Ok, maybe it wasn't entirely STUPID as they probably generated some needed cash for Lois Murphy, but it still boils my blood to see how much of that cash will fall on ears turned deaf by the 100% predictable GOP attack.
Text of the e-mail and details of my rant after the flip, but more importantly, I'd like you to help me put together the best possible response from the Murphy campaign now that Move-On got outflanked yet again.
[UPDATED - 13:55 EDT] Ok, I asked for it, I wanted people to notice the diary, so I put the "stick it to MoveOn" part up front, but what I REALLY want is the collective wisdom of the DKos community on how best to respond! I want to be able to send along a juicy list of options to the campaign, so who can help me, and more importantly, Lois out?
Here's the e-mail:
Dear MoveOn member in Pennsylvania,
Thanks to your hard work, Rep. Jim Gerlach is running scared. Recent polls show him trailing Democratic challenger Lois Murphy1, and national Republicans are panicking desperately launching a negative attack on Murphy.
Their attack ad includes lies about MoveOn precisely what you'd expect from the Bush Republicans who lie about everything else. But if the Republican Party expects their false attacks to go unanswered, they missed the memo: MoveOn doesn't roll over, we fight back.
Please help us teach the Republican attack machine a lesson by doing two things today:
1) Send a message that when national Republicans attack our friends, we fight back please contribute what you can to Murphy's campaign at:
http://www.moveon.org/...
2) Check out the fact sheet below that debunks the national Republican attacks, and forward this email to your friends and neighbors who vote in Pennsylvania's 6th District to expose these outrageous lies.
Thanks for all you do as we fight back against the Republican attack machine,
-Eli, Jennifer, Tom, and the MoveOn.org Political Action Team
Thursday, September 28th, 2006
P.S. Here are the facts:
MURPHY OPPOSED BODY ARMOR? THAT'S A LIE.
The negative ad lies about Murphy. It says she "opposed a bill that included body armor for our troops" but Murphy wasn't even in office to oppose the bill. Plus, the bill in question was actually a giveaway to big oil, allowing drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.2
NATIONAL REPUBLICAN ADS ARE FUNDED BY WHO? BIG OIL, LOBBYISTS, BIG PHARMA
Oil and gas companies gave $778,044 to National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) this cycle.
Lobbyists gave $698,531 to NRCC this cycle.
Big drug companies gave $815,861 to NRCC this cycle.3
WHY ARE REPUBLICANS TARGETING MOVEON? THEY FEEL THREATENED BY 3 MILLION AMERICANS FOR CHANGE
We're people-powered. MoveOn is 3.2 million everyday Americans coming together to change our country. We are member-funded, with an average contribution of under $50.
We're effective. In races across the country, MoveOn members have made safe Republican seats competitive.4
We're the mainstream. We work on issues like protecting Social Security, clean energy, opposing the war in Iraq, and covering everyone with health care. On issue after issue, MoveOn represents the majority of Americans and the Republicans are out of the mainstream.5
REPUBLICAN ATTACKS ON MOVEON? BLATANT LIES
MoveOn never opposed post-9/11 military action. NRCC ad says MoveOn "opposed military action after 9/11." Totally false. MoveOn never opposed military action in Afghanistan. We urge a multi-pronged approach to fighting terrorism, with military action as part of the mix.6
MoveOn did not oppose funding our troops. NRCC ad says MoveOn "opposed giving troops funding they need in Iraq." That's absurd everyone supports the troops. MoveOn supported a proposal to both fund our troops and give them an exit strategy from the disaster in Iraq, and Republicans opposed that. MoveOn and the majority of Americans oppose the Bush Administration's failed Iraq policy.7
OK, so the GOP is running ads attacking Lois and MoveOn, that left-wing, terrorist-loving, unpatriotic group of nutcases. Gee whiz, that's a surprise - not.
Some 3 or 4 months ago I sent the principles at MoveOn (and Tom Hughes at DFA) an e-mail suggesting they produce a short series of ads akin to the old Coke "We Are The World" ads, basically branding MoveOn as exactly what they said in the e-mail above, a collection of every-day hard-working Americans. The purpose of the branding being to inoculate MoveOn and, more importantly, the candidates they support from the GOP attack ads they will, with 100% certainty, run in the fall.
So what did MoveOn do? Nothing, zippo, nada, and here we are with this whining piece of shit e-mail - well, except for the contribute to Lois so she can respond to the 100% certain to have been coming GOP smear campaign. Except now, instead of being able to easily rebut the GOP smear and turn it entirely against them, Lois now has to do so after the GOP has successfully tainted both her and MoveOn because the right has repeatedly painted MoveOn as radical, out of the mainstream, and in general a negative for candidates taking their support. Yup, it's all hogwash, but as Kos regularly points out, the GOP understands marketing, and clearly MoveOn doesn't. <End of Rant>
So now the question is how best to respond? My I just woke up and am in fuzzy thinking mode thought this morning was to not rebut the specifics, but go to demolish the underlying basis for the GOP attacks - to deny the attacks of credibility.
Something like Lois at a whiteboard writing down the GOP election strategy:
- It's a dangerous world
- You should be afraid because it's a dangerous world.
- Republicans are strong because they've sent our soldiers to Iraq to kill the terrorists you should be afraid of.
- Vote for Republicans because you're afraid.
And then point out a few key flaws in the logic:
- The Republicans are creating more terrorists than they're killing (according to 16 US intelligence agencies).
- After 5 years of the Republicans version of the War on Terror, Osama Bin Laden is alive and well.
- After 3.5 years of $2 Billion dollars a week spent invading and occupying a country that did NOT attack us more Iraqi's are being tortured and dying than before we invaded Iraq.
- After 5 years of Republican foreign policy incompetence, Iran is now the preeminent power in the Middle East.
If you want to feel safe knowing that competent adults are in charge again, vote for a Democrat, vote for me, Lois Murphy on Election Day, November 7th.
Ok, whataya think? Do you have a better idea? Let's hear it!