Shadowy Koch Brothers-Backed Group Links Up With Fox News To Sway Midterms

Posted by Mark NC on May 20, 2014 at 4:50 pm. 3 Comments :

As the midterm elections heat up this year, Fox News will begin to shift their attention from hysteria involving Benghazi to hysteria involving Democratic candidates and campaigns. Not that their fictionalized Benghazi horror stories won’t be a part of the mix, but the selection will be expanded to include more outright politicking.

The prelude to this coming torrent of anti-liberal electioneering was evident today in a Fox News report that warned that a “Shadowy Soros-backed group readies $40M war chest for midterms.” George Soros, of course, is one of the right’s favorite bogeymen to frighten their dimwitted audience into quivering subservience. Just the mention of his name produces Tea-filled goosebumps. As usual, though, Fox News presents a thoroughly dishonest accounting of the facts, while simultaneously concealing the sources of their reporting and their prejudices.

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The first notable divergence from the truth is that the group that Fox News is referencing in their report is not a “Soros-backed” group. The story, by Lachlan Markay of the ultra-rightist Washington Free Beacon, is about the Democracy Alliance, an association of liberal donors who contribute to organizations that further their shared goals. George Soros is a member of the association. He is not a founder, a director, a board member, an executive, a staffer, and does not hold any other position of management or authority. He is merely one of about 100 members with no more influence than any of the others. By referring to the association as “Soros-backed” Fox is deceptively trying to convey that Soros has some special power or control that fits with their nightmare vision of an omnipotent Soros-run world.

Secondly, the revelation that some well-heeled Democrats are engaged in activities that advance the principles in which they believe is not exactly news. Nevertheless, it made headlines on Fox and was hyped as an “exclusive” by the drooling Beaconites. Much of the information in the story was previously known and published, including the names of the people connected to the Democracy Alliance and the organizations that received funding from them.

Even the dollar amounts were not particularly newsworthy. When it was reported by Politico just a couple of weeks ago that the two Koch brothers are embarking on a “$125 Million spending spree,” the $40 million dollars being raised by a group of more than 100 Democrats seems rather paltry by comparison. Yet Fox News goes into full-frenzy mode about the Democracy Alliance, and fails to report the Koch brothers’ activities at all. Additionally, it should also be noted that the $125 million Koch budget, which Politico described as “unprecedented,” is attributed solely to their Tea Party front group, Americans for Prosperity. They will surely spend far more than that through their broad network of conservative advocacy groups and think tanks.

Thirdly, the Washington Free Beacon is itself the creation of Republican Party honchos and is closely affiliated with the billionaire Koch brothers, a relationship that the Beacon is careful to keep under wraps. So the fake outrage expressed in this story about Soros must be weighed against the fact that the news entity reporting it is snugly in bed with the Koch brothers who oppose Soros. That kind of conflict of interest obliterates any credibility that the Free Beacon might have brought to the story.

Finally, the notion that there is a substantive equivalence between the philanthropic work of George Soros and the members of the Democracy Alliance, as compared to the single-minded self-interest of the Koch brothers is patently absurd. News Corpse recently highlighted the distinctions in an article that sized up the differences between right and left wing millionaires:

“For one thing, the Republican rich can usually be found bankrolling people and projects that benefit them personally or professionally. Thus the Kochs’ fixation on opposing unions and denying climate change is closely aligned with their exploitative and polluting business interests. Well-off Dems, on the other hand, commonly finance more philanthropic endeavors (civil rights, environment, aid to the poor) that aim to improve the quality of life without necessarily enriching themselves.”

This is just the latest example of the conservative media feeding on itself, as a Koch-associated news enterprise funnels its propaganda to Fox News, and all of them demagogue about how awful it is that a billionaire named Soros is helping liberal groups, without ever disclosing their own affiliation with the Koch brothers. It just illustrates how dishonest the right-wing wags are, and how shamelessly they will exploit their power to invent news stories and distribute them among themselves and other friendly outlets like Fox.

