The Republican Party of Texas for one, if you believe their fundraising appeals.
In a heated fundraising letter sent this week to donors statewide, the Texas GOP calls the new Democratic voter-mobilization effort “a clear and present threat to you and your family.”
“They’re coming to take away your guns,” the letter signed by GOP state chairman Steve Munisteri says. “They’re coming to confiscate more of your paycheck. They’re coming to hijack your rights and freedoms.”
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The GOP letter urges Republicans to give anywhere from $15 to $5,000 so the party can “immediately undertake our own effort to identify thousands of Texas conservatives.”
The letter warns that the former Obama operatives “have become masters of the slimy ‘dark arts’ of campaigning: creating massive databases; collecting information on every voter and non-voter; and then using that information to do whatever it takes to drive these voters away from Republican candidates and principles.”
Not to be outdone, the Battleground Texas folks are now using the Munisteri letter as their own fundraising tool. “I’ve been around Texas politics for a long time, but I have never seen desperation like this,” said Christina Gomez, digital director for Battleground Texas, in a statement that features an image of the GOP letter and asks Democrats to chip in to help.
Politics sure is easier with a boogieman, isn’t it? I know, this doesn’t mean they’re actually afraid of Battleground Texas, but it pays to make the seething masses believe there’s something to fear out there. It would be strange if they didn’t do something like this.
And speaking of boogiemen, here’s Greg Abbott taking things to the logical extreme.
Abbott also said a group working to make Democrats more competitive in Texas represented a “far more dangerous” threat than anything uttered by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
The comments came during a lunchtime speech to the McLennan County Republican Club that featured frequent criticisms of President Barack Obama’s efforts on gun control, health care reform and environmental regulation.
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Abbott also weighed in on Battleground Texas, a group formed by veterans of Obama’s presidential campaigns hoping to make Democrats more competitive in Texas, where the party hasn’t won a statewide election in nearly two decades.
“One thing that requires ongoing vigilance is the reality that the state of Texas is coming under a new assault, an assault far more dangerous than what the leader of North Korea threatened when he said he was going to add Austin, Texas, as one of the recipients of his nuclear weapons,” Abbott said. “The threat that we’re getting is the threat from the Obama administration and his political machine.”
Battleground Texas realizes Republicans can’t win a presidential election without Texas’ 38 electoral votes, which makes the state “the last line of defense” in protecting the country’s future, he said.
In an interview after the speech, Abbott said he made the comparison to North Korea partly because he doesn’t think the country is a serious threat to the U.S. He also wanted to stress the idea that “complacency kills” in politics, he said.
“Republicans who are complacent are kidding themselves if they think Battleground Texas is not a threat,” he said.
Yes, I’m sure that’s what you meant, Greg. Hey, you fearmonger with the bad guys you have, not the bad guys you wish you had, am I right? Now it’s on us to give them all something to be afraid of.
At one time I thought the man would be an alternative to the deeply dividing comments Gov. Perry often spews. What a shame to see Abbott going Wacko in Waco.
Oh what paranoia Republicans enjoy creating. To me it says they lack ideas to move the state forward. It only supports the need for a Battleground Texas.