Dave Weigel at Slate follows these guys around so we don’t have to:
PRWatch took notes on this week’s Heritage Blogger’s Briefing, a storied weekly tradition that only just partered up with Breitbart.com. Rep. Jeff Landry of Louisiana was the guest, playing the air-punching freshman role that Rep. Joe Walsh and Allen West have demo’d in the past. But the star, as far as the left was concerned, was Caitlyn Korb — holder of a once-boring, now-exciting job of flacking for ALEC…
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Korb was up. The left, she said, had “been doing everything in their power to shut us down.” It had made “ridiculous accusations, such as we killed Trayvon Martin.” ALEC’s allies needed to “call out these people that are attacking us.” Starting this week, at some point, a website called IStandWithALEC would go up to collect solidarinosc statements.
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She was pushing on an open door. Today, the National Taxpayers Union’s Andrew Moylan published a long piece on the unfairness of ALEC attacks. “Liberal activist groups hate the limited government principles of ALEC and other organizations like it and they are intent on stamping them out of existence,” he said. (Moylan didn’t attend the Briefing himself.) The rally around ALEC has taken longer than the rally around the Kochs — who, remember, were the original targets of anti-ALEC campaigns — but the D.C. conservative culture is generally a little friendlier to ALEC, a little more surprised at the anti- campaign…
Yeah, because the ALEC lobbyists wear nice suits and won’t embarrass their tablemates when it’s time to choose the right $400 bottle of wine. But when the lights come on and the cockroaches scuttle for cover, they won’t be too proud to hide under the Breitbrat appliance. Worth reading the PRWatch link — ALEC Sends Out an SOS to Breitbart Bloggers.
Apart from rightwing serial criminals whining about being “victimised”, what’s on the agenda tonight?
Culture of Truth
Lawrence O’Donnell has a guy from PFAW on now who says he read every single thing Robert Bork has ever written for publication.
[ shudder ]
Richard
“Limited government” for ALEC means replacing the democratic process with one in which bills are written behind closed doors by an authoritarian shadow government that does not answer to the people.
We’ve got shine a bright light on these cockroaches to send them back into their holes.
Mnemosyne
I have to admit, I still can’t wrap my head around how “limited government” and “government-mandated vaginal ultrasounds” can fit into the same political philosophy.
S. cerevisiae
Cole must be a little happier with his Penguins tonight – 10 goals! Even the Twins beat the Yankees in NY, so even though they suck this year it’s always good to win one there.
lamh35
Good day today, I pretty much ignored most political news and just watched videos, read 3 E-books and caught up on some movie trailers.
I saw this preview trailer on you tube and was strangely creeped out and attracted at the same time to “David”, doesn’t hurt that I find Michael Fassbender (“sharky” to his fans…I luv this tumblr: Is Michael Fassbender a shark? ) EXTREMELY sexy!
I still have no idea what the heck Prometheus is about, but it has Idris Elba and Michael Fassbender, I’m already sold!
Happy Birthday David (NEW Prometheus Viral!)
Cockroach
For the last time, it’s KOCHROACHES!
muddy
@Mnemosyne: It’s easy if you’re a hypocrite.
AA+ Bonds
Well they did help kill Trayvon Martin
Mnemosyne
@muddy:
But it doesn’t even seem to be hypocrisy. They really do seem to think that passing laws requiring doctors to stick probes into women’s vaginas is somehow within bounds, but paying estate taxes is totally unfair.
Is it because the only “limitation” they want is on what the government can make rich people do and the rest of us can be herded into government camps for all they care? I really want to know.
AA+ Bonds
@Mnemosyne:
Fascist and proto-fascist ideologies demand a home & hearth ideology that paradoxically requires the state to intervene to rejuvenate or resurrect the family unit from decline (in fact this decline is axiomatic)
They attempt to seize the power women have over their bodies, because children mean a labor surplus, including on the battlefield
It is also a cheap and easy way to gather support from the leadership of certain Christian sects
beltane
@Mnemosyne: It is really very simple. They want to limit government from getting in the way of doing whatever it is they want to do. Part of what they want to do is avoid paying taxes, while another part of what they want to do is rape slutty women, especially poor ones, with ultrasound wands.
Karmakin
Their goal is to maintain the “social order”. And by social order, I really mean the socioeconomic ladder. That is, people who are OTHERS..different than them, whatever, need to be punished for the crime of being different. People who are less successful need to be punished for the crime of being less successful. Etc.
Everything is just rhetoric in order to achieve these goals.
And all of the Movement Conservative coalition, from Big Business to the Religious Right are all on the same page over this. Remember how a decade ago we were talking about the possibility of the Religious Right breaking away over economic/poverty issues? Yeah. You don’t hear much about that anymore.
Truth be told, there IS a group that is starting to break away. There’s actually a split that I see forming among economic conservatives..which is shocking. That is, real limited government entrepreneur-favoring conservatives. Over what?
The minimum wage, believe it or not.
They’re starting to realize that aggregate demand is by and large screwed right now, and the only way to fix it is either massive amounts of government spending or by getting money from parasitic big chain businesses to the employees that they are exploiting.
My prediction is that Romney is going to use that as his “wedge” issue. Not to break away the Democratic base, but to wedge himself into looking more moderate.
4tehlulz
Speaking of whining victims, I found the best possible antisemitic conspiracy theory ever.
I don’t think it’s surprising to anyone that Mel Gibson is a vile human being. What did break my brain, though, was how he and his father think International Jewry operates.
