Since I first decided to run, I have been talking to people throughout the Fifth District one-on-one, at “Meet Niki” events, at festivals, picnics, and town meetings, and at forums and debates like the one hosted by the Lowell Sun and Nashoba Valley Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday night. I want to hear from people, and I want them to know where I stand. This media effort builds on my attempt to meet and talk to as many people in the Fifth District as I am able. Our first ad highlights my highest priority, bringing an end to the war in Iraq and bringing our troops home.
When I spoke to committed women leaders last week, I talked about how this Administration has us on the wrong course and we need change. In fact, too many changes advocated by the Bush administration have taken us backwards instead of forwards.
Two months ago, in a departure from years of Court precedents, the Supreme Court reversed a decision that six federal courts deemed unconstitutional and harmfully restricted a woman’s rights.
As the lone female voice on the Supreme Court bench, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s delivered a powerful dissenting opinion. She wrote that decisions made in cases tried before the Court between 1973 and today, “center on a woman’s autonomy to decide for herself her life’s course, and thus to enjoy equal citizenship stature.”
Instead of finding ways to safeguard a woman’s health and life, she writes that “the Court ‘shields’ women by denying them any choice in the matter. This way of protecting women recalls ancient notions about women’s place in society and under the Constitution – ideas that have long since been discredited.”
She concludes, “In candor, the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, and the Court’s defense of it, cannot be understood as anything other than an effort to chip away at a right declared again and again by this Court – and with increasing comprehension of its centrality to women’s lives.”
The decision in this case is wrong, and not only does it set us back, I regret that it is a frightening indication of what is to come. We can not let that happen. That’s why it’s so important – and so critical to our future – that we elect progressive, pro-choice majorities to public office.
I was thrilled to be joined last week by so many women who have already courageously broken the glass ceiling by refusing to let obstacles or ignorance get in the way of their success.
Thank goodness.
Women’s voices are louder than ever, and we can take advantage of this window of opportunity to put our country back on the right track.
was i supposed to draw a connection between the “glass ceiling” text and the Iraq war video? just askin. seems an unstructured smattering of stuff in the post, sprinkled with errant and annoying question marks.
are a formatting problem, usually caused by someone writing something in MS Word or somesuch, than copy-pasting it. IIRC, it has something to do with non ASCII compliant characters or somesuch.
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In any case, the fault isn’t with the Tsongas campaign for the ?s.
yes, i agree that the question marks are some kind of system artifact. however, anyone posting a diary can easily fix the punctuation. in fact, i recommend it to anyone who wants to be taken seriously. one would never send out a resume chock full o’ typos. posting a campaign diary loaded with distracting false punctuation to me spells any/all of the following:
1) lack of attention to detail,
2) lack of follow-through,
3) lack of caring.
…not only are the question marks annoying, they are confusing. One has to infer what the deleted character is, which is sometimes difficult.
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If someone wants to have his (or her) post taken seriously, he (or she) should either compose it in an ASCII text editor, such as Notepad, or first copy it from the source word processor into the ASCII text editor, examine it, and then copy it to the web page. As far as I can tell, the former works every time, and the latter might. Preview might help, too.
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As far as I’m concerned, the question marks show a disregard for the reader.
I am using Firefox 2.0 and there are no errant ?s in the post. Maybe Mrs. Tsongas didn’t see any ?s either, in which case she can’t be held responsible.
someone has gone back and fixed them, which is good. i recommend to team tsongas or whoever that they take full advantage of the “preview” button and edit before making the diary public. it’s quite easy to do.
The occupation of Iraq is an unmitigated disaster – do you have a plan for how you’ll get the troops out of there? What specific proposals will you support to bring them home? I’m all for bringing them home too, but saying so and accomplishing it are two very different things – how exactly do you propose to get it done, Mrs. Tsongas?
I like the fact that bringing the troops home is her number one priority.
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I think the 5th Congressional District is lucky to have several excellent progressive candidates in the running. I will say, though, that all things being equal, I think it is time for a woman to break into the all-male MA Congressional delegation.
it is a good ad, and all things being equal [or the female being a superior candidate], I agree that it’d be nice to have a woman representin’. I’m just not sure that all things are equal in this race.
things are pretty equal here…I see three very good candidates: Tsongas, Eldridge and Finegold. I would be happy with any of them. But I really do think it’s time to elect a woman. Just my opinion.
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In any case, whoever the Democrats nominate will have my support.
Since you did not include Donoghue on your list, can you let me know why you did not give her the label of “very good” or was it a minor oversight?
