Marilyn Musgrave Robocall Attacks Liberals

By Jeralyn, Section Elections 2008
Posted on Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 10:35:09 AM EST
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Ungracious outgoing Colorado Republican Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave, who has yet to call winner Betsy Markey and congratulate her on her win in Colorado's 4th District race for Congress, made a robocall for Georgia Congressman Saxby Chambliss after her defeat. Here's the text:

Hello, I'm Marilyn Musgrave. Until last month I was the congresswoman from Colorado. Leftist special interests from around the country poured money into my district to defeat me. They overwhelmed us with money. And they smothered the truth with vicious attacks and lies.

More...

We are seeing the same pattern in Georgia. Pro-abortion radicals and liberal activists won't stop until they have a chokehold on our government.

You can stop them with your vote. It's too late to change the results in Colorado, but on Tuesday you can cast your vote for Saxby Chambliss.

Musgrave ran the most vicious attack ads I saw on television during the campaign. Here's an example. Bye, Bye Musgrave. You won't be missed.

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Marilyn Musgrave Robocall Attacks Liberals | 45 comments (45 topical)

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Musgrave was the most satisfying (5.00 / 3) (#1)
by andgarden on Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 10:47:49 AM EST

defeat this year. Well, tied with Lou Barletta.

: My candidate (none / 0) (#37)
by cal1942 on Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 05:48:24 PM EST

for best defeat was of Tim Walberg Michigan 7th Congressional District, Minister, ultra right-winger, dishonorable filthy liar, a disgrace to the United States House of Representatives and humanity everywhere.
Bet we could all submit a candidate for this dishonor.
Musgrave and others are the face a degenerate, disgraceful Republican Party.

As a democrat, (5.00 / 1) (#2)
by Lil on Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 10:53:07 AM EST

it's nice to hear "leftists poured money" into a race. There was a time in my life when I didn't think we could compete with the righties. BTW, got a Boxer appeal call last night, I guess with the exception of Minnesota, 2008 really is over.

Was it a call for money? (5.00 / 3) (#25)
by joanneleon on Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 02:03:13 PM EST

If so, I really have a problem with that. I've also seen quite a bit of analysis about 2010 already -- before the month of November was even over. There has to be a break from the perpetual election campaigns. There has to be a time to focus on issues and getting things done. And politicians need to give their supporters a break with the money solitications. It really got to be ridiculous this year.


: yes it was for money (5.00 / 2) (#44)
by Lil on Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 08:13:15 PM EST

and I said no. I told then to call me later in the year. I felt the same way, like we just finished pouring our hearts and souls into this thing. We barely finished hollering "woohoo, we won!" and they're asking for more money, and just before the holidays to boot. I support Boxer, but I did feel like give me a break, for crying out loud.

Why would anyone in Georgia care about (5.00 / 3) (#3)
by tigercourse on Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 11:01:39 AM EST

what a former Colorado congresswoman thinks? That would be like the Vice President of Poland calling and telling me who should be my Mayor.

My guess is that (5.00 / 3) (#7)
by eric on Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 11:11:18 AM EST

her story is appealing because it is a classic "victim" story. "The mean leftists came in and took me down. Don't let that happen to Chambliss".

Digby had been writing a little bit about this again, the role of victimization in conservative culture, especially in the south.


The south. . . (none / 0) (#8)
by andgarden on Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 11:13:17 AM EST

: I have to call it the victimization theme (none / 0) (#34)
by Militarytracy on Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 04:31:59 PM EST

of conservatism, from select parts of California up to Idaho and down on through Texas then running like wildfire across the plains headed to all areas Southern "The enemy of my enemy is my friend......DFHies".

She's a big deal culture warrior (none / 0) (#4)
by andgarden on Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 11:05:24 AM EST

Yeah, but she's still from clear (none / 0) (#6)
by tigercourse on Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 11:10:14 AM EST

across the country. I doubt she's particularly well known to Saxby's voters.


