I Gave: Did You? (UPDATED)

UPDATED BELOW
Today is the August 8 Money Bomb: the date was chosen in honor of the day Richard Nixon resigned rather than face impeachment for crimes against the Constitution.

With this Congress, Nixon would have been given a medal. Just look at the horrors that have been allowed to happen under the watchful eye of Steny Hoyer, Nancy “You Are Advocates We are Leaders” Pelosi, and Harry Reid: blank check after blank check for Iraq; refusal to rein in the President; even more belligerence toward Iran; permitting subpoenas to go unanswered; allowing the Republicans to filibuster silently and without consequence; and worst of all, the theft of our Fourth Amendment Freedoms and a get-out-of-jail-free card to lawbreaking companies like AT&T and Verizon.  It is time for Accountability.
In short, the Congress and Senate we elected has ignored public opinion, and deliberately spit in our faces, daring us to do something about it. What’re ya gonna do, vote for McCain?

Well, no: instead we’re going to punish you and make sure that there is always a consequence when you don’t dance with them that brung ya.  Dig deep Tribbers, and donate now to the money bomb.  It’s 10:00 AM EST: so far 446 donors have raised $33,330 and counting.  

UPDATE: So what’s the money going to be used for? Glenzilla says:

Grounded in the premise that the Democrats are going to control both houses of Congress for the foreseeable future — a premise virtually nobody disputes — the primary objective has to be to alter the behavior of those who control the Congress.

Increasing the Democrats’ margin of control doesn’t achieve that goal. It does the opposite. Conveying to Democrats that you will support all of them no matter what they do, no matter how egregiously they trample on your values, only ensures that they will ignore your political priorities and values even more… Only by attaching a serious price to their enabling of these extremist, destructive policies will their behavior change.
[snip]
In the last couple of months, we have done the following as part of our campaign, in several instances in partnership with Color of Change, the African-American grass-roots group devoted to compelling greater responsiveness among the Beltway class:

* newspaper ads in every newspaper in Steny Hoyer’s district, along with a full-page ad in the local section of The Washington Post, exposing to his constituents his lead role in engineering the Bush-enabling FISA bill;

* a massive robocall campaign in Hoyer’s district, narrated by respected Pastor Lennox Yearwood from that district, exposing how Hoyer’s work in Washington is so out-of-step with the political values of the constituents on whom he relies for re-election;

* an ongoing multi-media campaign — involving TV, radio and newspaper ads — aimed at vulnerable “Blue Dog” Rep. Chris Carney, who worked with Doug Feith at the Pentagon to disseminate pre-war “intelligence” and now is one of the most vocal pro-Bush Democrats in Congress;

* a full-page ad in the “A” section of The Washington Post, the day before the Senate’s approval of the new FISA bill, demonstrating what a profound assault on the rule of law the Congress was waging, and how it further cements the two-tiered system of justice the political establishment enjoys;

* donations to 12 members of Congress and Congressional candidates who, at political risk, vigorously opposed the new FISA bill;

* newspaper ads aimed at vulnerable “Blue Dog” Rep. John Barrow, who proudly runs for re-election by denouncing “cut and run” Democrats and who supports one radical Bush measure after the next, despite representing a +2 Democratic district.
[snip]
We will spend the entire $350,000 already raised for the Blue America fund between now and November by targeting selected, vulnerable Democratic members of Congress who supported this FISA bill and who generally have enabled Bush radicalism.

The August 8 Money Bomb is intended to be used to fuel a long-term campaign and an enduring organization devoted to changing the behavior of the political class with regard to these issues. We intend to begin now actively recruiting and promoting credible primary challengers against the likes of Steny Hoyer and other key culprits; to target for defeat those members of Congress who continue to support policies of this sort, Democrat or Republican; and to find ways to affect the public discourse on these issues, which are jointly distorted and ignored by both the so-called “liberal Beltway establishment” and the crux of the Republican Party.

We’ve raised more than $55,000 in just a few hours. donate now, if you can!

Author: Brendan Skwire

Brendan Skwire is a cultural and media critic. He offers nearly two decades of experience as a journalist, video editor, blogger, and community organizer. Skwire has worked for the Philadelphia Weekly, Scrapple TV, and Raw Story, and is a former member of the News Guild.