Last updated on August 10th, 2014 at 05:07 pm
The following of freshman Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) keeps growing. Today his camp sent out a reelection email which thanked Republican hypocrites for the increasing donations to his 2010 campaign. The email taunted the GOP with, “Keep up the good work, gentlemen! The Grayson campaign thanks you for your support.”
Here is the text of email from the Orlando Sentinel’s Central Florida Political Pulse blog, “Congressman Grayson’s re-election campaign wishes to thank all of the Republican hypocrites who attacked Grayson for summarizing the Republican’s health care plan as follows: “Don’t get sick. And if you do get sick, die quickly.” As soon as the Republican hissy fits began, contributions began to pour in to Grayson’s campaign. Thousands of new contributors joined Alan’s Army overnight.
It continued, “Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) demanded an apology. The Grayson re-election campaign would like to usher in a new era of bipartisanship by inviting Rep. Price to serve as the campaign’s Finance Director. The campaign would also like to invite the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, Pete Sessions (R-TX), to serve as Chairman of the Campaign’s Fundraising Committee.
Keep up the good work, gentlemen! The Grayson campaign thanks you for your support.”
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Talk about a thumb in the eye!!! It has been quite a while since progressives have seen a Democrat with balls this big. Remember, that Grayson is a freshman representative in a district that President Obama carried by only five points last year. While Republicans have put up a website trying to use Grayson’s comments to raise money, the only Republican candidate that announced today was tea bagger.
The reality is that any freshman incumbent from a non-safe district is vulnerable. Even before his recent comments, the Republican Party had been targeting Grayson’s seat. If anything, his comments have helped his reelection campaign, because they have raised his profile which has resulted in him getting national Democratic money.
As far as his comments are concerned, they were way over the top, just as the comments of many House Republicans have been on this issue. Are Grayson’s comments any different than the House GOP’s claims that healthcare reform will kill grandma? The problem is that this feel good rhetoric on both sides distracts from the debates need to be held on the issues. Instead of talking about healthcare reform, we are talking about Grayson, which is great for his reelection, but not so good for the bigger issue.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
