And now, right on cue, here comes another GOP official to let us know just how far the republican party has to go before they join the rest of us in the 21st Century.
"The Texas Republican Party has a new enemy, and its name is Battleground Texas.
In a heated fundraising letter sent this week to donors statewide, the Texas GOP calls the new Democratic voter-mobilization effort “a clear and present threat to you and your family.”
“They’re coming to take away your guns,” the letter signed by GOP state chairman Steve Munisteri says. “They’re coming to confiscate more of your paycheck. They’re coming to hijack your rights and freedoms.”
A group of former campaign operatives for President Barack Obama launched the Battleground Texas effort early this year, led by former Obama field director Jeremy Bird. The group hopes to raise tens of millions of dollars to target and mobilize Democratic voters, with the eventual aim of turning Texas into a battleground state.
No Democratic politician has won a statewide vote in Texas since 1994, the longest such streak in the country.
To fight back, the GOP letter urges Republicans to give anywhere from $15 to $5,000 so the party can “immediately undertake our own effort to identify thousands of Texas conservatives.”
The letter warns that the former Obama operatives “have become masters of the slimy ‘dark arts’ of campaigning: creating massive databases; collecting information on every voter and non-voter; and then using that information to do whatever it takes to drive these voters away from Republican candidates and principles.”
Not to be outdone, the Battleground Texas folks are now using the Munisteri letter as their own fundraising tool. “I’ve been around Texas politics for a long time, but I have never seen desperation like this,” said Christina Gomez, digital director for Battleground Texas, in a statement that features an image of the GOP letter and asks Democrats to chip in to help.
In February, the Texas GOP welcomed Battleground Texas to the state with a letter that was light on alarm and heavy on humor. “We thought we’d be hospitable to these friendly competitors by offering some tips and facts they may find useful for assimilating into what, for them, must seem like a strange and foreign land,” the letter said.
Among the tips: When offered a tamale, make sure to remove the corn husk first. And: “Don’t sit cross legged while wearing spurs.” [Source]
Maybe I am being too sensitive. "Slimy dark arts campaigning" might be something totally innocuous to some. Maybe my republican friends in Texas really did not think of the president's race or of the race of the people who give him 90% of their support when they do this type of campaigning.But that thought crosses my mind for just a minute because I know better.
I know exactly where these people are coming from, and it's not a good place.
Finally, some folks are saying that this Dr. Gosnell story here in my hometown of Philly isn't getting enough national publicity. The folks on the right say that it's because he is an abortion doctor and the left doesn't want to highlight a story about a man who was allegedly killing new born babies.
Of course I disagree. I also wish that this story would get more national attention but for a different reason: The American people would have a chance to see what this country was like before abortions became legal, and what it could look like again in the future (especially for poor women) if the right wing's war on women's reproductive rights continues down the path that we are on.If the right has their way, there will be many more Dr. Gosnells on street corners in every poor neighborhood all over this country. Abortion clinics will become as prevalent as speakeasies.
Dr. Gosnell was able to carry on his illegal practices in his West Philly clinic because a system that was supposed to be in place failed. Can you imagine if there was no system at all?
