Mullings: An American Cyber-column By Rich Galen

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Ben Ginsberg

Rich Galen

Friday August 27, 2004

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From New York City
The Republican National Convention

Ben Ginsberg is a good man and a good friend. He is a decent and honest guy who, on Wednesday morning, resigned as general counsel to President Bush's campaign.

The issue arose on Tuesday when, as part of John Kerry's anti-Swift Boat Veterans offensive - Kerry's offensive anti-Swift Boat Veterans offensive - the New York Times was tipped off that Mr. Ginsberg, in addition to doing legal work for the Bush campaign, was also doing legal work for the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth - a 527 organization.

By the way, the law specifically permits lawyers to provide legal services to both 527 organizations and federal campaigns and national parties.

527s, of which you have heard so much, are named 527s because that is the section of the Internal Revenue code under which they fall. Generally speaking they can accept and spend unlimited amounts of money for all sorts of political purposes so long as they stay completely outside the control of, and do not coordinate their activities with, federal campaigns or major political parties.

New York Times decided that Ben's legitimate legal activity was such an outrage that it deserved front page treatment on Wednesday morning, "Bush Campaign's Top Outside Lawyer Advised Veterans Group"

And then again on Thursday morning, "Lawyer for Bush Quits Over Links to Kerry's Foes."

The New York Times has a very specific sense of what is outrageous and what is not. They did not, for example, consider ANY of the following to be front page material:

The general counsel for the Kerry campaign, Bob Bauer, is also the lawyer for "America Coming Together" which, according to the Times is, "a liberal group that is organizing a huge multimillion-dollar get-out-the-vote drive"
The chairman of the Democratic National Convention in Boston, NM Governor Bill Richardson, is an advisor to a 527 group "The New Democratic Network"
Kerry's former campaign manager, Jim Jordan, is now the spokesman for a 527 called "The Media Fund"
The lawyer for the Democratic National Committee, Joe Sandler, is also the lawyer for the mother of all 527s, "MoveOn.org."

The New York Times doesn't believe these are serious issues for Democrats because they are supporting Kerry, thus they must oppose the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

Editor & Publisher magazine pointed out yesterday that the New York Times had, in its Wednesday article used the phrase "mostly unsubstantiated" to describe the charges against Senator Kerry's recollections about his Vietnam experiences, but went on to note that the Times "went a step further [Thursday] morning on the front page, when reporter Elizabeth Bumiller flatly called the charges "unsubstantiated," without a qualifier, in the first sentence of her story�"

The other day I wrote that there was a reason for the ferocity of the Kerry attacks on the Swifties who oppose him - because they are having an effect.

The LA Times has a new poll which shows that President Bush has moved from a two-point deficit just prior to Kerry's convention to a three point lead moving into his own - a negative bounce for Kerry of five points.

Attacking Ben Ginsberg isn't going to change that tide. Rather, it will further serve to demonstrate the type of man John Kerry is and the type of campaign he is running.

I had the privilege of sitting with Ben Ginsberg as he spoke to reporters from the New York Times and the Associated Press on Tuesday night. Following his letter of resignation, I had the privilege of dining with him on Wednesday night.

Ben Ginsberg is not the first to be a victim of the unfair double standard which has infected a significant portion of the popular press and he will not be the last.

But Ben Ginsberg has been, and continues to be, one of the most honorable, trustworthy, and principled people I have ever known.

I am proud to be permitted to call him my friend.

On the Secret Decoder Ring Page today: A photo of Ben Ginsberg, et. al. at dinner Wednesday night; links to the New York Times, Editor & Publisher, and LA Times pieces; and a really stupid Catchy Caption of the Day.

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