FactCheck.Org: Defense of Democracies Spreading "Fear and False Claims"

FactCheck.org has an extensive analysis of the "Defense of Democracies" ad that has been running on Connecticut television stations this week.

The group behind the ad, Defense of Democracies, was set up just last week. It was spun off from a nonprofit called Foundation for Defense of Democracies, which was formed after 9/11 and is headed by Clifford May, a former spokesman for the Republican National Committee. The three listed members of the foundation's board of directors are Steve Forbes, editor-in-chief of the business magazine Forbes and a Republican candidate for president in 1996 and 2000; Jack Kemp, candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 1988 and GOP nominee Bob Dole's running mate in 1996; and Jeane Kirkpatrick, best known as Ronald Reagan's ambassador to the United Nations. Kirkpatrick died in 2006, however. A few Democrats were sprinkled in among the parent group's advisers (as well as Democrat-turned-Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman), but several of the most prominent, including Sen. Charles Schumer of New York and Donna Brazile, the former campaign manager for Al Gore's presidential bid, have resigned because of this ad. Brazile issued a statement calling the ad campaign "misleading and reckless" and saying it would "have the effect of emboldening terrorists."

Organized under section 501(c)(4) of the tax code, the new group is not required to publicly disclose its donors, and it has no plans to do so, according to a spokesman. (Brazile’s statement claimed that "due to the influence of their funders" the parent group has "morphed into a radical right wing organization.") The group also declined to provide a list of lawmakers being targeted by the ad, but we’ve learned that they include Democratic Reps. Kirsten Gillibrand and Michael Arcuri of New York, Tim Mahoney of Florida, Joe Courtney and Chris Murphy of Connecticut, Nancy Boyda of Kansas, and Tim Walz of Minnesota, all of them first-term lawmakers who may be vulnerable in their reelection bids.

You can read more at FactCheck.org's website.