My eyebrows were raised by the recent US Action mailer attempting to equate Brad Schneider with criminals, complete with depictions of a yellow crime scene tape and a chalk outline of a body.
Brad's response is on the Internet, and apparently on cable: See below the fold.
This ad has its own amusing qualities. It begins "Who is Ilya Sheyman?" Oh, puleeze. It's not like he's a member of organized crime. He's a kid from the district. The "special interest groups" to which Brad refers are nothing more than the groups I have mentioned, DFA, US Action, PDA and PCCC. While I think these groups have seriously miscalculated our district, they are not evil corporate or crazy religious groups seeking to empty the Treasury and end America as we know it. They're progressive groups that probably represent the very people whose votes Brad seeks, and endorse outcomes on issues that Brad claims he endorses himself.
Then, Brad's ad goes on and proves Ilya's main point (when all the nonsense is stripped away and you get to the meat of the argument) by listing his endorsements, including Melissa Bean and Susan Garrett, a couple of the most right-wing Democrats around. The Tribune and Herald endorsements further prove the point.
For his part, Ilya Sheyman has a cable ad out and I dispute a point.
Sheyman claims he (he personally) organized 5 million Americans. I sort of doubt he personally organized 5 million Americans. I doubt there are 5 million members of the local Chicago area Moveon, perhaps nationally, but locally? I don't think so. Further, as I have written many times before, this was not Real health care reform. Moveon fought real health care reform, fought single payer, Medicare for All, reform in favor of what the Obama Administration sought to add a feather to its cap without offending the health insurance industry. Some of Sheyman's supporters have said I'm being unfair when I tag Ilya with Moveon's action. My point is that Ilya is taking credit for Moveon's national response to health care reform. I'm only tagging him with what his very own local branch did.
In the meantime, John Tree's chances of winning have surged. People all over the district are writing on Facebook and on local blogs that they've switched to Tree. Tree, 45, works part time at the Pentagon as the Senior Reservist to the Director of Global Combat Support for the U.S. Air Force. He is also a civilian businessman and has worked for Kellogg's, Keebler, a small granola company and now a health food consulting company that he built from the ground up. Tree is a credible candidate both on his experience and his progressive credentials.
District Democrats have a choice. They can follow the clown car off the cliff, or they can jump out, hang on to a branch and vote for the strong, sturdy and stable Tree. John Tree is our best choice for Congress.