GOP donor: I don't support ad campaign tying Obama to Jeremiah Wright

Online brokerage TD Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts speaks Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2012, during a ceremonial unveiling of his portrait which will hang in company headquarters in Omaha, Neb.

/ AP Photo/Nati Harnik

Updated: 3:16 p.m. ET

(CBS News) Conservative donor Joe Ricketts has rejected a proposed ad campaign that would have hit President Obama for his ties to the controversial Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Brian Baker, who alongside Ricketts heads the outside group Ending Spending Action Fund, said the proposal was "only a suggestion" and "never a plan to be accepted."

The planned attack brought forward by an outside vendor "reflects an approach to politics that Mr. Ricketts rejects," Baker said in a prepared statement.

The New York Times published a report Thursday detailing a proposal by a group of Republican strategists to launch a $10 million attack on Mr. Obama that would have emphasized the president's former relationship with the controversial preacher.

The Times story details the 54-page-proposal, in which former advisers to Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., allegedly criticize the former GOP nominee for his decision during the 2008 campaign not to go after Mr. Obama for his ties to Wright.

"Our plan is to do exactly what John McCain would not let us do: Show the world how Barack Obama's opinions of America and the world were formed," the proposal says, according to the Times. "And why the influence of that misguided mentor and our president's formative years among left-wing intellectuals has brought our country to its knees."

The report also reportedly blasted McCain as "a crusty old politician who often seemed confused, burdened with a campaign just as confused."

Ricketts, the owner of the Chicago Cubs and founder of TD Ameritrade, is listed as one of three leadership members of the Ending Spending Action Fund on the group's website.

Recently, he contributed more than $200,000 toward supporting Deb Fischer in Nebraska's Republican Senate primary. Fischer on Tuesday pulled off an upset victory over two more prominent Republican candidates.

Fred Davis, who oversaw the proposal, told CBS News: "There IS no campaign."

"The document referred to in today's New York Times story was one proposal prepared and submitted by Strategic Perception Inc," Davis said. "The Ricketts family never approved it, and nothing has happened on it since the presentation. The vendors listed were as proposed, and had nothing to do with this proposal."

Responding to the Times story Thursday morning, the Obama campaign blasted what they cast as the "appalling lengths to which Republican operatives and SuperPacs apparently are willing to go to tear down the President and elect Mitt Romney."

"The blueprint for a hate-filled, divisive campaign of character assassination speaks for itself," Obama for America Campaign Manager Jim Messina said in a statement. "It also reflects how far the party has drifted in four short years since John McCain rejected these very tactics. Once again, Governor Romney has fallen short of the standard that John McCain set, reacting tepidly in a moment that required moral leadership in standing up to the very extreme wing of his own party."

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, after initially telling reporters that he had not yet read the story, later repudiated the proposal. 

"I want to make it very clear: I repudiate that effort, I think it's the wrong course for a PAC or a campaign. I hope that our campaigns can respectively be about the future and about issues and about a vision for America," Romney said, before pivoting to criticisms of Mr. Obama's campaign.

Mr. Obama has credited Wright with drawing him to Christianity, but began to distance himself from the controversial reverend before running for president. Wright, who is known for preaching what the New York Times described in 2007 as "Afrocentric theology," has been criticized for allegations of white racism and for controversial statements about 9/11 and the American government.

McCain on Thursday defended his decision not to play up Obama's ties to Wright in 2008.

"I'm proud of our campaign, I believe we did the right thing and I would do it over again, today," McCain said. "And, I noticed that the Romney campaign has repudiated that as well. So, it seems to me the issue's closed."

At a press conference, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi was more lighthearted with her response, using reporters' questions about the Times article to take a swipe at the Chicago Cubs.

"What was interesting to me was that this is all going to be funded by the owner of the Chicago Cubs. Well I hope they're as successful with this campaign as the cubs are on the baseball field," she quipped, to laughter. "They ain't got no chance of going to any World Series."

[sandy 1027]

If Romney's supporters go down this road, it will backfire.Mitt Romney has been a Mormon all of his life, and there are aspects of Mormonism that are not only out of the realm of mainstream Christianity, but most Americans would find them disturbing-such as the fact that African-Americans were considered inferior upon as inferior, and by divine designation, they had been given a lower station in life; baptism for the dead,polygamy; the belief that Christ went to South America, etc.There are facets of Mormonism about the origins of man that delve into Mysticism; and many of the laity aren't acquainted with some of the depths of the religion that the hierarchy is involved in.The question could be asked"How did Mitt Romney sit in this church for all of those years"?He was even a missionary .Should we make the assumption that Romney espouses all of these views, personally ?That's why none of this, nor the president's time at Rev. Wright's church ,have any place in this campaign.There is no religious test for the presidency, according to The Constitution; and in the case of President Obama, he has been in office for over 3 years.His policies have been pretty straightforward and mainstream, He has apprehended and /or killed bin Ladin and other terrorists.

[JV1970]

John McCain made a big mistake by not allowing ads like this and it cost him the election. He simply didn't have the guts to go after Obama. I hope the Republicans don't make that mistake again!

[ugacrew]

One wonders how the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Howard Stern, and other hatemongers became so rich being that so many seem to find the Reverend Wright so offensive? Double standards?

[nygurl1]

yep!

[lasvegasteacher]

Now that we know a despicable racist owns the Cubs, why would anyone want to attend its games?

[nygurl1]

Fans tend to ignore the bosses. But some will quit going.

[conlibe]

That is a very "elaborate' suggestion.

So these Republican strategists put in all this time and effort into something they KNEW they were never going to use? That's why they are STRATEGISTS - and I'm not!

And why the "Hussein" Obama? Guess you wanted to be nice and all-inclusive; remind us of the President's Anglo roots!

All is not lost! People who use TD Ameritrade now know WHAT you're doing with those profits...
conlibe.wordpress.com

[WiseAsOwl]

The issue here is "What about Obama's relationship with all these kooks?? AND, why isn't it worthy of being mentioned in campaigns??? I'm confused.. NOBODY is going to slow down one iota in criticizing Romney's religion... regardless of their ignorance about it. I think Joe Ricketts should shove his money wherever it fits best..

[nygurl1]

Do you know that owls are not wise?
And if it's germane I'm sure his 'relationships' will be mentioned and distorted as they distort everything else.

[mnollette]

It won't really matter. Thinking people remember the racist link to this so-called preacher and Nobama's endearment to him. The cause and effect has already been done without the payment.

[dj_chi]

The little I know of Wright includes him being angry at America for secretly testing toxic chemicals on unknowing black Americans. And for treating black soldiers worse than the German prisoners they had to guard. I can't really blame him for being pissed about either of them. America didn't live up to the hype when it came to those things.

[petesis]

This guy is the owner of the Cubs. I am sure he will find some way to waste his money.

[tafhdyd]

Conservative donor Joe Ricketts has rejected a proposed ad campaign that would have hit President Obama for his ties to the controversial Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Translation #1, I have a lot of skeletons in the closet.

Translation #2, I am voting for Obama even though I hang out with my right wing buddies.

[hypnotoad72]

Not necessarily.

[nygurl1]

Nah. He'll just wait for the last minute.

[robert1129]

As a Democrat, it pains me to do this but I have to commend Ricketts, Romney and McCain. Certain weird right wing groups wanted to bring these fellows into the mud with these stupid ads, and these fellows had the sense to denounce the effort. Good for them.

[hypnotoad72]

I'm issues-based. I need more convincing to toe the line.

You'll probably never see me voting for Romney, much less McCain given the articles I've put up in the past, but on this specific issue they are right.