When Fred Upton learned that MaydayPAC was planning to spend $1.5 million to unseat him, he went into freak-out mode. He quickly put out a defensive and poorly-done video on Facebook where he describes MaydayPAC as a “shadowy Massachusetts ‘SuperPAC'” and MaydayPAC founder, Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig, as a “Harvard billionaire”. Of course, MaydayPAC is far from “shadowy”. They have been completely open about their intentions and have talked publicly about everything they are doing. Lessig is also far from a “billionaire”.
At least they got the “Harvard” part right.
Here’s Upton’s lame ad. I encourage you to read the comments. They’re equally entertaining.
There’s obviously deep irony in Upton’s complaints about out of state donors fighting to defeat him given the massive amount of money he’s received over the years from oil and gas companies and other special interest groups. It’s his wallowing in all that sweet, sweet corporate money that encouraged MaydayPAC to get involved in his race in the first place.
MaydayPAC, of course, responded:
Fred Upton obviously couldn’t sit still while we told the truth about his record of putting the big-money special interests ahead of the people so he put up this misleading ad. At least he’s wasting a bunch of that special interest money he has raised over the years,” said former George W. Bush adviser Mark McKinnon, a co-founder of MAYDAY.US. “Chairman Upton is welcome to air all the ads he wants, and we intend to keep telling the voters of Southwest Michigan that we can’t afford Fred Upton anymore.”Yesterday, Fred Upton’s campaign released a new ad making provably false claims that Fred Upton has protected seniors’ access to Medicare and worked to secure coverage for people with pre-existing conditions.
The truth is that Fred Upton is not on the side of regular people:
- Upton has taken nearly $10 million in special interest money from PAC’s.
- Upton voted against legislation that would have allowed lower drug prices and later voted in favor of the Ryan Budget, which was described by ABC News as the ‘end of Medicare as we know it’.
- Upton has also been steadfast in support for changing federal health insurance law to eliminate insurance coverage for some of the most vulnerable patients.
Fred Upton knows he’s in deep trouble. Without being able massively outspend his opponent and with the truth about his record now being communicated broadly to voters in the 6th District, commentators Jack Lessenberry are now saying, “Suddenly, this may have turned into a contest.”
GOTV, folks. G. O. T. V.
UPDATE: There was a debate scheduled for 8:00 p.m. this evening but Congressman Upton has decided to bail out using the excuse that he has to attend a noon hearing on the Ebola outbreak in the USA. I’m told by several sources that he could have done both but has chosen not to.
@Eclectablog– Although Upton could have made it back from DC for today's 8pm debate, he's using the Ebola hearing as an excuse to cancel
— Howie Klein (@downwithtyranny) October 16, 2014
