American Crossroads, the radical rightwing, big money, swift boating, scrutiny evading, beyond the veil of official party control, money raising arm of the Republican Party is in the business of buying elections for Republican candidates. They are not interested in free speech. They are masters of bought speech.
American Crossroads remind me of the pornographers of the late 1970's and early 1980's. In response to Chief Justice Warren Burger's opinion in Miller v. California, 43 U.S. 15 (1973). Attempting to define that which is and that which is not pornography Burger concluded a three part test with the following words. "The First Amendment protects works which, taken as a whole, have serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value, regardless of whether the government or a majority of the people approve of the ideas these works represent."
Pornographers began wrapping up the female porn stars in the American flag, inserted patriotic footage in their work, and attempted to diminish Burger's test by demonstrating that as a whole their smutty productions had political content.
American Crosswords has similar verbiage on their website, http://www.americancrossroads.org/mission. They say: "The mission of American Crossroads is to help crystallize the debate over these two diametrically opposed visions for America’s future, to educate voters on how these contrasting visions will shape America’s future, and to empower citizens like you to hold lawmakers and office-seekers accountable for where they stand."
They don't tell you that what they really stand for is overwhelming political campaigns with half truths and distortions, taking political discourse from engaging in serious discussions of the issues and burying Democratic candidates under an avalanche of false impressions. The work of American Crossroads is the work of dirty politics made possible by the horrendously bad decision of the Supreme Court in Citizens United.
A few miles to the east of the Land of Oz those with long memories will remember the work of American Crossroads. Missouri's Secretary of State, Robin Carnahan, was running for the U.S. Senate against a Republican the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) listed as one of the "most corrupt." That of course in Senator Roy Blunt, who the Wall Street Journal called "Senator Earmark," The full CREW report on Blunt is available at http://www.crewsmostcorrupt.org/files/roy_blunt_most_corrupt.pdf.
American Crosswords spent $2,320,394 opposing Robin Carnahan, according to the Sunlight Foundation. See, http://reporting.sunlightfoundation.com/outside-spending/2010/candidate/robin-carnahan/american-crossroads.
The ads against Carnahan were misleading accounts, according to FactCheck.org, of her positions on Health Care Reform and Medicare Reform. See, http://www.factcheck.org/2010/10/crossroads-jam-up/.
Now comes the misleading attack on Missouri's senior United States Senator. They want to blame the first termer for having voted for trillions of dollars in debt, backing plans to raise taxes, and handing President Obama blank checks.
According to POLITICMO Crossroads GPS has already spent $219,000 and has pledged to spend another $240,000 through August 6th in the smear campaign against Senator McCaskill. See, http://politicmo.com/2011/07/26/democrats-latest-crossroads-gps-ad-misleading/. According to the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch American Crossroads, and their subsidiary Crossroads GPS, plan to spend more than $2.4 million. See, http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_423c61b5-37b8-566a-a00f-ce9a1d96fcf6.html.
If American Crossroads and their Crosswords GPS were concerned about politicians who voted for trillions of dollars in debt and blank checks, and raising taxes, then how could they have ever supported the likes of Roy Blunt.
Blunt, a/k/a Senator Earmark, was described by the Wall Street Journal as: "Mr. Blunt, who is 60, took no detours. His résumé includes his 10-year stint as a powerbroker during the party's previous House majority. He was right-hand man to former Majority Leader Tom DeLay and in his own right a powerful dispenser of patronage and influence. Mr. Blunt engineered tough votes for the 2003 prescription drug benefit and, in the last months of the Bush term, the financial bailout. He was an effective whip. To others, he epitomizes the transactional K Street politician who uses the prerogatives of office to protect incumbents—hence the nickname "Mr. Earmark." See, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704353504575596591626268782.html. Time Magazine reports that the 2003 prescription drug benefit adds $1trillion to the deficit. Blunt forgot to get it paid and just put it on the nation's credit card. See, http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1919169,00.html. And if TARP wasn't a blank check handed to President George W. Bush, then I don't know what a blank check is.
Of course Blunt never voted to increase taxes did he? Well, if you followed the drama of H.R 4853 in the 111th Congress, then yes and no. When that bill, about airports went to the Senate it got changed into renewing the Middle Class Tax Cuts. Those are the Bush-era tax cuts on the first $250,000 dollars of income on everyone. Blunt voted no on that, voting to raise taxes on everyone. Of course the bill went back to the Senate and the full Bush-era tax cuts were extended. That was what Blunt voted for, adding another $4 trillion to $11 trillion+ to the deficit, depending on who you listen to and how you do the math. That was roll call number 604 of the 111th Congress on December 12, 2010.
Of course the real reason American Crossroads d/b/a Crossroads GPS likes Blunt is because he is an avid advocate of the tax subsidies to Big Oil. And taking the long view, American Crossroads knows that when enough Representatives and Senators owe the vitality of their political careers to them they will control the levers of patronage, graft, and extract unthinkable favors from thoughtless salons like Roy Blunt.
Imagine what the Missouri Senatorial campaign will look like when the Republicans find a candidate for 2012.
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