How the RNC chooses to raise money

August 28, 2007

When it comes to fundraising pitches, the rhetoric is supposed to be accurate but exaggerated. Reasoned, sensible requests tend not to raise money; donors have to be shocked into reaching for their checkbook.

The Republican National Committee tends to take this idea to the extreme with pretty loathsome fundraising appeals. Indeed, the RNC has developed a well-deserved reputation for making accusations that turn right at accurate and head straight for loonyville. Consider the party’s latest pitch:

“The Democrats are hoping our troops fail in the War on Terror in the craven desire that it will boost their party’s electoral fortunes in 2008.”

It’s a fairly routine appeal for money, but let’s keep a few points in mind anyway.

First, once in a while, conservatives will feign ignorance and say, “Who’s questioned Democrats’ patriotism?” The RNC uses offensive language like this in every fundraising letter.

Second, as Michael Link mentioned, notice that the RNC didn’t say that Dems hope Bush fails; it said Dems hope “our troops” fail. It’s almost as if the RNC is poised to hold the troops responsible for the president’s policies. Hmm.

And third, in case you’re wondering, I’ve seen quite a bit of DNC fundraising pitches, and I’ve never seen the Dems accuse Republicans of actively hoping for military failure. I guess it’s a reminder that politics is a contact sport, and one side has sharpened its spikes.

I think the proper response would be to ask the viewer if anyone can believe anything the Republicans say anymore. List the lies we all know about, show unflattering pictures of Bush, Gonzales, and the local Republican rep, and scroll the BushCo fiasco list across the screen.

At the end, say “Now the Republicans are saying that the Democrats want us to lose the war on terror. If you believe this, your name is probably George W Bush.”

  • Beep52 had a great comment yesterday that succinctly detailed the many ways that the Republicans, through the Bush administration, have been torpedoing the efforts of US forces and what is left of the “coalition” that remains in Iraq. Republicans can blabber all they want about how much Dems may “hope” for failure in Iraq, but there is damn solid proof that Republicanism is actually killing them.

    Whether it was leaving vast weapons dumps unguarded after the initial invasion that have come to haunt troops as IEDs, to training sectarian milita members by day that attack US forces at night, to arming and losing vast stores of weapons to attack us with to slathering Iraq in US dollars in such a wanton and wasteful manner that our own tax dollars are being used to kill our own troops. … And that’s just scratching the surface.

    The Larry Craig hyposcisy on gay sex is just another manifestation of Republicans lying in ways so egregious that the only time I have ever witnessed such baldfaced dishonesty was in Communist regimes.

  • “The Democrats are hoping our troops fail in the War on Terror in the craven desire that it will boost their party’s electoral fortunes in 2008.”

    And the RNC is hoping that the American Public fails to recognize that the Global War On a Psychological State is a manifestation of the craven desire of the Corporate Military Industrial Establishment to perpetuate American Imperialism, abolish the Constitution and enthrone One World Government.

  • While completely obnoxious – and untrue – an appeal like this, sent via e-mail, isn’t the end of the world. If it were going to be on the TV and radio, it might require a response, but this is just a wholly desperate plea for money. The GOP’s coins are kind of rattling around in the tin cup – heck, the MD GOP is flat broke – so consider how bad things are if they have to resort to things most people know to be untrue.

    My suggestion would be to not go on the defensive directly – I think that’s how they would like the Dems to respond, because that keeps the message out there – “Dems want troops to fail” – and we should have no interest in helping them raise any money.

    I think this is a sign of the way they plan to play things – it may be the dirtiest campaign yet, which – given what we’ve seen the last 2 presidential election cycles – will be pretty bad.

    What we should be doing is putting out e-mails that detail what we are doing for the troops – or trying to do – and what we are doing for veterans. That’s a positive message, that the GOP has nothing to counter with. Kind of hard to make the case that we want them to fail when we are doing everything we can to make sure they are equipped, and that they are properly cared for.


  • JKap: And the RNC is hoping that the American Public fails to recognize that the Global War On a Psychological State is a manifestation of the craven desire of the Corporate Military Industrial Establishment to perpetuate American Imperialism, abolish the Constitution and enthrone One World Government.

    DUUHHHH… LIBRUHLS HATE AMURICA!!!

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