Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Apparently someone didn't get the memo that Extreme Makeover Jesse Kelly 2.0 in 2012 is not that guy who ran for Congress in 2010. We are supposed to forget that guy ever existed.
The Move America Forward Freedom PAC, supporting Jesse Kelly, put out a fundraising email request on Thursday in direct response to Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords appearing on behalf of Ron Barber this Saturday at a get out the vote rally and concert. These geniuses decided that it would be appropriate to use an image from the Jesse Kelly campaign in 2010 that the GOP handlers of Jesse Kelly 2.0 have studiously avoided so far in 2012.
Move America Forward Freedom PAC
A PAC supporting Kelly sent this image from his 2010 campaign in a fundraising email.
NPR reports PAC supporting former Giffords opponent uses gun image to raise money:
A PAC supporting Jesse Kelly, a former Marine running to replace Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in a special election on Tuesday, is using an image Kelly's campaign has avoided thus far — the candidate holding a gun.
Kelly, a Republican, ran against Giffords, a Democrat, in 2010. Giffords resigned in January, just over a year after a shooting spree left six dead and the congresswoman critically wounded. Kelly's opponent this time is former Giffords aide Ron Barber, who was shot twice during the 2011 rampage.
Giffords will appear at a fundraiser for Barber on Saturday, prompting the Move America Forward Freedom PAC to put out a call for donations on Thursday morning.
* * *
The Move America Forward Freedom PAC's message is that Giffords should not be a factor in the race to fill her seat. Their email to supporters said, "While we applaud the former Congresswoman's recovery, this race is not about Gabby Giffords. We want to give the people of Arizona a new voice that reflects their values."
Jesse Kelly's GOP handlers got caught with their pants down on this one. Welcome to the post-Citizens United world, boys. As is typical of the Kelly campaign in recent weeks, when asked about this latest development, Kelly campaign spokesman John Ellinwood was nonresponsive, mindlessly parroting campaign talking points:
"This campaign is about bringing jobs and prosperity back to America. That's why we're focused on lowering taxes, growing the economy, and lowering gas prices using American energy."
I'm shocked that this guy still has a job at this late date.
So let's recap. The Barber campaign announced a campaign event with Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords who was gravely wounded by a crazed gunman, as was Ron Barber who heroically tried to shield Giffords from the assasin's attack, and the first thought that pops into the mind of Move America Forward Freedom PAC is "Hey, do we still have that image of Jesse Kelly with his gun? Let's use that for a fundraiser."
These fools are either clueless amateurs or are intentionally being provacative and insensitive.
The upside is this will ony hurt the Jesse Kelly campaign which just lost message control in the final days of the campaign.
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er, using those images in his own campaign lit
right, which is why I called it a stereotype.
hell, when I wrote about the Pima Cty republican gun raffle, I was attacked because I failed to distinguish btw a Glock .19 and aGlock .23. as if that was somewhat misleading. at first I apologized. then I checked and discovered that not only are the guns visually identical, but one is in fact simply the more lightweight version of the other.
the gun lobby actually pays people to scour the web for any story that is even potentially anti-gun, at which point they will argue every single point, throwing out every liberal anti-gun stereotype imaginable, finding excuses no matter how irrelevant and esoteric.
I was actually working on a campaign in AZ in 2010. I remember that machine gun fundraiser. again… arizona… republican… not a Glock…
not to mention one of my drinking buddies, a liberal, was himself using images of him serving, holding a weapon and everything.
Hmmm… “the stereotype of liberals being ignorant when it comes to matters firearm-related.” That’s the problem with sterotypes, Alex. I come from a family with a long record of military service, and yes I own a gun (for hunting). I have never owned a handgun or assault rifle which are only for killing people.
At the time Jesse Kelly was using the image above he was also engaging in eliminationist rhetoric while speaking of Gabrielle Giffords with an almost visceral hatred that went well beyond merely disagreeing with her politics. I was at some of his events.
Jesse Kelly held a gun-themed fundraiser in 2010, the pitch read: “Help remove Gabrielle Giffords from office, shoot a fully automatic M-16 with Jesse Kelly.”
Context is important. People haven’t forgotten this.
I personally find it distasteful when any candidate feels the need to pose with their guns, whether it is the obligatory hunting trip in Iowa, or idiots like Joe Manchin and Ron Gould shooting at legislation. It’s chidlish behavior. They should grow up.
Are you people mental? (by the way I miss y’all dearly)
It’s a picture of Kelly from his days on active duty in the Marines, right?
And he’s not exactly brandishing the weapon. If you’re not familiar w/ guns you wouldn’t even know it was an assault rifle.
Congresswoman Giffords was shot in the head by a “person” wielding a Glock handgun.
For the Pima County Republicans to raffle off a Glock as part of a fundraiser, in order to raise money to campaign against Giffords, with the INTENT of outraging people, was in poor taste.
For an outside group to use an image of their supported candidate, a veteran, from his combat days… that’s politics. Good politics. It truly is innocuous, yet it’s garnered them LOTS of earned media, plus it energizes the base while at the same time worsening the stereotype of liberals being ignorant when it comes to matters firearm-related.
What, so no more pictures of McCain in a jet? Jets are weapons…
http://images.huffingtonpost.com/gen/33943/thumbs/s-MCCAIN-AS-PILOT-large.jpg
(p.s. I say this whilst wielding the defense of being the guy who broke the Tucson Glock raffle story back in September)