Wednesday, March 16, 2016

The Stop Hillary Movement

There really is (or was) a "STOP HILLARY" SuperPAC funded by the Right wing and it really is devoted to:

"Make sure Hillary Clinton never becomes president! America can't survive another term of Obama-era radical liberalist policies implemented by a Bill and Hillary Clinton team back in the White House." [from www.stophillary2016.org taken last month]

Two Years and Four Months before Hillary Declared her Run!

Stop Hillary Pac was created before Hillary even declared herself a candidate by a man named Dan Backer. The use of her name was forbidden in PACS like this so the FEC told him he couldn't use that name. He actually sued to be allowed to use the name of the candidate in their URL and group name. [see http://www.fec.gov/law/litigation/StopHillaryPAC.shtml]. He lost the case, but not after having operated for "2 years and 4 months" exactly as quoted above. [see: http://www.fec.gov/law/litigation/shp_dc_order_mpi.pdf]. He seems to have changed the name, subsequently to "America Rising" -- though the fund raising page still exists.

Which means that they are, despite providing memes and video's to Bernie supporters, not against Hillary because she's "too conservative" but because she is too liberal. The URL named "StopHillaryPAC dot org", was for real. (See Open secrets article). I went to the stop HillaryPac page and it gives me a DNS effort and takes me to a new PAC called "America Rising" which is a catalogue of hit pieces aimed at Hillary from all directions; Left, Right, Coal, Oil. She's darned if she does and darned if she doesn't. It's amazing. They claim to really believe that:

"In 2016, it will be too late to stop Hillary. We've got to hold her accountable right now. Stop Hillary PAC was created for one reason only -- to save America from the destructive far-left, liberal cancer created by Bill and Hillary Clinton that's trying to corrupt America. Stand with Stop Hillary PAC today to take a stand for America's future and STOP Hillary dead in her tracks" [from www.stophillary2016.org taken last month]

Unpacking this declaration of war -- you see that these are and were ruthless people willing to use any means possible to stop Hillary. And that meant coming at her from left and right, using any means possible;

  • sexist undertones? No problem. They could get women to call her "shrill", "unreliable", "sneaky", "untrustworthy."
  • Husband as an asset? Teach the Younger Generation about White-Water, Monica Lewinsky, and the long list of defamations, allegations and peccadillos the GOP has accumulated on him. And then say; "she's just like him."
  • Clinton Presidency Successful? Blame him for our trade deficit, for offshoring, for the things he supported and the things he fought. Pretend the Green Grinch/DeLay K Street program never occurred or was unsuccessful and that everything that happened in the 90s under Clinton, in the legislature is Clinton's fault. Not Bill Clinton either, Hillary.
  • She was a successful Secretary of State? Not a problem! Blame her for civilian casualties in our efforts to keep peace in the Middle East. Blame her for the Iraq war and blow up her vote on the Authorization to Use Force in 2002 so they can even blame her for GW Bush's fraudulent war. After all she has to either be godlike and omniscient or she's evil. Her excellent work in the hands of these master propagandists became a liability with dual narratives going out. On the right they'd say she was too cautious and thus got folks killed in Benghazi. On the left they spread stories about how warlike she was. A perfect mix.

Define and Redefine the "Enemy"

None of his is new strategy. The GOP became a master at turning assets to liabilities when they "Swift-boated" John Kerry in 2003-2004. So we liberals should have expected this. Hillary's supporters expected this. They created tools for fact checking the attacks. So what did the Stop Hillary movement do? They simply publicized that those were

The Center For Public Integrity reported in June 2015 that they had:

"already unleashed more than $1 million in negative ads, according to a Center for Public Integrity review of federal campaign finance filings." [http://www.publicintegrity.org/2015/06/11/17470/white-house-race-has-already-sparked-1-million-negative-ads]

And they've spent considerably more since then.

Dan Backer said at the time:

"“Getting in early was the only way to go given the enormity of the opposition,” and “That strategic move will ultimately help defeat her,” ... “A lot of groups have recognized the coming storm and are getting themselves and their audiences ready.” [http://www.publicintegrity.org/2015/06/11/17470/white-house-race-has-already-sparked-1-million-negative-ads]

The Progressive Pile On

....and since stopping Hillary means getting Bernie nominated -- they are tactically supporting Bernie, while using dirty tricks to undermine Hillary. I've seen those dirty tricks outlined in books, even boasted about. We've got to stop being so easily fooled folks. They don't hate her because she's too "moderate" or "too conservative" -- but because they are opposed to precisely the things that Bernie is pushing and don't want them to happen.

And unfortunately one of those "audiences" seems to have been progressive Democrats. I've seen articles and notions (memes) that started on these conservative websites get picked up by people I otherwise respect. According to the progressive pile on she's a crypto-Conservative, neo-conservative, war-monger, etc... And the cons are encouraging that too. She hasn't helped her cause with some of her comments, but this pile on is planned, by the Right Wing. Bernie may be taking advantage of it. And it may be that it is his followers who are spreading the lies and misrepresentations. But it can only hurt us.

Note I'm going to ad to this article so check back for changes.

Further Reading:
http://www.fec.gov/law/litigation/StopHillaryPAC.shtml
More on Dan Backer
http://www.publicintegrity.org/news/Dan-Backer
http://www.publicintegrity.org/2015/06/11/17470/white-house-race-has-already-sparked-1-million-negative-ads
America Rising: https://www.americarisingpac.org/

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