AMERICAN SPRING: Fox News Joins The Crackpot Parade In DC

Posted by Mark NC on May 16, 2014 at 11:31 am. 17 Comments :

Today is the day that Tea Party Patriots and Bundy Militiamen nationwide are supposed to be descending on Washington, D.C. to overthrow the Marxist, Muslim, Kenyan usurper in the formerly “White” House, along with his evil henchmen Joe Biden, Eric Holder, John Boehner, and more. Organizers promised a minimum of 10 million dedicated revolutionaries, and up to 30 million. The attendance would be so overwhelming that President Obama and the other defilers of the Constitution would be forced from office, leaving patriots like Ted Cruz, Allen West, and Jim DeMint to fill the void. So how are these Founding Frothers doing?

Any objective analysis of that photo from today’s massive rally would have to concede that the American Spring was a resounding success. They drew at least three billion protesters, if you count the disembodied voices in their heads. And this historical achievement could not have been realized without the help of Fox News.

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Admittedly, Fox came to the party a little late. But they did show up, and their contribution provided both promotion and helpful dishonesty. The headline pasted atop their lie-riddled Fox Nation website read “Militias Marching On DC.” The article was sourced to the “Moonie” Washington Times and made no effort to validate the claim that Militias, or anybody else, were marching on DC, or anywhere else. However, it was chock-full of pseudo-patriotic hyperbole and overtly violent rhetoric.

“A group of self-described revolutionary-style patriots with a million mobilized militia members are heading to downtown Washington, D.C., this week to bring a simple message to political leadership, from President Obama to House Speaker John Boehner: ‘Get out.'” […]

“The group expects between 10 million and 30 million similarly thinking Americans to meet them in the capital on Friday for a rally that’s being billed as a sort of “Arab Spring” for Americans.” […]

“[Organizer Col. Harry] Riley said he hopes the event will go forward peaceably, but that so far, peaceful protests haven’t brought citizens much luck. He also said that more than 1 million militia members have already mobilized for the event — and that projections of 10 million to attend aren’t pie in the sky.” […]

“We have no faith in the ballot box any longer.”

The organizers of the American Spring, or as Rachel Maddow calls it, “Big Nutball Day,” must be so proud of their achievement. Inspiring this kind of outpouring of support for treason isn’t as easy as it sounds. Perhaps they might have been even more successful if they had advertised the event as the “American Spring Break.” That sort of promotion could have doubled the turnout, complete with videos of “Patriots Gone Wild” and girls dressed up as Betsy Ross flashing their boobs in wet TEA shirt contests.

Tea Party Leader’s Support For Immigration Reform Is Ignored By Fox News

Posted by Mark NC on May 15, 2014 at 1:02 pm. 1 Comments :

From its inception, the Tea Party has been adamantly opposed to comprehensive immigration reform proposals that they regard as amnesty, despite the fact that the actual bills on the table explicitly prohibit it. The reality is that the fringy Tea-publicans are more interested in battering President Obama and preventing Democrats from being able to claim credit for a legislative achievement that a majority of the American people support. Additionally, the conservative mission has never been friendly to people of color and they aren’t about to start welcoming Latinos into their constituent base now.

So it comes as some surprise that a prominent leader of the Tea Party is advocating for immigration reform in a very public way. Sal Russo, the founder of Tea Party express, authored an op-ed for Roll Call titled “Conservatives Need to Fix the Broken U.S. Immigration System.” In the article Russo makes a plea to his conservative comrades that reform represents an opportunity for growth that they must seize in order to “reaffirm who we are and what makes our country great.” He says that…

“…we face debilitating workforce challenges as well. Visa limits for seasonal workers, such as those needed by farmers, cannot keep up with demand. And those visas that are available are too cumbersome, complex and cost prohibitive for many employers to use. That means fewer fruits and vegetables per season, lost revenue and an increased reliance on imports, many of which are not subject to the same level of health regulations as our homegrown crops.”

It’s encouraging to hear the head of a leading Tea Party group speak out in support of reform. But Russo went farther than that in observing that imported products are not “subject to the same level of health regulations” as those produced here. He is making a case for the benefits of regulations, something that Tea Party conservatives have long demonized as the bane of Big Government.

For the record, Russo’s role in the Tea Party movement is not without controversy. He has been accused of exploiting it for personal gain. Research shows that large portions of the money raised by his Tea Party Express is funneled right back into his own pocket via payments to his consulting firm. Nevertheless, he is still respected within the movement and is a frequent spokesman for its cause.

In the past, Fox News has been an active participant in the Tea Party movement. They openly praised its objectives and candidates, and they even helped to rally support for their public events. The network directly asked its viewers to board the Tea Party Express, and assigned correspondent Griff Jenkins to ride along on their bus tours.

