527 Groups vs. Republican Radio

OpEdNews.com

          There’s been much talk lately from and about 527 organizations. Groups like “Swift Boat Veterans For Truth” and “ACT (Americans Coming Together)” have gained both notoriety and national prominence for their attempts to influence the election in November. A 527 group, named after a section of the United States tax-code, is a tax-exempt organization that, by definition, should (emphasis on “should”) only engage in voter mobilization efforts and issue advocacy. These groups can raise unlimited amounts of money to spend on the before-mentioned activities. The true problem and menace of these groups lies not in their existence and activism but on their attempts to blur the line between issue advocacy (allowed) and candidate advocacy (prohibited).
     After Kerry called for the President to denounce the “Swift Boat” ads that attacked and attempted to cast a shadow on Kerry’s service IN Vietnam, Bush and party operatives smirked their way through statements that didn’t amount to much more than “if they stop theirs, we’ll stop ours.” Though Sen. John McCain has personally denounced the “Swift Boat” ads and has called on the President to do the same, it is not in Bush’s best interest to bite the hand that fed him 3 percentage points in the latest polls.
     Now that the “Swift Boat” ads have inflicted as much damage to Kerry as they probably will, Bush’s talk of taking legal action to stop political ads by outside groups seems conveniently timed and disingenuous.   With figures that 87% of these 527 ads have been anti-Bush and the other 13% are anti-Kerry, it is in Bush’s best interest to stop the 527 groups from presenting either message. It is also in Bush’s best interest to pursue this action to smooth over relations between Bush and Sen. McCain who is popular among moderates and independents. It would be unwise for Bush to perturb those groups in what is shaping up to be a very tight election. And furthermore, the 13% of anti-Kerry 527 activity is a mere pittance when compared to the hours upon hours of Talk Radio devoted to the canonizing of Bush and the demonizing of Kerry and all things “liberal.”
     With the exception of major metropolitan areas (where even one liberal host is considered a Talk Radio coup), the Talk Radio community is dominated by two political persuasions of host: the right-wing host and the rabidly beyond all reason- even further right-wing host. In this and many areas, they start cheerleading for Bush at 6AM and pass the baton off to other hosts in 3 hour increments until 1AM. It cannot be argued that they are not at least marginally, if not fully, coordinated with the Republican National Committee and the Bush campaign. Though TV’s Fox News Channel might as well (and might) have it’s daily agenda dictated to them by Karl Rove, they at least try to disguise their bias by providing a forum for “independent” Bill O’Reilly (he’s not) and “liberal” Alan Colmes who is far too entrenched in enemy territory to be very effective. President Bush knows that a hundred 527 groups working on his behalf (of course, not officially) couldn’t get his message out to even a fraction of the people that republican radio reaches each day.
     There used to something called the “Fairness Doctrine” (and I’m not referring to Fox’s laughable tag-line) that was ratified by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1969. This guaranteed equal time to all sides on the public airwaves. Of course, the doctrine was overturned by the Reagan-appointed FCC in 1987when Sen. Bob Packwood, media companies, and cigarette and beer companies banded together to set up the Freedom Of Expression Foundation to fight the Fairness Doctrine in the U.S. Court of Appeals for Washington, D.C. Let me say that again. THE FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION FOUNDATION WAS ESTABLISHED TO FIGHT THE FAIRNESS DOCTRINE! Just in case you haven’t been paying attention, they won the battle and now we have the freedom to listen to the expression of right-wing views on the radio- morning, noon, and night.
     Obviously, I have a bias against President Bush for more reasons than this newspaper has space to print them, but he would get a few “give him the benefit of the doubt” points if his desire to eliminate 527 groups included calling off his attack dogs on republican radio. Asking them not to talk about politics until after the election would be a “good faith” act that would silence critics (such as myself) who see Bush’s sudden interest in eliminating 527 groups as indisputably self-serving.
     If President Bush isn’t willing to do this (which he isn’t), then he just better hope that MoveOn.org doesn’t find anyone who remembers NOT serving with him in the National Guard. Sure, that was a cheap shot. Maybe, it was even unfair. But remember, it was republicans who dismantled the Fairness Doctrine. So, to be honest, they had that coming.