Don’t Drink the Kool Aid…
August 3, 2008
Don’t Drink the Kool Aid: The Republican Party is the Largest Special Interest Group in the World!
corporatism: control of a state or organization by large [special] interest groups
When I was in 10th grade I had a debate teacher who told me that “perception is reality.” How right Ms. Braverman was. Oh perspective is a mighty, mighty thing.
A couple of days ago you may have heard that the Republicans held a little pro-oil company protest by refusing to leave the floor of the House. Well depending upon your perspective they were either standing up for the little guy or doing what Republicans do best, doing the bidding of the elite and the monied special interests.
For those of you who actually fell for the Republicans ruse maybe I can change your perspective of things with a little enlightening dose of reality.
I won’t get into how more drilling would offer absolutely NO benefit to gas prices in the short term and very little in the 5 to 10 year span it requires to get oil from the ground to market - you can figure it out for yourself: (Energy Dept. Study: ANWR oil would have little impact - “perhaps reducing the price by 30 to 50 cents a barrel”)(Logic of off-coast oil drilling deeply flawed)
What I do want to talk about is an interesting quote in a report from RawStory:
“Urging drilling, House GOP members refuse to leave floor for recess”
“As members of Congress pull a stunt today on the floor of the House regarding oil drilling… Campaign Money Watch urges all voters and reporters to go to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics’ website, OpenSecrets.org, and review how much each member of Congress received from the oil and gas industry over their careers. These contributions from Big Oil, more than anything else, will tell you what you need to know about today’s circus,” said David Donnelly, Director of Campaign Money Watch.
So I took Mr. Donnelly up on his challenge and this is what I came up with:
PDf of Campaign Contributions to Pro-Oil Company Republican Protestors
These 22 Republicans, who staged their little pro-oil company rally, had actually accepted $6,357,214.00 (Six-million, three hundred and fifty-seven thousand, two-hundred and fourteen dollars) in total campaign contributions from the oil, gas and energy natural resources industries.
The best part of their whole little stunt was when they attempted to feign concern for the plight of the little man affected by the recent rise in gas prices by, you guessed it, blaming it on the Democrats!
If not for the obviousness of their actions I’d have to give them an “A” for political maneuvering. I mean what could be better than fooling the American people into believing that you actually stand with them by paying back your very large campaign contributors, all the while blaming the Democrats for a problem you did nothing about for years.
My hat is off to those clever fascist in the Republican Party; well done.
What a great way to generate millions of people who are beyond cynical about politics and politicians, and a phenomenal way to make the jobs of people on the Left who continually battle for human, environmental, civil and labor rights so damn difficult.
Bravo, bravo!
(A special thanks to those unfortunate souls over at Red State that have obviously overdosed on the Kool-Aid but were kind enough to compile a list of all the nice Republican fascists.)
North Carolina Votes for Barack Obama
May 6, 2008
May 6th is upon us and the missus and I cast our vote today and I learned something interesting about Wake Forest, North Carolina. You see, I’ve never voted in a primary before because when I lived in NY it was only possible to vote if you registered with a party affiliation. So I was a little confused when the election official asked me if I wanted a Democrat, Republican or Unaffiliated ballot. After figuring out that the unaffiliated ballot was basically just a non-partisan judicial voting ballot both the wife and I asked for the Democratic ballot.
Apparently so did 268 and 269 other people!
In fact, the election official exclaimed that the Democratic ballot was the one that “most people were asking for.” After making my selection for Barack Obama, I walked over to the machine and placed my ballot in the slot. The red LCD readout displayed “362.” So if I was holding the 269th Democratic ballot and there had been a total of 362 ballots by 10:30 a.m. that meant that less than 93 people (just 25%) had requested the Republican ballot - IN A SMALL TOWN THAT OVERWHELMINGLY VOTES REPUBLICAN!
Very interesting I thought…. And that’s not counting the early votes that have already been cast, likely from those that know about such things, such as the partisan or the most highly educated. Hmmm?
Things seem to be looking good. Who knows, while this effect could be because McCain has essentially clinched the Republican nomination, the possibility exists that maybe this is going to happen all over the country on November 4th, 2008?
My prediction is that when the story is told about the general election it is going to be all about turnout and Barack Obama, not Hillary Clinton, definitely not John McCain and especially not George W. Bush, is the reason why people are being motivated to the polls in record numbers.
Whatever happens, the one thing that I’m absolutely sure of today is that the story is NOT going to be about John McCain or the Republican Party.
Things are looking good!
Politico Headlines:
