An ad slated for the Boston Globe. (Click for full jpg or pdf.)
People in Massachusetts picking up their morning papers today may spot an open letter from Rachel Maddow. The full-page ad explains that she's not running against Republican Sen. Scott Brown in 2012. Brown sent a fundraising letter suggesting that he'd be facing the "liberal MSNBC anchor" and needed donations to fend her off. "I'm sure she's a nice person -- I just don't think America can afford her liberal politics," he wrote.
Today in the Boston Globe, Maddow writes:
Do you remember when Mitt Romney ran for President after being our Governor and he went around the country insulting Massachusetts, talking about what an awful state we are? To have our new Senator raising money around the country by saying how terrible one of his Massachusetts constituents is, kind of feels the same way to me.
She adds that Brown still refuses to appear on her show and writes: "Maybe he'll change his mind -- I hope he does."
Full text of the ad, after the jump. On the show last night: "Rachel Maddow, not running or not running?"
"Hi, I'm Rachel Maddow. I host a TV show on MSNBC. I also live in Western Massachusetts, in the beautiful hilltowns of Hampshire County.
"This week, our new U.S. Senator, Scott Brown, sent a fundraising letter that says I'm running against him for Senate when he's up for re-election in 2012.
"I'm not running against Scott Brown. I never said I was running against Scott Brown. The Massachusetts Democratic Party never asked me to run against Scott Brown. It's just not true. Honestly. I swear. No, really.
"Senator Brown never even tried to find out if it was true, before using the made-up threat of me running against him, to try to scare donors into giving him more money. He sent the letter all around the country, to the out-of-state conservative activists who provided so much of the funding for his successful Senate campaign.
"Do you remember when Mitt Romney ran for President after being our Governor and he went around the country insulting Massachusetts, talking about what an awful state we are? To have our new Senator raising money around the country by saying how terrible one of his Massachusetts constituents is, kind of feels the same way to me.
"It's standard now for conservatives to invent scary fake threats to run against -- things like the made-up 'death panels' in health reform, or the fake controversy about the president's birth certificate. Senator Scott Brown's only been in DC seven weeks, but he already seems to be fitting right in with how conservatives operate there.
"I'm running this ad not because I'm running against Scott Brown -- I'm not, he made that up -- but because he's the Senator for all of us, and maybe this will make him think twice the next time he wants to smear one of his constituents to raise money out-of-state.
"My show airs at 9PM Eastern in Massachusetts on MSNBC. So far, Scott Brown refuses to come on. Maybe he'll change his mind -- I hope he does.
"Sincerely,
"Rachel Maddow"
Leave a Comment:
Rachel, I just shot off a letter to ol' Centerfold Scottie denouncing him for this ridiculous farce he is perpetrating. Why don't you ask the rest of your viewers to do the same? I live on the Cape, and happily informed him that I was "thrilled" that I didn't vote for him; also that I plan on doing everything I can to get him thrown out of office in 2012. As I told him, it is clear that Republicans can get nowhere unless they lie to their constituents. It is also amazingly obvious that those constituents will believe anything they hear, which doesn't say a lot about the intelligence level of those on the right.
Keep up the good work, Rachel. By the way: Is there anything we can do to get to you run?
Nah...it's doubtful. Like she said on her show "she already has the best job in the world"!!!!
I dunno, Greg&Jeff, she already has the benefit of Centerfold Bunny campaigning for her - for FREE! It would certainly wake up the long-slumbering liberals in Massachusetts who took Kennedy's seat for granted and didn't bother to vote in Bunny's election. When I voted that day, I was amazed to see only Bunny's campaign signs surrounding the election site - not a one for Coakley. We NEED a "Rachel" to fire us up!
You go, girl. I am also a Mass resident and am appalled that one of our own (supposedly) is lying to raise money and pandering to a shrinking uber-conservative republican base. And in the process, insulting one of his own constituents. In fact, insulting many of his constituents b/c I find this whole thing offensive and I'm sure I'm not alone.
He's probably salivating for the chance to gin up the right wing with,"Behold the scary lesbian". That's no doubt why he made up Rachel's candidacy.
By the way, I do not think that Rachel is scary; I think she rocks!
I agree with you, and with Michael Moore, who said during his appearance on Rachel's show that she is "a national treasure".
SO awesome. This story has been great all week, but it just keeps getting better and better!
Thank you, Rachel, for once again proving the truth of the old saying "I think, therefore I am dangerous." Cannot tell you how happy this makes me (and a zillion other people!)