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Now, for some reason, Fox News has been conspicuously silent about this pro-immigration editorial by a group they once proudly supported. They haven’t asked Russo to appear on any of their programs to discuss his position. Nor have they interviewed any of the other conservatives with whom Russo is mounting this campaign. They include Grover Norquist, the American Conservative Union, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, whose president said that Republicans “shouldn’t bother to run a candidate in 2016” if they don’t pass immigration reform this year.

It isn’t really difficult to figure out the reason that Fox is ignoring this story. In fact, the reason is there in black and white in Russo’s op-ed:

“[W]e need to make the 11 million people who are here illegally obey the law, pay taxes and come out of the shadows. We have to get them right by the law in exchange for legal status, but not unbridled amnesty. This should include penalties, background checks to root out criminals, and the requirement that they learn English, understand the Constitution and be committed to our basic freedoms. We must ensure there is no special pathway to citizenship that puts them in front of people who waited in line.”

That is pretty much exactly the language used in the Democratic immigration reform bill that has already been passed in the Senate. But GOP House Speaker John Boehner has refused to bring that bill up for a vote in the House even though, by all accounts, it would receive enough bipartisan votes to easily pass. Boehner is afraid of the far-right members of his caucus and the possibility that they will abandon him during the next vote for Speaker.

As for Fox News, they are simply unwilling to reverse course to support reform when it is anathema to their corporate bosses including, especially, Fox CEO Roger Ailes. In the end, the only opinion that matters on Fox is that of Ailes. As with issues like climate change, marriage equality, and rigidly hawkish foreign policy, immigration reform is one of those subjects that is never even given the veneer of fairness and balance to which Fox pretends. So even though Russo is an important figure in the Tea Party movement, he is now persona non grata at Fox. Don’t hold your breath waiting to see him or his viewpoint on air.

WND Nutcase Urges Tea Party To Launch 24 Hour Birther News Network

Posted by Mark NC on May 14, 2014 at 5:06 pm. 1 Comments :

The ultra right-wing WorldNetDaily website published an article today with the promising title, Good Riddance To The Dying ‘Mainstream’ Media.” Indeed, much of the corporate dominated press that controls about 90% of what is disseminated through television, radio, print, and the Internet, is hopelessly biased and/or lacking in substance. Polls show that respect for the media is at historically low levels, and many outlets are losing audience in droves.

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However, WND has an entirely different take on what is troubling the media. Lord Christopher Monckton (that’s right, “Lord”), the author of the article, is convinced that it is the left that is responsible for the decline of the Fourth Estate. He asserts that…

“The first duty of your average Marxist journalist (and that means most of them) is to report the news in a way that furthers the global spread of a single narrow, outdated political prejudice.”

As the primary example of that prejudice, Monckton asks us to “Consider the question of the Obama ‘birth certificate,'” which he insists is inauthentic. That’s because Monckton is an unabashed Birther who has been steadfastly committed to exposing President Obama as a fraud from Kenya, no matter how many times that stubborn and implausible myth has been debunked. And he blames the media for failing to inform the people, saying that they “have never subjected the ‘birth certificate’ to scrutiny.”

But Monckton’s bent toward conspiracy theorism does not end with Birther delusions. He is also a fervent denier of climate change, which he regards as a hoax. And just as with the Birther contrivance, the media is wholeheartedly behind the deception that the planet is warming, complete with the concurrence of 97% of the world’s scientists who have studied the phenomenon. Monckton accuses the media of “refusing to print any comments or letters to the editor on climate change, if those letters in any way call into question the official version of the science.”

As a result of his dissatisfaction with what he regards as the Marxist media, Monckton has a proposal to address the imbalance and biases of the press. He begins by declaring the conservative wing of journalism to be too cowardly to stand up to their leftist oppressors. And this is where it gets really fun:

“Why, for instance, has Fox News not dared to tackle the birth-certificate question in any depth. The reason is that, though it is generally fair and balanced, it is no longer unafraid. The intolerance of the left knows no bounds. They did not like Glenn Beck’s exposure of the ACORN scandal, so they hounded him and bullied his advertisers till he was forced out.

