Opponent is part of fringe group movement

By U.S. Representative Gary Peters
Friday, August 6, 2010

As you likely know, my opponent for the general election in November has officially been selected—and you won’t believe the sort of things he’s saying. At first we worried that my opponent would be so out of touch with Oakland County he’d want to take us back to the same failed policies that caused the economic meltdown—but it is far worse than that.

First, Sarah Palin and Karl Rove came to town to raise money to help defeat us. Then Rocky brought in controversial anti-woman activist Phyllis Schlafly to raise money for him. At his event she said that single women need either a man or “big brother government to be your provider.” And now yesterday Rocky claimed he is a member of the fringe “birther” movement, the small but vocal group who says President Obama isn’t really an American!

This is the sort of thinking we’re up against. The scary thing is that with names like Palin and Rove AND NOW FRINGE GROUPS LIKE THE BIRTHERS stumping for him, the opposition may be very well funded

Being a birther is just the tip of the iceberg. As Republican leader in the State House and during his primary, “Rocky” has taken positions wildly out of touch with Oakland County. For example, he:

• supports tax breaks that reward corporations for outsourcing American jobs to countries like China and India, even though outsourcing has already caused Michigan to lose 320,000 jobs;
• opposes Wall Street reform, including my amendment to force Wall Street banks to pay back every penny of the taxpayer bailout;
• wants to abolish the Department of Education, hurting our schools and eliminating aid for students to attend college (a position too extreme even for George W. Bush); and
• does not support a woman’s right to choose, even in the case of rape or incest.

This is what we’re up against. These are even more extreme policies than those we worked so hard to defeat in 2008.

This election means so much. As you know, Oakland County is a bell weather region and the eyes of the nation will be on this race. Let’s not let the country think that these are the sort of views that accurately represent us here in Oakland County.

Sincerely,
Gary Peters

P.S. – Even candidates with extremely out of touch views get into office when people who care don’t act. Working together, we can move our country forward. Thank you so much – for everything!