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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels September 2, 2004 Our View The 527 fight won't be stopped now Karl Rove used the immense platform of the Republican National Convention to call for a complete end to independent campaign ads. He went so far as to say the Bush-Cheney campaign is asking a federal court to force an end to outside political ads - known since the Swift Boat Veterans for Cheap Shots ad blitz as "527s." Rove stood in the middle of New York, during the GOP convention, easily the biggest spotlight this group will get for the rest of the campaign and said the cheap shots have to end. Of course he did. If you throw the first punch in a fight, a sucker punch no less, and it doesn't completely lay waste to the opponent, it makes all the sense in the world to run like hell behind the safety of a court order. Messrs. Bush and Cheney have been running from fair fights all the way back to their college days, so why shouldn't they run from this one? Here's what a court order would likely stop in the coming months: - Independent ads from Democratic supporters that bring to the public attention the driving records, not to mention the multiple DUIIs, of both Bush and Cheney. The fact that Cheney still drinks would seem like a likely point of interest in future 527s. - Probing looks into the backgrounds of the two men who are leading conservatives in the search for values. If a Vietnam vet can be challenged on his war service, then certainly Bush and Cheney's personal lives could be fodder for, shall we say, Clintonesque behavior in the past? - Something completely unknown (and likely most untrue) could surface. Since truth is no longer even part of the equation, it's probably not unrealistic for the independent Democratic groups to cut some new scandals with only the smallest shreds of "facts." So it's not at all surprising, in a press release issued Wednesday by the Oregon for Kerry campaign, the new target is Rove himself. In it former Senators Max Cleland and Bob Kerrey call for Rove's resignation. The press release further claims that Rove ducked the draft and may have been unethical in early campaigns. Oh yeah, the press release points out, Dick Cheney was a draft dodger too. So roll up the sleeves and get ready. This isn't gentlemen politics, but a backyard, bare-knuckle brawl. The attack on Kerry showed only one real thing we can all hang our hat on: Kerry took a hit in the polls. As ridiculous as it seems, a significant number of voters altered their opinion of Kerry's worthiness to lead this country because of mostly inaccurate allegations. Karl Rove is smart enough to know that the Democrats will retaliate in kind. And he's certainly smart enough to try to hide behind the federal courts. The courts are, after all, the place where his boss won the last election. DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams