Democratic officials working under the direction of President Obama are using recent threats and acts of vandalism for an e-mail fundraising pitch to the 13 million-member Organizing for America (OFA) e-mail list from the president's campaign.
"We knew that power concedes nothing," the e-mail states. "So did President Obama. So did the members of Congress who courageously voted for reform, knowing that the special interests and the extreme right wing would retaliate swiftly."
The e-mail was authored by Mitch Stewart, the OFA director who works under the auspices of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). The time stamp on the OAS fund-raising e-mail shows that it was sent at 6:55 p.m. Thursday.
"The attacks are fierce," the fundraising e-mail states. "Deceptive ads are hitting the airwaves in swing districts. GOP lawmakers are pushing to repeal reform — and preventing the Senate from performing basic functions. A few Republican attorneys general have launched a baseless attack to overturn the legislation. But that's not even the worst of it.
"A conservative blogger posted the home address of Congressman Tom Perriello, urging tea partiers to 'drop by.' Other members have had death threats. Democratic offices have been vandalized."
The e-mail followed hard on the heels of a warning Thursday from GOP House Minority Whip Eric Cantor that Democrats were "fanning the flames" of extreme behavior by publicizing the incidents in an effort to brand the grassroots-conservative movement as somehow radical and dangerous.
Cantor added that a window to his Richmond campaign headquarters had been shot out on Monday, but he sought to avoid publicizing the incident because doing so only incites further extremism, he said.
GOP reaction to Friday's DNC e-mail blast to the president's supporters was immediate and strident.
Ken Spain, communications director for the National Republican Congressional Committee, tells Newsmax: “With one side of their mouths, Democrats are attacking Republicans for 'not going far enough’ in helping them distract voters from the tax hikes and Medicare cuts they just voted to impose on them. But the other sides of their mouths remain curiously shut as President Obama’s campaign arm uses the safety of members of Congress as a fundraising tool. Violence is never the answer to political disagreements — but neither is shameless political grandstanding."
Leaders of the tea party movement, who have been branded for a week with innuendo from Democrats over racism, extremism, and violence reacted sharply as well to the president's use of the issue to raise money for political purposes.
Tea Party Patriots co-founder Mark Meckler tells Newsmax, "First of all, Tea Party Patriots has a zero tolerance policy against any type of violence or bigotry. But that applies to Democrats, Republicans and Independents. It applies equally regardless of party."
He then blasted the DNC's use of the recent incidents to try to motivate the president's backers to donate money.
"I think it's offensive and inflammatory for the arm of the president, the OFA, to be using this to raise money. The whole point is to inflame feelings. That's why they sent out the e-mail to raise money."
Meckler added that his organization receives threatening e-mails "every day, around the clock," but certainly doesn't seek to use them to gain political advantage. He read Newsmax two e-mails the Tea Party Patriots received in the past 24 hours. One stated: "You should all be euthanized or then just given the bubonic plague." Another stated "Get out of America… You are Satan, Obama is God," he said.
Such disturbed and disturbing e-mails, which are routinely received by most people in the public eye including the news media, should be responded to in a serious way by directing them to the proper authorities, not used to try to attain political objectives, Meckler tells Newsmax.
"I'm not going to use that e-mail as a fund raiser," Meckler says. "It's offensive."
Meckler went on to say, "To me the outrageous part is Democrats are using this thing that unfortunately happens every single day, and they're using it to raise money. Most of us in the public eye realize it's not something to make hay out of. You take it seriously when it's threatening, but you don't go public. We deal with it in a quiet and professional manner."
Newsmax contacted the DNC for its comment on the reaction to the fund-raising e-mail, but has not yet received a response.
Meckler also says the recent political history suggests threats are more likely to come from the political left than the right.
"We need to remember this is a tactic the left has used for decades – violence, threats, intimidation," he says. "If you go back through history, you'll find it regularly on the left. It's been a primary tactic of the left since the 1960s to use violence, threats, and intimidation."
Following is the text of the OFA fundraiser, which went out under the subject line of “We need to act”:
"We knew that power concedes nothing. So did President Obama. So did the members of Congress who courageously voted for reform, knowing that the special interests and the extreme right wing would retaliate swiftly.
"The attacks are fierce. Deceptive ads are hitting the airwaves in swing districts. GOP lawmakers are pushing to repeal reform — and preventing the Senate from performing basic functions. A few Republican attorneys general have launched a baseless attack to overturn the legislation. But that's not even the worst of it.
"A conservative blogger posted the home address of Congressman Tom Perriello, urging tea partiers to "drop by." Other members have had death threats. Democratic offices have been vandalized.
"Please chip in $5 or more to defend health reform — and those in Congress who fought to make it possible.
"Showing support for reform and those who fought for it is our number one priority right now. We're going all-out, organizing grassroots events around the country, running supportive ads on the air, and making sure that every American knows the truth about the historic legislation that representatives voted into law.
"Members of Congress know that reform would not have passed without all of your incredible work. But we also know that it would not have passed without their courage.
"Together, along with President Obama, we beat the insurance companies and brought affordable coverage to 32 million without it, reduced costs for families and small businesses, and created the toughest patient protections in history.
A few weeks ago, we made a simple promise to these representatives: You fight for health reform, we'll fight for you. It's time to hold up our end of the deal. Please donate $5 or more."