Well, it seems that John Kline is outraged – OUTRAGED! – that a candidate is taking footage of Marines in uniform, and using said Marines in an ad. And he’s outraged. Here’s what Blogger Michael Broadkorb is reporting Congressman Kline said, over on M.D.E.:

I am outraged that Ashwin Madia would exploit uniformed Marines to advance his political ambitions. … He should immediately pull down the ad and issue an apology to the drill team and the brave men and women of the U.S. Marine Corps.” (M.D.E.)

Well, one would think, by Congressman Kline’s outrage, that he, himself, would never have used the military, or military veterans, to further HIS “political ambitions”, wouldn’t one? Or, if he HAD used the military, or military veterans, to further HIS “political ambitions”, Congressman Kline would have apologized, right?

Yeah, “right.”

Let’s take a look at a John Kline incident, from just two years ago.

On August 12th, 2006, John Kline attended an event with the Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA), in St. Paul. Randy Pleva, National President of the PVA, sent Congressman Kline a letter on August 28th, thanking Kline for showing up.

Now, it’s important to remember, that the PVA is a 501(c)3 not for profit.

So, what did Congressman Kline do, with that letter, from a not for profit Veterans Organization?

If you guessed Congressman Kline shamelessly used that letter to further Kline’s political career, you would be correct.

Here’s the entire verbage from the SECOND letter the PVA sent to Congressman Kline, dated 31 October 2006:

Dear Congressman Kline,

I write to you regarding a recent campaign flyer distributed by the Kline for Congress campaign (copy attached) that implies my endorsement, as President of Paralyzed Veterans of America, of your reelection. As a 501(c)3 not for profit organization we are precluded by law from endorsing or opposing any candidate for office. Not only was this language taken out of context and used without our knowledge, the fact is that this may put or organization’s good standing in jeopardy.

The language contained in the flyer comes from a letter (attached I sent you August 28, 2006 thanking you for your attendance at a fund raising event conducted by PVA’s Outdoor Recreation Heritage Fund. I find the selective editing for use in the flyer disingenuous at best.

I would appreciate that you and the campaign cease using this implied endorsement.
Thank you.

Sincerely,

Randy L. Pleva, Sr.
National President

cc: Federal Election Commission, Office of General Counsel

Here’s the first letter, that John Kline disingenously took out of context:

Here’s the second letter, that the PVA essentially said “cease and desist”:

Now, fastforward to yesterday, and remember Kline demanding someone else issue an apology. Ask yourself this: do you think John Kline ever apologized to the PVA, for shamelessly and disengenuously using Paralyzed American Veterans to shamelessly advance Kline’s career?

If you think Kline did NOT apologize, you would be correct; I know – because I called Randy Pleva, National President, and asked.

John Kline – as usual – is acting like the shameless and disengenuous hypocrite that has caused “GOP” to now stand for GreedOverPrinciples.

“Hypocrisy, thy party is GOP”

(cross posted at MnBlue, originally posted at MnProgressiveProject.com )