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I think she would make a great Congressperson.
…is that it is my understanding that she supported and donated money to one of Mitt Romney’s Republican State Senate candidates a couple of years back, a candidate who was trying to unseat an incumbent Democratic State Senator.
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Maybe I’m too rigid, but as a good Democrat, I have a problem with this. Someone who wants the Democratic nomination for Congress does not support conservative Republicans, at least not in my book.
While we’re at it, the Eagle-Tribune just covered Barry’s support for a bill requiring a 24-hour waiting period for women seeking abortions. He touts himself as a DLC centrist, not a progressive.
Because she once gave $250 to a family friend, you have crossed her out?
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I guess you are a better Democrat than State Senator Steve Panagiatakos, Chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee or State Senator Steve Baddour, Chair of the Senate Transporation, who both have endorsed her and have held fundraisers for her.
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By the way, please read richardhowe.com’s blog post on this issue, http://richardhowe.c…. His credentials as a Democrat cannot be challenged by you or anyone.
He wrote that he doesn’t support Democrats who financially support Republicans.
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It’s not nuanced, but that’s his thing. You certainly aren’t going to change his mind by accusing him of being a jerk for all intensive purposes…
…you support whomever you choose to support. I am not challenging you or anyone else.
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For myself, I have a problem with a “Democrat” who supports a conservative Romney Republican trying to unseat a progressive Democrat. Sorry, but that’s my take on it.
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As far as endorsements go, the fact that State Senator Steve Baddour supports Ms. Donoghue doesn’t carry a lot of weight with me…I don’t consider him to be a progressive at all.
Drawing a direction connection to other members of the Tsongas family is a smart political move. It seems to me I recall some other well-known and well-liked Tsongas family members.
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That said, I think Eldridge makes an excellent point upthread: the commercial is very weak on specifics: when should the troops come home? All of them, or just some? And what should our approach be to Iraq as we withdraw them? Lack of specificity has been a theme of criticism levelled at this campaign, and that may start to stick as we get closer to the election, especially with evidence like this ad. Direct answers are hard politics but good leadership and it seems to this observer that Massachusetts voters generally respond well to leadership on issues they care about.
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Just as an aide, I didn’t think the production values of the ad were very strong. It looks like it was made in a day or two on a Mac — or maybe even a PC! I’d suggest upping the production budget a bit on the next ad, even if that reduces the airtime: more bang for the buck, in MHO.
…to lay out a specific plan in a 30-second ad.
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Wow, you are a tough audience…sounds like Tsongas is not your candidate!
…in a 30 second spot – but there was a large blog post accompanying this ad, was there not? Plenty of space for specifics in that, but I didn’t see any, hence my question.
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From my perspective, that’s the biggest reason not to vote for Niki Tsongas – she has a bad habit of giving insubstantial answers to tough questions. There’s too many politicians in Washington with that syndrome already, MA-05 doesn’t need to add to that list – send Jamie Eldridge instead, and get some true leadership!
Jamie and Niki have been consistent in supporting the Jim McGovern plan: a 90 day draw down of action followed by an 180 removal of the troops.
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There’s no speakers on this computer, so I’ve only watch it and not heard it yet, but in short ad, I think if she said she supports the McGovern 90/180 plan as a way of getting out of Iraq, that would be better than just a vague notion, but I don’t see it as an uncommon problem in advertising.
…I always opposed this war and want to get the hell out. But this bumper sticker withdrawal plan “90/180” just makes our side look stupid.
It’s true we almost certainly couldn’t vanish without a trace in 90/180 days.
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But, we could vanish from the streets of Baghdad and other areas. By making our objective “pack up and go home” we could get most of our soldiers out of immediate harms way, focus on packing up, reduce the necessary supply convoys, and likely bring tens of thousands of troops home within 30 days, particularly those who’ve come under stop-loss or other backdoor draft methods.
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So yeah, we couldn’t be out of Iraq completely in 180 days, but we could stop fighting, virtually eliminate casualties, bring tens of thousands of troops home in the first few months alone, and so forth.
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I mean, if the mission became “get the hell out ASAresasonablyP” then I don’t think people who support 90/180 would quibble. Are the troops coming home as soon as they safely can? If yes, great!… even if we’re now at day 217 or 309 or whatever. Besides, when we stop reading about our men and women being blown up every day, the anger about the war will cool.
…and we should.
Did all of the servicemen and women shown in your ad give you their permission to use their images in a political ad? Especially one that is so anti-war?
