woops

[sisyphusshrugged]

it's not inside baseball any more

Kerry escalated the battle over the Swift Boat ads on Thursday by charging that the group was "a front for the Bush campaign" funded by hundreds of thousands of dollars from a Republican contributor in Texas, Bush's home state.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan described the Republican donor, Bob Perry, as "a supporter" of the president, and acknowledged Perry's personal ties with Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove.

"But that still shouldn't be used to draw any connection there because we have not been involved in this ad whatsoever," McClellan told reporters near Bush's Crawford, Texas ranch.

McClellan said Kerry was "angry" about the advertising campaign, adding: "His losing his cool shouldn't be an excuse to falsely attack the president."

Bush campaign chairman Marc Racicot said in an interview on CNN that Kerry looked "wild-eyed" talking about it.

Kerry campaign spokesman David Wade responded tersely: "Maybe if George Bush had seen combat up close, his hired gun mouthpiece wouldn't be so flip about the dishonest and dishonorable attack funded by the President's Texas pals."

Kerry aides compared Bush's new line of attack against Kerry to the campaign mounted by Bush's allies in the 2000 Republican primary race to portray Sen. John McCain as too "unstable" and temperamental to be president.

The White House has declined to specifically condemn the Swift Boat commercials, and the group announced on Friday that it would launch a new round of television ads next week with spots in three states where Kerry has touted his military service.

The White House, instead, has challenged Kerry to join Bush in calling for an end to all ads funded by unrestricted donations, including those questioning Bush's service in the National Guard.

Kerry has condemned one of those ads, but McClellan says his campaign has actively fueled some of the attacks.

Over the last 12 months, groups favoring the Democrats have spent $63.5 million on ads attacking Bush, according to the Bush campaign, which filed its own FEC complaint earlier this year alleging "coordination" between Kerry and the left-leaning groups.

Perry has contributed $200,000 to Swift Boat Veterans, according to an analysis by Texans for Public Justice, a nonpartisan research organization that tracks money in Texas politics.

Records show Perry is also a long-time Bush supporter. He contributed $46,000 to Bush's 1994 and 1998 campaigns for Texas governor, and has contributed the maximum allowable $2,000 to Bush's current reelection.

Perry also worked with Rove as early as 1986 when Perry served as campaign treasurer for Republican gubernatorial candidate William Clements and Rove served as a campaign consultant and fundraiser, Texans for Public Justice said.

Perry was the largest single contributor to the Texas Republican Party during the 2002 election cycle, giving $905,000.

Good for them. If this thing is getting traction, let's splash the real story all over the Sunday news shows and newspapers.

With any luck, McCain will be making the rounds to reluctantly answer a few questions about what happened four years ago in SC.