It has been five years since the President used the back drop of the United States military for near perfect propaganda purposes. Standing on the deck of an aircraft carrier underneath a banner that read "Mission Accomplished," the President achieved what will be historically seen as simultaneously the highest point of his presidency and the lowest point for that office. Now five years later, with universal understanding that the mission was not only never accomplished, but was never even defined, it's clear that this Administration was at best incompetent. All of us need to gather and recommit ourselves to ensuring that such an infinitely destructive power grab never be allowed to happen again. I hope that you will help us do just that.

Friends,

We just held the largest press conference of this cycle to demand that my rubber stamp opponent vote to override George Bush's veto of children's health care tomorrow. I apologize for being brief, but I'm off to visit with more supporters in the district and I wanted to share this with all of you.

Thanks again for your support,

-Eric Massa

Congressional Candidate (NY-29) Eric Massa weighs in on the Presidential Primaries in a brief video.

Friends,

Last night I shot a brief video describing my thoughts on the current situation in Iran which I'd like to share with you. As a retired Navy Officer, I know that the very close call at the Strait of Hormuz and our President's overreaction are very serious problems which aren't getting enough coverage from the press amidst the Presidential coverage.

If we are going to prevent a war with Iran, we will need to stand together and demand accountability from our Congress, our President, and our Nation.

This weekend, in small towns and in our largest cities, in rural and in urban areas, Americans will be asked to step back and offer public recognition to the Veterans of America’s Armed Services. It is fitting and just that we do so for without them there would be no America.

For better or for worse, over the last two years I have gained a public political persona during my bid to represent the 29th Congressional District in Washington.  I want to take just a moment to discuss why I believe so many Veterans, especially those like myself who had never have been involved in politics before, are stepping forward to become involved in public policy at all levels of government. It’s simple really, the Congress has fewer veterans now than at almost any other time in the history of the country. Veterans are under represented by a huge percentage. As a direct result, the benefits which all Veterans earned and deserve are being denied, compelling them to get involved. What’s more, those in power who have never worn a uniform delight in standing in for photos with Veterans -- all the while attacking the service records of those who did and who disagree with them.

New York Governor Eliot Spitzer recently paid a visit to Elmira to publicly call upon my opponent Randy Kuhl to change his vote on SCHIP.  By the Governor’s estimation, 10,000 children in NY-29 need SCHIP.  Great blog coverage of these events is.  But instead of changing his vote, Randy Kuhl has tried to change the subject to talk about the recent MoveOn ad about General Petraeus.  Here is the actual quote, where he questions my character:

Friends,

As you already know, today is the last day of the all important 3rd quarter filing deadline for campaigns and I'm sure your inbox has been filled up with requests for donations and support. I want to take a moment to first thank everyone at DailyKos, Openleft, MyDD, and the Swing State Project for deciding to add my race to their Blue Majority page as well those of you who have decided to support my race and the other Blue Majority candidates. The support of bloggers is incredibly valuable and we simply cannot win without your help. Today, I want to take a moment to address you in video which is something I haven't been able to do as often as I like (though your contributions are helping us build out our staff and increase our capabilities):

If one listened to the most interesting portion of the recent Fox News Republican debate, the part where they were debating whether the escalation, aka the "surge," in Iraq is achieving progress or not, there were two sides, both of which essentially failed to realistically present the options available to us.  On one side was Ron Paul, who basically said we need to get out of Iraq for our own best interest and not worry much about what we leave behind.  The other side was most forcefully represented by Mike Huckabee, who said that since we broke it, it is a matter of honor that we fix Iraq before we leave. Republican spinmeister Frank Luntz declared that Huckabee’s comment won in the focus groups.  (link)

Although one has to give Huckabee credit for some creative spin, in a real debate someone should have challenged him on the underlying assumption that maintaining the current escalation is the best way to go about fixing Iraq.  Unfortunately, the profound silence on this point during the Republican debate mirrors that of most of the traditional media in the larger public debate about the escalation.  

Greetings from beautiful Western New York. Today the sun is shinning, the trees are just about to turn for fall, and I grow another year older. That's right, today is my 49th Birthday, and as I look back, I am proud of all that I have accomplished thus far in my life, but I know that it is not enough. I tell every audience that I speak with, that if I am elected and I can cast the deciding vote to end the war and to institute single payer healthcare, then I will have accomplished more in my life in those two actions than everything else combined, other than raising my three children. Today, I want to take the opportunity to remember the past, assess where we at are today and look to the future.

Friends,

First I want to thank all of you for your continued support for our race. Since last spring, we've moved from being a start up campaign with a dollar and a dream to full fledged top tier challenger race. Your continued support could very well mean the difference between winning and losing against the worst George Bush rubberstamp member of Congress on this side of the Mississippi. I know that together, we can change the course of our nation- we can stand up and demand a new direction for America, but it means working together where we can win. As many of you already know last time we came within 1% of winning and this year we are starting early and I know we can earn the necessary votes.

