dKos8: Matsunaka update

As of 9 a.m. this morning, over 100 contributors from the Daily Kos community had raised over $5,000 for Stan Matsunaka. And as the Musgrave fundraising pitch below shows, Musgrave is not taking Matsunaka's challenge lightly.

Indeed, this is why we fight Marilyn Musgrave.

From: Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave [mailto:[e-mail]]
Sent: Wednesday, May 26, 2004 1:45 AM
Subject: Confidential Correspondence from Member of Congress: Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA) Sponsor now targeted for defeat...

Dear ,

It's gone from bad to worse.

A few days ago, Massachusetts began issuing "marriage" licenses to homosexuals.

Men are now marrying men and women marrying women ... "legally" in Massachusetts.

Because you have signed the on-line petition in support of traditional marriage, I had to let you know that, already, lawyers for the homosexual special interests are preparing legal cases to force homosexual "marriage" on every single state in the nation.

Can I continue to count on you right now to help me make a difference in the fight for traditional marriage?

You see, I recently announced I was running for re-election as a freshman Member of Congress.

And within days of making my announcement public, I found out I faced challengers in both the Republican Primary AND the general election specifically because I am leading the fight to defend marriage between one man and one woman with the FMA.

The rest of Musgrave's fundraising letter continues in the extended section.

While this outrageous development has occurred in Massachusetts, the declared opponents against me in the Republican Primary and general election, along with the Homosexual Lobby, are all boasting they'll do all
they can to defeat me this year.

Truly, I must be able to count on your continued support.

I need to be back in Washington, D.C. fighting to pass the Federal Marriage Amendment -- instead of trying to raise all the money I need to fight off the Homosexual Lobby and these pro-homosexual agenda candidates trying to defeat me.

I'm counting on you again today and ask you to right away please send your most generous contribution of $1000, $500, $250, $100, $50 or whatever you can afford to "Musgrave for Congress" today.

To make it easier, I set up a secure on-line contribution page that you can make a credit card donation at. Just click HERE to make your secure donation if you like.

Or simply print out the special 'PRINT-N-CLIP AND MAIL' form at the bottom of this email to "snail-mail" your check today.

Just last week, thanks to your continued on-line support for our efforts to defend marriage, the House Judiciary Committee on the Constitution finally held hearings on the Federal Marriage Amendment.

In my testimony before this committee, I made it clear how important passage of the Federal Marriage Amendment is to protecting traditional marriage between one man and one woman.

Legal and constitutional experts, like Judge Robert Bork and ACLJ Director Jay Sekulow, who also testified, agree the Federal Marriage Amendment is the only way to stop liberal unelected judges from redefining marriage.

But if you and I don't turn up the heat for passage of the Federal Marriage Amendment it will be just a matter of time until activist judges force those Massachusetts "marriages" on every city in America.

All the Homosexual Lobby needs to do is defeat me for re-election this year so no one in Congress will stand up for traditional marriage.

You and I know the only way to take this issue out of the courts of liberal judges -- who are overwhelmingly for the homosexual agenda -- is by passing the Federal Marriage Amendment.

That's why right now I'm fighting in Washington, D.C. to propel the Federal Marriage Amendment forward in Congress.

And it's why the radical pro-homosexual activists desperately want to defeat me this year.

I simply can't afford to spend all the time it takes to raise the money for my re-election campaign.

That's why I must ask that you come to my aid once again.

Your continued support and prayers are very important to me. They allow me to continue on in this fight.

You see, here in Washington many do not even care about protecting marriage between one man and one woman.

Political insiders are all too happy to give the homosexual lobby whatever they want to ensure victory on election day. And others simply want to talk "pro-family," but don't want to do anything to actually protect our values.

But I didn't run for Congress to give in to the liberal special interests or to allow marriage to be ripped apart by radical homosexual activists.

That's not my style.

So I've taken quite a beating for introducing the Federal Marriage Amendment, but you and I know how crucial it is to protect marriage between a man and a woman.

But unless you and I act today, "traditional marriage" and "family values" will mean whatever radical homosexuals want it to mean.

