The Underwear Bomber and Climate Legislation

Photo courtesy of VoteVets.

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


VoteVets, a progressive veterans group, on Thursday launched a $2 million television ad campaign linking dependence on fossil fuels to the Christmas Day underwear bomber.

The ads target Democrats and Republicans in seven states, and issue “a reminder that terrorists continue to target America, and that every day we continue our dependence on Middle East Oil, we continue to send money to nations with ties to terror,” said the group.

The ads in Missouri target Republican Rep. Roy Blunt, and feature James Sander, an Iraq War veteran. “When a terrorist tried to attack us on Christmas Day, I was reminded why I’m willing to risk my life for America’s security, and why we need to stop sending billions to countries with ties to terrorism,” says Sanders. The ad accuses Blunt of taking thousands from oil companies that do business in countries with ties to terrorism, listing Yemen, Iran, and Libya, and others.

The ads target a range of legislators. Blunt voted against the House climate bill last June. Mark Kirk was one of the handful of Republicans to vote for it, but has backtracked now that he is running for Senate. John Barrasso (R-Wy.), Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), John Thune (R-S.D.), and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) are all expected to vote against legislation in the Senate, if it ever comes up, and Democrat Evan Bayh (Ind.) also looks like a likely opponent.

Here is the ad targeting Thune in Wyoming:

GREAT JOURNALISM, SLOW FUNDRAISING

Our team has been on fire lately—publishing sweeping, one-of-a-kind investigations, ambitious, groundbreaking projects, and even releasing “the holy shit documentary of the year.” And that’s on top of protecting free and fair elections and standing up to bullies and BS when others in the media don’t.

Yet, we just came up pretty short on our first big fundraising campaign since Mother Jones and the Center for Investigative Reporting joined forces.

So, two things:

1) If you value the journalism we do but haven’t pitched in over the last few months, please consider doing so now—we urgently need a lot of help to make up for lost ground.

2) If you’re not ready to donate but you’re interested enough in our work to be reading this, please consider signing up for our free Mother Jones Daily newsletter to get to know us and our reporting better. Maybe once you do, you’ll see it’s something worth supporting.

payment methods

GREAT JOURNALISM, SLOW FUNDRAISING

Our team has been on fire lately—publishing sweeping, one-of-a-kind investigations, ambitious, groundbreaking projects, and even releasing “the holy shit documentary of the year.” And that’s on top of protecting free and fair elections and standing up to bullies and BS when others in the media don’t.

Yet, we just came up pretty short on our first big fundraising campaign since Mother Jones and the Center for Investigative Reporting joined forces.

So, two things:

1) If you value the journalism we do but haven’t pitched in over the last few months, please consider doing so now—we urgently need a lot of help to make up for lost ground.

2) If you’re not ready to donate but you’re interested enough in our work to be reading this, please consider signing up for our free Mother Jones Daily newsletter to get to know us and our reporting better. Maybe once you do, you’ll see it’s something worth supporting.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate