News broke this morning that Joe Ricketts, the billionaire founder of TD Ameritrade, is working on a $10 million plan to tear down the President this fall through a hate-filled, divisive "sneak attack."
The 54-page blueprint, called "The Defeat of Barack Hussein Obama: The Ricketts Plan," is posted at the New York Times site—and it is worth a read to see exactly what we're up against. Arguing that the President's former pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, "has never been properly exploited," they're primed to exploit away—to do "what John McCain wouldn't let us do." Their millions would go toward TV ads, a radio campaign, newspaper ads, and huge aerial banners to be flown over September's Democratic National Convention.
They did get one thing right: The Republican nominee this time, Mitt Romney, is no John McCain. Where McCain denounced similarly despicable smears against Obama, Romney dodged a question on the story this morning with the pitiful excuse that he hadn't "read the papers yet."
What a leader.
If Romney can't summon the courage to stand up to hateful attacks by super PACs, he isn't fit to lead our country. Send a strong message to Romney and his allies that these shameful tactics won't be tolerated by the voters.