Bet you are wrong on that :) (none / 0) (#35)
by Militarytracy on Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 04:34:41 PM EST

: A few things she is famous for (none / 0) (#36)
by Militarytracy on Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 04:40:56 PM EST

among those more conservative than we are around here usually.link

Representative Musgrave has become most well-known for her advocacy of a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriages. Her campaign to ban gay marriages began in her freshman term as a state representative, when she proposed and navigated a ban through the legislature after a Hawaii court said that state had to allow same-sex unions. Her bill was vetoed twice by then-governor Roy Romer (a Democrat), who called the measure "simplistic and divisive." But she persisted, reintroducing the bill every year until it was signed into law in 2000 by the subsequent governor, Republican Bill Owens.
She is also an active anti-choice activist and supporter of the "global gag" rule under which foreign family planning agencies may not receive U.S. assistance if they provide any abortion services, including counseling or referrals on abortion, or lobby to make or keep abortion legal in their own country and also supported efforts to halt U.S. funding for the UN Population Fund (http://www.unfpa.org/). (1) Her advocacy of gun rights outpaces even that of the National Rifle Association. While serving as a Colorado legislator she "once accused the National Rifle Association of being too quick to compromise in backing away from her efforts to ease the state's gun-control laws," according to the Wall Street Journal (2) She has also never met a tax cut she didn't like, and has actively opposed any increase in the gasoline tax. (3)

Hey, Marilyn: (5.00 / 1) (#5)
by Radiowalla on Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 11:08:46 AM EST

Stop whining.

BooHoo. (5.00 / 1) (#9)
by MileHi Hawkeye on Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 11:19:51 AM EST

Somebody call the Waambulance. Poor MM--such a sh*tty candidate that the RNCC didn't want to fund her. Even they knew that the return on investment would be negative.

As for the rest of her "claims", well that's just the disgruntled and bitter pot calling the kettle black.

Such a class act, she has yet to thank her own campaign workers for their efforts.

: She reaally does need a Waambulance! (none / 0) (#32)
by nycstray on Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 04:01:36 PM EST

What's funny is her opening whine really detracts from her attack. By the time I got through her opening, all I could think was "whiny a** b!tch", lol!~

Where is Obama (5.00 / 3) (#10)
by cpa1 on Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 11:31:50 AM EST

I am afraid the things I didn't like about Obama when he was a senator will materialize once again as presidnt. Where the hell was Obama in the Georgia Senate race? Maybe this was another "I'm not filibustering Sam Alito" moment.

With the trash the Republicans put out in Georgia, including but not limited their candidate, Musgrave and Palin, you would think Obama would have gone whole hog to get out the black and the youth vote. Is anyone else upset about this? He also could have smacked Musgrave in the face for her politics of hate, something we MUST get tid of.

I suspect he thought it would be undignified (5.00 / 1) (#11)
by oculus on Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 11:40:37 AM EST

for the President-elect to campaign.


That's right (none / 0) (#17)
by Spamlet on Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 01:00:25 PM EST

Once he's the president-elect, he's the president-elect of all Americans. And that's actually a point that he stressed during his Grant Park speech on election night. It would have looked and been divisive for him to mix it up in Georgia.


I am half way through Team of Rivals. (5.00 / 1) (#19)
by oculus on Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 01:07:30 PM EST

One thing I learned so far: after Lincoln was nominated, he did no personal campaign appearances. And he was tried very hard to make sure nothing he wrote after his nomination made it into the public eye. What he did do was send quotations from his previous speeches and writings to surrogates and urge them to emphasize what he sd. in the past but make no further representations of his current positions.


Through the (none / 0) (#38)
by cal1942 on Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 05:55:55 PM EST

end of the 19th century Presidential candidates "stood" for office.

McKinley received visitors to his front porch.


Goodwin says Mary Lincoln (none / 0) (#40)
by oculus on Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 06:11:37 PM EST

enjoyed all the dignataries coming to pay court to Lincoln at their home.