Today, I want to speak a little bit about the news of the past week. This week we saw President George Bush continuing to make a mockery of our national reputation on a number of different occasions and we saw a brand new Osama bin Laden videotape. Indeed the plot has thickened and the President's wizardry with the spoken word has brought our national dialog to a new high.

I want to begin by again thanking all of you, both locally and nationally, for all of your support. As many of you know, this past week the Chairman of the DCCC, Congressman Chris Van Hollen, joined me for a press conference and fundraiser in Rochester N.Y. The event was a huge success and we are very excited by Chairman Van Hollen's statement that our campaign is now being considered one of the top tier challenger races in the nation. We are working around the clock to bring change to not just the constituents of New York's 29th District, but to the entire nation. I know we will win this seat in 2008, and your continued support will help us sustain the effort to bring real leadership from Upstate and Western New York to Washington D.C.

Today, I'd like to begin by again thanking all of you for your support as I continue in my challenge to bring a new standard of leadership to Washington. As many of you know, I am a 24 year retired Navy Commander, and last week I explained why Don't Ask/Don't Tell must be overturned. Although that's not a popular position amongst many circles, I wanted to let you know that I've received a number of phone calls and emails from a number servicemen and women, past and present, who strongly agree with my position.

This week, I'd like to discuss something that's made me especially sick with disgust. On Wednesday, the President, in front of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, compared the war in Iraq to the war in Vietnam. Nothing upsets me more than when a National Guard dropout, who's put our volunteer military on the line, starts using our troops to explain his own failures.

I'd like to start this week by again thanking all of you in the netroots community for your tremendous support of my candidacy for Congress in New York's 29th District. My race has been a constant whirlwind of events and activities since a few minutes before I boarded my flight to Chicago for the YearlyKos convention. In the airport, I was informed that my primary opponent had officially announced that he was retiring from the race.  Now that I am the sole candidate, the DCCC is giving us much more attention. In fact, Chairman of the DCCC, Congressman Chris Van Hollen, will be coming to Rochester NY to hold a fundraiser in support of our race.

Friends,

It has been an absolute whirlwind week for our campaign over the last 10 days and there are a number of things I'd like to touch on today. In the last 10 days, our momentum has grown exponentially. Today, I'd like to take the time to review four major developments in our race.

YearlyKos

First - I want to thank all of you for another wonderful experience at the Yearly Kos convention last week in Chicago. I apologize for not posting last Sunday as I usually do, however I was on an airplane flying back to Western NY at the time. During the convention I was scheduled to speak at the Future Leaders panel with a number of netroots candidates. However on Friday morning at 7 am I received an urgent call from one of my staffers. Apparently Arianna Huffington had just broken her ankle and as such was unable to make it to the "Left behind by the Right" panel (If you're reading this, I hope you're feeling better Arianna). As such, I was asked to step in since I too am a former Republican.

Fellow Kossacks,

I'm entering day three of my challenge for Bill O'Reilly to debate me and still have yet to hear from him. I request that you please recommend this post as it will provide the collective call to Fox News that we aren't going away. Mr. O'Reilly may ignore me now, but he will have to listen to all of us combined.

Also, I hope all of you attending YearlyKos can join me on Friday 8/3 at 10:30am where I will be speaking at the Future Leaders panel and followed by a hospitality room on that same Friday from 1-5pm at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place, Meeting Suite 2 on the third floor about 100 feet to the left of the Convention Center. I'd like to meet each and every one of you to discuss my race and our challenge to Bill O.

As you may know, we've exposed the far-left Daily Kos web site as being a hate enterprise and have questioned why the Democratic presidential candidates are speaking at its convention, thereby putting a stamp of approval on hate.

-Bill O'Reilly on 7/29/07

To my Friends of the DailyKos Community,

To the Kos Readership,

First, thank you for your years of support. Today I ask that you consider recommending this post and spreading the word to your friends and family as I am challenging Bill O'Reilly to debate me on his show following his weeks of trashing the DailyKos. The more recommendations we get, the more momentum we can build. Having watched and read Fox News over the past two weeks, I find their attacks against the DailyKos to be unfounded and reprehensible.

I hope to see all of you in Chicago where I will be speaking on Friday 8/3 at 10:30am at the Future Leaders panel and then hosting a hospitality room on that same Friday from 1-5pm at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place, Meeting Suite 2 on the third floor about 100 feet to the left of the Convention Center. I hope to meet all of you, and even Mr. O'Reilly if he can find the time to swing by.

With that, I'd like to directly address Bill O'Reilly who has made it his mission to defame and mischaracterize us and our cause.