May 17, 2012 NYT: GOP donor wants to resurrect Jeremiah Wright attacks
By Aamer Madhani, USA TODAY
Updated 1h 16m ago
CAPTION
By Carolyn Kaster, AP
A group of Republican strategists working with the wealthy businessman Joe Ricketts are considering resurrecting a line of attack on President Obama that reminds voters of his links to his former pastor the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
The New York Times reports that the plan calls for running commercials linking Obama to incendiary comments by his former spiritual adviser, whose race-related sermons made him a controversial figure in the 2008 campaign. The proposal is overseen by GOP strategist Fred Davis and commissioned by Ricketts, the founder of the brokerage firm TD Ameritrade. Ricketts family also owns the Chicago Cubs.
"The world is about to see Jeremiah Wright and understand his influence on Barack Obama for the first time in a big, attention-arresting way," says the proposal obtained by the Times.
The proposal, which the Times says was obtained by a person not connected to plan but alarmed by its tone, is titled, The Defeat of Barack Hussein Obama: The Ricketts Plan to End His Spending for Good."
The group suggested hiring as a spokesman an "extremely literate conservative African-American" who can argue that Obama misled the nation by presenting himself as a "metrosexual, black Abe Lincoln."
Interestingly, another member of the Ricketts clan, Laura, is a big supporter of Obama. She helped host a big-ticket fundraiser for Obama in February and praised him for his work with the LGBT community.
Here's more from the Times:
The proposal suggests that Mr. Ricketts believes the 2008 campaign of Senator John McCain erred in not using images of Mr. Wright against Mr. Obama, who has said that the pastor helped him find Jesus but that he was never present for Mr. Wright's politically charged sermons. Mr. Obama left the church during the campaign.
Apparently referring to a Wright ad that was produced for the McCain campaign by Mr. Davis's firm but never used, the proposal opens with a quote from Mr. Ricketts: "If the nation had seen that ad, they'd never have elected Barack Obama."
The planning document is emblazoned with the logo of Strategic Perception, the political advertising firm of Mr. Davis, the colorful Republican operative who last worked on the Republican presidential campaign of former Gov. Jon M. Huntsman of Utah. Included on his "Recommended Team of Pirates" are the former Huntsman pollster Whit Ayres and the McCain campaign Internet strategist Becki Donatelli.
The document, which was written by former advisers to Mr. McCain, is critical of his decision in 2008 not to aggressively pursue Mr. Obama's relationship with Mr. Wright. In the opening paragraphs of the proposal, the Republican strategists refer to Mr. McCain as "a crusty old politician who often seemed confused, burdened with a campaign just as confused."
"Our plan is to do exactly what John McCain would not let us do: Show the world how Barack Obama's opinions of America and the world were formed," the proposal says. "And why the influence of that misguided mentor and our president's formative years among left-wing intellectuals has brought our country to its knees."
See photos of: Barack Obama, John McCain
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