Fact-esque

Resultron Walks Among Us!

This is cool. The DCCC has set up Resultron! so you can track the congressional races in your district, eliminating the need for television coverage of results. The name couldn't be dumber - well, they could have put a "2004" after it - but it's something I'll be checking a bunch througout the day.

Resultron! lives here.

When Did You Stop Supporting Terrorists and Raping Children?

This is the letter that Fitzpatrick sent to the NRCC after being pressured to repudiate the ads linking Ginny to Hezbollah and suggesting that she supports the child rapists of the Taliban: (emph mine)

The Honorable Tom Reynolds

Chairman

National Republican Campaign Committee

320 First Street, SE

Washington, DC 20003

Dear Chairman Reynolds,

This morning, I was made aware of a television advertisement paid for by the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC).

The ad highlighting my opponent’s association with fringe 3rd party organizations is inconsistent with the positive messaging my campaign is attempting to put forth.

While I have no authorization or coordination with NRCC paid advertising, I strongly urge that messaging by the NRCC remains positive and comparative.

8th District residents are informed voters who prefer to make decisions based on records and issues, not innuendo.

Sincerely,

Mike Fitzpatrick

The Honorable Tom Reynolds must have these letters stashed in a file for their candidates to use. Not only does it not condemn either ad, it doesn't ask them to be stopped. He even goes so far as to encourage the NRCC ads to "remain positive" when they never have been anything but poisonous.

Fitzpatrick is a coward who is eager to benefit from the slime machine that is running his party. There's nothing else to say.

267.880.1250

267.880.1250

267.880.1250

267.880.1250

That's the number to the Fitzpatrick HQ. Call and ask why their candidate supports the ads run by the NRCC that link Ginny to Hezbollah and suggest that she supports child rape. Be sure to ask after every comment they make if they want that on the record. Get the names of everyone who talks to you. Ask if their answers are for attribution. Let them know that you are on a deadline and if the campaign doesn't respond to your questions by XX:XX o'clock then you'll be forced to go live without a comment and with only your impressions of the conversation.

Be sure to post about your encounter to your own blog or to an appropriate comment thread in another.

Be polite.

National Republican Congressional Committee News Media Inquiries, (202) 479-7070

Call and ask the same questions in the same polite way. Be sure they know that all comments are on the record. Post away!

The GOP only runs ads like this because they know they can get away with it. Let's not let them.

Now Ginny Supports Rapists of Children

Let's see, the NRCC has offended Jews by linking Ginny to Hezbollah. I guess they're still going by Baker's Law: "Fuck the Jews. They don't vote for us anyway." Now it looks like they're figuring they can "fuck" women's vote as well as they call Ginny an advocate of child rape.

New NRCC Ad, 10/26/04

Voiceover

Ginny Schrader's inexperience could be dangerous.

Ginny Schrader is endorsed by a far left group which has supported deep cuts for the military.

Schrader has taken thousands of dollars raised through an extreme left wing group which opposed military action in Afghanistan against the Taliban. A group that sanctioned kidnapping and rape of girls.

Today we live in a dangerous world, a world too dangerous to trust the inexperience of Ginny Schrader

Text

"Ginny Schrader"

"Endorsed by: Council for a Livable World."

"Taken thousands of dollars"

"Opposed military action against the Taliban"

"The Taliban sanctioned kidnapping and rape of girls."

"Too dangerous to trust."

"Ginny Schrader."

Visual

Image of Ginny.

Image of Ginny

Moveon.org graphic

Footage of Arab looking men.

Scrolling names of cities where terrorist attacks have taken place.

Image of Ginny

Is the GOP really going to get away with this again? Tell your friends what's happening in Bucks County. It's happening all over the country to Democrats who dare to speak truth to power. It's only a matter of time until it happens in your district.

Let's help Ginny fight back. Give what you can. If you have a blog, call the Fitzpatrick headquarters (267.880.1250) and demand (politely) that Fitzpatrick or his representative goes on the record with you explaining why he won't put a stop to this kind of advertising. When they don't return your call, put up a post about it. If you don't have a blog, call the HQ anyway and ask why their candidate refuses to do the right thing and continues to allow the defaming of a fellow American in his name.

