Folks, we CAN pick up 100 seats in the Senate and House. We can do it by repeating to ourselves the word “hysterical” every time we come across the word “Republican.” Then, we go online and look in the papers, print out every single instance of GOP hysteria and give it to our neighbors and friends and publish it on our blogs and in this community.
A perfect example of hysterical Republicans yelling and screaming is happening right in our backyard. Here in Washington, the GOP sunk to a new low by launching an attack ad in the mail which looked like a sex offender notification card.
People want leaders who are clear-headed and rational under pressure. As evidence, my post on Stanislav Petrov got one of my biggest responses because people want leaders who will make good decisions when millions of lives are on the line. That means that if we can successfully paint Republicans as hysterical and irrational, then we can win votes. As another example, Russ Feingold was able to demonstrate levelheadedness under fire in his election campaign against Tim Michaels, who was running hysterical attack ads. Feingold was able to make Michaels’ hysteria an issue and win by 56%.
As opposed to the Republican Party’s hysteria, we are the party of reason. We are working on legislation here in Washington which would toughen laws against sex offenders. But there is a big difference. We are pushing through legislation with plenty of time for hearings and public input. We are doing so in an open and clear way.
On the other hand, the Republicans, like spoiled brats, demanded that we put draconian sex crime legislation up for a vote on the first day of the legislative session without any chance for public hearings or a vote. Now, they are crying, sobbing, and playing the victim because we believe in democracy and openness rather than secrecy and fear.
From the Olympian link, now that Richard DeBolt, the House Minority leader and the instagator of this plan has been called out on it, he refuses to apologize:
Grant said a woman in his district called to say she’d made her children memorize the face of the man on the card — who lives in Pierce County — believing he was a threat in her Eastern Washington neighborhood. Other Democrats had similar stories of confusion and anxiety from constituents.
“As a woman and as a mother, I have to tell you I’m appalled that the safety of our children is being used for political gain,” said Rep. Deb Wallace, D-Vancouver. “Citizens have been completely misled in our districts. They need to have an apology.”
She and six other democrats also demanded an apology from DeBolt, but he did not give one.
Here is what is at issue:
At issue are postcards, labeled “sex offender notification” on the address side. They include a photo of a man convicted of sexually assaulting children, a physical description and a headline that reads, “This violent predator lives in your community.”
The notes were mailed in several different communities across the state, and were printed and mailed by the Speaker’s Roundtable, a Republican political action committee that serves House members.
Each card names a Democratic representative in the district and accuses them of opposing life sentences for violent sexual offenders — a reference to Democratic opposition to an unusual attempt by Republicans to pull a bill to the floor for a vote on the first day of the session, before it’s received a public hearing.
Of course we support sex offender laws that are reasonable. But the problem is, we don’t know if this law is reasonable. The Republicans tried to bring this bill to a vote on the first day of the legislative session before anybody had time to read the laws in question. Brian Baird, my new Congressman, says that the Republicans do this all the time — they ram through huge pieces of legislation which nobody has read except for the people who wrote the laws. That is why he has fought for legislation that would require waiting periods for laws so that people and legislators can read them before they become law.
If this bill is such a good bill, then what is the hurry? 2-3 weeks of public hearings should be enough for people to give their opinions and comment on the legislation. What do the Republicans have to hide by ramming through legislation in the middle of night without giving the people a chance for public comment? The fact that they tried to ram this bill through in secrecy means that they have something to hide — like most elected officials who prefer to do their business in secret.
At the national level, we saw another prime example of Republican hysteria recently. Louise Slaughter wrote about how Chris Matthews, Tucker Carson, and Joe Scarborough compared war opponents to Osama Bin Laden. All of this hysterical behavior by the Republicans is designed to create boogeymen. They have had a long history of this:
— In 1964, Goldwater used Communism as a boogeyman and advocated dropping nuclear bombs on Vietnam;
— In 1980, Ronald Reagan used welfare queens and the Evil Empire as boogeymen;
— In 1988, we had Willie Horton;
— In 1992 and 1996, Bill Clinton was the biggest tomcat ever to infest the halls of the Presidency;
— In 2002 and 2004, we had terrorism and Republicans painting war opponents as being in league with Bin Laden;
One of the valuable lessons we learned from the 2005 election was that we can use this GOP hysteria against them. Smear ads against Jon Corzine and Tim Kaine backfired badly, and both men won by larger margins than expected. Here in Washington, the King County Republicans did a hysterical smear campaign against county commissioner Ron Sims by challenging thousands of voters in the county. In Washington, the county commission oversees the elections. The election, which had been close, badly backfired on the GOP, as Sims won by 16 points.
As opposed to the GOP, we are the party which brings all points of view to the table. My congressman, Brian Baird, has town hall meetings all over his district. He does a very good job at giving as many people as possible the floor even when they do not agree with him. We had a very vigorous discussion of Iraq, the environment, and education at the town hall meeting I was at.
In the legislature, we are working on medical malpractice by bringing doctors and lawyers’ views to the table to craft a bill which will be fair to both patients and doctors. Our governor travels all over the state to inform people on the issues and even visited Grant County, which voted 3-1 for Bush in the last election. We got bipartisan bills passed which will reduce traffic congestion and create jobs.
So, your mission, should you choose to accept, is to tell as many people as you can how you are sick and tired of hysterical Republicans who have no ideas whatsoever, so they just attack. Then, tell them about all of the good things the Democrats are doing by contrast.
In a nutshell: Every time you think of Republican, think of the word hysterical.
What has been the most hysterical performance you have seen from a Republican politician or special interest group?
Update:
WashBlog is all over this. The mailing was sent to the districts of several House Democrats; the legislators affected held a press conference in which they expressed their outrage. Two legislators who were not targets came to show their support. And several GOP legislators are ashamed of this smear attack.
In addition, Democrats are proposing a bill making it a felony to send out fake sex offender notifications in the state of Washington.
