You didn't think we'd just sit around and let Karl Rove's buddies at Freedom's Watch try to attack us and we would just turn the other cheek, did you? Mike Farrell, from Mash fame, and who has contributed on C&L before was kind enough to jump into this with us and he recorded a series of calls designed to combat this gaggle of billionaire Bushies led by Ari Fleischer. Jane Hamsher writes:

Freedom's Watch, the Ari Fleischer outfit that is now being advised by Karl Rove, is running robocalls against vulnerable Democratic freshmen and challengers, trying to pin the high cost of gas on them. As if.

Chris Cilliza of the Washington Post wrote this today:

We don't want Karl Rove to pick off the good progressives who are already running in 2008, so we're putting robocalls into their districts to counter the deceptive ones created by Freedom's Watch," explained Jane Hamsher, the founder of Firedoglake and a member of Blue America.

John Amato, founder of Crooks and Liars, added: "[Freedom's Watch is] blaming Democrats for the outrageous gas prices we now see all across America, ... which is actually the product of almost eight years of Republican control."

It's a good article and Chris closes with this:

National Democrats have long warned that it is Freedom's Watch, not the National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee, that poses the greatest threat to maximizing their gains at the ballot box this fall.

Is Blue America's robo-call campaign the start of something bigger or just a lone voice in the wilderness?

We've started a new page to fund-raise against Freedom's Watch. If you can---please donate here. Blue America vs Freedom's Watch

Digby says:

Outside groups have been actively discouraged from participation in this cycle by the powers-that-be, so there isn't much institutional firepower available to counter Freedom's Watch in these down ticket races, where it could be very troublesome. They are loaded with money and Karl Rove thinks he can use them to deny a President Obama a mandate and a working majority in the congress.

Oh, and by the way, we won't able to help those Democrats who voted for the FISA compromise and big oil and more war. You'd think that Karl Rove would be grateful for their ongoing support but he's going after them too. Sadly for them, our charter doesn't allow us to support Republicans or their enablers. As Jane Hamsher says, "maybe they can call their telecom and Big Oil donors for help."

Howie writes:

But then we noticed that also on the list are solid progressives, Democrats who stand up for progressive ideals and values and stand up for working families over the demands of the special interests these Republican billionaires represent. When we saw the unfair and unwarranted attacks against Tom Allen (D-ME), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Linda Stender (D-NJ), John Adler (D-NJ) and Steve Kagen (D-WI), we knew we should respond and get their backs. They deserve it. So Jane and John went into overdrive and put together an incredible team to write, produce and deliver calls to every person Freedom's Watch has called in these districts.