"Jerry McNerney (is) a Goliath-slaying changer who has sprinted since arriving in Washington, D.C. He's already in the Republican Party cross hairs, so it remains to be seen if the Democratic representative from Pleasanton becomes a political Halley's Comet." ~ Mike Klocke, Editor, Stockton Record, May 27, 2007
A few days after those positive words were printed in the Stockton Record, Karl Rove and his Republican cronies unleashed their latest unprecedented negative attack on me.
When a Congressional investigation a few months ago revealed that I was #3 on Karl Rove’s “hit list,” we could only imagine what that meant Rove’s political hacks in Washington were planning. Well, an incredible 17 months before the election, the National Republican Congressional Committee has launched a new multimedia misinformation campaign to smear me and our people-powered movement.
Last week, just as a “longtime friend” of Richard Pombo was announcing his candidacy to defeat me, the NRCC started airing attack ads on local radio stations grossly distorting my voting record. As if that wasn’t enough, the NRCC is now following up these radio ads with automated “robo-calls” to people’s homes. Both the radio ads and the robo-calls direct listeners to a slick Swift Boat-style web site that smears my record of service in Congress, including my votes to stand up to President Bush on the war in Iraq.
Washington Republicans are attacking me for saying “No” to Bush on the war? That’s right. On the NRCC’s slick attack web site, under a section titled “Out of Touch with California,” the NRCC says that I “voted to defy military commanders on the ground and cut off funds for the troops in harm's way.”
Of course, you and I both know that is absolutely ridiculous. From my first days in office, I have honored our soldiers by supporting a strong framework to end the violence and bring our troops home as soon and as responsibly as possible. Just last week, I voted against the Iraq supplemental funding bill because it did not include enforceable benchmarks, a reasonable timetable for withdrawal, a diplomatic strategy, or provisions to protect our soldiers and veterans. I could not, in good conscience, give Bush another blank check.
So, who is actually “out of touch” with Californians on the war? President Bush, Karl Rove and their hatchet men in Washington? Or you?
Rove and his cronies will stop at nothing to take back this seat. And now they’ve got a candidate to carry out those attacks against me.
This radio attack ad, the robo-calls and the smear web site are running just as the NRCC has given its unofficial rubber-stamp of approval to a Republican candidate praised by a GOP consultant who knows him as "one of the most conservative members who ever served in the (California) state legislature.”
We don’t know what this “longtime friend” of Richard Pombo is planning, but if it’s anything like the campaign currently being waged from Washington, we will need to stand strong together. The Federal Election Commission’s second quarter deadline is June 30 -- the first to include this Republican opponent –- and the media will be scrutinizing the strength of both of our campaigns.
You sent me to Congress to work every day on issues long ignored by the Bush Administration, from enacting ethics reform to fixing the Medicare prescription drug bill to making our nation energy independent and stopping global warming.
Just as I said I would, I am also working to make sure our veterans receive the highest quality of care when they return home from Iraq and Afghanistan. That means doing everything in my power to keep the Livermore VA hospital open and expand its services to treat veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.
I couldn’t do this important work without your support. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to represent you in the People’s House. I will continue to do everything I can to make you proud.
P.S. You sent me to Washington to give our country a new direction, but I need your ongoing support to actualize that change. Please contribute whatever you can afford right now to prevent Rove’s right-wing attack machine from stopping our people-powered movement before it actually changes Washington:
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