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DEL.ICIO.USThe newest, old front in the Arab-Israeli war
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Hank Johnson is making a bid for Jewish money and support in his run-off contest against Democratic incumbent Cynthia McKinney in the 4th District race.
Here’s the text of a letter that’s circulating via e-mail, aimed at local supporters of Israel. Very reminiscent of the fight between McKinney and Denise Majette in 2002. But note that Johnson promises to stay put.
To wit:
“Friends and neighbors:
“I’m Hank Johnson, and I’m running for Congress against Cynthia McKinney in Georgia’s 4th Congressional District.
“I forced Cynthia into the August 8th runoff, and now I need your help to finish the job.
“It’s time for Cynthia to go.
“We will no longer tolerate those who apologize for doctrines of hateful violence and refuse to accept Israel’s right to exist, nor will we tolerate those who solicit the support of corrupt Arab regimes.
“Cynthia McKinney’s irrational understanding of international affairs and the Middle East is not just wrong, it’s dangerous. Her shrill, conspiracy-theorist politics alienate colleagues, misrepresent voters, and make us and our allies less secure.
“Your financial contributions in these final hours are essential to our success. If you are able to contribute, please do so using my online contribution form. Donations of any size — $50, $250, $500, $2,100 — can make the difference.
“I am interested in progress, not headlines. I will serve with humility, integrity, and conviction. I pledge to uphold and defend Israel’s right to exist, and I pledge that, if elected, I will not abandon you to seek higher office.
“Help me defeat Cynthia.
“We have the momentum, and I can win.
I need your votes and your help. Please tell your friends, family, neighbors and associates about this opportunity on Tuesday, Aug. 8, to return respect to the 4th and remove a menace from office.
“Please forward this e-mail to just five friends.
“I will be a leader you can be proud of.
“On Tuesday, August 8, elect a leader who is interested in solutions, not headlines.
“Elect a leader who will serve with integrity and conviction — leader who will stay true to his principles while never abandoning common sense. |
“On Tuesday, August 8, vote for a new direction and boot Cynthia once and for all.
“On Tuesday, August 8, vote for Hank Johnson.”
Comments
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By Bruce Wilcox
August 3, 2006 6:55 PM | Link to this
The only thing missing from your article is “Paid for Johnson for Congress”, but I forgot, in the AJC it’s a free service.
By The Book
August 3, 2006 7:23 PM | Link to this
Bruce, there’s nothing that is free, except conjugal visits from your wife when you’re in the slammer, but who wants those?
By Bruce Wilcox
August 3, 2006 7:58 PM | Link to this
Good point and By The Book.
By Dirty Politics In The Media Age
August 3, 2006 10:52 PM | Link to this
Here we are in the middle of a runoff election in Georgia between Cynthia McKinney and Hank Johnson for the 4th District house seat. Three years ago, CynthiaForCongress.com was registered to Citizens for Conservative Values - seemingly a republican group of some fashion. This information is public, and has been offered up to the media for informal investigation to explain what this means. After sitting and thinking about it for a few days I have decided that the simplest explanation must be true. Nobody will bite on this story and a republican group did buy up a whole bunch of domain names in recent years. I assume all groups of all kinds buy domain names no matter if politics is the arena or not. Go ask somebody what a WHOIS DNS lookup is if you don’t know. Anyway, Citizens for Conservative Values probably did buy the domain name, and Cynthia McKinney and her camp couldn’t come up with a better domain name so they bought the domain for some amount of money, assuming that the republicans (if they are - again I do not know and nobody that has investigated further is talking) did not donate to McKinney’s cause. People have done this time and time again to big names (think big corporate American companies that got a late start on the Internet thing) and been able to become somewhat rich from it. The history of the Internet has yet to be written, but what should be written is that a pro-McKinney anti-Republican movie is being released tomorrow in Atlanta, McKinney just purchased almost 1200 campaign ad spots to run between now and Tuesday, and she gave money to the Citizens for Conservative Values for her reelection campaign on which she threatened to sue the AJC for libel. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s dirty all the way around. The republicans don’t want to talk about it, the democrats who are pro-McKinney don’t want to talk about it, and here I am talking about it to very few on my blog. I didn’t mean to stumble on this, just like I didn’t mean to stumble on some wild, crazy, BlogSpot.com/Mark Taylor/Cathy Cox blogger incident recently. That being said, I found what I found and wanted to talk about it because it is something simple that should be pointed out. Just like volunteer bloggers who “pretend to be grassroots supporters” while working for a political campaign. A fiery, female, black congresswoman bought a domain name from a republican group and is promoting a film, American Blackout: The Screwing of Cynthia McKinney, days before her runoff. This is of course, assuming Citizens for Conservative Values is a republican group, the movie will be released tomorrow no matter what. I can’t vote in the election, these are only the thoughts of CynicalGeek and I’m finished with it. That’s my scoop on the reelection campaign website screwing by Cynthia McKinney. While it is no real reason not to vote for her, it is just yet another item on the laundry list that make McKinney look questionable. We see you wearing your pin Cynthia, we get it, you got off scott free except for that video that will exist forever of you apologizing. The days of old are fast escaping us since the advent of the Internet. The iGeneration is upon us and everything travels at the speed of light. Things come and go on the Internet, but the Internet will remain with bloggers in tow. It’s going to be a interesting election year and I’m sure all of the politicians of past are yucking it up since they don’t have to work with the likes of us around. Politics will never be the same and neither will the news. Keep watching, you might just miss something at the speed of light.
