Team Giffords lays out its frame for the CD8 race:
To: Interested Parties
From: Rodd McLeod, Campaign Manager, Giffords for Congress
Date: August 25th, 2010
In Re: State of the AZ08 RaceWith the defeat of lobbyist/insider Jonathan Paton in yesterday’s Republican primary, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords’ prospects for re-election have brightened significantly. The Arizona Democratic Party’s effort to defeat Mr. Paton over the summer was motivated by a desire to face Mr. Kelly in the fall. Here’s why.
Mr. Kelly makes 2006 nominee Randy Graf appear moderate. As Mr. Kelly’s own words will demonstrate, he is an ideologue with no interest in governing; he is hostile to moderate voters, to the middle class, and to the poor; he has embraced radical positions at every turn; he is not running for Congress to improve life for the people of Southern Arizona; he is running to eliminate Social Security, Medicare and the minimum wage. Below are a dozen reasons that Jesse Kelly cannot win in AZ08.
1. Kelly’s plan for Social Security: “eliminate the program.” Asked about the possibility of “eliminating” Social Security, Mr. Kelly responded: “If you have any ideas on that, I’m all ears. I would love to eliminate the program.” Tucson Weekly, December 2, 2009.
2. Kelly’s hostility to Medicare, which he calls “the public dole.” Also in the Tucson Weeklyon December 2, 2009, Mr. Kelly spoke of wanting to “privatize” Medicare, contending that, “when individuals can start owning their own insurance, then they’re in less need of Medicare in the future, thus getting off the public dole ... It’s one of the biggest problems that not enough people talk about right now.”
3. Kelly’s plan for Wall Street: whatever Wall Street wants. At the Douglas, Arizona tea party on July 17, 2010, Mr. Kelly explained that Wall Street should not have to abide by rules or regulations. Of the Wall Street reform bill, he said, “It has to be repealed. Too much government got us into this fiscal mess. More government is not going to get us out of it."
4. Kelly’s radical tax plan, Part 1. Mr. Kelly believes that corporations pay too much in taxes, and that the cost of government must be entirely borne by individuals. At the Saddlebrooke candidate forum on January 6, 2010, Mr. Kelly said, “The corporate tax rate should be zero. … We must get the corporate tax rate to zero.”
5. Kelly’s radical tax plan, Part 2. Mr. Kelly believes that tax policy should be determined by religion. At the Green Valley tea party debate on June 14, 2010, Mr. Kelly said, “We need to get to a 10% flat tax in this country ... If 10% is good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for the federal government.”
6. Kelly’s radical tax plan, Part 3. Mr. Kelly’s plan to balance the budget includes creating a national sales tax of 23% that would apply to everything a middle class family buys, from food to medicine. Supporters of this proposal have labeled it ‘the Fair Tax.” At the U of A Republican Club debate on April 8, 2010, Mr. Kelly said, “It's time to cut that completely back - fair tax, flat-tax, I support them both. They're both fantastic and a lot better than what we have now."
7. Kelly’s war on the middle class. Mr. Kelly believes that middle-class Americans are “unproductive” people who take advantage of the rich. At the U of A Republican Club debate on April 8, 2010, Mr. Kelly said, “The top 10% of this country pays 70% of the tax bill. We continue to squeeze the productive in favor of the unproductive.”
8. Kelly’s hostility toward moderates. Mr. Kelly believes that moderates must be “told” what they believe. At a Tucson meet and greet on August 17, 2010, Mr. Kelly said, “This middle you talk about — it doesn’t exist. This is a conservative country. Many people don’t label themselves as that, but they are, ask anybody. […] That middle doesn’t exist. They’re just conservatives who haven’t been told they’re conservatives yet.”
9. Kelly’s plan to expand poverty. Mr. Kelly has called for eliminating the minimum wage. At the Saddlebrooke candidate forum on January 6, 2010, Kelly said, “ We must take steps to lower and eventually eliminate the minimum wage.”
10. Kelly’s hostility toward his opponent. Mr. Kelly uses disgusting words and images to humiliate his opponents. At the Green Valley tea party debate on June 14, 2010, Mr. Kelly said, "The land of the free is where we're supposed to be living here, and these people want to control your toilets ... Stay out of my toilet, Gabrielle Giffords, alright?”
11. Kelly’s hostility toward government employees. With a US Army intelligence post at Ft. Huachuca, the Davis-Monthan Air Force base, the Coronado National Forest, and the Saguaro National Park, AZ-08 is home to tens of thousands of federal workers, who are described by Mr. Kelly in a June 30, 2010 radio interview as parasites. “What is a government worker? A government worker is a person who lives and sucks off of the taxpayer. They don't put anything into the system. They suck off of the system.”
12. Kelly’s “basically simple” explanation for everything wrong with the world. During a discussion of energy issues, Mr. Kelly explained that U.S. dependence on foreign oil was due to liberals. At a debate at Desert Christian High School on July 21, 2010, he said, “We're tied to Middle East oil because we elect too many liberals to our government. It's basically that simple.”Each of Mr. Kelly’s statements (besides the two that appeared in the Tucson Weekly) quoted above are available to the public via the popular website YouTube.com.
For anyone who is interested in our lengthy Q&A with Kelly, you can find it here.