Posted on by jxindivisible

The Real Cathy

What McMorris Writes to Her Followers

If you live in eastern Washington (WA U.S. Congressional District 5), I recommend signing up for U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers’ “newsletters”. Here’s the link for the signup: 

https://mcmorris.house.gov/newsletter

Once upon a time, earlier in her life as a career politician, McMorris Rodgers at least pretended to be a unifier, to “reach across the aisle”, to seek “solutions”, she pretended to work for the common good of all her constituents, pretended to represent her constituents best interests in the U.S. Congress. Her demure public demeanor is carefully tailored to allow her constituents to imagine she is actually listening, that her views might be influenced by discussion and presentation of facts. 

Do not be deceived. There is a different Cathy revealed in her newsletters. These newsletters are sent as emails to those who have signed up to receive it, folks who still think a newsletter from the woman who claims to represent them to Congress might be worth reading. They are NOT posted on her official website. Some of the newsletters are meant to be received and read only by the brainwashed, siloed faithful, and not everyone on the list is sent every newsletter, as demonstrated by monitoring a number of signed-up email addresses. The siloing and curating of the recipients is not perfect, but perfection is not required for the desired effect of selectively firing up the base. 

I urge you to click on the following link to see McMorris Rodgers’ January 20 email made into a pdf and posted to Google Drive. It’s subject line reads, “Are you better after 12 months of Biden?” The newsletter may be too large a file, with all its ominously dark photo memes, to be successfully sent for viewing as part of this High Ground email. In addition, viewing it in Google Drive provides live links that go to the cherrypicked and mis-used sources she quotes. Click below:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OWYL7Xqh5DcEpScJiJc5ieMlXSIjYZaD/view?usp=sharing

Apart from the breathless bullshit of its cherrypicked facts this newsletter is particularly remarkable for one thing: there is absolutely no hint in it of an offered solution to anything. The “newsletter” is exclusively dedicated to painting a dire scene, then damning and blaming the opposition using the most emotion-riling language possible. This is conduct unbecoming of a representative, conduct that belies the bland, motherly image to which McMorris Rodgers pretends.

Note that this “newsletter” is composed and sent to signed-up constituents on the taxpayers’ dime by “noreply@mail8.housecommunications.gov”. This is not paid for by an “independent” PAC, nor is composed and paid for by the McMorris Rodgers campaign. The effort that went into this was paid for out of her constituents’ pockets as part of her “Member’s Representational Allowance”. She should be ashamed.

The clincher for me came at the foot of her newsletter where she asks, “Which crisis are you most worried about?” Scroll down (or click this link and scroll down) to see the “crises” she offers from which to choose. I searched in vain for the crises of climate change, crumbling infrastructure, the widening income and wealth gap, and Republican voter suppression leading to Orban-style autocracy. 

So much for McMorris Rodgers pretending to represent all her constituents…

Keep to the high ground,

Jerry

P.S. I’ve tried to append the newsletter below. It may arrive in your inbox truncated by gmail. If so, visit this link to see it in full.

ONE YEAR IN PRESIDENT BIDEN’S AMERICA

Today marks one year since President Joe Biden was sworn into office. Since then, it feels like the American people have been facing one crisis after another. Prices on everything from gas to groceries are soaring, heating our homes and keeping the lights on is more expensive, dangerous drugs like Fentanyl continue to pour across our southern border, crime is at an all-time high, American lives were put in danger after the disastrous withdrawalfrom Afghanistan, and COVID-19 policies continue to take a tollon communities, small businesses, and our kids.

While President Biden has spent his first year in office trying to pass his irresponsible out-of-touch agenda, it begs the question: are you better off after one year under his leadership?

Let’s take a look at how the last 12 months have gone.

One year of President Biden’s radical spending and reckless money printing has led to the highest inflation our country has seen in 40 years. 

People in Eastern Washington are struggling and they’re worried about the future. They have bills to pay, and the economic crisis is making it more difficult for them to meet their financial obligations. And they aren’t alone. A recent Gallup poll exposed the truth: 

  • 45% of Americans are feeling the burden of increased prices.
  • 10% describe the hardship as threatening their current standard of living. 
  • 7 in 10 lower income Americans are experiencing hardship.

