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Among the Intellectualoids
Crabs vs. Kochs
The Lefties continue to think that millions (of dollars) can buy millions (of freedom lovers).
The sometimes organized Left has caught on to the big dirty secret about the Tea Parties and it is now blasting the news all over its blogs and media outlets: that conservative patrons exercise total mind and body dominion.
Look, for example, at the weekend’s Lincoln Memorial rally hosted by Glenn Beck (from whom they take their cues). Somehow the coercive Astroturf effect of Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks made hundreds of thousands of people — from all over the country — appear suddenly in Washington. They spilled off the steps of the Memorial past the Vietnam War Wall, the Korean War Memorial, the Reflecting Pool, the World War II Memorial, and onto the hill in front of the Washington Monument. As leftists like the New York Times’ Frank Rich and the New Yorker’s Jane Mayer reported, the billionaire private oil profiteers Charles and David Koch enabled AFP/FW to make it all happen.
You see, the Kochs have lots of money — intoxicating, limb-controlling gobs of it. With it they lured those flag-waving lawn chair-toters onto planes and buses from all over the South and Midwest to head to the nation’s capital. These zombies, after enduring long lines to obtain their Metro farecards, then rode the subway to the Mall where they could congregate in the August heat for several hours and listen to Beck talk about God. And everyone knows that’s the message the Big Oil Kochs are paying for everyone to hear.
But it’s pretty hard to put a good conspiracy like that over the deep-thinking Left, especially the environmentalist ones — at least for very long. Now nearly all of them have caught on to the scheme: Greenpeace, Center for American Progress, Media Matters for America, Mother Jones, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, MSNBC, among many others — oh, and the White House too:
Right now all around this country there are groups with harmless-sounding names like Americans for Prosperity, who are running millions of dollars of ads against Democratic candidates all across the country. And they don’t have to say who exactly the Americans for Prosperity are. You don’t know if it’s a foreign-controlled corporation. You don’t know if it’s a big oil company, or a big bank.
Yes, the liberals are too smart for us. Their strategy to expose their political opponents as tools of Big Oil has been a smashing success, as the Washington Post reported on Sunday:
A year ago, these groups seemed to be at the peak of their influence, needing only the Senate’s approval for a landmark climate-change bill. But they lost that fight, done in by the sluggish economy and opposition from business and fossil-fuel interests.
Now the groups are wondering how they can keep this loss from becoming a rout as their opponents press their advantage and try to undo the Obama administration’s climate efforts. At two events last week in Wisconsin, environmental groups seemed to be trying two strategies: defiance and pleading for sympathy.
Neither one drew enough people to fill a high school gym.
The Badger State would seem as good a place as any to press the anti-“Big Oil Billions” message, which the environmentalists have employed for a long time now. But despite the tens of billions of dollars of their own they’ve had at their disposal in the climate debate, they have nothing to show in either legislation or public support. Gallup says Al Gore is losing the global warming debate and Pew poll found that Americans believe global warming is the lowest priority political issue of the 20 they asked respondents to rank.
Don’t know why the average citizen would feel this way about environmentalists and their message:
…In Milwaukee, the CarnivOil — put on by Clean Energy Works — took a different tack.
Instead of holding out hope for a climate bill, they declared it dead and tried to blame the oil and gas industry for killing it.
“The message to folks outside of Washington is that, while they’re not paying attention, big oil’s having a carnival in Washington,” Clean Energy Works’ Di Martino said. “Anything and everything that threatens their business model, they’re able to stop. And the message to people is to wake up.”
Every few minutes, there would be a fight. The person in the crab costume — said to be boxing on behalf of the environment — would take on the fake oil executive. Each bout followed the same script: The oil executive would bribe the referee, who would make the crab take off his boxing gloves.
About the Author
Paul Chesser is executive director for the American Tradition Institute and a senior fellow for the Commonwealth Foundation for Public Policy Alternatives. The views he expresses do not necessarily reflect the views of these organizations.
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Tim*| 8.31.10 @ 6:29AM
The Tea Party Rebellion Escalates without George Soros , SEIU , ACORN , Algore , Maurice Strong.........
We're Gonna Open A Can Of Whup Ass On November 2nd .
Be There .
ggoblue| 8.31.10 @ 7:24AM
right on tim...63 days til we vote...IF i get my $5 from mr koch that is....
the left just believes their own bulls--t, and thats why they cannot change.
Jason Gillman | 8.31.10 @ 9:02AM
ggoblue, I wouldn't take less than $6 from Koch to motivate my sedentary limbs to board a bus and travel 800 miles. you are too cheap.
