Saturday, July 30, 2022

Pushback Can Win.



'TilTheLandslideBringsThem
DownVille


In April of this year a Republican state senator from Michigan named Lana Theis took a page out of her party's smear book and sent out a fundraising Email in which she singled out a Democratic colleague by name for no good reason at all:
"...These are the people we are up against. Progressive social media trolls like Senator Mallory McMorrow (D-Snowflake) who are outraged they can't teach can't groom and sexualize kindergarteners or that 8-year olds are responsible for slavery..."

Now.

While Ms. Theis may be a Whackaloon in good standing who lives, breathes and works tirelessly to play that faux game of 'Own The Libs!', she (and/or her 'team') may also have been motivated by the fact that she is facing a primary challlenge from an even farther right, Trump-endorsed, Whackaloon named Mike Detmer that involves a strange bedfellows sidebar and Betsy DeVos' billions...

Regardless, Ms. McMorrow did not take Ms. Theis' smear (or her mangled syntax) lying down. Instead, she gave a brilliant, unapologetic speech, shown above, on the floor of the Michigan Senate that included statements such as the following:
Hate wins when people like me stand by and let it happen. I won't...

..So who am I?

I am a straight, white, Christian, married, suburban mom who knows that the very notion that learning about slavery or redlining or systemic racism means that children are being taught to feel bad or hate themselves because they are white is absolute nonsense...

...I want my daughter to know that she is loved, supported, and seen for whoever she becomes. I want her to be curious, empathetic, and kind.

I want every child to feel seen, heard, and supported, not marginalized and targeted if they are not straight, white, and Christian...

...People who are different are not the reason our roads are in bad shape, or healthcare costs are too high, or teachers are leaving the profession...

... I want to be very clear right now: Call me whatever you want. I know who I am. I know what faith and service mean, and what it calls for in this moment. We will not let hate win.

There was quite a bit of media buzz about the speech at the time, mostly focussed on the spectacle.

However, the final whistle has blown and the score has been tallied. Clearly, Ms. McMorrow won.

By a landslide:
The numbers are in and it’s official: The attack on Democratic Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow backfired.

The Michigan Republican state senator who falsely described McMorrow as a “groomer” in an April fundraising email raised less than $300 in the days following the solicitation, according to campaign finance filings. McMorrow, on the other hand, raised more than $1 million...

{snip}

...Theis didn’t see an influx of small-dollar donations from the solicitation — her take from individual donors was just $235. But McMorrow used the response to her speech to build a data base of 11,000 donors from all 50 states, according to her husband and treasurer Ray Wert...

...Theis didn’t return POLITICO requests for comments. Her husband, Sam, hung up on a reporter when asked about the sum: “I wouldn’t have any information on that, go ahead and do a search on the database, thanks,” he said...

Imagine that!


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4 comments:

Eleanor Gregory said...

This is a fantastic speech. I am going to keep a copy and reflect upon it again from time to time to stay brave.

RossK said...

EG--

It is truly a fantasetic and inspiring few minutes of oratory.

Ms. McMorrow has proven herself to be both inspiring and fearless.


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Graham said...

Yes! A little good news and some hope that the always lying, deflecting, intimidating, lowest of the low, downright nasty, did I mention lying? right leaning politicians aren’t always scoring a point on basically good, not perfect, people, who certainly don’t need to make up anything about their opponents across the isle because we read and see the unbelievable from them most every day.
Man, I would like to see more of this!
Thank you Ms. McMorrow for so eloquently putting the trash in its place.

Graham said...

Oh, and thank you Ross for bringing this to our attention.
You find a lot of good stuff in your ramblings around the news and such but a some of it leaves me a little deflated as it’s these right leaning types, republicans, that do and say some of the most horrible things. It’s good to see the occasional win.
Thank you for helping to keep us informed.