The homosexual lobby declares they will target a host of other laws they view as "discriminating." Any law in America that defines marriage - from tax laws to child custody laws - could easily be overturned by liberal judges.

Marriage between a man and a woman is on the verge of being destroyed by a radical movement who want to scrap hundreds of years of precedent and commonsense in favor of their own radical views.

Ruth Harlow, the legal director for the homosexual advocacy group Lambda Legal, says so-called "discrimination in marriage laws" is their top target.

With the U.S. Supreme Court "knocking out... the justification of morality" she said, it "makes it much harder to defend... discriminatory schemes" like traditional marriage.

Justice Antonin Scalia said the U.S. Supreme Court now "leaves on pretty shaky grounds state laws limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples."

Liberal, pro-homosexual judges in Massachusetts have clearly proved that point.

That's why passing the Federal Marriage Amendment is so very important.

Together, we can show the radical homosexual leaders that conservative Americans who care about morality and social stability aren't going to just sit back and do nothing.

If you and I don't act today, then people will believe the homosexual lobby has more power than they really do.

That's why the homosexual special interests are targeting me for defeat.

And if the Homosexual Lobby can come into my district and spend their warchest to defeat me, then every other Congressman who stands up to defend traditional marriage will be targeted.

As you may know, the last U.S. Congressman who introduced a federal marriage amendment was defeated.

My opponent in the Republican primary has openly stated the main reason he is running against me is because I have championed the Federal Marriage Amendment.

And my General election opponent wants to stop me from advancing our conservative family values in Congress too.

But with your continued support, you and I can show that politics is not dominated by the liberal special interests, but by hard-working Americans like you who stand up for morality.

I am counting on you today and ask you to send a generous contribution of $1000, $500, $250, $100, $50 -- or whatever you can afford -- so I can continue the fight for passage of the Federal Marriage Amendment in Washington, D.C..

To make it easier, I set up a secure on-line contribution page that you can make a credit card donation at. Just click HERE to make your secure donation if you like.

Or simply print out the special 'PRINT-N-CLIP AND MAIL' form at the bottom of this email to "snail-mail" your check today.

Will you please help? And please keep me and my family in your prayers.

Gratefully,

Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave
Republican from Colorado

P.S. Massachusetts has begun issuing marriage licenses to homosexuals. Pro-homosexual lawyers are now preparing cases to force homosexual "marriage" on every state in the nation.

I need to be back in Washington, D.C. fighting to pass the Federal Marriage Amendment -- instead of trying to raise all the necessary money I'll need to fight off the Homosexual Lobby and the pro-homosexual candidates trying to defeat me.

I'm counting on you again today and ask you to right away please send your most generous contribution of $1000, $500, $250, $100, $50 or whatever you can afford to "Musgrave for Congress" today.

Like she says, the more time she has to spend raising money, the less time she has to fight on behalf of the Hate Amendment.

•  1,000 Contribs

  1,000 or 100?

  by DavidNYC on Wed Jun 02, 2004 at 07:04:43 PM PDT

  •  Sorry

    It's 100.

    by kos on Wed Jun 02, 2004 at 07:08:39 PM PDT

•  Hoping it was $50,000

  I saw the 1000 contribs and $5000, but hoped the mistake was in the second number.

  By the way, how is Morrison doing?

  by ankendall on Wed Jun 02, 2004 at 07:09:31 PM PDT

  •  see the left nav bar

    He's over $10,000 and 300 contributors.

    by kos on Wed Jun 02, 2004 at 07:15:41 PM PDT

    •  Thanks, kos

      I appreciate the efforts you've taken to help lead the Dem's to victory this year.  After the flood of traffic on your site last night, with almost as many hits as people in SD, it is clear just how influencial dKos can be in attracting and maintaining an interest

      I'm in it for the long haul, and I'm glad to know you are as well. (though, I do hope you get that vacation you were talking about in 2005)

      by islanddave on Wed Jun 02, 2004 at 07:30:23 PM PDT

•  Thats the best fundraising pitch I have ever seen.

