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A Letter to Congresswoman Martha McSally
Dear Congresswoman McSally,
You are stuck a month out, unable to persuade about 10 percent of Arizona voters to commit, but you can overcome this reticence, if you regain your military career courage and move past the professional political advisors’ caution. The weight holding you down is the recent history of the past two Republican Senators. You must show, not say, show by burning bridges, that you are no Flake, and that you will never stick your thumb in the eye of the voters, as Sen. McCain did with the Obamacare vote.
I worked hard to persuade friends, who profoundly distrusted Sen. McCain for his serial betrayals on the border, to vote for him, to stop a Majority Leader Schumer, to save the Supreme Court. These friends voted Republican for the first time, in voting for Donald Trump, in the primary. They are committed to the agenda on which President Trump ran. That agenda was betrayed, and they have been shown open contempt, by Sens. McCain and Flake. So, why should they trust you?
I offered to them the idea of you taking actions now that you could not take back. They agreed that would help overcome the question of where you really stand. So:
- Declare now that you endorse President Trump for 2020. Then lay out why you have come to this position. The case is easy, and fits with your campaign rhetoric.
- Stake your seat on $10 billion FY2019 funding for the Wall. No strings, no gimmicks, dollars going into construction. Put the “not withstanding language” in so there are no court challenges allowed. Pledge to resign by this time next year, if the Congress, under Republican control, fails to deliver on this campaign promise.
- Openly endorse Justice Kavanaugh, and denounce the leftist smear campaign. Your experience as a commander has shown both sides of sexual harassment and sexual assault cases. You have seen dirtbags who abused women and you have seen men falsely accused. You can speak from experience of how due process and the presumption of innocence protects every decent person. You can tie it into this campaign better than any one else in politics today. Please do so.
The suspicion is that you will subvert and slow walk the MAGA agenda. If you are given the Senate seat by these voters, you have six years to build an incumbency advantage and then threaten them with a Democratic president who you must be reelected to check. That old game is no longer a winning strategy.
You should be a natural ally of this president because he, according to his widely respected cabinet members, is constantly reminding them of campaign promises, insisting that they be kept. You showed years of integrity and stuck to your guns in support of the Constitution and women in the military, against blatantly unconstitutional policy. You used the chain of command, and then you used the courts, and you ensured justice prevailed. Work with that in this #MeToo moment, burn your boats on the shore, and you will be the next Senator from Arizona.
Best Regards,
Clifford A. Brown
Published in Elections
Great advice
The final returns are in, and it’s unanimous; Clifford A. Brown is a forceful, skilled rhetorician. I gather he already has a life that’s too busy for my own advice, which is you should be running the “messaging shop” for someone on a wider scale.
To be honest, I don’t know Arizona well enough to make judgments about some of your points, but you sure state ’em well.
Just looked her up on the ACU ratings website. She scores an 85. Flake is at 92. McCain was at 57 this year (not a fair shake) and 88 last year. So yes, given the notoriety of the other two, and the extremely important issues on which they failed their country, McSally needs to do something to shake things up.
I just find it hard to believe, in light of this ad, that anyone could take Kyrsten Sinema seriously, let alone that anyone with any sense would vote for the self-proclaimed “Prada Socialist.” (Aren’t they all? The ones in power, anyway.):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKiWO8f_rBY
How much of a role does McSally’s military service and particularly her “woman in combat” experience play in this? Does it help her or hurt her with Conservative men? With Conservative women? Or is it pretty much either a wash or a non-factor?
The problem, as I wrote above, is that she follows a long serving Senator, who we are always reminded was a military hero. He was also notorious for saying what he had to, to get the grudging votes of border hawks, then never following through. And his Obamacare betrayal was the final, ostentatious thumb in the eyes of all but McCain/ establishment loyalists.
Contrast Gov. Doug Ducey (R), up 10 points.
McSally needs to boldly commit and carry through. Sinema has Hillary’s voters in hand, plus Jill Stein’s, by my back of the envelope math. McSally has 4 percentage points less than did Trump in the RCP averages. As a result, the polling averages are the reverse of the 2016 Presidential contest.
We are a month out, and there are still almost 10% undecided. The PAC attack ads are not driving down Sinema’s support, nor keeping McSally from slipping back and stalling.
We have a debate on 15 October, but that should not be the big plan for victory.
Agree. Those among the vast field of Republican Presidential candidates for the 2016 election who relied on their debating skills to distinguish themselves, and to set them above the rest of the pack, got a rude awakening, and a horrible surprise.
But you’ll lose @garyrobbins vote and all 3 or 400 Arizonans like him – and the McCain family. How terrible! </sarcasm>
Excellent suggestions on what she should do, @cliffordbrown. My question…does she truly believe those things you suggest, or would she just be lying to win, like McCain?
