Friday, August 08, 2008

Sophisticated Counter-Attacks

This is interesting: rather than get caught in a back-and-forth with Swift Boaters, lefty activists are planning to hit them where it will hurt--in the donors. Tom Mazzie is heading the effort, and his first strike will be letter mailed out to ten thousand conservative donors:

The warning letter is intended as a first step, alerting donors who might be considering giving to right-wing groups to a variety of potential dangers, including legal trouble, public exposure and watchdog groups digging through their lives.

The biggest obstacles are the laws that protect the identify of donors to bottom-feeding smear groups, though:
Indeed, anonymity is a potential obstacle to the group’s efforts. Outside political groups organized as 501(c)4 entities, including Accountable America, do not have to disclose the names of their donors.
It may not work, but it's interesting to note that the donors clearly don't want to be known. If Mazzie can figure out how to expose them, it would be a powerful disincentive.

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