist agenda coming out from under the rock.  This incident should put chills down the back of everyone.

[pam]

guess I missed that one Roma, although I'm kinda over here in BF missouri.

[sixdogsmom]

I Googled this and found this from ABC News:


   
Attacking Obama's Missouri 'Truth Squad'
September 29, 2008 11:12 AM

Republicans -- led by the Governor of Missouri and the Republican National Committee -- are alleging that there is something untoward about the "Truth Squad" the Obama campaign has set up in the "Show Me" State. The problem, these Republicans say, is that these "Truth Squad" members are prosecutors and sheriffs with law enforcement powers, thus creating an atmosphere where Missourians might be afraid of being prosecuted for criticizing Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.

There is no evidence, however, that these prosecutors are threatening to use their prosecutorial powers in such a way.

And despite GOP complaints that the mere presence of prosecutors on the "Truth Squad" could intimidate Obama's critics, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and his running mate Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin have used prosecutors on their "Truth Squads" too, prompting no complaints from the GOP at the time.

**

The Missouri Truth Squad, an Obama campaign press release stated last week, would "respond quickly, forcefully, and aggressively when John McCain or his allies launch inaccurate claims or character attacks about Barack Obama, or when they distort Barack Obama's record or plans."

So what's the problem?

Many of the Obama Missouri Truth Squad members have law enforcement powers, such as St. Louis County Circuit Attorney Bob McCulloch, St. Louis City Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce, and Jefferson County Sheriff Glenn Boyer.

A local TV story took those facts and then stated that, "Senator Barack Obama's presidential campaign is asking Missouri law enforcement to target anyone who lies or runs a misleading television ad during the presidential campaign," which doesn't seem a fair representation of the formation of the "Truth Squad."


Republicans immediately began painting this as a situation where the Obama campaign is using its law enforcement friends to threaten to lock people up if they say something negative about Obama.

Gov. Matt Blunt, on official state stationery, said, "What Senator Obama and his helpers are doing is scandalous beyond words, the party that claims to be the party of Thomas Jefferson is abusing the justice system and offices of public trust to silence political criticism with threats of prosecution and criminal punishment."

None of the prosecutors or sheriffs on the "Truth Squad" have said they'd use their law enforcement powers as part of their task as "Truth Squad" members.

But Blunt said that wasn't the point.

"The only conceivable purpose of Messrs. McCulloch, Obama and the others is to frighten people away from expressing themselves, to chill free and open debate, to suppress support and donations to conservative organizations targeted by this anti-civil rights, to strangle criticism of Mr. Obama, to suppress ads about his support of higher taxes, and to choke out criticism on television, radio, the Internet, blogs, e-mail and daily conversation about the election," Blunt said. "Enlisting Missouri law enforcement to intimidate people and kill free debate is reminiscent of the Sedition Acts - not a free society."

St. Louis County prosecutor Bob McCulloch called the notion that he was going to use his official powers to prosecute people who lie about Obama "nonsense." 

"I don't know what charge anybody could be talking about there is no such thing; libel is a civil matter entirely," McCulloch said.  "What I said was if it is a lie I'll call somebody on it and say that's a lie; tell us the truth. That gets morphed  by those with these very sinister motives," the prosecutor said.  He added, "It's morphed into 'they are trying to intimidate people into not talking.'"

St. Louis City Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce added in a statement: "As a citizen, I believe that elections should be about issues.  I also have enormous respect for our First Amendment and freedom of speech.  My sole purpose in participating in this initiative is about getting truthful information to the voters.  This has never been or never will be about prosecuting people. Clearly there are those who are attempting to twist the purpose of this initiative for their own benefit. This attack is a great example of how the truth is distorted in campaigns and what we're trying to stand up against."

But the deputy chairman of the Republican National Committee, Frank Donatelli, told the News-Leader, that even though the Democratic prosecutors "haven't specifically said" they would use their powers to fight for Obama, but "I don't think you have to use the power. I think if you just call out somebody and you have the power, you've made your point. It's not that you have to prosecute a guy, but people think you might."

That's why prosecutors don't typically become members of campaign truth squads, Donatelli said, because the prosecutor's presence on the truth squad "has a chilling affect on people's rights of free speech."

This story broke last week and has been building since.

Largely unreported is the dial-back from reporter John Mills, whose story seemed to imply exactly what the GOP is charging -- that Obama has enlisted a squad of prosecutors to go after anyone who criticizes the Democratic presidential candidate -- but has since said that "in the retelling of the story, it got out of control."

"If they think a group has put out a misleading ad, they're basically going to call a press conference and say the ad is misleading," Mills told the News-Leader yesterday. "I'm sure the Republicans would do the same thing."

Of the concern that prosecutors should not be on truth squads -- which may seem a legitimate criticism -- it could be observed that McCain's South Carolina primary "Truth Squad" included Attorney General Henry McMaster and Seventh Circuit Solicitor Trey Gowdy, a prosecutor.

The recently created "Palin Truth Squad" includes District Attorney of Dona Ana County (NM) Susana Martinez.

- jpt

September 29, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (244)

[Teresa]

Having read most of the list of votes, speeches and organizations from Obama that were used to make up the list of charges from the NRA, I don't know how the Obama camp can call it a lie with a straight face. 
Do they not realize that every vote he has made is public record, and since long before he decided to dabble in politics, they have been recording speeches?

Threatening with action through governmental agencies.  Loss of a license to do business by an action of an agency if you step on our toes.  Reminds me of the bullies in school that never did thier own dirty work.  They were followed around by a bunch of goons that were their real muscle.

As much as I hate to see the whole hearings and such, at what point does someone call a spade a spade and call for an investigation for this type of action.  What happens now if the Outdoor channel faces loss or suspension of license and it can be traced back to this?

We need more groups with the people behind them to stand up and state the facts about Mr. Obama and the DNC.  No body needs to make anything up or get overly emotional.  All we need to do is quote their official printed stance and agenda, and bring forth years of voting records and speeches.

We all need to read the facts behind his claims.  When he says he is going to role back the tax cuts we have received he did not lie.  However, now he says he is only going to role back on "millionaires."  What he is not saying in speeches is that his official stance is that he will let the cuts to EVERYONE expire soon.  This is only one of many issues where he is not telling the entire truth. 
We all know about his talking points on guns, and we know the facts (thanks to the NRA) regardless of what ABC says on his beliefs about guns.  These less than the full truth speeches he makes are the reason he can't talk in public without a teleprompter.  He knows what he does not want to say in a speech, but without the teleprompter he can't come up with the words to dance around the full truth.

Education will defeat Mr. Obama and his crew.  We need  to learn how to debate with our friends and neighbors on what he really means when he leaves three-fourths of the facts out of his public comments.  Everything is out there to know, we just need to do our homework and pull it out of the back corners.

Wasn't it in 2000 we learned that one group's plan is to either win in the voting booth or in the court.  Doesn't matter which, just so long as they win.

Democrats have now moved into the realm of National Socialism....Just a little preview of the Fairness Doctrine if B-HO gets elected.