In a scathing email to supporters today, Rep. Gerry Connolly (11th) unleashed a barrage of attacks against the GOP and tea partiers, accusing them of attempting to “turn back the clock.” Invoking the names of a few conservative media icons, he even accused them of disrupting a recent event and claimed that insurance companies are out to get him:
Since being elected to Congress, I have worked to save our economy, invest in clean energy, and crack down on insuance company abuses. Now Republicans are targeting me for defeat in November. Inspired by Sarah Palin and Glen Beck, the Tea Party wants to turn back the clock on the historic progress we have made.
At a rally in my district, Tea Party activists chanted lies about my voting record, values, and even compared me to socialist dictator Hugo Chavez. They accused me of supporting death panels and undermining Americans’ freedoms. We cannot let their propaganda influence voters on Election Day.
After I voted for historic health care reform legislation, health insurance companies spent almost a million dollars on negative ads against me. In the coming months they will devote even more time and resources to putting a Republican in this seat. In 2008, Republicans spent more than two million dollars on vicious, deceitful, and negative ads focused on defeating me. Now, following the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, corporations can spend unlimited amounts of unregulated money to overwhelm our system and corrode our democracy. Insurance companies can now buy elections to remove people like me who stood up to them.
This type of attack seems to be the preferred method of raising support for Democrats in Northern Virginia. Delegate Eileen-Filler Corn used a bizarre flier that demonized Rush Limbaugh. Like Connolly, State Senator Dave Marsden mocked Sarah Palin to rally support. Both Democrats won close elections because more Democrats showed up to the polls than Republicans.
So is it a winning strategy?
Massive spending, infringements of liberty, and the increase in the size of the federal government are the key issues that drive tea partiers. They have used that fire to win a few elections throughout the country and push the tone of debate outside of Washington, DC to be more receptive towards states rights and limited government.
On the other side the rallying call to arms is apparently to stop Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, and Rush Limbaugh. Candidates in two northern Virginia special elections used those tactics and Democrats got two victories. So it cannot be completely discounted.
But will it be enough to stop the bleeding in a Republican year?