: That's consistent (none / 0) (#43)
by cal1942 on Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 06:59:50 PM EST

for Mary Lincoln.

I don't agree (5.00 / 4) (#21)
by Steve M on Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 01:24:48 PM EST

It's positively standard and expected for a sitting President to campaign for Congressional candidates of his own party. There's nothing about it that's inconsistent with being a President for all Americans.

Obama did cut an ad, after all. He did send key staffers down to Georgia to help Martin. The only thing he refrained from was personal appearances, and it's likely that that had a lot more to do with the desire not to squander political capital on a lost cause than some kind of abstract principle about avoiding divisiveness.

Let me ask you this. Obama will still be the President in 2010. Do you imagine he will refrain from stumping for Democratic candidates in key races?


Technically (none / 0) (#26)
by joanneleon on Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 02:18:12 PM EST

he's not the president-elect until Dec. 15th, or it could even be argued, Jan 6th.

...on the Monday after the second Wednesday in December, electors convene in their respective state capitals (and the District of Columbia) and in turn elect the President of the United States. The electoral ballots are counted in a joint session of Congress on January 6 (as required by 3 U.S. Code, Chapter 1), and if the ballots are accepted without objections, the candidate winning at least 270 electoral votes is announced the President-elect by the incumbent Vice President, in his or her capacity as President of the Senate.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President-elect

Well, that's a distinction that only matters (5.00 / 2) (#29)
by andgarden on Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 03:03:46 PM EST

when it matters. This year, it doesn't matter.


: Hey, he's already got that podium. (none / 0) (#41)
by oculus on Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 06:12:48 PM EST

But why two, count 'em, two U.S. flags?

I'm not upset about it. (none / 0) (#12)
by indy in sc on Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 11:47:51 AM EST

He cut ads for Martin for the race. I don't think it is realistic to expect that he would spend a lot of time while he's involved in the transition and making cabinet appointments, etc. going back to campaigning in a race that was not going to be close. I frankly don't think it would have put Martin over the top anyway. The DSCC should have picked a stronger candidate to run against Chambliss and avoided a run-off altogether.


It was the voters in her... (none / 0) (#13)
by MileHi Hawkeye on Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 11:48:36 AM EST

...district that provided the ultimate slap to Muskrat's face--and the politics of hate were only part of the reason they did.

She was a danger to the state of Colorado and the Country in many more ways than just her crusade against gay marriage.


She's the Bush-Rove GOP poster child (5.00 / 2) (#14)
by magster on Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 11:53:57 AM EST

and a horrible person (redundant?)

Marylin who? (5.00 / 1) (#18)
by ThatOneVoter on Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 01:04:42 PM EST

I remember a GOP robocall (5.00 / 2) (#24)
by Fabian on Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 01:54:21 PM EST

like this (liberals...Hollywood...radicals) in the general election.

However - it was just some generic voice, not an actual sitting Representative. I expect overwrought rhetoric, but I would be embarrassed if my Rep did something like this personally.

Embarrassment (none / 0) (#28)
by sj on Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 02:32:46 PM EST

Believe me, there is MUCH more to be embarrassed about than this. She was never my Rep but most of my family still lives in her district and this is far from the biggest embarrassment she has caused. She thinks more about s*x than a lap dancer.

Not in the same way, though.


: Condolences! n/t (none / 0) (#30)
by Fabian on Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 03:05:49 PM EST

It's all (none / 0) (#39)
by cal1942 on Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 06:01:42 PM EST

the Republicans have left in their arsenal and I don't believe they've yet realized that it's a tired out old message.

If they keep using it they'll show themselves to be the joke that they are.


: Indeed... (none / 0) (#46)
by MileHi Hawkeye on Thu Dec 04, 2008 at 10:16:39 AM EST

...it seems this might have been somewhat of an audition for MM.