  Matsunuka's campaign should make a bundle off of it :-).

  I'm sure glad her opponent made the kos-8.

  Win Stan Win!

  by Keith Brekhus on Wed Jun 02, 2004 at 07:10:36 PM PDT

•  Wow. My title it getting long.

  Now I'm a Commie Pinko Liberal Pro-Homosexual Terrorist and card carrying member of the Activist Anti-Christian's Against Traditional Marriage Lobby who hates America.

  Who would have thunk it? </sarcasm>

  by michael in chicago on Wed Jun 02, 2004 at 07:15:37 PM PDT

•  Jeez...

  it reads like a sob story.  How dare anyone have tha audacity to challenege her!  Her opponents are "boasting they'll do all they can to defeat [her] this year"?  The nerve of them--opponents should only do a little bit to try to defeat her, and certainly shouldnt let anyone know they're trying.

  For a person who can spew the most vile things about people she has never met, and wants to amend the constitution to actually restrict people's right, she sure comes off meek in this letter.

  by Deej on Wed Jun 02, 2004 at 07:28:22 PM PDT

  •  meek...

    and desperate.

    What a long-winded bunch of crap!

    You'ld think she used to be a used car dealer the way she pointed out her version of "shiny hubcaps"

    by islanddave on Wed Jun 02, 2004 at 07:32:38 PM PDT

  •  Of course--

    since she's defending "traditional" marriage and pitching to the fundies, she can't appear to be a strong woman, just a gentle but virtuous one, defending morality as true, traditional, properly respectful Christian women do everywhere.

    by Leslie in CA on Wed Jun 02, 2004 at 07:37:28 PM PDT

    •  And a gay woman too

      She used the word "homosexual" 25 times in that letter.  She may have some self loathing too...
      Hard to tell.

      by lapin on Wed Jun 02, 2004 at 10:44:19 PM PDT

  •  What can I say?

    The Republicans got a little spoiled after the Democratic leadership's performance in 2002  (We oppose our Great Leader, kinda sorta, if that's alright with you, and not too much because we're all patriots, mmmkay?).

    by Go Vegetarian on Thu Jun 03, 2004 at 07:08:07 AM PDT

•  You know what I find funny -

  I haven't given much money to Dems so far, but I have given what I could afford to at the time.  Mostly it's been small donations, around $15 or $20.  And all the Dem sites I've been to welcome any donation, no matter how small.  Fingerhut even has a program, something like "Give $10 for Fingerhut" where they make giving a even a small donation feel like you've become a part of something.

  In this campaign letter, I get the feeling that any donation under $50 isn't even worth their time.

  by Lufah on Wed Jun 02, 2004 at 07:49:01 PM PDT

  •  David Brock's former demons would be proud...

    of your sig line.  Now, if you could just work "sluts" into there, it would be perfect.

    by islanddave on Wed Jun 02, 2004 at 08:06:15 PM PDT

•  The big joke here is that

  I think the "defeated Congressman" she talked about was a Democrat who was defeated because of Log Cabin Republicans in Illinois targeted him (John Shimkus, who defeated him, is still not a sponsor of the new amendment).

  Thanks for digging up this vile fundraising letter, I'll be sending it out to people.  

  by JamesB3 on Wed Jun 02, 2004 at 07:55:33 PM PDT

•  Nobody

  Damn - I was seriously hoping for a negative mention of DKos's support for Stan, or at least, some claim about shadowy, scary liberals secretly raising money on the Internet. We're nobody till somebody hates us!

  by DavidNYC on Wed Jun 02, 2004 at 07:58:22 PM PDT

•  my reply to this solicitation

  Here's the email I sent back to Marilyn:

  Dear Rep. Musgrave,

  I saw this sentence in an email you sent to supporters and I'm hoping you can clarify how I can help. You claimed,

  "All the Homosexual Lobby needs to do is defeat me for re-election this year so no one in Congress will stand up for traditional marriage."

  Having already contributed to all of your potential November opponents, I'm wondering if you can direct me to the Homosexual Lobby itself. Your description makes it sound as though there is a group of people by that name who share my belief about your re-election campaign; namely, that my family will be better protected when you are back in Colorado doing something less harmful to my children than trying to destroy their parents' legal marriage.

