Thread: Billboard Owner Bars Ad Targeting McCain(pro-amnesty ad)

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... ard21.html


Billboard owner bars ad targeting McCain

Jon Kamman
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 21, 2005 12:00 AM

A national organization that campaigns against illegal immigration wants to post a billboard in Phoenix to object to Sen. John McCain's stance, but the owner of the board has rejected the message as "bashing" the Arizona Republican.

The ad, sponsored by ProjectUSA, would say: "Sen. John McCain supports amnesty for illegal aliens." Whether those words are factual depends on the viewer's point of view.

"Obviously, it's not true," McCain's communications director, Eileen McMenamin, said Wednesday. "Senator McCain does not support amnesty." advertisement

"Oh yes he does," ProjectUSA Director Craig Nelsen insisted, pointing to five bills the senator has sponsored or supported in recent years that provide opportunities, however limited, for undocumented workers to qualify for permanent legal residency and eventual citizenship.

The most recent example was McCain's support for the so-called AgJobs bill, which died Tuesday in the Senate. The bill would have made an estimated 500,000 undocumented agricultural workers eligible for legal standing.

ProjectUSA, a not-for-profit organization, has been an uncompromising opponent of illegal immigration since 1999. Its placement of billboards across the country, some targeting members of Congress and many proclaiming the negative effects of such immigration, have been denounced as racist and unfair.

Nelsen said the group sticks to the facts and brings its messages to the public "to raise the issue, get it out in the open, get people to talk about it."

The group defines amnesty as "any policy that would release a class of illegal aliens from whatever the penalty is for violating U.S. immigration laws." In contrast, recent immigration-reform bills and their supporters generally refer to such forgiveness as "earned legalization," "earned adjustment" or "rehabilitation to legal status."

Nelsen said his group would pay to submit the definitional question to a certified board of mediators if McCain would agree to abide by the result.

But before the offer was even made, McMenamin said, "We're not going to get into semantics."

The ad was aimed for a billboard at Central Avenue and Indian School Road owned by the global communications and entertainment company Viacom.

Nelsen said a salesman for Viacom Outdoor in Phoenix told him that company higher-ups rejected the text because it was "bashing" McCain.

Marty Schwarzkopf, general manager, said ProjectUSA's wording did not meet Viacom's guidelines on political advertising. Those say the company can reject text that "personally attacks an individual; is obviously false, misleading or deceptive; relates to an illegal activity; and offends local standards of decency and good taste."

Nelsen suggested that political contributions to McCain's 2004 re-election campaign had something to do with the rejection. Viacom's political action committee, company executives and their family members gave McCain's fund nearly $68,000, the fourth-largest amount from a single interest, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Asked which specific guideline was unmet by the McCain ad and whether campaign support influenced the rejection, Schwarzkopf referred questions to an executive in New York who did not return a phone call.

Schwarzkopf said Viacom would be glad to work with the advertiser to find acceptable wording. Nelsen said the language can't be changed, in part because it was the text shown supporters who "voted" to target McCain by making $25 donations over the Internet.

Nelsen said Viacom's rejection was an abridgement of free speech. He said it likely was illegal, but the director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Arizona disagreed.

Except in rare circumstances, a private company has no obligation under the First Amendment to publish materials it finds objectionable, Eleanor Eisenberg said.

That's a load of crap. McCain's constituents have every right to know the truth and McCain and his cronies are doing everything to cover this up. If McCain doesn't want his constituents to know the truth about him then maybe he should resign from office.

'Bashing' McCain? nawww..I prefer the wording 'Revealing McCain'...that would get it...

RR

the so-called AgJobs bill, which died Tuesday in the Senate. The bill would have made an estimated 500,000 undocumented agricultural workers eligible for legal standing

It did NOT die.......it will come back wrapped in a different cloak so as to decieve people. And, it will come back when we least expect it.

Ist Amendment is only for a select group of people, so it seems.

We need to go after Congress on this. We have been discriminated against because of our political view.

I don't know how to get to those damned bills. I don't know where they are, or how to find them.

We need to come up with an e=mail or fax to Congress as a whole and start presenting our position. Talking to our individual senators is also fine, but they have begun to send me a sincere, sticky sweet letter telling me they are doing everything they can to make sure the American Public is protected... and two days later.. they pass another bill allowing more illegals to escape.

Suddenly I understand what I am saying..... The TOTAL VOICE of the United States, (70 to 80% of the people support cession of immigration) is being lost in individual faxes that cannot be used by anti-open borders representatives.

We elected our representatives. Did we know they were open border candidates? No. Nobody talked about it, and it is reasonable to assume the candidate would honor their oath of office and enforce the laws on the books.

We need to go after the whole congress and with that effort, provide material for closed border representatives. And we need to do that soon!

In the mean time... a post card... Please honor your oath of office and enforce the laws on immigration! If you cannot honor your oath of office, or change the law, please justify your refusal to represent the people of the United States.
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And if they are going to do those things that deal with ALL of the United States... they need to be held accountable to ALL of the United States.

I agree that it did not die. Prez Jorge has already stated that he expects his guest worker program initiative to be passed this fall.

Disquieting thought, huh?

RR

Originally Posted by RoadRunner

I agree that it did not die. Prez Jorge has already stated that he expects his guest worker program initiative to be passed this fall.

Disquieting thought, huh?

RR

I don't know how he thinks that when most of his own party in the House of Reps has said no chance in hell. Hopefully they won't cave in.