Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Patriotism the Scott Brown Way

David S. Bernstein, ace reporter and brother, blogs this:
Senator Scott Brown's campaign office sent out a fundraising email today, inviting donors to submit an essay on "what the Fourth of July means to you" -- with the best essay to be awarded a trip to Boston for a Red Sox game. (During his Presidential campaign, Mitt Romney did something very similar.)
Apparently, Patriotism comes with a price:

Please contribute $50 for your essay to qualify in this contest.
If I was entering, I'd start off my essay like so:
To me, the 4th of July holds great meaning -- especially in this increasingly cynical world, where some politicians see the holiday merely as a fundraising gimmick for wringing 50 bucks out of suckers who want to express their patriotism....
My question: how common is this stuff?   Let's see...we have here a pay-to-play essay "contest," a fundraising raffle, and exploiting a national holiday for partisan purposes.  Nice trifecta!  I'm curious: has anyone seen anything similar or better from other candidates?

4 comments:

  1. I remember Obama doing something similar. You donated any amount in order to be entered into a raffle for (I think) a backstage pass to his acceptance speech at the DNC. There was a $5 minimum donation.

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  2. Hm. I wasn't aware that the Democratic National Convention was a national, patriotic holiday now. Of course, it should be.

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  3. Wow, Jonathan, can you get this one to Rachel Maddow? She's had so much fun with Brown already...

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  4. ASP,

    Hmmm...I think I'll leave it to my brother. Odd fact: Rachel Maddow is a dead ringer for our sister (at least sitting down; our sister is way short). She's a political pollster, but AFAIK she never does any press hits herself, so odds that she'll ever be on the Maddow show are slim. I don't know whether Maddow reads the Phoenix...everyone in MA should, though: my brother is really an excellent reporter.

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