“Everyone else at Fox is now running scared. The standard Saul Alinsky tactic of viciously and persistently attacking the reputations of any who dare to oppose the left works all too well.

Exactly! Notice that Fox News never ever criticizes the President or Democrats over health care, or Benghazi, or the IRS, or Benghazi, or Ukraine, or Benghazi, or voter fraud, or Benghazi, or welfare, or taxes, or oil pipelines, or gun control. And did I mention Benghazi? As for the birth certificate, Fox never mentions that either, except when they do, repeatedly. So what is Monckton’s solution?

“The tea-party movement would justify its existence if it were now to establish a 24-hour TV news channel sufficiently independent of its advertisers and staffed by sufficiently tough-minded journalists that the bully-boys and Obots would be unable to frighten as they have frightened Fox.”

Just think of it. Twenty fours a day of Sheriff Arpaio and Donald Trump frothing at the mouth with condemnations of the Kenyan usurper in the formerly “White” House. They could bring Glenn Beck back to the airwaves with his unique brand of politi-vangelism and allusions to Nazis lurking in every shadow. Sarah Palin could host a conservative cooking show where she would feature her “word salad” inanities. Ted Nugent could take viewers on hunting safaris where the prey are wild liberals, which he has actually proposed.

Monckton’s network would be one that combined the best of televised snake oil ministries and a paranoia-infected, politically-deranged Game of Thrones. How could it miss? Well, they might want to check with the three other far-right networks that have tried to become the alternatives to the ultra-liberal Fox News: NewsmaxTV, Kelsey Grammer’s RightNetwork, and One America News Network, courtesy of the “Moonie” Washington Times. Well, they could check with them if they could find them.

Chalk One Up For The Republican Taliban (aka Tea Party)

Posted by Mark NC on May 14, 2014 at 10:24 am. 8 Comments :

Yesterday’s primary election in Nebraska was won by Ben Sasse, the candidate who proudly solicited and received the support of such notables as Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, Mark Levin, Erick Erickson, and Fox News. Sasse’s campaign was bankrolled by the Koch brothers via their Americans for Prosperity front group.

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The core of Sasse’s message was his promise to repeal every word of the Affordable Care Act, including the parts that end discrimination based on preexisting conditions, the ability for children up to 26 to be on their parent’s policies, prohibiting insurers from cancelling plans when a claim is filed, and the elimination of annual or lifetime limits on healthcare.

Sasse ran a typical Tea Party campaign that pandered to conspiracy theorists and religious extremists. He boasted of his devotion to the most radical form of “religious liberty” that would effectively condone discrimination and permit religious zealots to violate any law they deemed in conflict with their faith. On his website he says…

“Ben Sasse believes that our right to the free exercise of religion is co-equal to our right to life. This is not a negotiable issue. Government cannot force citizens to violate their religious beliefs under any circumstances. He will fight for the right of all Americans to act in accordance with their conscience.”

Under any circumstances? So Sasse will fight for the right of all Americans to stone adulterers to death; to have sex with children; to burn crosses; to refuse service (and housing and jobs) to gays, African-Americans, Jews, etc.; and to ban dancing (sorry Kevin Bacon)? At the same time, Sasse would have to support the use of illegal drugs, polygamy, and public nudity.

Unfortunately, Nebraska is a blood red state that is almost certain to elect the Republican on the ballot. This means that, barring a calamitous misstep, Sasse will be the next senator from Nebraska. He can be relied upon to try to turn the clock back on civil rights, health care, the environment, and true religious liberty that respects human rights and the Constitution. And that’s the sort of agenda that has the American Taliban celebrating on this primary morning after.

You’ll Never See This IRS/Tea Party Story On Fox News

Posted by Mark NC on May 6, 2014 at 4:46 pm. 3 Comments :

Ever since recidivist criminal Darrell Issa (R-Mouthbreather) began his inquisition against President Obama, he has repeatedly tried to poison public opinion by selectively releasing information intended to cast a negative pall on the President and his administration. As chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Issa led partisan witch hunts into an array of phony scandals including Fast and Furious, Benghazi, ObamaCare, and the alleged targeting of Tea Party groups by the IRS.

With regard to the IRS matter, a report published this morning by USA Today revealed yet another case that demonstrates just how deceitful the Issa panel has been. The article states that “39 IRS and Treasury officials deny White House targeting.”