I would SO buy a t-shirt with Rachel's picture and that quote!
Love it! I'm gonna snag that for my status... hope you don't mind!!
I want - wait, no, I DEMAND a stump speech. With bunting.
Go Rachel! All Democrats who have been lied about need to respond in kind. Thank you!
Hey, Rachel, love your show! By the way, I'd vote for you if you ran and I don't even live in Massachusetts. Starting to think that the most endangered spieces in the world is a Republican who can tell the truth.
Officially extinct ..... Frum was fired yesterday.
I kind of feel like I just watched the last Dodo on earth die...
Frum's firing was something I did not expect. Is this what it has come to for conservatives? No wonder Michael Steele is now spouting dangerous Tea Party language. The conservatives powers-that-be has get then all running scared.
You got that right. It is disgusting that Republicans have used scare tatics to try to defeat health care reform, but it is downright scary that we actually have Americans that continue to fall for it.
Don't know about the rest of the country, but here in Texas "the far right faction of the Texas State Board of Education suceeded in injecting conservative ideals into social studies, history and economics lessons that will be taught to millions of students for the next decade." The U.S. government will no longer be referred to as "democratic", but must be called a "constitutional republic"
I am not kidding folks. I moved here 4 years ago and from the minute I arrived I felt like I was in Nazi Germany shortly before WWII. You can bet these conservatives will whitewash the conservative movement eventhough it has been a dismal failure. Folks that are not right wing fanatics are scared to death. I am a 75 year old white widow and I think I was the only person in NE Texas that had an Obama sign in my yard. Shotguns were used to destroy Obama signs and my signs were stolen. I went back to get an even larger one and took it in at night so these cowards couldn't destroy it. Also, wrote a scathing letter to the editor about the Bush Administration and John McCain.
Lo and Behold, people thanked me but they did it in a whisper. They were scared to death. This is not the America I grew up in. If we don't stop these right wing nuts all of our country will be like Texas. God forbid!
Thanks Rachel. Keep up the good work. Maybe one of these days these poor misguided morons will flip the channel from FOX and learn something.
Is anyone ever going to tell those little old ladies with teabags on their hats what the urbandictionary.com meaning of teabagger is??? I'm just sayin'!
Patti, patsy, the 75 yo white woman you are referring to didn't use the word "teabagger" in her post! And even if she had, apparently you need to understand that there are often two different slang definitions for words, both of which may not be in the "standard" dictionary. For that matter, not everyone even cares how the "urbandictionary" defines words. It's NOT the standard for the English language spoken the the U.S.A.
What in the world was he thinking Dr. Maddow? (I know,I know...He wasn't)
Get em'... !
Way to stand up to the bullies Rachel! I did not vote for Scott either! He is not what MA needs.
You will be singing a different tune when the Massachusetts Democratic Committee drafts you Rachele and we all join you when Chief Justice Roberts swears you in.
MADDOW IN 2012 BECAUSE IT'S THE RIGHT THING TO TO RIGHT FOR MASSACHUSETTS AND RIGHT FOR AMERICA
This is fantastic!!!!! Fight back Mass residents!!!
It's good to see some fight back in Mass dems. I have to believe that Brown's victory was an anomaly and that we'll win back the seat in 2012.
I am a Massachusetts voter, and I am proud that I didn't vote for that SOB. Mr. Centerfold took money from out of state conservatives and wasn't too proud to beg money from those tea bag lunatics. Martha Coakley acted as if she was a shoo-in to win and vastly underestimated Brown's ability to woo the the lunatic fringe. When she finally woke up to the danger she ran frantic attack ads, which turned off the independent voters. If she'd run her campaign properly we wouldn't be in this situation!
Rachel, I've been a fan since the first day of Unfiltered on Air America. PLEASE run against Scott Brown. I will move to Boston to vote for you.
if maddow runs, there's no one else to do the job she's doing right now.
Very true
I'm also ready to move to Boston from Barcelona, Spain, to cast my vote on you but 'nova voter' is right...strategy baby...you're too good to feed the sharks...stay and feed our minds instead, thank you, de corazón.
Yes she'd be a great senator but I think she's best where she is. A Progressive voice on prime time is sorely needed right now. Obama can't do it all unless we hold him and congressional feet to the fire.
You made coffee come out my nose.
Dr. Maddow, you are one amazing woman! It would be grand if you were to run for political office (hint hint), but we SO need you where you are. There are precious few people these days who are not afraid to speak truth or are willing to challenge hypocrisy or who have not forgotten the foundational precepts of journalism. Thank you for showing us what courage and integrity looks like.
