A call for letters! We need more like this:
It starts with petty things like stealing political signs, then it escalates to vandalism. When my wife was at a local shopping center today, someone broke the mirror on the car along with other damage and left a note “Obama sucks” obviously in response to the various political stickers on the car. Vandalism of this nature is a form of bullying the likes of which often continue to escalate into physical violence.
About the time of the vote on health care reform there was a spate of vandalism of congressional offices. Now those who simply support progressive candidates like Hank Gilbert and Jeff Weems are victims. I have heard and seen many on the right claiming that the President is a Nazi, but it is not the President who has used Nazi tactics of vandalism and intimidation. No, it is the loud mouth angry Right that uses those tactics.
I want the bullies on the Right to know that violence will not stop me or my friends and associates from supporting candidates of our choice. In fact it has only made me more determined and I have doubled the donations I’ve already made to Democratic candidates as well as added a few more.
Follow me below the fold for a newspaper link in your neck of the woods...
The above letter is by my friend JC. I edited it slightly to help it fit intro constraints on DK. But it is essentially a call to political arms to fellow Democrats... he's letting people know in his neck of the woods (Schertz, Texas) that they are not alone. His local Dems group has posted this website to help him and his fellow Dems make a difference!
Why do I keep harping on this? This week, I learned that one of JC's target papers, The Herald Zietung, decided not to endorse a candidate for US Congress TX-21. They passed over the chance to endorse long time representative, Republican Lamar Smith. They endorsed John McCain in 2008. Something is changing in that neck of the woods. I think it has a lot to do with the LTE campaign conducted by the local MoveOn Council and spurred by two great activists, JC and Stephen. By not endorsing, the Zeitung opened a door for Democratic Candidate, Lainey Melnick.
I also noticed this week that Democratic Candidate Scott McAdams (yes, the one running against both Miller and Murkowski) reads LTE's:
Thanks to John Jackson for the great letter to the editor today. Protecting social security is a priority for me.
http://www.adn.com/...
(9/21/10)
We need more letters! By searching the LTE tag on DKos, we can find out who has been publishing this week:
My LTE got published today, wherein I takedown Steve Pearce - This letter breaks all my rules... and is absolutely wonderful! TigerMom shares her long, but obviously well-written and the local editor saw that is was a great submission.
Hysterical Letter to the Editor- This diary by tek writer is about a letter that started a flame war in a local paper... hilarious letter and worth a read.
Six Degrees of Separation - Shamelessly pimping my own diary asking for LTE's to spread the word about veterans and the military stop loss payments that will be ending next month - time to apply!
Refuting the "Liberal Elitest" meme--my LTE published - a diary by Phillyfreedom that highlights the importance of making a single point in a letter and how a local editor will slice away your words to get the point that they want repeated.
We Have a winner Frank Palmer's diary about writing LTE's on the Republican Filibuster of the Defense Appropriations Bill.
And newspapers around the country love getting these letters. Some aren't getting enough and are promising to print as many as they can get:
The Coshocton Tribune will accept letters to the editor pertaining to the Nov. 2 general election until 4 p.m. Oct. 21.
Letters received, verified and approved by that time will be published on or before Oct. 31. Letters must have a valid name, address and phone number to be considered.
Letters should conform to regular opinion page policies and the Tribune reserves the right, as with all letters, to decline any submission and to edit all submissions for grammatical errors and libelous content or reduce the copy for space considerations.
Letters may be e-mailed to our offices at coshocton@nncogannett.com, faxed to (740) 295-3460 or mailed to Letters to the Editor, Coshocton Tribune, 550 Main St., Coshocton, [Ohio].
Have you noticed that most local papers are inundated with conservative letters? Let's change that this election season. Take a few minutes, write a letter about a local election and GOTV, and send it to your local paper - whether it's a small town weekly or a regional daily. Make sure to include your name (real one works best), address, email, and telephone number when you send in your submission. Most newspapers call or write to make sure you are a real person!
Here's a list states. Each link will take you a list of known newspapers in that state. Chose one and let me know... I'll add it to the list. We'll start a running tab of how many Kossacks are writing to which newspapers. No newspaper listed? My guess is that there is no progressive sending letters. With more than a quarter million Kossacks, we should be able to make a serious dent in some of these communities.
State names will take you to a listing of all newspapers in the state. Check it out for a paper close to you. If a newspaper is listed, the link will take you to the Opinion page of the paper.
Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
angelajean writing to the Monterey Herald
Colorado
Connecticut
District of Columbia
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
JC Dufresne writing to The San Antonio Express News, The Herald Zietung, The Seguin Gazette, and The Austin Statesman
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming
You're ready to write! Check out editions of A Week in Letters or just read this comment from socalmonk:
I have written and had printed well over a hundred lte's in the two local and one regional papers, the most successful have been one-two punches, using a trick I got from the republicans:
First, get their attention with an emotional stunner, even if it pisses some of them off. Good, you've got their blood pumping.
Now, hit them with some facts, something they can't argue with. Let them put the paper down angry, their anger tempered with factual information.
Complain that local veterans, for instance, are getting a raw deal. They are. We all agree on that. then add that Congressman Gallegly, for instance, has voted against every attempt to increase veterans' benefits, and has, on several occasions, voted to cut them. Mention that he has even voted against, mmm, additional military spending for body armor and improved armoring for combat vehicles, again true.
Then thank the editors and readers for taking time from their busy day to read your letter. Send it to more than one paper, if you can. Then write another. One subject per letter. Drive these nails home one at a time.
His approach is a little different than mine, but not much. And, if it works in your neck of the woods, go for it!
Where will you submit your next (first?) LTE?