PLUS: GET READY FOR MISLEADING ADS FROM CIVIL RIGHTS OPPONENTS
Reverend Jesse Jackson
JESSE JACKSON ENDORSES MARYLAND MARRIAGE EQUALITY: The Huffington Post today reported that the Reverend Jesse Jackson is urging Maryland voters to vote for Question 6 this November. In a radio interview during last week's Democratic National Convention, Jackson called marriage equality "basic civil rights" (excerpt below):
HUFFINGTON POST: The Rev. Jackson Jackson is urging Maryland voters to vote in favor of a ballot measure this fall that would give marriage equality to gays and lesbians in the state....
“The culture has had to expand,” Jackson said.... "You know, you have a right not to agree with interracial marriage but no one should be denied rights under the law....”
“If you don’t believe in it, don’t engage in it. But don’t deny other people their basic civil rights.”
PRO-MARRIAGE EQUALITY NFL PLAYER DOUBLES DOWN: Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo was at the center of a media firestorm in Maryland last week, after Delegate Emmett Burns Jr. tried to get the Ravens to censor the NFL player's marriage equality support. Burns, a Baltimore area Democratic lawmaker and self-proclaimed Ravens fan, sent a letter to the team's owner asking him to muzzle Ayanbadejo, but the team instead stood by Ayanbadejo's free speech rights.
Now the Ravens linebacker is doubling down on his support for marriage equality with the following email message sent through the Marylanders for Marriage Equality list. Ayanbadejo is one of a long line of spokespeople pushing a Vote FOR Question 6 this November:
Juice,
Monday night was a great way to kick-off the season in front of the national audience!
And even though I'm excited that we started the season off with a win, moving us closer to winning the Superbowl, football is just my job, it's not who I am. I am an American before anything. And just like every American I have the right to speak!
Maryland Juice has received word that Michelle Obama will be headlining a September 21st fundraiser at Morgan State University in Baltimore. See the forwarded email from Maryland's OFA head Jason Waskey:
During last week's Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, Maryland Juice dispatched a correspondent (Jed Millard) to interview our 2014 gubernatorial candidates. We previously posted our interview with Howard County Executive Ken Ulman, and today we have the results of Jed Millard's interview with Lieutenant Governor Anthony Brown.
In the video below, Anthony Brown sheds light on a few topics, including:
ANOTHER DAY OF 9/11 REMEMBRANCE: Today marks another anniversary of the tragic 9/11/01 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Indeed, I nearly forgot about this new American milestone, until I woke up and started reading the news coverage and alerts streaming through my email inbox. Of course, most news outlets are running the ordinary tributes and commentary on the event itself, and the victims deserve their moment of remembrance. It is, after all, tough to forget the jarring emotional period in American civic life that many of us lived through. It is harder still to forget the tragic imagery from that day and how it continues to impact the American policy mindset (both positively and negatively)....
Rep. Roscoe Bartlett took heat last week when video surfaced of the 6th Congressional District incumbent comparing student loans to the Holocaust. But the gaffe-fest continues, as Politico today released another video, but this time Bartlett compares the Patriot Act to Nazi Germany and again invokes the Holocaust. Oy vey! You can watch the video below, but here is Politico's take (excerpt below):
POLITICO: Rep. Roscoe Bartlett had to apologize recently after his remark last week suggesting that federal student loans were unconstitutional and citing the Holocaust as an example of what happens when government heads down the wrong path.
Turns out, that was Bartlett's second Holocaust reference in two days.
A day before his student loan comment, Bartlett called the PATRIOT Act a violation of civil liberties and the “least patriotic thing” he had voted for in Congress. Ignoring the Constitution is a “slippery slope,” Bartlett said, before suggesting a parallel with Nazi Germany....
Bartlett, who has been in office since 1993, faces a tough re-election battle against Democrat John Delaney.
It seems to me that Rep. Roscoe Bartlett may lack the discipline required to hold onto his seat this November. These videos just defy common sense for a candidate, even before considering the tough race Bartlett faces.
PLUS: Democratic runner-up John LaFerla is up for the challenge of waging a write-in campaign against Tea Party Rep. Andy Harris
Wendy Rosen: "Did I Do That?"
Wendy Rosen is causing chaos today, after abruptly resigning as the Democrats' 1st Congressional District nominee. Rosen, a former Republican, won the right to take on Tea Party Rep. Andy Harris for his Eastern Shore-anchored U.S. House seat after winning last April's Democratic Primary. But Delmarva Now reported on her resignation from the race earlier today, due to "personal issues:"
DELMARVA NOW: Wendy Rosen, the Democratic candidate challenging Andy Harris for the Eastern Shore’s congressional seat, has resigned from the race. In an email sent to Yvette Lewis, chairwoman of the Maryland Democratic Party, Monday, Rosen said she regrets the decision to withdraw from the race, but believes Maryland’s 1st Congressional District still deserves a candidate to challenge incumbent Republican Congressman Andy Harris in November.
MARYLAND DEMS ASK WENDY ROSEN TO WITHDRAW FROM CD1 RACE AFTER DISCOVERING HER VOTER FRAUD (?!?) HISTORY: In a follow-up report to the story, The Associated Press divulged that Wendy Rosen's "personal issues" were that she has committed voter fraud. OMG! Talk about "off message" -- this is truly astonishing.