If any of this is incorrect, please correct me. I would not post this if I believed that someone had hacked the domain registration or that Citizens for Conservative Values is not the group that I believe it to be. This is public information that anyone could have looked up.
By Bruce Wilcox
August 4, 2006 11:26 AM | Link to this
Depending on who the media supports dictates if there will be an investigation or not. We can see by the local media that McKinney is just a target so there will never be an investigation. If the tables were turned every so called investigative reporter would be pushing each other out of the way to get the scoop.
Look at the InsiderAdvantage poll that all the media uses, none mention the fact that it is run by two very active Republicans. Now do you believe it is a fair and unbias poll, of course not.
The AJC and every local televison station have given up on reporting the facts and are now part of the campaign process.
By Dirty Politics In The Media Age
August 4, 2006 11:33 AM | Link to this
Well a poll can show whatever you want it to no matter what your leaning is. A story will always have bias as long as journalists have hearts and minds.
By Jason
August 4, 2006 11:40 AM | Link to this
There are two simple explanations for the WHOIS mystery:
1) Republicans know they’ll never pick up McKinny’s district but she’s of great value in that they can use her in other campaigns as an stand in for all Democrats. So they’ve been helping her out at very low levels.
2) Someone in the McKinney campaign thought it would be funny to make up the name of a conservative group to put in their WHOIS entry. The fact that the representative listed if “Candi Lane” makes one wonder.
By Dirty Politics In The Media Age
August 4, 2006 1:17 PM | Link to this
Jason, 1) This is a old tactic, and it disgusts me every time whether we are talking about Kennedy or Bush. It’s used by both sides equally.
2)If my rep allowed this to go on, then they need to hire professionals to work for them instead of comedians looking for a laugh. We need the most professional group we can find, on both sides of the aisle.
It just kills me that the non-story will never take flight. Let everyone attack the republicans for buying a Internet domain, and let everyone attack McKinney for giving money to republicans as she attacks Johnson for accepting money from the Jewish people.
By Voting good sense over a bad Dollar
August 5, 2006 9:00 AM | Link to this
DPITMA said..
“We need the most professional group we can find, on both sides of the aisle.”
People always say that we can never get good people to run for office and we are getting a good dose of the reasons why.
Still, You have at least one choice out there for this election who is not afraid to talk to anyone in any aisle, any where.
It’s not Congress, but it’s a start. A look at the candidates and the district may reveal a lot more than you think.
Got a blog? Try getting people to take strong sense over a weak Dollar. An endeavor worth taking. An idea that really stacks up.
By Dirty Politics In The Media Age
August 5, 2006 12:53 PM | Link to this
Voting good sense…wrote: “Got a blog? Try getting people to take strong sense over a weak Dollar. An endeavor worth taking. An idea that really stacks up.”
I may leave that one up to Lou Dobbs, but I’ll continue on the McKinney story on my blog until the election is over. Thomas Jefferson wrote that “a minority in Congress is useful as censors” but he wouldn’t agree with the amount of nonsense that comes out of McKinney’s mouth, ie. I won’t wear slacks in Congress, I won’t wear my Congressional pin, Bush and the Carlysle Group, I will create a stir with the Secret Service at The White House under Clinton, and I won’t stop for the Capitol Police. She was just as confrontational under a democratic congress and president as she is now. Trying to appease her will be just as successful as appeasing someone for the release of a hostage. She holds the progress of goverment hostage and she shouldn’t be allowed to do that anymore.