Proof against Ralph Reed:

It has been commonly assumed that Ralph Reed was directly behind a whispering campaign against John McCain during the 2000 presidential campaign. But where was the proof? Take, for example, these excerpts from a Josh Marshall report in the American Prospect:

[Weekly Standard publisher Bill] Kristol said he believed the Bush campaign was already trying to curry favor with South Carolina conservatives by getting out the word about McCain's meeting with Log Cabin Republicans.

Whispering campaigns are difficult to track down. But it's easy to see why people are suspicious. Roughly a week after McCain's meeting with the Log Cabin Republicans on November 9, a series of anonymous letters appeared in the mailboxes of 23 South Carolina state representatives who have endorsed McCain and an undetermined number of other Republican activists around the state. The envelopes contained a photocopy of a November 10 Washington Times article describing McCain's meeting with Log Cabin Republicans, with an introduction that read: "Log Cabin Republicans said yesterday that Arizona Sen. John McCain is going after the homosexual Republican vote as no other serious presidential nomination contender has in his party in recent memory." Little typed notes clipped to the article read, "So this is the candidate you're supporting? Hmmmm?"

[...]

So who sent the letters?

[...]

Much of the suspicion has fallen on Ralph Reed, in part because he has a history of doing this sort of thing. Back in 1996 Reed was the one who helped save Bob Dole in Iowa by orchestrating a campaign of so-called "push-polls" attacking rival candidate Steve Forbes for, among other things, tolerating his father's "alternative lifestyle." But when I spoke to Reed, he denied that he, or any-one working for him, had any role in the mailing.

That report was dated 20 January 2000. Since then, we do not recall reading about any hard evidence against Reed.

Until now.

Marshall Whitman (aka The Bull Moose) writes today:

During this controversy, the Moose received a call from the current candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Georgia - righteous Ralph Reed (sorry, no tapes). Since McCain indicated that he would meet with the Log Cabin folks, Reed told the Moose that he would orchestrate a phone call campaign on this topic against the Senator, if necessary.

Well, sure enough, a vicious under the radar slime campaign was launched against McCain in the South Carolina primary.

posted by Quiddity at 2/22/2005 07:45:00 AM