Karl Rove

In Karl Rove's new smear ads against Senator Claire McCaskill – an obvious attempt to distract from the Medicare-bashing sideshow that is the GOP primary -- Rove and his billionaire donors can't help but mislead Missourians on even the most basic details.

The ads suggest that McCaskill is still flying on the plane, despite the fact that she vowed to never set foot on it again months ago.

McCaskillPlane by FiredUpMissouri

Judging by the amount of attention they've already given to McCaskill this cycle, Rove and his special interest funders are clearly threatened by her independent streak that pisses off just about every corporate contractor in DC.

And based on the way they're going about it, apparently Karl Rove is still allergic to telling the truth or just genuinely enjoys making stuff up.

Peter Kinder’s campaign team is touting a $160,000 haul from his fundraiser earlier this week with Karl Rove. However, it seems they can’t get their story straight as to how much of that money came in prior to the actual fundraiser. 

Jo Mannies reported that 25 percent of the money came in prior to the event and was included in previous campaign finance reports.

Craighead said that the bulk of the money will show up on Kinder's Oct. 15 campaign finance report; about 25 percent was donated earlier this summer and included in a previous report, the consultant said. The tickets ranged from $250 to $2,500 -- any donor of $1,000 or more got their photo taken with Rove and a signed copy of his latest book.

But KMOX reported that as much as 50 percent of the money came in prior to the fundraiser.

Explaining the math, Craighead says many people sent in checks when the invitations went out, so the money was reported last quarter.

“It was about fifty-fifty,” Craighead said, “So, about $80,000 new dollars and a little less than that from last quarter.”

Whether it was 25 percent or 50 percent is really not the point. What's more interesting is he hasn't received a contribution of over $5,000 since late July. The fact that the Kinder campaign feels they need to boast and inflate the numbers at all says all we need to know about the state of his standing within his party.

Tomorrow is the day that the man George W. Bush affectionately refers to as "Turd Blossom" rides in to save Peter Kinder's quasi-campaign for Governor. According to KMOX, Kinder has an evening fundraiser tommorrow, with a scheduled appearance from Karl Rove. I guess Kinder's distate for power brokers, expressed in an e-mail to supporters, doesn't extend to perhaps the most infamous GOP power broker there is. 

This is the first significant fundraising event Kinder's campaign has publicized since his media back and forth with a stripper and former Penthouse Pet about their relationship. In addition, his biggest donor has called on him to return at least $125,000 in contributions.

Craighead says there’s no resolution yet to the dispute with a Joplin donor, David C. Humphreys, who is reportedly asking for a refund of at least $125,000 in the wake of the scandal

“Well, it’s a unique situation. We’ve only had one person do that,” Craighead said, “And we’re going to discuss privately what and how we do that with the person and we’re not going to talk about it in public.”

Overall, Kinder's fundraising efforts seemed to grind to a halt in August after the stipper saga dragged out over a number of weeks. Kinder's spokesman explained that they were trying "to make sure that donors have a break."  My guess is it might be the other way around. Donors are giving their wallets a break by not throwing money at a floundering campaign. But I guess we will see tomorrow. 

In addition to their exploration of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's foreign fundraising ThinkProgress researchs has been looking at the media buys of the Chamber and Karl Rove's American Crossroads organization. Looking at FEC records for TV buys, they found that in Missouri and other targeted states, ads from one organization would go down just as the other was going up. 

In addition to the cooperation between top operatives, the two groups have exhibited uncanny coordination in their election targeting. In a number of Senate races, the Chamber and American Crossroads coordinated their advertisements – one group put up ads in a race as the other group pulled its own down – in order to ensure attack ads were always running against the Democratic candidate. Consider the dates of each group’s ads in the following Senate races:

Missouri
Crossroads GPS ads: 8/18-9/3
Chamber of Commerce ads: 9/3-9/8
American Crossroads ads begin: 09/15

[...] According to FEC records, the two groups also use the same media firm, Mentzer Media, to produce their attack ads.

