Yesterday was Tuesday, July 15th and for many people it was close to a perfect day!!
What a busy day for Clay Aiken, his staff, friends and supporters. There was more news all over than you can imagine.
I hope you saw Tuesday’s mid-day report here. It was all about the wonderful second fundraising quarter. Clay’s campaign raised $450,000! Please check page two of this blog to read the entire story.
Another big story of the day was brought to us by Renee Ellmers, the Republican incumbent for the 2nd Congressional District in North Carolina. Poor Renee didn’t have a perfect day! Her name seemed to reach every site and TV news program in the USA. The MSNBC site tells the entire story.
The Rachel Maddow Show: Ellmers urges men to bring policy ‘down to a woman’s level’
By
In recent years, House Republican leaders have occasionally put Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-N.C.) out in front to talk about the GOP and women, often with awkward results. Last year, for example, the conservative North Carolinian argued that health insurers should be able to charge women more than men for comparable coverage.Several months later, Ellmers said the Affordable Care Act is evidence of a “war on women” for reasons that were largely incoherent.Late last week, however, a number of conservative women lawmakers, mostly members of the Republican Study Committee, got together to discuss GOP “messaging” when it comes to outreach to women voters. According to the Washington Examiner’s Ashe Schow, Ellmers was one of the featured guests, though the congresswoman’s remarks were hard to believe.“Men do tend to talk about things on a much higher level,” Ellmers said. “Many of my male colleagues, when they go to the House floor, you know, they’ve got some pie chart or graph behind them and they’re talking about trillions of dollars and how, you know, the debt is awful and, you know, we all agree with that.” […]As for connecting to women specifically, Ellmers drove it home with a line that, had there been liberals in the audience, would have made the news.“We need our male colleagues to understand that if you can bring it down to a woman’s level and what everything that she is balancing in her life – that’s the way to go,” Ellmers said.I haven’t seen a video of the comments, and it’s likely one won’t turn up. As Dave Weigel noted, Ashe Schow was the only journalist who scored a ticket for the event. The Washington Examiner’s piece is only report from the last week’s gathering.But if the quote is accurate, and this is what Ellmers actually said (and presumably believes), it’s the sort of public comment that can do real harm to a politician’s career. Indeed, it’s an inexplicable line that could make the GOP’s outreach to women voters even more difficult. [Update: see Ellmers’ response below.]
Update: The congresswoman’s office issued a statement today, responding to the quote that appeared in the Washington Examiner’s article:
“This is absolutely ridiculous and the quote in question was taken completely out of context. I am a woman, and find it both offensive and sexist to take my words and redefine them to imply that women need to be addressed at a lower level.“The point of Friday’s panel was to have an open conversation regarding how we communicate our values and principles to women across this country. Unfortunately, certain leftist writers have decided to take this important opportunity and engage in ‘gotcha’ journalism. There were so many positive ideas and solutions proposed during this discussion that sought to empower women. But instead of focusing on these positive steps, some writers are cherry-picking words and using predetermined agendas to attack Republicans and increase their readership.“It is a shame that such an important moment for addressing solutions and empowering women was used to attack the open exchange of ideas. In answering a question regarding how Republicans can improve their messaging, I took the opportunity to note that everyone comes from different backgrounds and experiences – and our messaging should do the same.“If there is a problem, who is perpetuating it? Was it a room full of women laughing, bonding and sharing solutions – or a liberal woman reporter attacking the event and taking it to a dark place that does not exist?”Readers can, of course, draw their own conclusions about Ellmers’ statement, though I’d note that this doesn’t deny the congresswoman made the comments, only that the comments were taken “out of context.”You can read the entire article at MSNBC
Ashe Schow is the journalist at The Washington Examiner that wrote the original article about the meeting. She has posted the audio of what Renee said during the meeting and seemed surprised to be called “a liberal woman reporter”. Schow’s background has been at ultra-conservative organizations. She has worked for The Heritage Foundation, Heritage Action for America, & The Burlington County Republican Committee. If you would like to hear what Renee said, you can hear her at WASHINGTONEXAMINER
I give credit to Ashe Schow who seemed to handle the article and the accusations in a professional way and even was able to joke about the situation. Did you see this tweet she wrote?
Ashe Schow @AsheSchow · 9h
Guys, since I’ve already been outed as a liberal plant, I’m going to confess:
I’ve been working for Clay Aiken this entire time.
It’s been interesting seeing so many tweets, comments, messages and articles that all agree that Renee Ellmers words were not the best.
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And the news for Tuesday isn’t over yet!! Did you see the following announcement from Nick Leisey?
Hi Everyone,
Now that the dust has settled from the 2nd quarter, I’ve finally had time to roll out CA4NC Social Fundraising. Your response to the CA4NC Membership Circle program was incredible and it’s clear to me that this group of people is incredibly important to the success of the campaign. The majority of you have supported Clay for over 10 years now and I wanted to send this out to you first before we do the launch next week.
With our new social fundraising tool, everyone can provide the campaign the important financial support that Clay needs to win in November. With less than 4 months left before the election, time is of the essence! Please follow the link below to learn about CA4NC Social Fundraising, the CA4NC Ambassador program, the rest of the CA4NC Social Fundraising benefits, and how to immediately activate your networks!
https://act.myngp.com/Forms/-174090714495318272
I can’t thank you enough for your support!
Sincerely,
Nick Leisey
Be sure and click on the link to learn all about the program.
I was “Brave” and set up a social fundraising page for Clay. I know that many other people will do that, but if you want to donate to Clay’s campaign, remember you can do it through my fundraising page.
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I look forward to the news that will come our way today. Hopefully, it will be another “Perfect Day”
Please check back …I will post when we get the news!
