From: sug6@amber.uchicago.edu (Patrick Sugent)
Subject: Re: RHETORIC VS. REALITY -- THE FIRST DEBATE
Organization: University of Chicago
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1992 23:03:37 GMT

niepornt@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (David Marc Nieporent) writes:
>>> I didn't read any farther than this first statement.  Of course, one
>>> wonders why I read this far. :-)
>
>>> Citizens for Tax Justice is an arm of the Clinton campaign.  Don't
>>> let its name fool you.  Remember Brown's complaints about the same thing?
>
>Well, his reporting isn't accurate.  At least not in the sense you're
>talking about.  It's not one of those "organizations" that are run by
>campaign staff out of the same office as the campaign with the same
>phone number and just a different PO Box.
>
>CTJ seems to have been very pro-Clinton to start with, and there were some
>people who used to work for CTJ who now work for Clinton, but it IS an
>independent organization.  It's just that the people running it come
>from the same centrist wing of the Democratic party as Clinton, so they
>tend to have the same general ideology as he does.  This makes them
>naturally sympathetic to Clinton, but they aren't an "arm of the Clinton
>campaign."

  Hmm.  I was unaware you had to have the same phone number to be considered
the "arm of XXX campaign".  The fact is that it is made up of the same
wing of the Democratic party as Clinton and has been pushing pro-Clinton
propaganda for some time.  Saying that they "tend to have the same
general ideology as he does" vastly understates the material CTJ 
has been putting forth in favor of Clinton for what can be little other
than political purpose.  Just because they aren't directly on Clinton's
payroll does not mean they are not campaigning for Clinton.  (CTJ is 
about as neutral as Ron Brown and sticks to the facts only
slightly more often than Mr. Brown. :-) )


  Clinton campaign people quote CTJ at length without particularly
noting their lack of neutrality.    I don't find this "shocking", but
I do find it worth mentioning.  I apologize if my quick note implied that they 
worked out of the same office as Clinton.  However, they are part of the
Clinton campaign by any definition I would use.

>[Bush supporters are getting really desperate when they have to start
>quoting Jerry Brown for support.  :)]

  Humorous, but not entirely accurate.  Oh well, this _is_ a political
newsgroup.  I suppose I should expect a few such digs. :-)

  However, I would like to note that when Robert Rector came out
with his report of poverty I was one of the first (the first?) to point out 
that the Heritage Foundation is a "conservative" think tank and I pointed
this out even though the Heritage Foundation isn't in the same
league of espousing pure campaign propaganda as CTJ.  You are
going to have an _awful_ hard time convincing me that CTJ is any more
than pseudo-independent of the Clinton campaign.  I have something of a 
personal dislike for people quoting "neutral sounding" organizations that are 
not even close to such.

 Oh, well, such is politics.


Pat


-- 
Patrick Sugent				E-mail me if you really want  
sug6@amber.uchicago.edu 		a response.  My USENET reading
(708) 447-1771				is haphazard at best.
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