Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) has begun trading written barbs with Politico, the focus of the Congressman's latest fundraising campaign that seeks to highlight connections between the political publication's advertisers and its editorial content.
On Wednesday, Grayson emailed his supporters to tell them about a perceived link between the advertisers in the "insider political magazine that controls much of the dialogue in Washington, DC" and recent headlines that the Florida lawmaker thinks were designed to disparage him.
"Boeing, AT&T, America's Natural Gas Alliance, CTIA, McDonald's, and Goldman Sachs" all make the list of Politico's promotional partners, and Grayson says that's why the "the last six headlines" paint the progressive lawmaker in a negative light.
Politico reporter Ben Smith responded Wednesday to Grayson's fundraising email, providing a copy of the mailer's text and calling his claims outrageous:
I'd comment on how ludicrous this is, and the degree to which it assumes his donors are rubes, but I should probably check in with Boeing first to see if that's OK.
This prompted Grayson to draft a second version of the Politico-based fundraising initiative, which he sent to his supporters Thursday:
Actually, it's not Boeing. Yesterday's issue was brought to you by BP (p. 2), and of course, Goldman Sachs (full page, back page, as usual).
And let's look at the substance. Yesterday, the New York Times has a front-page article titled 'U.S. Military to Press for Slower Afghan Drawdown'. On the the front page of Politico's website, by contrast, you could find a penetrating analysis of 'Snooki vs. POTUS'. There was also great news about how Robert Gibbs and innumerable pseudo-scandals showing that Democrats are divided.
The lobbyists' favorite vapid gossip sheet is attacking you because we stand against giving their corporate friends the keys to power. We've already raised $44,016 from over 1,250 people for our money bomb. I know we can do more because 'rubes' like us punch back.
As a result, Ben Smith made note of Grayson's retaliation by pasting Grayson's email in a new post. This version has no commentary.