We Could Lose the PA-8th

In the final two weeks of the campaign, the NRCC has decided to throw all their money into mailings that call Ginny a terrorist sympathizer. They are telling voters that she hates America. Fitzpatrick, who is a coward, has chosen not to denounce this reprehensible tactic, thereby proving that he is nothing more than a craven tool of the radical Right, who does not have the interests (best or otherwise) of the PA-8th at heart.

I'm posting about this again because there are signs that the disgusting efforts of the NRCC are swinging votes. Ginny needs to get a mailer out that addresses the scurrious lies that the NRCC and, by tacit agreement, Fitzpatrick is spreading.

I know I've been begging for money for Ginny from Day One. I know we've all given more than we can afford to all our own causes and candidates. There doesn't seem to be a bottom to the bucket from which the GOP slings their slime. And Heaven knows they have no shame. So I'm asking one more time for everyone to send a few bucks Ginny's way so she can answer the baseless and un-American attacks directly.

The GOP has gotten away with this kind of campaigning too many times since 9/11. When they should have been about uniting us around the most devestating attack on US soil ever, they've used it and the deaths of 3,000 innocent people to do nothing but divide us. Ginny is standing up against it. Let's stand up for her.

Taking the Fight to the Hate Mongers

That's the latest mail from the RNCC sent on behalf of anti-choice pol, Mike Fitzpatrick in the PA-8th. Do you love the Nazi colorscheme? And before you say, as I did when it came in the mail, well it's just another stunt from a desperate campaign and forget about it, read what Ginny did today at a debate in Doylestown. From the Schrader campaign:

Doylestown, PA, October 25, 2004--Virginia Waters "Ginny" Schrader,Democratic Candidate for Congress for the Eighth District of Pennsylvania, today publicly condemned a mailer distributed by the National Republican Congressional Committee on behalf of her Republican opponent Michael G. Fitzpatrick.

The mailer represented Schrader as the candidate of the "Hate America Crowd" and attempted to tie her actions to those of the radical terrorist network Hezbollah.

Schrader used her opening statement at a debate this morning sponsored by the Central Bucks County Chamber of Commerce and the League of Women Voters to condemn the mailer and demand her opponent denounce it and apologize to her and her family and the voters of the eighth district.

When Mr. Fitzpatrick failed to apologize, Schrader excused herself from the debate.

"I cannot continue to participate in a debate with an opponent who believes that anyone who does not agree with the policies of the current administration and the Republican leadership in Congress are
America haters," Schrader said. "By saying I'm the 'Hate America crowd's candidate,' Mr. Fitzpatrick is saying that Planned Parenthood, the Sierra Club, and the thousands of Pennsylvanians who support me
hate America."

Believe me, it wasn't easy to walk out of that debate. I've heard buzz already that is questioning the decision. It was, after all a big step and some people hate big steps. But it was the absolute right thing to do. She took the fight to the people who linked her to Hezbollah - and continue to do so. She gave Fitzpatrick a chance to do the courageous thing and let the RNCC take a hit, but he foolishly caved. Just like he'll cave in the face of every decision he will be faced with in Washington. Ginny isn't kidding when she says that he's just a tool of the radical Right. I don't know how they hide the strings now.

But Ginny won't back down - even when they call her a terrorist. And she won't back down in Washington. She's who we need in the House to fight for the middle class, for seniors, for public schools, for the environment, for women's rights, for the PA-8th, for a unified America, for democracy and against the forces of Tom Delay and the agents of hate in this country.

Tell your friends what kind of campaign the RNCC is running in Bucks County - it's got the tacit endorsement of every Republican from the lowly, cowardly Fitzpatrick all the way up to BushCo.

UPDATE: And can the clods at the RNCC get a copy of a fifth-grade grammar book? "The Hate America Crowd Has Found Their Candidate"? The crowd has found its candidate or, if you're feeling British: the crowd have found their candidate. I'm never going to win a grammar rodeo, but I know that much.

Ginny Ads Accurate, Fitzpatrick's Not So Much

The Philadelphia Inquirer has a feature called Ad Watch. Today they look at Fitzpatrick's attack ad that tries to label Ginny as "tax-happy":

Accuracy: The ad is partially misleading. Schrader has said she wants to roll back tax cuts only for the top 2 percent of taxpayers. True, Schrader is not in favor of permanently repealing the estate tax known as the "death tax." She said she would propose a repeal for people inheriting $3 million and less, which she says would exempt 99 percent of farmers and small business owners.

