In an Oct. 31 MRC TimesWatch item (and NewsBusters post), Clay Waters referenced “Barack Obama’s sleazy online fundraising, where thanks to purposely lax security measures his site is able to receive untraceable donations from obviously fake names.” Waters offers no evidence to back up his claim that the Obama campaign’s “security measures” for donations are “purposely lax,” beyond citing a Washington Post article claiming that the campaign has “chosen not to use basic security measures to prevent potentially illegal or anonymous contributions from flowing into its accounts.” By calling the campaign’s action “purposely lax,” Waters is mind-reading; he has no basis upon which to ascribe the malicious intent those words suggest.
Waters also fails to mention that Obama is not required under federal law to release the names of donors who give less than $250 to the campaign.