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Shameless Attack on the Council
Oct 28, 2008 | Posted by Ashley

We’ve told you about the disgusting tactics from the challengers making sure our progressive candidates don’t get elected. They claimed congressional candidate Betsy Markey in Colorado was heading to jail, Mary Jo Kilroy in Ohio was a socialist, Glen Nye in Virginia lied about his service – all pure smear campaigns with no factual basis. Well, now they’re attacking us.

A group called “Americans for Job Security,” sent a mailing out with images of smoke clouds, fire and target symbols. They claim we’re anti-defense and “poised to dismantle the plans and policies put in place to keep America safe.”

You can see the ad and help us fight back here.

The most interesting part about the attack, like usual, is the man behind the curtain.  

Americans for Job Security is little more than a swiftboat group full of Bush cronies. This is from their page on Public Citizen, a group that tracks non-profit groups active in elections:

"AJS has stated to the IRS that its purpose is "educating the public on economic issues with a pro-market, pro-paycheck message."2 The group, in reality, does not appear tied to any unifying ideological mission other than helping the electoral pursuits of favored candidates, who have exclusively been Republicans throughout the organization's history."

...

"AJS's roster of officers and consultants is a team of Republican Party alumni. One consultant served as director of political affairs for President George H.W. Bush and as national field director for his 1992 campaign. The group's president worked on George H.W. Bush's 1992 campaign, and the group's lawyer, Benjamin Ginsberg, has served as national counsel to George W. Bush's presidential campaigns in 2000 and 2004, the Republican National Committee and a multitude of Republican candidates and organizations."

They claim they just want people to vote, but it’s obvious they want more. They want votes for the neo-conservative policies that have negatively affected our country and national security on so many levels. They know the only way to do that is through fear, not facts.  

We’ll continue to advocate for sensible national security policies. We’ll continue to advocate an end to the war in Iraq, tough diplomacy over war with Iran, and stronger nuclear arms control policies.

But right now, there’s 6 days left to fight back. There’s 6 days left of work to make sure our progressive candidates get elected.

If you want to help us fight back, click here.

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Do you really know what it is to be a progressive?

I am shocked to see your campaign of emails (not 1, not 2, but at least 3 by now) buying into the right wing smear of socialism. Why do you join their red-baiting by characterizing it a "disgusting attack" to call someone a socialist? People all over the world (and a growing number here as the economy fails and people learn more and more about what capitalism does to them) embrace socialist ideals. It is only here that the right tars it as "disgusting" and those who characterize themselves as "progressives" pile on and call the right-wing characterizations "disgusting attacks." Does that make all the many progressives here who embrace socialism (as well as national health care, progressive taxation, substantial estate taxes, generous social safety nets, and an end to the military industrial complex and its war economy) disgusting? Shame on you!

Why these attacks matter

We oppose the accusation that Mary Jo Kilroy is a socialist and believe it is a disgusting attack because it is a misleading interpretation of Kilroy's prior work and current positions, and is brought up with the intention of deceiving voters. Regardless of one's position of whether or not being called a "socialist" carries a negative connotation, information presented in political campaigns should, at the very least, be accurate. Like the attack on the Council above, the accusation against Kilroy is groundless.

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