Two campaign-finance watchdog organizations have asked the IRS to investigate the tax exempt status of American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS , the twin Republican campaign organizations sired by Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie. In Missouri, the group is spending about $5M on negative TV ads, and nearly 75% of the ads are paid for with undisclosed donations.  

The primary legal dispute comes down to whether Crossroads GPS is abusing its 501(c)(4) privileges, which allows it to raise and spend with little public disclosure, so long as its primary purpose is not political activity.   The watchdogs say "Crossroads GPS has made a mockery of that requirement, bragging about its plans to target Democrats and extolling the virtues of anonymity to donors."

Lest you think this is just another complaint is pre-election silly season, Politico's Mike Allen reports this morning that GOPers are taking this seriously:

These calls for investigation are making some potential corporate donors nervous. One of the city’s best connected Republicans e-mailed us: “We are telling all of our clients, do not give a cent unless you accept the possibility that one day your contribution will be well be public. … i do not think you will see many blue chip companies, this is more for the wealthy.”

Beyond questions about the groups' tax status, their ads in Missouri are just "false and misleading," according to FactCheck.org.

In Missouri, an American Crossroads ad repeats a litany of misleading claims we’ve been hearing from Republicans this election season...

Yes, Carnahan, Missouri’s secretary of state, has said she supports the health care law that "cuts Medicare" – but the cuts are in the growth of future spending. The law "could raise insurance premiums" – for a relatively small share of people. Premiums for the vast majority, as we’ve explained before, will be no more than if the law hadn’t passed, and in many cases will be less, according to CBO. The "failed" stimulus? CBO says that it increased the number of people employed by between 1.4 million and 3.3 million, and that the unemployment rate would be worse if it hadn’t been enacted.

More at MediaMatters.org.

Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS is talking about Peter Kinder's frivolous health care lawsuit more than Peter Kinder is these days.  But Crossroads GPS won't actually say Peter Kinder's name.

Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS organization has posted a new ad to their YouTube channel praising Peter Kinder for his silly health care lawsuit (though strangely not by name), but is really about helping Roy Blunt's Senate campaign.  The ad attempts to scare voters with misleading suggestions that the new health care reform law will increase their premiums, and wonders if a baby born today will even have health care under the new law. 

The ad revolves around a fictional newborn baby, wondering if Democrats will prohibit the little girl from seeing doctors when when she gets older.  "Our Lieutenant Governor is suing so her health care will be there," says the narrator. Never mind those facts about how the health care law dramatically increases access to coverage, especially for children.

FactCheck.org evaluated similar ads from Crossroads GPS running in other states, and found those to be dishonest and misleading. 

A little background from Politico on Crossroads GPS, the 501(c)4 that launched a new ad campaign in Missouri and Nevada today.

Crossroads GPS, a 501(c)4 organization created by Turdblossom Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie, has launched new TV ad criticizing Robin Carnahan for supporting federal health care reform, and asking her to support Peter Kinder's frivolous lawsuit. The Associated Press reports that the group plans to spend a total of $2M on ads in Missouri and Nevada.  Watch the ad here.

Politico had a good rundown of the organization's creation and 2010 goals last month.

“When the King of Washington Insiders comes to Missouri to dine and promote Roy Blunt, one has to wonder just who’s lunch they plan on eating,”

Chuck Purgason on Karl Rove's trip to Missouri to raise money for Roy Blunt

Karl Rove is in Missouri today to raise money for Roy Blunt. Presumably, Rove will dance carefully around the unpleasant aspects of his time in the White House, and not make a huge deal out of the fact that Blunt played a key role in navigating the George W. Bush agenda through the House as Majority Whip, and then as acting Majority Leader after Tom DeLay was indicted.  Or maybe Rove will unapologetically talk about the days when Republicans said one thing to voters and then served their true constituencies in Washington. 