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Speaking as a veteran, if the answer is no, I find this despicable.
So does every ad having to do with the war, pro or con, need to get the permission of every soldier depicted, according to you? And why does it matter if it’s anti-war or pro-war? The ad favoring sending a soldier to a war and to his or her possible death is somehow more ok than the one trying to bring him or her home?
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You’ve set a pretty high — and bizarre — standard.
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The ad is good. But I am baffled by the post which seems to be insinuating that we should support Niki because she’s a woman. Where’s the beef?
B. Political Activity of Military Members (DoD Directive 1344.10 (reprinted in JER 6-300)).
1. Spirit and intent of Directive prohibits activity that may be viewed as directly or indirectly associating DoD with partisan politics.
2. Does not preclude personal participation in local nonpartisan political activities, so long as:
a. not in uniform;
b. no use of Government property or resources;
c. no interference with duty;
d. no implied Government position or involvement.
3. Permitted political activities include:
a. Register, vote and express personal opinions;
b. Encourage other military members to exercise voting rights;
c. Join a political club, and attend political meetings and rallies as a spectator when not in uniform;
d. Make monetary contributions to a political organization;
e. Sign petitions for specific legislative action or place candidate’s name on the ballot;
f. Write letters to the editor expressing personal views;
g. Bumper stickers on private vehicles.
4. Prohibited political activities. A military member may not:
a. Use official authority to influence/interfere;
b. Be a candidate for civil office,
c. Participate in partisan political campaigns, speeches, articles, TV/radio discussions;
d. Serve in official capacity/sponsor a partisan political club;
e. Conduct political opinion survey;
f. Use contemptuous words (10 U.S.C. § 888);
g. March or ride in partisan parades;
h. Participate in organized effort to transport voters to polls;
i. Promote political dinners or fundraising events;
j. Attend partisan events as official representative of Armed Forces;
k. Display large signs/banners/posters on private vehicles.
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Whether it’s pro-war or anti-war, I find the use of members of the military to be despicable.
I just heard on NPR the other day that journalists will have to get express permission of each soldier who is identified in a new story. Previously, they had the right to opt out, now they must opt in. Obviously a campaign ad isn’t journalism, but it will be interesting to see if anyone raises a fuss about one form of display being allowed w/o express permission, and the other not. (not picking on the Tsongas ad in particular – it just showed up in a timely fashion for comparison.)
I think is very moving and sends a message using US Military personnel as a back drop and props.
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It show her total disregard for the US Military and their families.
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Her ad is over the edge, despicable and totally tasteless.
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What is next the commercial for health care using cancer patients and her former husband as the back drop?
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Every candiate must come to the realization no matter that they pledge the House Leadership sets the agenda.
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Seniority is key. The MA-05 should elect the youngest “acceptable” candidate and hope they stay long enough to do some good for the district.
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Tell us how they are going to make life better in MA-05. Skip the “National Issues” as their voice is just another one in the wilderness.
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“All politics is local” – Tip O’Neil More true now than ever.
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Meehan went in as a reformer but quickly figured he could not stop the tide. By the time he got into a good position in the democratic house, he cashed out. Walking away with a cool FIVE million.
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Politics and prostitution ate the two oldest professions. Two-one or one-two – you set the order.
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ENUF SED’
Mrs. Tsongas,
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I liked the ad. I thought it showed concern for those in harm’s way now, and also a commitment to bring the troops home.
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I would like to see more of a focus on your biography- recent positions held and accomplishments. In my opinion, there are several highly qualified candidates in the race, and several also with progressive views. What will probably determine my vote is not so much who I agree with exactly on the issues, but who I can think can get the job done. As a freshman senator, it is sometimes hard to be effective, and it takes quite a bit of experience to know how to navigate Congress. From what I’ve read, it sounds like you may have that experience. I’d like to see future ads highlight your accomplishments rather than focusing on one issue which you are in agreement with several others on.
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Just my opinion. Good luck.
…if you want more bio on issues, go to her web site. When did a TV ad give you all you need to understand a candidate?
I agree with you TV ads don’t ever give all that is needed to understand a candidate. People like us that participate in blogs will search on their own for information and not make up their minds through TV ads. For the 90% or so of the electorate that doesn’t get really involved, I’m just saying some bio background might be more impressive then talking about one issue in a TV ad.
her discussion of her father’s military service to be the bio she wishes to present. I’m not wowed by coattails, but maybe it’ll work on/for that 90% you describe?
I am actually very disappointed that I misjudged you.
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Oh well—win some, lose some.