Marilyn Musgrave could play a prominent national role in the social conservative movement, despite her landslide loss to Betsy Markey last month. She gets a big endorsement from a national leader in the pro-life movement, Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List.
"I think she should. I've encouraged her to think about that," Dannenfelser told me in an interview Tuesday. "She's just a great voice for the cause of life, which is what I work on. She really gets it and she's a great communicator. What I talk to her a lot about is women's leadership -- the sort of different model of women's leadership that she and (Sarah) Palin and other women like them provide.

http://tinyurl.com/6x5vzb

Musgrave (5.00 / 1) (#33)
by nellieh on Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 04:28:59 PM EST

Her robocall was an audition to sub for the right wingnuts on radio and Fox News. She passed.

Georgia is a lost cause. (none / 0) (#16)
by hairspray on Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 12:34:48 PM EST

What the GOP did to Max Clelland by calling him unpatriotic was vile. Bill Clinton was infuriated by it and spoke out against them for it quite a bit. At least Bill stumped heavily for Martin. It would have been nice for Obama to have done so as well, but my guess is they knew it was a lost cause and did not want to be seen to close to the damage. I wonder what the tipping point will eventually be in Georgia, if it ever comes. They must have a very small AA population.

: No, there's actually a large AA population (5.00 / 1) (#20)
by andgarden on Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 01:07:31 PM EST

however, the whites vote disproportionately for Republicans. Is a lovely "feature" of the deep south.
The kicked out their last Democratic Governor in 1998 because he dared take the confederate flag off of the state flag.

: Obama just won a landslide victory (5.00 / 1) (#45)
by ChrisO on Thu Dec 04, 2008 at 08:56:09 AM EST

and he hasn't taken office yet, so he doesn't really need to worry about using his political capital yet. But his refraining to campaign for Martin is typical of his overly cautious nature. And every sitting President campaigns for his party's candidates, so I find it hard to believe that the "office" of President elect would be in danger of losing its dignity by Obama campaigning. If he doesn't want to be connected to a losing cause, does that mean he'll only campaign for sure winners? That will be a big help. Perhaps he should have thought about the many supporters who got behind him when he was far from a sure thing. Bill Clinton spent this entire election cycle being vilified by members of his own party, but he sure didn't seem too worried about his reputation when he campaigned for Martin. Of course, the Clintons have always been vigorous campaigners for Democrats all over the country, which I guess makes them only a little less evil.
I find it hard to believe that one day of campaigning for a losing candidate would have had much effect on his political capital when he takes office more than a month from now.
And he may not have turned the tide, but a key difference in the race was that the AA vote was way down from the Presidential election. Perhaps Obama could have made a difference there. Especially since a narrow loss instead of a blowout can have ramifications for the next election.

Awwww (none / 0) (#22)
by Steve M on Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 01:25:30 PM EST

This is the sort of QQ that really brings a smile to my face.

Who cares about this? (none / 0) (#23)
by bocajeff on Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 01:31:26 PM EST

Unless the calls were the reason for the 20 point loss then it doesn't make any sense other than to kick a dead horse.

Which do you think is worse (none / 0) (#27)
by joanneleon on Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 02:27:24 PM EST

in Musgraves' opinion? "Pro-abortion radicals" or "liberal activists"?

The way she uses the terms strikes me as being almost amusing.

It's also almost amusing to even use the term "pro-abortion radicals" too, given the history of the "pro-life" movement.

I don't like her (none / 0) (#31)
by TeresaInSnow2 on Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 03:10:09 PM EST

and I don't agree with her point of view.

However....

I prefer this to the phony outraged perpetuated from politicians of all stripes.

Here's a sample interchange:

Publicly
Pol1: You're a loser
Pol2: You're a scum.

Privately
Pol1: Are we still on for drinks later?
Pol2: Only if I'm buying!

I will never feel outraged about a political rivalry again. Their outrage is phony, henceforth, so is mine.

personally, (none / 0) (#42)
by cpinva on Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 06:49:45 PM EST

i think it would be pretty hysterical if it turned out she was a closet lesbian. it would be even better to find out she'd had an abortion when she was single.

a boy can hope! :)