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To be clear, this story is disclosing the testimony of 39 witnesses who were interviewed in closed sessions, all of whom told the committee that there was never any effort by the White House, or anyone else, to influence them in the conduct of their official duties to insure that organizations seeking tax-exempt status were entitled to the designation. Every single one of the witnesses called before the committee said the same thing. Yet Issa withheld the testimony of these witnesses from the public until Rep. Elijah Cummings, the ranking Democrat on the committee, made them available today.

This is typical of the way Issa manages his charge as a committee chair. When he isn’t tyrannically censoring his congressional colleagues, he is releasing snippets of data that make the President or Democrats look bad. Then when the full transcript is released it becomes apparent that Issa lied. In the meantime Fox News has already plastered their air with the falsely abridged reports, which they never bother to correct when the truth eventually comes out. This makes the response by Issa’s deputy staff director for the Oversight panel all the more ludicrous as he accuses Rep. Cummings of “cherry-picking” the evidence.

All of this is happening as the GOP led House is getting ready to vote on holding IRS official Lois Lerner in contempt of Congress for refusing to testify before Issa’s dishonest and disreputable committee. Even as the pseudo-patriots on Fox pretend to be devoted to the Constitution, they lambaste Lerner for exercising her rights and suggest that it implies guilt on her part. But those more familiar with the Constitution than the rightist hypocrites at Fox recognize that Issa’s committee is what is known as a “perjury trap,” wherein the innocent are tricked into saying things for which they are later threatened with indictment. If Lerner’s attorney permitted her to testify before a committee as corrupt as Issa’s, he should be disbarred.

Now that the testimony of these witnesses, that was taken in secret, has finally been released, you might expect that the network that has been most obsessed with the IRS/Tea Party affair would report on these statements that are so critical to the investigation. But don’t hold your breath waiting for Fox News to air anything about this. Since it essentially proves that the whole scandal mongering on the part of the Republicans and Fox News was a sham, they certainly aren’t going to blow the whistle on themselves. That would require having journalistic principles and personal integrity, commodities that are in short supply in either the GOP or Fox News.

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[Update 1] On Wednesday, May 7, the House of Representatives voted 231 to 187 to hold Lerner in contempt of Congress. And that’s about as far as this charade will go because the Department of Justice is unlikely to proceed with a prosecution.

[Update 2] As of Thursday, May 8, Fox News, as predicted, has not reported the fact that all 39 witnesses who testified before Issa’s Committee affirmed that the White House put no pressure on them and that their activities were not political.

John Boehner Ignites Tea Party Brain Blowout In 3…2…1…

Posted by Mark NC on April 25, 2014 at 1:38 pm. 1 Comments :

Ever since Republican John Boehner took the Speaker’s gavel in the House of Representatives, he has presided over the most ineffectual Congress in history. It has managed to produce fewer bills, and work fewer days, than any Congress in modern times. And while achieving that dubious honor, they also held more than fifty votes attempting (unsuccessfully) to repeal or otherwise cripple the Affordable Care Act (aka ObamaCare). But despite bending over backwards to mollify the crackpots in his party, Boehner is already being attacked by fellow Republicans such as this one that mocked the Speaker in a campaign ad.

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Today it appears that Boehner has decided that pandering to the extremist Tea Party minority in the GOP caucus is no longer as appealing as fulfilling his duty as a congressional leader and rescuing his legacy, and that of the institution which is floundering at record low approval ratings.

Boehner delivered a speech in his Ohio district where he made some remarks that are sure to rile up the right-wing fringe contingent in his party. The first of which will be received with a resounding thud by Teabaggers everywhere:

“[To] repeal Obamacare … isn’t the answer. The answer is repeal and replace. The challenge is that Obamacare is the law of the land. It is there and it has driven all types of changes in our health care delivery system. You can’t recreate an insurance market overnight. […] Those kinds of changes can’t be redone.”

This may be the first time that the GOP leadership has acknowledged that “Obamacare is the law of the land.” But Boehner went further to recognize the obvious fact that it is too late to simply undo the law. The health insurance marketplace, and the federal and state infrastructure that supports it, has undergone a transformation that cannot be unwound without creating administrative havoc and unnecessary harm to the eight million plus Americans who are now enjoying coverage that is comprehensive and inexpensive.

