Hey DCUSA Shoppers, Have You Considered Boycotting Target and Best Buy?
So, the news broke yesterday in Minnesota and then the D.C. political sphere that both Target and Best Buy, taking advantage of our newly liquid corporate campaign finance rules, have dropped $150,000 and $100,000 respectively into a the state's gubernatorial race on the side of Tom Emmer, via a business group that has been running T.V. ads on his behalf.
Tom Emmer is sort of your run-of-the-mill Republican–wants lower taxes, less spending, fewer illegal immigrants, etc. But he also embraces some of the harder-right positions that tend to really make Washingtonians wince: He would nullify federal health care legislation, cut the wages of workers who also earn tips, support a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, and once proposed chemical castration for sex offenders.
GLBT groups, among others, are pretty miffed at both retailers' support for Emmer. Target defended itself, saying it made the decision based on the Republican's pro-business stances, and that its "support of the GLBT community is unwavering." But that hasn't stopped groups from springing up to boycott Target especially.
Just, you know, something to consider next time you need a crappy side table.
6:17 pm
Gotten rid of the card. boycott is on.
6:32 pm
Well, this is good to know. I was about ready to buy a new computer at Best Buy. I'll just mosey on down to the Apple Store instead.
I'm sure Best Buy was expecting more than $100k in favors from the politician it's buying, but even if there's a 10:1 return on its investment, at 25% margins, it only would take 2,500 people like me in the whole country for Best Buy to be a net loser on its politician-buying scheme.
7:15 pm
Target and Best Buy are off my list. Will do a lot more online shopping and look very carefully at what they are supporting. Target and Best Buy would have been better sending that money to the Salvation Army or the Red Cross. That big red "target" will remind me in days, months, maybe years to come, that is not the place to go.
8:26 pm
*yawn*, no.
8:55 pm
Whoa whoa people. When buyblue.org was still up, Target was one of the companies that have way more money to Democrats than Republicans. Don't let one candidate turn you off.
9:00 pm
Although this time around, they did give more to Repubs, but a lot to Dems too http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/contrib.php?ind=N03++
10:25 pm
GLBT groups need to turn around the mirror on themselves like HRC with their blind ass kissing of the President and other democrats who still have done nothing about, "Don't Ask Don't Tell" or "The Defense of Marriage Act", both signed by a DEMOCRATIC President (Clinton)with one act still being enforced! I'm gay and I will still shop at Target and Best Buy, as a matter of fact I'm still going to Best Buy tomorrow to buy a flat screen!
9:08 am
Two points:
1. Emmer's an ass who alleges that some servers make over $100,000 annually (right!)
2. servers in MN currently make minimum wage and get tips. He wants to lower the base pay to $2.15 per hour. Guess what the base pay is for most servers in DC. $2.15. Just something to consider.
10:22 am
Whatever happened to buyblue.org? Anyone know if there is an android app for that? If not can somebody make one? As for Target and Best Buy I've been boycotting them anyway. Who the hell with a conscious can shop at places like that? Always boggles the mind to see hipsters going in an out of target to get red party cups and the like. Hipsters are the new frat boy.
12:55 pm
Why can't someone with a conscience shop at Target or Best Buy? do they have some secret baby-seal-battering operation going on we're not aware of?
2:10 pm
UPDATE: I took possession of my new flat screen today, which I bought at the Best Buy, Tenley Town store!
FYI 'John' your site, 'buyblue.org' is off line, I guess they counldn't find enought people of CONSCIOUS to give them donations or find a IT person of CONSCIOUS!, HA!
3:54 pm
Rick, Buddy. I know it went offline. That's why I asked what happened to it. As for your new flat screen... Enjoy watching all those eps of CSI you have DVR'd.
You will "live". then die. And yet nobody will know you ever were. Unless they should stumble upon your pathetic rants preserved here in the comment threads of the interwebs. Which paint the picture of a sad and lonely man. Likely not well endowed. Who is angry at the world and the hand he has been dealt. Is that really what you want?
6:54 pm
'John', I know your type, a phoney who likes to talk about worldly issues but falls short of that mark because of limited encounters in life, because he has played it safe all his life living under his bed! As far as my endowment it suits me fine and my partner of 24 years, I'm not a size queen which opens up a bunch of narcissist and toilet tranning issues with you, come on, come clean you know I'm right!
2:44 pm
Hey, 'John'!, 'buyblue.org' is still off line, sure is a long IT schedule maintenance period!
3:11 pm
Not shopping Target until they make an equal offsetting contribution. Have emailed the Board of Directors - do the same!
5:03 pm
'SHamill', "Resistance is Futile" you would make a perfect Borg Drone!
8:22 pm
I support Target for contributing to causes that aim to keep our nation the best in the world.
The only way to save our country is to forget party affiliations and vote for a conservative candidate that commits to serving the US Constitution as it is written.
10:43 pm
Real simple: I will NEVER buy another thing from Target or Best Buy. End of debate, at least for me.
10:27 am
'Corey' you are just like 'SHamill' a mindless drone!
3:21 pm
Hey!, guess what buyblue.org is STILL OFF LINE!
4:02 pm
Rick, you are kind of a jerk.
10:43 pm
'Andrew', you are a ASSHOLE!, not kind of but the genuine article!
9:06 pm
*NEWS FLASH* 08-05-10 21:06 HRS. BUYBLUE.ORG is still off line!
10:43 am
This isn't about contributing to a political party, so don't obfuscate the issue. It's about donating to the campaign of a certain MN Republican gubernatorial candidate, Tom Emmer, whose affiliations and associations, if not his platform, are hostile (to say the least) to more than just gay interests. Check out his position on the minimum wage for tipped service workers.
Oh sure, Tommy Boy can walk back a controversial position once the s**t storm flies, just like the best of them. Regardless, he's sent his message to the bigots and the overcompensated corporate gluttons who have jumped on his rhetorical jackwagon; i.e., he's "one of them", and he's going to do their enemies dirt.
Tom Emmer is the incarnation of every backward, myopic and ruinously regressive policy position that embodies our worst impulses; i.e., to mobilize fear and insecurity during times of uncertainty, and to scapegoat, marginalize and demonize those who fail to kowtow to our parochial viewpoints. Tom Emmer does more than merely express and promote a socially and fiscally conservative policy platform. He propagates hate that drips with venom. And those who support him are accessories to the same despicable agenda.
To say that you make campaign donations because you agree with only certain policy postiions, or because you find that certain planks of a candidate's platform tend to favor your narrowly defined interests, is both cynical and disingenuous. Think about it. Do you only elect 25%, 33% or even 50% of a candidate to office?
You may say that my argument is absurd because no candidate will articulate only what any given voter wants to hear, and that therefore, no campaign would be funded if everyone thought like me. That's the false choice. The obvious solution is public campaign financing only, and to put an end to private donations where the policy positions of the wealthy and powerful are disproportionately overrepresented.
And as far as Barack Obama goes, every candidate plays the polls and the focus groups in order to garner the biggest slice of the electoral pie. So far, Obama was and still is the least worst candidate choice (although that will likely change). Can you say the same about Tom Emmer?
1:04 pm
Here's why the Target / Best Buy boycott isn't going to die or fade away... The most interesting part, I think is in paragraph 12... Best Buy's published "Code of Business Ethics"... really?
http://retailindustry.about.com/b/2010/08/24/best-buy-and-target-risk-losing-759-billion-in-lgbt-consumer-spending-from-gay-rights-boycotts-tgt-bby....htm