  If you have an address for this Homosexual Lobby, I'd be very grateful if you could share it.

  Thank you...

  And thanks to our friends here at the 'interweb thingy' (ROTFLMAO from that one) for making it sooo effortless for me to mock.

  by PhoenixRising on Wed Jun 02, 2004 at 08:14:28 PM PDT

•  Long-winded is right

  Guess Marilyn doesn't believe in editors.

  I just contributed. How does Kos keep track of the number of contributors?

  "The truth won't hurt you; it's just like the dark. It scares you witless, but in time you see things clear and stark." - Elvis Costello

  by AlanF on Wed Jun 02, 2004 at 08:28:40 PM PDT

  •  Didja add $0.01 to your donation?

    $0.08 would have been easier to pick out from the other blog donations

    by primate on the left on Wed Jun 02, 2004 at 09:01:13 PM PDT

    •  The interface only allowed whole-dollar amounts

      but I did make it $11 rather than $10. But has the Matsunaka campaign been told to look out for ($10n - 1) or ($10n + 1) contributions? And then do they report the information back to Kos? And is this true for all campaigns?

      "The truth won't hurt you; it's just like the dark. It scares you witless, but in time you see things clear and stark." - Elvis Costello

      by AlanF on Thu Jun 03, 2004 at 06:33:17 AM PDT

•  New Drinking Game

  Every time Musgrove says:

  "Homosexual Lobby" - 1 drink

  "radical homosexual activists" - 2 drinks

  "homosexual advocacy group" - 3 drinks

  "homosexual special interests" - 4 drinks

  "Pro-homosexual" lawyers, judges, etc. - 5 drinks

  by ByronUT on Wed Jun 02, 2004 at 08:52:22 PM PDT

  •  Wow

    It's a good day to be a commie pro-homosexual anti-american liberal feminazi traitor democrat when people like Musgrave are running up the wall.

    That drinking game though would make me an alcoholic :D

    I just always laugh my ass off when i hear these new classifications right-wing nutters come up with: pro-homosexual, activist judges, feminazi etc.

    The one I got from an e-mail was something some talk-radio fembot invented: U.N.A.A. = United Nations Against America. These are priceless.
    I think it's Laura "Coulter Copycat" Ingraham who came up with this...can't be sure though.
    

    by Jonesyboy on Wed Jun 02, 2004 at 09:19:55 PM PDT

  •  As long as each drink

    is accompanied by a donation to Matsunaka, then I would call it drinking responsibly.

    "The truth won't hurt you; it's just like the dark. It scares you witless, but in time you see things clear and stark." - Elvis Costello

    by AlanF on Thu Jun 03, 2004 at 06:35:54 AM PDT

•  Bob Faust

  I'm actually contributing to Bob Faust's campaign http://www.faust4congress.com -- Faust is the Republican challenging Musgrave.

  Faust is a progressive (yes, there are some progressive Republicans).  CO, CD4 is a heavily Republican district from what I understand.  Often times Democrats do not even run a candidate there (although Green's will).  

  Faust is proposing a national universal health care plan, a progressive education plan for CO and he believes that not only should the Equal Rights Amendment be given new life, but that it should be expanded to protect against discrimination based on sexual orientation.

  In addition, he wants to "take his party back" and that gives me a warm feeling inside.

  This country needs to come together around our common interests (health care, trade policy, social security, education, tax policy and our mutual defense) or we are doomed. Real change will not come about if only half the country is on board.

  Our politics has always been something like a football game with long standing rivalries and a lot of cheerleading for the home team.

  Political parties serve a valuable purpose but in the end, it's values that unite us.  Faust is clearly not an ideologue and doesn't seem the type to engage in date rape.

  I think that he has a better chance of sending Marilyn Musgrave back home to Weld County.

  Tell me if I'm wrong.

  by dorsano on Wed Jun 02, 2004 at 09:26:21 PM PDT

  •  Go for it.