Boehner also addressed immigration reform, an issue that has been swirling around Congress for years. There has even been a bill that was passed by a bipartisan majority in the Senate that Boehner has refused to allow his chamber to vote on. However, his new comments suggest that he is ready to press ahead in some fashion to bring an immigration bill to the floor and get it passed. Although he still has to contend with the intransigent Tea-publicans about whom he said…

“We get elected to make choices. We get elected to solve problems and it’s remarkable to me how many of my colleagues just don’t want to. They’ll take the path of least resistance.”

That’s a pretty harsh indictment of his fellow Republicans who he is calling out as obstructionists. Although in this case, he alone is obstructing progress on immigration reform which he could advance by simply scheduling a vote. But clearly he has been cowed by conservatives who oppose a resolution. As for Boehner’s description of the path they are on, in truth it is the path of MOST resistance. That’s the hallmark of the Tea Party’s anti-everything agenda.

Boehner was far from through taking direct swipes at the Tea Party that has made his speakership a nightmare. The divide within the GOP has deep fissures between the Tea Party and the so-called establishment Republicans. Competing factions of SuperPACS and lobbyists are battling for position in fundraising and primaries. And now Boehner is taking sides:

“There’s the tea party and then there are people who purport to represent the tea party. […] I don’t have any issue with the tea party. I have issues with organizations in Washington who raise money purporting to represent the tea party, those organizations who are against a budget deal the president and I cut that will save $2.4 trillion over 10 years. They probably don’t know that total federal spending in each of the last two years has been reduced, the first time since 1950. […] There are organizations in Washington that exist for the sheer purpose of raising money to line their own pockets.”

Without mentioning any names, Boehner is plainly referring to Koch brothers vehicles like Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks, as well as other notable Tea Party promoters like the Club for Growth, the Senate Conservatives Fund, and the Tea Party Patriots PAC. All of these groups have been instrumental in pushing fringe candidates in primaries that often have no chance of winning a general election. Boehner is understandably concerned about that trend as it could lead to restoring a Democratic majority in the House and the end of his reign as speaker (which may end anyway if the Tea Party members revolt and back one of their own in the next session).

In addition to the damage Boehner has caused by widening the gap between the far-right and the establishment, he also committed the sacrilege of acknowledging that something positive occurred during the Obama administration with regard to the economy. Boehner correctly pointed out that the deficit has been declining, a fact that wingnuts refuse to accept. Other economic good news like the stock market recovery and the creation of millions of jobs are similarly ignored – or lied abaout – by Republican politicians and pundits. So Boehner isn’t helping himself with this crowd by carelessly trafficking in reality.

Look for the Tea Party and their benefactors to wield a rhetorical shovel at the Speaker’s head. Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, etc. will shortly commence to battering Boehner and demanding that he recant, repent, or step down. Boehner can count on Karl Rove and, perhaps, RNC chair Reince Priebus to provide some cover, but it won’t stop the bloody battle that is about to engulf the party.

If the Democrats are smart they will sit back and watch with bemused expressions and only contribute when they have some fuel to throw on the fire. Republicans are certain to provide that if Democrats are patient. The latent Cliven Bundys and Todd Akins are lurking beneath the surface of the GOP and they will emerge on their won in short order.

EXPOSED: The Source Of Cliven Bundy’s Crackpot Constitutionalism

Posted by Mark NC on April 20, 2014 at 8:54 am. 117 Comments :

The unfolding drama in the Nevada desert over a deadbeat cattle rancher’s refusal to pay customary grazing fees like every other rancher, continues to excite the Tea Party pseudo-patriots who believe that threatening a range war in defense of personal greed is a mark of virtue. However, Cliven Bundy’s domestic terrorism serves nothing more than his own selfish financial interests, and the crusade he purports to lead is rooted in the worst sort of perversion of constitutional principles.

Bundy has resisted paying to graze his cattle on federal land because he doesn’t recognize the authority of the government to assess those fees. In fact, he doesn’t even “recognize the United States government as even existing.” His argument has lost repeatedly in court, but he continues to ignore his responsibility and to defy the law. His malfeasance amounts to the theft of over a million dollars from the American people. Ironically, if his argument prevailed he would be subject to paying the state of Nevada for grazing rights at $15.50 per head of cattle, rather than the federal rate of $1.35. But simple math, like simple logic, is too complicated for these cretins. So instead, they take up arms against their fellow Americans and pretend to defend their twisted misinterpretation of the Constitution.

