I haven't gotten mine yet, but someone was kind enough to send me a scan of a GOP mailer that is going to houses around here claiming that Democrats want to “surrender” to terrorism. This particular copy was sent right to the heart of FL-18, Annette Taddeo's district.
The content of this thing is pretty ugly. Here's a shot of the worst page. You can click on it for a larger .pdf version of that page.
This is accompanied by a smiling photo of Governor Charlie Crist, along with a message warning that terrorists want to kill us, and that we should vote for Republicans to “help keep America safe.” (You can download a .pdf of the entire mailer, if you want.)
Got that? The State GOP, which paid for this thing, and the formerly post-partisan Governor, are saying that Democrats want to surrender to terrorists. Talk about low-class smear jobs…
Does anyone actually think that Democrats want to surrender to terrorism? Most Democrats want to make an orderly exit from Iraq. So, the polls tell us, does most of the country. (And, for what it's worth, during the second Presidential debate it was Obama who took the more bellicose approach towards chasing down bin Laden, not McCain.)
It used to be that we only saw stuff like this in the last week before election day. But the GOP wants absentee ballots, and early voting starts soon, so here we go.
“Does anyone actually think that Democrats want to surrender to terrorism?”
Michael, this is a common theme on many of the right wing blogs that are out there. They actually believe this and present it as a viable argument to vote Republican. I’m not surprised the GOP would use this tactic, but I am surprised that Crist is apparently openly endorsing it.
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I wonder what it would actually mean to “surrender to terrorism?”
Would that mean withdrawing from our stupid search fro WMD’s in Iraq, or just would it just mean becoming terrified?
They’re desperate. That is all.
Surrendering to terrorism = leaving Vietnam. It’s all one long conflict of holy US vs. evil THEM to the armchair generals who have guided the GOP since WWII. GOP campaign honchos don’t yet realize that it’s stopped working on voters (except the ones they already have), just like “lower taxes” has stopped working. Some few GOP candidates with their ears to the ground have started pulling down their more rabid negative ads, but they’re stuck with this kind of tone-deaf “support” by state parties, 527s, the RSCC, RCCC and RNC.
Campaign finance laws have enforced “non-coordination,” so moderate GOoPers are stuck with this kind of “help,” much of it unstoppably in the pipeline: printed, paid for, at the shipping dock, or already in the post office with a “mail by” date.
I’m cheered by the knowledge that, even if the election is stolen from Obama, it looks to be impossible for state GOP operatives to steal enough votes to take the Senate. The House is locked up, in part because of clueless campaigning by acolytes of Karl Rove in the war rooms of state and national party offices. May they all have long careers continuing to run the same losing campaign over and over.
This is despicable.
http://www.rpof.org/contact.php
The above link will take you to the contact page for the Republican Party of Florida if you want to leave a comment for them. I did.
All of this “terror” talk is getting to be ridiculous. And the conspiracy theorist talk that Obama Biden really means Obama “BIn laDEN” is just plain silly. I also think it’s awful what is happening to Bill Ayers, and I encourage any educators and others to sign the petition to support Bill Ayers at supportbillayers.org!
My boss was just telling me about the specific tactics they use to disenfranchise voters at the polling venues and I could barely listen. The low-down, sneak, evil things they do to trick people out of voting should be national news. I had never even heard of half of the tactics they use, like telling people they might get arrested for unpaid tickets if they go into the polling places.
The problem with this kind of rhetoric is a failure to define some key terms. “Victory” “Defeat” “Surrender”.
What constitutes surrender in the “war on terror/Iraq war?” If you ask me, we have already “surrendered” in the first, and we have already been “defeated” in the second.
Pre-9-11, DOMESTIC anti-Bill-of-Rights forces had a “wish list” of so-called reforms. However, simply rolling back the Constitution without an excuse would have been unacceptable. They pushed it as far as they could in the “war on drugs,” but that excuse reached its limit.
Then the attacks of 9-11. The “war” began.
Then the shrill cries of the select few for whom the Bill of Rights is an inconvenience were temporarily amplified by the cries of fear. The Republicans and most Democrats alike crammed the PATRIOT act down our throats. We dropped below places like Nicaragua, Ghana, Namibia, and Estonia on the Reporters Without Borders press freedom index (source. In short, we “surrendered.” Seven years after 9-11, those who attacked us continue to live as they wish and according to their core beliefs. Our beliefs are nothing more than a scrap of paper that now holds stains from the ass of those like Bush, Scalia, Thomas, Yoo, Cheney, and Goodling.
The Iraq war? While it is not the root cause of the collapse of our economy, one can’t say that all that money spent there wouldn’t be better spent here at home. We were drawn into two land wars in Asia, both of which have driven up the price of energy and have left us in bankruptcy. Sadaam Hussein is out of power, and dead, so King George got to avenge his personal demons. But, now we are an inept occupying power being dragged to collapse by a war of attrition that they can afford to wage forever. And this is years after we declared “mission accomplished.” Either we won that day (and should have left) or we are now defeated, but just delaying the announcement.
Gov Chris, you have hit rock bottom with the terrorist lies ,I know your family was not held hostage so all that trash you threw at us you believed was true,come on Gov you cant believe that we can believe the bullshit that McCain makes or forces you to say ,so far you have been a great Gov I know you are laying low, stay there and the world will forget you,however your still my Gov and you are doing a great job here,keep it up ,your the best Gov weve had in 50 yrs,Thank You BART A Riley
It is amazing the ridiculous positions that the GOP has come up with. They think the American people are stupid and gullible. Thank goodness that the American people spoke loudly in 2012 and said we are not. President has taken the fight to these terrorist hard and often and that is not going to change.
Why? wont the republicans now just say what cuts they want. They had a whole campaign cycle to define this. I can’t believe from a negotiating position it is a hidden agenda.