Higher costs are plaguing our communities – from the grocery store to the gas pump – and they are making it harder for Eastern Washington families to make ends meet.

President Biden’s approach to dealing with the southern border has been a disaster. His halting of border wall construction and embrace of open border policies have created one of the worst border crises in American history. Right now, thousands of migrants are attempting to pour across our southern border into the United States, and it is creating an unprecedented threat to our national security. The numbers speak for themselves:

  • 21 years since we have seen a surge of this magnitude at our border.
  • More than 170,000 people have been detected trying to cross the border illegally each month since May 2021. 1.7 million in total since President Biden took office. 
  • 13,359 pounds of fentanyl have been seized – more than theprevious two years combined.

The bottom line is that we need to secure our southern border. A country is not a country without a border. It’s time to get serious about strengtheningour border security and protecting our communities in Eastern Washington.

President Biden’s strategy of turning his back on American energy has killed jobs and ended American energy independence. Gas prices havesurged to a 7-year high, surpassing more than $3.31 per gallon. In Washington State, we’re facing even higher prices, where a gallon of gas exceeds the national average by more than 60 cents per gallon. 

This winter, families in Eastern Washington that rely on natural gas to heat their homes could pay an average $746 – that’s 30% more than a year ago. The U.S. Energy Information Administration predicts that this could be the most expensive winter for natural gas heated homes in more than a decade!

The numbers don’t lie. America is in the midst of an energy crisis.

As President Biden stands idly by as members of his party continue to push communities across the country to defund the police, cities across America are experiencing an alarming surge in violent crime. In other words, demonizing and defunding our police departments has consequences, including: 

To bring an end to our nation’s crime crisis, we must unite in condemnation of violence and give our police departments the resources they need to keep our communities safe.

Closing schools is setting our kids back at a pace that they may never be able to overcome. In Washington State, public school students’ exam scores are plummeting, proving that remote learning clearly isn’t working.

  • 30% of children in grades 4 through 11 met standards in math. 
  • 47% of children in grades 4 through 11 met standards in English. 

Kids have suffered enough throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and they have been the victims of teachers unions who have lost sight of what’s best for students and misguided Democratic policies for too long. 

The fact remains that children are at low risk for COVID-19, and yet closures and mandates are putting them at the highest risk for mental health emergencies and delays in emotional and social development.  

We can no longer ignore the harms that lockdowns and school closures have on our kids, many of whom will face setbacks for years to come. Our kids deserve a better future.

For their overall health and well-being, kids must have their lives back. A good education – in-person, five days a week – is the key to their success. Anything short of that will only make this crisis worse.

The number one responsibility of the federal government is to keep our country safe, but over the past year President Biden has been weak on the world stage. This couldn’t be more clear than with his disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan that put American lives in danger.

The decision to pull out troops before getting Americans out first was a major miscalculation, and it has created a very real national security and humanitarian crisis. The Taliban are now in possession of American weapons including helicopters, airplanes, tanks, Humvees, and other military-grade weapons. 

The lack of preparedness by the Biden administration put American lives at risk, and that is unacceptable. Because of President Biden’s failed leadership, we now have 13 more Gold Star Families who are without a loved one. Our troops who served in this war, their families, and every American deserved better than this failed withdrawal.

President Biden promised the American people that he would “shut down” COVID-19 and that all Americans would “have access to regular, reliable, and free testing.” Instead of delivering on these promises, he spent his first year trying to implement an unconstitutional vaccine mandate and created a serious testing shortage across the country. 

In Eastern Washington, we are already feeling the real world consequencesof Governor Inslee’s vaccine mandate. More than 100 Washington State troopers have left the police force. Hospitals across the state are bracing to lose as many as 7,500 front line workers critical to combating COVID-19. This mandate makes our communities less safe, and it is creating a workforce shortage that disproportionately devastates rural America.

President Biden wants to build on the devastation happening in Washington State by extending the workforce fallout across the nation at a time we can least afford it. Americans are tired of being told what to do, and it’s time for the President to listen to what the people are saying. 

After one year under President Biden’s leadership, our country is in the midst of some unprecedented times. Which crisis are you most worried about?

Select one:‌

Cathy McMorris Rodgers | 1035 Longworth HOB, Washington, DC 20515