    Personally I'll stick with Democrats, but you're right that we won't get anywhere if nearly half the country supports a party of theocracy, bankrupty, toxic sludge, and Armegeddon.

    by Go Vegetarian on Thu Jun 03, 2004 at 07:12:49 AM PDT

    •  Half the country ...

      Half the country doesn't support "theocracy, bankrupty, toxic sludge, and Armegeddon."

      It's not an easy thing, for those who consider themselves members of one party or another, to vote against their party. (imagine contributing to Faust's campaign and see how it feels).  

      What is to everyone's benefit is to rally around our shared values - and it takes leaders, in both parties, to articulate those values.

      I believe that Faust is one of those leaders -- perhaps he'll prove me wrong.

      I hope not.    
      

      by dorsano on Thu Jun 03, 2004 at 07:06:05 PM PDT

      •  You're right.

        Sorry if I wasn't clear.  I agree that half the country isn't pro-toxic sludge et. al.  But that's what their current party leadership has given them.  If sensible Republicans can take back their party from the yahoos, more power to them!

        by Go Vegetarian on Thu Jun 03, 2004 at 11:19:21 PM PDT

•  Here's a RADICAL thought, a thesarus for Musgrav

  maybe chip in a fervent here....a rabid there...or istead of activist, maybe she could say seditionist...or bra burning...  

  by nemoplanetia on Wed Jun 02, 2004 at 09:51:44 PM PDT

  •  Or just maybe she could throw in another issue

    although perhaps she and her constituents can only focus on one.

    "The truth won't hurt you; it's just like the dark. It scares you witless, but in time you see things clear and stark." - Elvis Costello

    by AlanF on Thu Jun 03, 2004 at 06:38:14 AM PDT

•  pragmatism

  ugh, i hate to say this, but this letter frankly resonates with many people of color, including folks in my family who are outraged at how marriage is being defiled by the homosexuals. I was at a wedding last weekend in a distressed urban neighborhood (gangs, drugs, etc). the wedding was a big deal because the folks getting hitched wanted to set an example to a comunity in which there are few intact black families. the pastor, unfortunately, felt compelled to go on a rant about how marriage is between a MAN AND A WOMAN and how we are here to celebrate god's holiness in calling these two heterosexual folks together. i wanted to gag, but out of respect did not. there's a reason why i don't go to church, despite my religious leanings. I just write this to remind folks that Musgrove's homosexual paranoia isn't just confined to white christian fundies--it also unfortunately exists within parts of the Democratic base of voters we need for November.

  by ihlin on Thu Jun 03, 2004 at 06:40:14 AM PDT

•  Not strictly in keeping with this thread...

  I'm from Wisconsin where we have Russ Feingold running for re-election.  He's got 4 Republican challengers who are a bunch of Bush-asslicker wanna-bes.  Two of them, independently of each other called Feingold's vote against the Patriot Act as "cowardly" and "Un-American".  It's the old "You're with us or against us" theme.  I felt really insulted by this characterization of Feingold and the whole right to dissent.  That very day that I read of those characterizations, I received in the mail a fund-raising mailing from his campaign.  I promptly dashed out a check.  Russ is very popular here in WI.  Look for this Senate seat to stay right where it is.

  by Grafficane on Thu Jun 03, 2004 at 06:55:35 AM PDT

•  Forty-three Times

  She uses the word "homosexual" forty-three times in that letter.  At first, it was funny.  Then, it's insulting.  Then, by the end of the letter, it's downright hysterical.  I think Marilyn has a great future as a writer for SNL; she's great at taking a point, driving it into the ground, and then pounding down to the earth's core.

  By the way, the only way I could think of to count the word "homosexual" was to use Word's find-and-replace.  I swapped in "eggplant," and now the letter's even funnier:

   

  Because you have signed the on-line petition in support of traditional marriage, I had to let you know that, already, lawyers for the eggplant special interests are preparing legal cases to force eggplant "marriage" on every single state in the nation.

  Comedy.

  by RakDaddy on Thu Jun 03, 2004 at 09:53:47 AM PDT