I have to say, Maddow 2012 is in serious competition with Fred Thompson 2008 for the weirdest campaign rollout in recent memory.
Oh, hell no. I'm selfish. If she runs, she'll win, and if she wins, no more Maddow on MSNBC.
As much as I think Rachel would make a great senator, I hope she doesn't run (and it seems obvious from all of this that she won't). Sure, we would add one vote in the senate but we would lose one of the few voices that dares to speak truth in national political discourse, a voice that reaches millions. I think Rachel performs a far greater public service in her current position than she possibly could as a senator.
Yeah, I'd like to make it mandatory for everyone to watch her!
Rachel needs to stay with MSNBC for a couple more years and then run for the PRESIDENCY. Then I can vote for her. I will even take a chance on losing my life and put a sign in my yard. Even though I have moved to a larger Texas town, have already been told not to let anyone know I voted for Obana. They've got to be kiddin'. They don't know this old lady very well.
He drives a Truck though!!! He's your everyday liar man!
Not to worry he'll make up some story about how he didn't have anything to do with the story. Someone from his campaign made a mistake. Does that sound about right?
Oh Rachel,
This letter is perfect... except for all the extra commas!
With much love,
Someone who's glad you're not running against Scott Brown because you're doing such good work right where you are.
Hmm, actually, no. Read the letter pausing where she has placed the commas. You'll see the meaning is subtly altered to say precisely what she means.
I agree, Pixie. The commas are well placed to reinforce the meaning and cadence of the thought. There are some misplaced double dashes which I find totally unacceptable. ;)
Ssh, I was going to let those slide. : )
Good for you, Rachel...you never leave a stone unturned...way to go! Keep it up, you may be the one to finally reveal 'the real Scott Brown', especially to those Independents who threw the vote over the top because they got hood-winked into believing Brown's campaign message that "nobody owns..." him, not even Republicans. I guess he really meant he wasn't owned until he got to Washington. You know, the same Scott Brown who voted for 'mandated' health insurance before he was against it.
Rachel - thanks for calling him on this. I did not vote for Scott Brown but I was hopeful that he was not like all the other Republicans. It sure didn't take long for him to join the pack. As a side note you may be interested to know that all that did vote for him didn't do it for the "change" that he claims. In the editorial section of our local paper a few weeks ago a woman wrote about how much she was disappointed with Scott Brown because he claimed to be just like Ted Kennedy and was proving that he wasn't. He deceived some trusting people when he claimed to be like the Kennedy's in his ads when he campaigned. He talked to people and told them what they wanted to hear. Now that he is in Washington, he IS a Republican.
Did I hear correctly? Was Scott Brown's original campaign aimed at out-of-state markets? Outside of Massachusetts? Now I live in Minnesota and if Brown was asking me for money to help beat Rachel I would have one question. How would a Minnesotan benefit from contributing to the election of a Massachusetts Senator? What would Brown ever do for me? What is Brown thinking? Does he think he has any influence outside the state of Massachusetts? Confusing. Anyway Rachel, if you run you have my vote.
He doesn't have any influence INSIDE Massachusetts. If he does, it's hidden behind the staple in his centerfold.
I may not be from MA, but what Scott Brown does in DC still has an effect on my life. Every lawmaker in Washington does by the bills that are won or lost. The thing is, they already know this, they just don't want the rest of us to know it. It takes more than 2 Senators and however many Congressmen a state sends to DC to pass or defeat a bill. And no state is an island (HI included) when it comes to our federal laws. That's why so many candidates for Congress troll out-of-state waters for campaign funds, they know that the poor schmucks that contribute haven't got a clue.
Possibly he is soliciting donations from the usual sources for his type of ilk: the fundamentalist christian church s. I have come to the conclusion that the evil one has taken them over.
Did I hear correctly? Was Scott Brown's original campaign aimed at out-of-state markets? Outside of Massachusetts? Now I live in Minnesota and if Brown was asking me for money to help beat Rachel I would have one question. How would a Minnesotan benefit from contributing to the election of a Massachusetts Senator? What would Brown ever do for me? What is Brown thinking? Does he think he has any influence outside the state of Massachusetts? Confusing. Anyway Rachel, if you run you have my vote.
Way to go Rachel. Keep calling these liars out! I don't want you to run for office either, we need you right where you are. I'm from Texas and I seriously need to hear the truth since I never get it here. Thanks for all you do...
I am not frm Mass. but I love your show. I find it inciteful, informative, accurate and offers solid intellectual exercise. Thanks.