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AFSCME, But That Doesn't Mean I'll Tell You
December 26, 2007 4:54 PM
Political Punch has gotten its hands on yet another Iowa mailer being sent by a pro-Clinton union that attacks Obama and makes it look like the attack is coming from Edwards.
You can see the mailer HERE.
The outside of the mailer has a "take a number" dispensary, and your number is "15,000,000."
Resembling a similar mailer sent by AFSCME, this flier says, "There are 15 million reasons why Barack Obama's health care plan is not up to the job ... John Edwards said that if we go with the Obama plan, 'as many as 15 million Americans would be without coverage.'"
The Obama campaign has taken issue with the claim that as many as 15 million Americans would go without health insurance under Obama's plan, an estimate from some non-partisan experts who say the number is largely due to the plan's lack of individual mandates.
But here's the rub -- AFSCME has long opposed individual mandates as well.
So, the mailing has nothing to do with the substance of the charge -- it has to do with defeating Obama and, one can only assume, making Edwards look bad in the process as well.
In a conference call set up by the Obama campaign last week, the executive director of the AFSCME chapter of Illinois, Henry Beyer, and a former official with the AFSCME chapter of Iowa, Carter Woodruff, pointed out the curious nature of the AFSCME mailing, since, as Beyer said, "we've always opposed individual mandates. Woodruff said the the mailer was a "desperate attempt to attack" Obama and "hypocritical."
The Clinton campaign said it had nothing to do with this mailer...or the previous one.
-- jpt
December 26, 2007 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (4)
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I think Hillary's doing a fine job!
Posted by: Tommy Hitler | Dec 29, 2007 12:45:22 PM
What is the deal here? Is the AFSCME leadership trying to make itself obsolete? They are proving Obama's point: 527s are not accountable to anyone! Whose money went into that AFSCME 527? I'm glad Obama asked all of us/his supporters and volunteers, not to donate to any 527s but to donate instead directly to the campaign or buy campaign paraphernalia, union and USA made, through his website. I'd be fit to scream if I'd donated to a 527 and they undermined my own candidate by turning off Iowa voters. I'm glad I'm a precinct captain for Obama.
Posted by: Inaru | Dec 27, 2007 12:17:52 AM
"The Clinton campaign said it had nothing to do with this mailer...or the previous one."
Yeah right! This is just another in a long line of desperate attacks orchestrated by the Clinton campaign .. and everyone can see through it.
This will backfire on them like all the rest have. They become more pathetic by the minute
Posted by: bklynsam | Dec 26, 2007 7:31:16 PM
McEntee is a disgrace. We need him to retire. He doesn't represent us. We need new leadership asap.
Posted by: jason jones | Dec 26, 2007 5:17:49 PM
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