Mark James| 8.31.10 @ 3:08PM
Correct Blue. In most of my debates with lefties I always have to start by defining what a conservatives REALLY is and explaining to them that they are not allowed to define me. They seem really confused that I am not willing to accept that I am a Nazi since they were told at the University that anyone who disagrees with the left are Nazis.
teapartiesr4wusses| 9.1.10 @ 8:38AM
I hope you return the favor to the "lefties" you debate, and never try and define *them*.
It gets really tiresome trying to explain to most conservatives that being a secular humanist with democratic / socialist leanings does not a commie make: one of the local conservatives has even taken to buying billboards featuring very flattering pics of Obama and Castro together...go figure...
AMENBRO| 8.31.10 @ 9:53PM
GOD BLESS YOU SIR. God Bless Ronald Reagan & Barry Goldwater toooo.
Been sharpening my can opener since JIMMAH CARTER left N. Korea during Clinton. Had not 9/11 happen we probable woulda had to open up that can on WUBBYA.
BARRY & WILLIAM F.,I'm sure were in tears watching from heaven. BILLY Jr.'s dad's BIG BILL's got a can on ice for his son's obsequious endorsement of OBAMA. Kid musta been chasin TAIL
winterhawk| 8.31.10 @ 7:59AM
Look at what is happening in Germany. They have started doing things over there like we used to do before obama. They are turning their econony into a winner. Do the liberals not see that? Of course not. Germany is beginning to get rid of their socialist ideas and the liberals cannot stand that. They will have to stop getting their welfare checks and go get a job.
Petronius| 8.31.10 @ 10:14AM
If Congress does indeed change hands, the Republicans better not pick a jackoff like Gingrich as Speaker. He allowed the Demoncrats to cross the aisle and hollow out his majority in his vain attempt to join the beltway clique at our expense.
Then the first item of business: all subsidies and grants to Liberal organizations, causes, universities, foundations, and the UN get struck from the budget. Starve these damned parasites!
Louis Jenkins| 8.31.10 @ 10:37AM
"Their strategy to expose their political opponents as tools of Big Oil has been a smashing success..."
Big Oil had a hand in this? I thought it was the American People. Oil does not control these folks. They came from every part of the US, and there were thousands who could not attend but gave them their blessings. For the liberal bloggers and MSM to think otherwise, well, they're full of it.
teapartiesr4wusses| 9.1.10 @ 8:50AM
Advertising and the conservative media, controlled by the likes of Rupert Murdoch, the Koch Bros, et al, have a hand in where the American People spend their money; get their ideas...? The conservative media does not control these folks! They came from every part of the US, and there were thousands who could not attend but gave them their blessings. For the conservative bloggers and FauxNews to think otherwise, well, they're full of it.
Gobble-gobble, one of us...
Spyder308| 8.31.10 @ 10:38AM
Strange, it is the grassroots right, and the "organized left." I haven't seen any evidence of an "organized left" with millions of dollars rolling in. I guess it is similar to all those right wing talk shows that dominate the "liberal media."
Ken (Old Texican)| 8.31.10 @ 11:06AM
Well, Spyder,
I will spell it out for you s-o-r-o-s-g-o-l-d-m-a-n-s-a-c-h-s et al.
spyder308| 8.31.10 @ 5:10PM
Go to The Nation and read the article "Vulture Capitalists Funding the GOP." George Soros effectively gives his money away in underdeveloped nations to eradicate malarie and other scourges. He gets nothing in return. Soros is not out to buy our government. The funders of the GOP are out to buy our govenrment for the benefit of their personal wealth. Some are just using their wealth directly to buy a Senate seat or a governorship.
Kishego| 8.31.10 @ 11:07AM
Then get your head out of the sand. You didn't see all of the purple shirts getting off the buses in front of the bankers houses? You didn't see the puprle shirt goons beat up a disabled black man in St Louis at a town hall meeting? You didn't see the purple shirts bite the finger off a retiree in L.A.? Come on, really, get your head out of the sand (well its probably stuck in a bodily orifice but you get the point).