Analysis: Fitzpatrick, who wants to make the Bush tax cuts permanent, has painted Schrader as a tax-happy Democrat. He is also responding to a Schrader ad that accurately says he hiked Bucks County residents' tax bills five times during his tenure as county commissioner.

It's good to see Fitzpatrick get called on this. The paper doesn't mention it but the DCCC ad for Ginny that they refer to also points out his anti-choice position. It's a good ad.

Ginny News

I just found out that the Penn State Educators' Association is endorsing Ginny with the most money they are allowed to give to a campaign: $5000. In addition to the money, their endorsement means boots on the ground and people on the phone and this is one dedicated, informed and energized union. They know what the future of public education will be under a BushCo presidency and they don't like it.

More good news: Washington came through with $500,000 for an ad buy this week in the Philly market. It's for network spots and they're already running. They question Fitzpatrick on his record of raising local taxes and his anti-choice stance.

It's a big week for the Schrader campaign. If you live locally, please come out to canvass on the weekends. Call 1.888.GINNY04 to volunteer. The money is great and she'll need lots more before November 2 but knocking on doors and getting people out to vote is what's going to turn the seat blue.

My Local Paper Hates Ginny

Both candidates in the House race for the PA-8th were forced to endure an inquisition by the editorial board of my local paper, the Bucks County Courier Times. Fitzpatrick's appeared on the last day of September. He talked about why he was taking PAC money when Saint Jim (Big Pharma Jim Greenwood) did not. He also discussed his support for limiting medmal payouts to lower healthcare costs; a robustly funded missile defense system; how to win in Iraq (keep on keepin' on); his feeling that a draft will not be necessary and the limits he sets for Social Security reform. The column ended with him evading the issue of Choice.

This is how the paper reports Ginny's interview with the editorial board: (emph mine)

National - not local - issues are the most important to Democratic congressional candidate Ginny Schrader, who talked about her absence from the polls and lack of political experience Thursday before the Courier Times editorial board.

She was asked to account for why she hadn't gained experience at the local level before running for the 8th District congressional seat.

"The important issues to me are national," she said, listing health care, jobs and abortion as her top three issues.

Schrader didn't offer many specifics about what she would do for Bucks County. She mentioned transportation projects she supports, including restarting a rail line to Quakertown and the I-95/turnpike interchange project, which has already been approved by the federal government. She also talked about bringing a veterans cemetery to the Dolington site in Upper Makefield.

Fitzpatrick was never asked to account for his views. He was allowed to explain them. And as for Ginny listing "abortion" as a top issue, I have a confirmation from her campaign manager, who was present at the interview, that she referred to the issue as "choice," which is a big difference.

Further, if you read both stories, you'll see that despite her alleged disregard for local issues, Ginny offers more discussion of them than Fitzpatrick does. The fact is that it's the editorial board that doesn't care to report about local issues, which is obvious from both stories. They'd rather talk to Ginny about why she didn't vote in some off-year elections than about how her environmental policy differs from Fitzpatrick's and how that will impact Bucks County. They'd rather print what Fitzpatrick said about missile defense than find out where he stands on expansion of public transportation to the suburbs. The problem is, they blame Ginny for their own glaring failure, while giving Fitzpatrick a pass.

As always, you can donate to Ginny's campaign here.

The Environment Issue in the PA-8th

With the Sierra Club endorsement going to Ginny, the Fitzpatrick campaign is finally being forced to deal with the fact that just because their guy has a good open-space record as County Commissioner, that's no indication of what he'll do in the House.

Matt Bullock, Pennsylvania political chairman for the Sierra Club, said the organization endorses candidates it believes will support "good environmental policies" at the federal level where significant legislation can have lasting effects on the environment, including air and water quality.

"I don't see where his open-space record really matters that much," Bullock said. "He will no longer be voting on that if he's elected as a congressman in the Eighth District. That is primarily a county and state effort."

The fact is that Ginny filled out the Sierra Club questionnaire and scored so high that they saw fit to endorse her in the race. Fitzpatrick refused to complete the form. On the environment, which is a sleeper issue around here, Ginny is, as she is with so many issues, the clear choice.

Environmental concerns aren't only local. Ginny supports increased funding for the clean up of Superfund sites and considers improved energy efficiency a priorty. Remember that no matter what the GOP candidate personally believes, he will be a tool for DeLay and the White House. Their record speaks for itself.

Give to Ginny's campaign here.