March 1999 - Blunt Was A Key Member of George W. Bush's Presidential Exploratory Committee
Blunt was one of 10 members of Dubya's presidential exploratory team.  From a May 6, 1999, Roll Call article headlined, "House Leaders Coordinating Work With Bush Key Advisers Consult Regularly On Agenda Items":

Blunt is often the only GOP leader directly involved in the day-to- day discussions, Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Texas) are on board, three sources confirmed. A high-ranking Bush official said 92 House Members and 15 Senators have offered their endorsements...

The agenda discussions have included Bush; Blunt; Bush's political director, Maria Cino; Bush's top consultant, Karl Rove; and GOP strategists Bill Paxon and Haley Barbour, among others. Informed sources say the plan for a Bush-GOP Congress collaboration is one reason the Texas governor has stacked his political team with so many Washington insiders with close connections to Republican leaders...

Blunt talks with Bush, Rove or Cino at least three times each week and has been instrumental in helping to lock up endorsements inside the House GOP Conference....

I'm shocked – just shocked – that Karl Rove thinks Roy Blunt is a "stellar" candidate and is financially backing him. Aren't you? 

Blunt was an early supporter of George W. Bush's first presidential bid, joining Rove on the campaign's "exploratory committee" in May 1999. 

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This story provides a good a reason as any to share this photo from Speaker Ron Richard's Flickr photostream.

The Economic Freedom Alliance, a right-wing business organization whose members include the Missouri Chamber of Commerce, is currently running billboards and online ads attacking Claire McCaskill, Ike Skelton, Russ Carnahan, Emanuel Cleaver and Lacy Clay. The ads, which some of you may have seen on billboards or online, accuse the Democratic members of Congress of "killing jobs" because they've been supported by labor organizations and support the Employee Free Choice Act.

The ads are based on a "thoroughly discredited study" funded by the "corporate-friendly, anti-union 'Alliance to Save Main Street Jobs" and "based entirely on decades-old data from a handful of Canadian provinces."

George W. Bush and Dick Cheney aren't available, so Peter Kinder is flying around with Karl Rove to stand up for corporate greed, and fight back against basic workers rights.

Kinder previously committed to attend a rival anti-worker rally being held today by Associated Industries of Missouri.  But now, Kinder has reportedly welched on that commitment to join Rove for an invitation-only event sponsored by the Missouri Chamber of Commerce.

Upgrade?! 

Could you have a worse spokesman when your organization is trying to convince the public that you're not the side with a demonstrated record of intimidation, strong-armed tactics, smashing folks' basic rights in the Employee Free Choice Act debate?

Rove to address St. Louis business leaders on how to fight Employee Free Choice Act
By Jo Mannies, Beacon Political Reporter

Karl Rove, one of the top advisers to former President George W. Bush, is slated to address St. Louis area business leaders at the St. Louis Club in Clayton on Monday afternoon.

The event is organized by the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and will focus on the proposed federal Employee Free Choice Act.

The act, which has yet to pass Congress, would make it easier for unions to organize by allowing a majority of the employees at a business to agree to form a union by signing cards, and without a vote. (A secret ballot vote would not be required, but could be held if the workers request it.)

I was really hoping that 2009 would mean a lot less Karl and Dick Cheney on the teevee.  But on the upside, their insistence on remaining very public spokesmonsters is making it really easy to identify the Dark Side in a lot of these public policy debates.

A new web ad from the DNC:

Newt was just in town, Karl Rove is working with Ed Martin, and Cheney, well, his evil shapeshifting abilities allow him to be anywhere he wants.

(via CNN)

A clever new ad from the DNC:

Karl Rove is collaborating with Eddie Martin and the Missouri Roundtable for Life.

That pretty much tells you what you need to know about the group and its true intentions.

Update: MissouriNet's Steve Walsh was on the call and has audio.