Albert| 8.31.10 @ 12:01PM
It never ceases to amaze me just how ridiculous leftists can be. In just three sentences, spydee has made more gaffes than Joe Biden in a week. His ridicule of the notion of an "organized left" is laughable. Just what planet is he from? Of course the left is organized. They always have been. It is their trademark. From 1960's war protests to President Bozo's "community organizer" resume, leftists focus, focus, focus, on organizing. And the money just keeps on coming. George Soros is one source. Of course, the taxpayers are another source, being forced by leftists in government to subsidize leftist organizations like the criminal group ACORN (the "O" in ACORN stands for "Organizations"). And that last sentence is a howler! "Right wing talk shows" do not dominate the "liberal media" nor does anyone claim that they do. (Can we say "straw man"?) Talk radio is ALTERNATIVE media. An alternative to the leftwing dominated major news shows like ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN. (Back in the 90's these were affectionately known as Always Boost Clinton, the Clinton Broadcasting System, Never Bash Clinton, and the Clinton News Network because of their shameless sycophancy toward our favorite criminal President.) Spydee-boy, I'm afraid, has lost it completely. The nice men in white coats with the butterfly nets will be arriving shortly.
Spyder308| 8.31.10 @ 2:41PM
Your paranoia is showing. That is a symptom of dealing with cognitive dissonance. In case you are not familiar with the term, that is when the facts contradict your beliefs.
Albert| 8.31.10 @ 4:00PM
I assume you meant this message for yourself, since you fit the description.
John II| 8.31.10 @ 6:37PM
Actually, Spydie, the term "cognitive dissonance," in the half-century since it was coined by the social psychologist Leon Festinger, has undergone much refinement and suffered through much contradiction from opposing theories that lay greater weight on the complexity of the human condition--but has never meant anything so simplistic as "when the facts contradict your beliefs." Nor is "paranoia" identified in the theory as a "symptom" of cognitive dissonance.
As suggested by Albert, and to use more of your pop-jargon, you may indeed be projecting when you speak airily of paranoia and cognitive dissonance, I wouldn't know.
But I am certain, from my judgment of your language by my impeccable literary instincts, that you are a colossal ass.
And now back to the 1950 version of "Cyrano de Bergerac," with the incomparable Jose Ferrer as Cyrano and the lovely Mala Powers as Roxanne.
Albert| 8.31.10 @ 7:11PM
I couldn't have said it better myself. In fact, I couldn't have said as well in the first place. :-)
Ryan| 8.31.10 @ 2:53PM
Seriously, read up on Soros and ACORN and various other similar groups. You'll find information there that may open your eyes. There's a reason that we're paranoid about them.
FWIW, in 2008 Dems had MORE money and organization going for them.
Steve A| 8.31.10 @ 11:04AM
Spyder, It's easy to understand. With the explosion of media in the past 15 years & the election of a full blown king of social justice & redistribution, the mask is fully off the Left's agenda for all to see. The grass roots right is nothing more than the achievers of this country finally taking the time away from earning the $$ to pay for you & your pals & collectively telling you to get out of our wallet. We have had enough of it. Please forgive the delay, we have been busy working 2 jobs.
Stan Redmond| 8.31.10 @ 12:24PM
I can't imagine why the left's messages are not getting out. A crab boxing an oil executive who bribes the referee? Come on, who isn't persuaded by that? I am surprised PETA's dressing up as chickens in front of KFCs across the country hasn't turned us all in to vegans. What next? Polar bears falling out of the sky from airplanes...Oh wait.
Hysterical presentations like the left is resorting to now, just show the desperation they feel.
Redstateboy| 8.31.10 @ 1:07PM
what we're now fighting for is the Soul of America.. the questions are... Do you want to feed your family with your $ or Food Stamps. Do you want to work or do you want of rec'v. Welfare?
Pete| 8.31.10 @ 5:19PM
I love the quote from the enviro-clown above: "Anything and everything that threatens their business model, they're able to stop."
You see, the key term in there is "business model." Oil is something people are willing to pay for, something that provides value. One can create a business around such a thing. Clearly, whatever "Clean" Energy guy is espousing cannot say the same. So, because they cannot compete, they look to the gubmint to hamstring the competition, and whine like victims when their handouts don't come as quickly as they'd like. If we aren't vigilant come November, this is how our economy will work. Currying favor with the ruling class will dictate success rather than evil "business models." No, gracias.
Michele San Pietro| 8.31.10 @ 5:33PM
The lefties continue to make fool of themselves.
CalMark| 8.31.10 @ 7:15PM
Yet another example of two nasty, very ugly liberal traits: egomania and projection of bad traits.
Egomania: lefties can't believe that ANYONE could possibly disagree with their noble, worthy, and utterly perfect ideas.
Projection: lefties believe conservative movements are driven by wealthy meddlers because that's how leftie movements are driven.
MoeBlotz| 8.31.10 @ 8:28PM
As for me , I am thirsty for more Kool-Aid.