Now we have evidence of where Bundy may have picked up his constitutional delusions. In a recent media appearance, Bundy was proudly displaying a copy of the Constitution in his shirt pocket.

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After searching for the distinctive cover of the document in Bundy’s pocket, the publisher turned out to be the innocuously named National Center for Constitutional Studies (NCCS). However, the NCCS is not the commendable educational organization it purports to be. It began life as the Freemen Institute, a vehicle for the far-right, Mormon, anti-commie, history revisionist, W. Cleon Skousen. Skousen taught that the Constitution was inspired by a God who intended America to be a Christian nation. He also professed the canon of white supremicism that Anglo-Saxons are descended from a lost tribe of Israel. The Southern Poverty Law Center chronicled the NCCS curriculum based on Skousen’s philosophy saying that he…

“…demonized the federal regulatory agencies, arguing for the abolition of everything from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to the Environmental Protection Agency. He wanted to repeal the minimum wage, smash unions, nullify anti-discrimination laws, sell off public lands and national parks, end the direct election of senators, kill the income tax and the estate tax, knock down state-level walls separating church and state, and, of course, raze the Federal Reserve System.”

Sound familiar? Skousen’s warped ideology syncs up perfectly with the Tea Party and other purveyors of fringe fear mongering like politi-vangelist Glenn Beck, who literally begged his audience to read Skousen’s book, “The 5000 Year Leap,” which Beck said was “divinely inspired.” The conspiracy-obsessed NCCS shares with Beck and Bundy an animosity toward government that exceeds the boundaries of common sense. Along with Skousen’s books, the NCCS website features anti-UN screeds (“Confronting Agenda 21”), treatises on wingnut electoral reforms (“Repeal 17 Now!”), harbingers of one-world government (“The Rise of Global Governance”), and appeals for institutionalized theocracy (“America’s God & Country”). No wonder Bundy was sporting a version of the Constitution that was distributed by the NCCS, an organization that advances ultra-conservative conspiracy theories and promotes anti-government hostility.

The threatening hysteria and deception emanating from Bundy, and the armed militias that came to his defense, are emblematic of the apocalyptic doctrine of the NCCS. It is no accident that Bundy’s Constitution was provided by a group whose teachings have been denounced by historians and constitutional scholars. But it does explain the extremism and advocacy of violence that Bundy et al have espoused. All of this makes it all the more inappropriate and irresponsible for Bundy to be hailed as hero by conservative media outlets like the National Review and Fox News who, just last week, compared Bundy to Gandhi in a feat of epic cognitive collapse.

Electile Dysfunction? John Boehner’s Tea Party Primary Challenger Goes There

Posted by Mark NC on April 14, 2014 at 4:10 am. 3 Comments :

An Ohio Tea Party candidate seeking to oust Republican House Speaker John Boehner has released a Viagra-themed campaign ad (video below) that is actually pretty funny. J.D. Winteregg’s ad hits all the top Tea Party talking points. He’s anti-immigration, pro-gun and promises to defund ObamaCare and Planned Parenthood. And for some reason he also felt it necessary to declare his opposition golf.

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Winteregg is just one of many Republican fringe candidates taking on establishment GOP figures like Boehner. He doesn’t have much chance of winning, but he can certainly be a major annoyance and, by reminding conservatives of all the things they hate about Boehner, he can contribute to Republican voters sitting out the election in November.

The ad slams Boehner as having “Electile Dysfunction” as a result of being in Washington, D.C. too long. It shows Boehner in videos being chummy with President Obama, a fatal flaw to the close-minded, Tea Party bigots who consider such fraternization to be akin to treason. And it charges Boehner with being spineless for having given in to liberals. Apparently shutting down the government for three weeks, supporting Darrell Issa’s McCarthyite inquisitions, and holding 50+ votes to cripple the Affordable Care Act is an expression of weakness in the eyes of Tea Party extremists.

Perhaps the the best moment in the ad is when the announcer gets to the disclaimer and warns that…

“If you have a Boehner lasting longer than 23 years, seek immediate medical attention.”

With that Winteregg has distinguished himself as the only candidate with the guts to make a dick joke in his official campaign video. And while it may not help him to win the primary, it’s a pretty good bet that he’ll get an invitation to appear on Bill Maher’s show after he loses. It will also get him some attention from the press, which is surely the whole point of the ad. The problem being that it will likely get more play on MSNBC than on Fox News.

And therein lies the flaw in Winteregg’s media strategy. It is not likely to appeal to the conservative media that he needs to rally voters. Consequently, the people most likely to vote for him may never see the ad. Democrats, on the other hand, will love the ad but will never vote for a far-right Tea Partier whose platform consists of nothing but negative attacks on Democratic policies and politicians.

So with this ad Winteregg has demonstrated that he (or more likely his media advisers) has a sense of humor, but he has also revealed that he has no idea how to manage a successful campaign. Which, of course, is also good for Democrats as well as Speaker Boner…er…Boehner.

Republican Party Officially Re-Christened Tea Party: Sarah Palin Named Chair

Posted by Mark NC on April 1, 2014 at 1:04 pm. 5 Comments :

In the past five years since Rick Santelli, a correspondent for CNBC, led a bevy of options traders on an anti-government rant, the Tea Party has gained enormous influence over conservative politics and particularly the Republican Party. Despite their small numbers, Tea Party Republicans have dominated the GOP in Congress and beyond. They threaten establishment Republicans with primary challenges and negative media campaigns. And all of this has occurred while appealing to less than a third of the American people and registering their lowest favorability ever.

The GOP today is no more popular than the sagging Tea Party. Following their crushing losses in 2012, the RNC produced a study that they themselves referred to as an autopsy that contained a laundry list of suggestions for reviving their future prospects. High on the list was expanding their outreach to African-Americans, Latinos, women, and young voters. However, in practice they have only further alienated all of those critical groups since the report was issued.

Recognizing the emerging trends, the Republican National Committee has conceded that they are no longer an effective organizational unit. Consequently, insiders are reporting that the party will soon announce a major reorganization, the principle feature of which will be a re-branding of the party of Lincoln with an even older historic reference: The Tea Party.

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This turn of events may come as a surprise to many rank-and-file Republicans, but hints of this fundamental transformation were visible to those paying close attention. Michael Steele, the former chairman of the RNC, addressed this a couple of years ago saying that…

“It’s important for our party to appreciate and understand [the Tea Party] so we can move toward it, and embrace it.”

The current RNC chair, Reince Priebus (whose name without the vowels is RNC PR BS), has also attempted to erase the line delineating the Tea Party from the GOP saying that…

“It’s not Tea Party tactics. This is what the American people want.”

Of course, every poll shows that that statement is not true. Nevertheless, Republicans continue to wrap themselves in Tea Party linens. House Speaker John Boehner joined the choir saying that…

“There really is no difference between what Republicans believe in and what the Tea Party activists believe in.”

The ribbon round the package has to be Sarah Palin’s admonition in a speech she gave to the National Tea Party Convention:

“The Republican Party would be really smart to start trying to absorb as much of the Tea Party movement as possible because this is the future of our country. The Tea Party movement is the future of politics.”

It may be the sentiment in that speech that resulted in Palin being tapped to become the chair of the newly reconstituted GOP. Sources say that she was chosen by acclamation among an elite group of Republican Party leaders during a closely guarded conclave last week at the Florida residence of David Koch, one of the infamous Koch brothers who are responsible for bankrolling the Tea Party since its inception. Others in attendance were said to include Texas senator Ted Cruz, radio politi-vangelist Glenn Beck, outgoing House Tea Party caucus chair Michele Bachmann, and Fox News CEO Roger Ailes (who was sporting a “Draft Putin 2016” button on his lapel).

The process of converting from Republicans to Tea Partiers will not begin in earnest until after the mid-term elections in November. After that there will be a flurry of activity from construction and furnishing to letterhead and logos. And by 2016 what was once referred to as the “Grand Old Party” (and more recently as the “Greedy One Percent”) will be a footnote in American history.

But don’t expect these changes to be anything more than cosmetic. The all new Tea Party will still be an intolerant, compassionless, science-denying, theocratic, advocate for corporations and the rich. Whether they are called Republicans or Tea Partiers, they are still committed to wealthy interests and opposed to ordinary working Americans. Some things never change.

[Update 4/2/2014] April Fools! But for the record, the first two paragraphs and all the quotes are true. So the re-branding has already occurred in principle.

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