The DNC Used Benghazi to Solicit Donations

Despite Democrats’ apparent outrage over Republicans mentioning Benghazi in connection to fundraising appeals, it turns out the DNC did the same thing.

Democrats were shocked last week that some Republican leadership organizations including the RNC would mentioned the Benghazi scandal in fundraising appeals. NPR called it a “partisan flashpoint.” The DNC’s chairwoman and communications director both decried the politicization of a tragedy.

But last May the DNC sent out a fundraising email signed by Communications Director Brad Woodhouse which made the political fight over Benghazi a reason to donate. It opens:

Friend —

Getting in President Obama’s way has been the top priority for Republicans in Congress since day one. But now they’ve gone too far.

They’ve been caught red-handed making up so-called ‘scandals’ out of thin air to stir up false rumors of vast ‘cover-ups’ happening in the White House.

Did they find a single shred of evidence to back up their outrageous claims? No.

But rather than let the truth stand in their way, Republicans actually doctored emails between administration officials about Benghazi. Then, they released them to the press, trying to pass them off as real in order to create their scandal. Fortunately, they got caught in the act when the White House released all of the actual emails.

Tell President Obama you’ve got his back right now, no matter what Republicans come up with next.

That link (which is bright red in the email) takes you to a page which collects an email and zip code. If you enter the requested information you are redirected to a page titled “Thanks–Now Take the Next Step.” The next step in this case is making a donation to the DNC. In case that wasn’t enough, the email goes on for two more paragraph and then ends:

http://my.democrats.org/Stand-With-The-President

Its time for them to do their damn jobs.

This final link takes you directly to a fundraising page which titled “Chip in, and let’s elect more Democrats.”

It’s worth noting that the claims the DNC made in the solicitation email are false. There were no “doctored” emails. In fact, the Washington Post gave that claim 3 Pinocchios on May 21st. That’s three days before the DNC fired off its solicitation email. So they knew it wasn’t true when the sent it.

Fundraising off the politics surrounding Benghazi may be inappropriate but, having done so itself, the DNC is in no position to point fingers.