The pink tutu ad should be run on TV every night until the election, all local channels that reach into Arizona.
Mrs. Tex (former USAF pilot) and I were discussing this not long ago. As a Major, she sued her command in federal court over the military forcing female airmen to wear head covering off base to accommodate middle eastern Muslim sensibilities. That was pretty bold, and I am sure ensured she was not passing beyond field grade rank. Based on some comments I have read on other forums, there is a certain sort of veteran who really resents her taking on the military over that. In my opinion, she genuinely put her career at risk and took one for all the ladies in uniform. But unfortunately, not everyone sees it that way.
I don’t know McSally’s views on anything, but when you pointed the headscarf issue out, I was sold. Our women fighters are putting their lives on the line just like our men. In this case they are fighting in a Sharia culture, but they are still Americans. They should not be asked to give up their rights and status as American women. If the military feels so strongly about bending to the will of another culture, don’t send our women fighters to that place.
There is no doubt something I am not seeing. I ‘m anxious to hear objections,
Except that the ad does has a falsehood. Sinema did protest the Iraq war, in the costume (15 years ago), but she did not denigrate the troops. Both candidates have misleading ads. I expect it from the Dems, hate it from the republicans.
It is not enough. The “bad Sinema” ads are past saturation point. It will not move that 10 percent off the sidelines to vote for her. She must build confidence in a deeply skeptical electorate.
I followed the case at the time, but lost track of her story. Then I was in the Davis-Monthan photography center, having my photograph taken for a board, as is the Army way. Having gotten a decent photo taken, with the excellent assistance of the Air Force photographer, I was on my way out, when I encountered a female Air Force officer in her “business suit” class uniform.
I recognized her name on the name plate affixed to her uniform. We exchanged pleasantries. I asked if she was going before a board. She explained the Air Force prohibited photos in board files. They hire and promote on performance and demonstrated potential, not looks. She was getting her command photo taken, having been selected for her O-5, lieutenant colonel, level command after beating the Pentagon brass.
I avoided going all fanboy. What could I say that would not put both of us crosswise with our oaths and regulations? I was happy to glimpse the system vindicated, justice done and a kind of courage rewarded.
In my officer days you had to have an official photo at all time, with current decorations, in your promotion folder. First thing the promotion board saw.
Yes. The Air Force concluded it did not want board members to be influenced by photographs of people who “look like a leader.” I believe they made that policy change before orchestras started placing a screen between auditioning musicians and the hiring authorities.
Given the lengths Army officers had to go to, with photographer support, to “look right,” I’m inclined to think the Air Force got it right, just as they eventually got it right in continuing to advance Martha McSally after she publicly stood against bad policy.
One of my NCO’s applied for a PA job at SAC headquarters (circa 1983) and it required an official, full length photo of him and his wife and son. He was a super handsome, squared away dude and his wife was gorgeous, so I’m sure it helped.
I suspect the resentment comes from the same place as the overturned policy. Some people conflated service with personal identity, seeing military service as affirming male and female different statuses and proper roles in society. The old boys were threatened by girls getting into the clubhouse and becoming their peers. It would not do to have a woman rise on her merits to the top of the Air Force — especially out of the “fighter mafia.”
That said, Martha McSally is the strongest possible advocate for Arizona retaining Air Force units at current levels. This is important to the state economy, and will continue to be. I would love to see more of that message, tied in with the MAGA economic message of results for all Arizonans from deregulation, tax, and trade policy.
They keep running the one that claims Sinema is easy on child prostitution. I wish they had some better film of her in the pink tutu.
“They” are a PAC funded by people that opposed Trump and Ward, and want McSally to be their new McCain. Hence the contrast between their messages and Doug Ducey’s ads touting his border security record, while saying his opponent is for open borders.
My point is to get past “believe” to actions that she cannot easily take back. Declaring support now for President Trump’s reelection will put McSally in good company with Ambassador Nikki Haley. Tying her term, to successful wall funding, would put McConnell on notice, and align with Trump’s emphasis on actually delivering on campaign promises.
Looks like McSally is close to Ducey’s lead: McSally has a six-point edge on Sinema
I’ve not followed this AZ race, other than Kelli Ward seemed to be a much better conservative than McSally.
Unfortunately, the ABC poll is the only one showing McSally leading. All others have shown, and continue to show, a small Sinema lead, inside the margins of error.
It may be that the addition of the Green Party candidate to the poll is the difference, plus the increased popularity of President Trump. The poll still has 7 percent undecided, a month out from Election Day, reinforcing my point.