I included a screen shot of the email so you would believe I am not making this up.
Here is the text:
With the expanding criminal investigation into the Doyle Administration's pay-to-play tactics, and scumbag lobbyist Jack Abramoff admitting he bribed elected officials and staff, public confidence in politicians is taking a beating the likes of which we haven't seen since Ivan Drago took on Apollo Creed in Rocky IV.
There are several things wrong with this email. Let's work through them.
Well, that scumbag Jack Abramoff was all tied up with Rep. Green. Let's count the ways:
1. Abramoff buddy (co-conspirator, if you will) DeLay gave Green almost $30,000 over the years.
2. Congressman #1, also known as Green buddy Rep. Ney is the top of the list for receiving and providing favors for Abramoff. Green returned the favor by bringing Ney to Wisconsin to tell us how to run an honest election.
3. Green Chief of Staff (now Campaign Manager) Mark Graul is now on his 38th answer and excuse as to why he regularly requested or received free tickets and favors from Abramoff (Xoff has a chronology here).
OK, so we have it, Green is nowhere far enough away from Abramoff to use that sort of language (either that or he knows him well enough to call him as 'scumbag'...).
Then, he follows this up by comparing the voters to Ivan Drago vs. Apollo Creed as the lobbyists.
Let's review Rocky IV. Ivan Drago was a steroid-jacked up communist, Apollo Creed was the GOOD GUY, even coming up to the ring in an Uncle Sam suit to the tune of 'Living in America'.
Oh yea, and Ivan KILLED Apollo.
So, according to Mark Green. The voters are a steroid-jacked communist that unremorsefully kills the patriotic, elderly minority underdog lobbyists for entertainment.
Crazy.
Now, I realize that I am taking this email to it's logical extreme. But, come on. You want to be governor of Wisconsin and you can't come up with a better campaign statement?
UPDATE: I added a link to the email as a press release at wispolitics.com. Here it is.
4 comments:
LOGICAL EXTREME? YOU ARE ONE TWISTED INDIVIDUAL. HAVE YOU EVER SAT BACK AND LISTENED TO YOURSELF. WOW!
Jef, do you actually think that Mark Green would refer to someone in a direct mail piece as a scumbag? I think not. In fact, when I saw this on your site, I immediately went to Mark Green's site and they have not even posted their Jan. 12 issue of the Green Sheet yet.
I think for you to post something like this in a serious vein and then write a commentary on it as you did, without verifying its authenticity, is both dangerous and irresponsible.
Incidentally, wanting to take it one step further and not just look at the web site, I also called Mark Green's office to see if there was any legitimacy to this and have been told they are unfamiliar with.
So it would appear that you (and probably others) have been duped by someone very creative with graphics and publishing programs. Creative as they are though, they have infringed on copyrights/trademarks by using the things they have from Green's web site. I suppose a case could be made against them for that if someone wanted.
Anywway, I just thought you and your readers might want to know that this appears to be a hoax.
Jef, I just received a call from the Green headquarters (naturally it came after my first conversation with a woman in the office and after I made my original post to your site).
During the course of this second conversation I was told that the Green Sheet you referred to was, in fact, accurate. However they said those pieces are not written by Green himself and Green would never refer to someone as a scumbag.
The rep who called said the Green Sheets are supposed to be somewhat light-hearted, fun and sort of "kitschy." So as I eat a litte crow, I also stand corrected on at least a portion of my comment from earlier. But I still take issue with this piece as it was emailed out by the campaign. Light-hearted, kitschy or not, I think referring to someone as a scumbag in a publication that has your name attached to it, lacks professionalism. Some might say I have no sense of humor; not true. I just don't see the humor in someone associated with a gubernatorial campaign calling someone else a scumbag. Campaigns can be light and fun, but I believe they should still be conducted with some decorum and professionalism.
Cheryl,
Thanks for the clarification, here is a link to the exact release on the wispolitics.com site:
http://wispolitics.com/index.iml?Article=52591
I realize that he doesn't write everything that goes out, but he should approve of them and take responsibility for them.
And, come on! He's siding with the bad guy - I am insulted as a movie fan at the least!
Everyone knows that Darth Vader and Boba Fett are the only cool bad guys.
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