Yes, the ZOG assassinates people by sitting on their faces.
I will never enjoy Monty Python ever again.
Judas Escargot, Your Postmodern Neighbor
@lamh35:
Is it me, or does David look a lot like Alan Turing?
AA+ Bonds
@beltane:
I will agree that there is also an unavoidably direct element to how the far right acts out its resentment through physical and public violation of women
This is an aspect of unaware authoritarian personalities; without an outlet for that, the far right can’t appeal to its foot soldiers (including whatever women fall among them)
muddy
@beltane: Bingo.
Mnemosyne
@4tehlulz:
Given that the Gibsons (pere et fils) are both anti-Vatican II, I’m surprised that they thought the early death of JP I was bad in any way. The conspiracy I’ve always heard is that the top of the hierarchy hated Vatican II and bumped off JPI so they could bring in the more conservative JPII to kill off Vatican II.
And given how hard both JPII and the current Pope worked to rescind as much of Vatican II as possible without actually contradicting John XXIII, I can’t say the conspiracy theorists were totally wrong.
eemom
Yay, an open thread.
[clears throat]
FUCK Jim Webb. Fuck him with a truckload of asiangrrl’s rusty pitchforks times ten, for this:
People, I believed in this guy. I was thrilled with him back in ’06, before he even won the fucking primary, when the odds of any Democrat beating George “Soon to be but not yet Macaca” Allen were a zillion to one. I have supported him ever since, continuing to believe he was a guy sincere in his beliefs who marched to the beat of his own drum and was above the bullshit dick-sucking pandering of politics, even when I disagreed with his positions.
But this — this gratuitous “fuck you” to the President over the achievement of something for which to me, at least, he absolutely IS a fucking hero — well….all I can say is good riddance and happy retirement, asshole.
beltane
@AA+ Bonds: The purpose behind these measures is exactly the same as the purpose behind the Egyptian military’s notorious “virginity tests”, and that is to achieve control of society through the use of sexual humiliation.
AA+ Bonds
@beltane:
I agree, I just think you shouldn’t overlook the aspect of control over reproduction
Pathological sadomasochism is certainly what keeps this going forward day after day but there is also IMO an economic cause that makes it make sense for otherwise uninterested parties on the right
It is sort of, kind of, the same thing that makes right-wing nativism completely unable to mine the border with Mexico or whatever – because in that case the same parties in their own camp are quietly working against them
Mnemosyne
@eemom:
You would have thought that the decimation of the Blue Dog Caucus in 2010 would have taught conservative Democrats that running against your own party is a bad idea, but I guess Webb is just going to have to learn that lesson for himself.
muddy
The ones that annoy me are the ones who whine on and on about how taxes are too high, meanwhile not paying theirs, aside from the property tax, which they can’t wriggle out of.
Hill Dweller
@Mnemosyne: Webb is retiring. I suspect he’ll get a nice lobbying job or a spot at an intellectually bankrupt think tank.
AA+ Bonds
I hope everyone at least follows Catholics United on Facebook or w/e
Mnemosyne
@Hill Dweller:
Ah. So, basically, he’s decided that he’s better off throwing his lot in with the
RepublicanAmerican Select crowd in the hope that Obama will be defeated. Gotcha.eemom
@Mnemosyne:
That’s the thing, though — there is no lesson for him. He’s retiring after one term, leaving us to the tender mercies of the fucked up Mason-Dixon line politics of this godforsaken state wherein the mummified political corpse of George Allen has been hauled out of the crypt to run against Tim Kaine, with God only knows what result.
According to rumor, he’s not running again because he didn’t want to deal with another brutal campaign. And I — silly me — again thought that spoke highly of him.
But no….there wasn’t even the motive of perceived personal political gain — misguided though it would have been, as you point out — for him to have been that much of a backstabbing scumbag.
Mike in NC
Never heard of the NTU. Must be some front group for Grover Fucking Norquist.
@eemom:
Agree. I even kicked in a few bucks for his campaign before we vacated NoVA in 2007. Not money well spent. Dickhead.
AA+ Bonds
Hahaha I just went to the Catholic League Facebook and I missed a Donohue story; the target before this was the F Bros. Three Stooges movie
What happened there, what was that about, he was on Inside Edition two nights in a row, I mean other than the stealth antisemitism you usually find in CL attacks on entertainers
RossInDetroit
@eemom:
Or maybe he’s just positioning himself for a sweet gig after his term’s up. Wouldn’t be the first.
AA+ Bonds
Ohhh Larry David played a nun named “Sister Mengele”
JoyfulA
@Karmakin: My husband was reading to me from somewhere today that WalMart wants the government to raise the minimum wage because their customers can’t afford to buy much.
jurassicpork
Ann Romney, Shut the Fuck Up.
The prophet Nostradumbass
@Mike in NC:
They support the so-called “flat tax”, and a “balanced budged amendment”. They’re, you know, idiots. I think it’s reasonable to assume that any group with “taxpayers” in their name is suspect.
By the way, if anyone knows where Howard Jarvis’ grave is, I’d like to piss on it.
David Koch
@eemom:
Yes, doing nothing would have been a real sign of leadership.
David Koch
on one hand, you have progressive betters bitching and moaning over the public option.
on the other hand, you have professional politicians bitching and moaning over doing anything.
fucking idiots.
BillinGlendaleCA
@The prophet Nostradumbass:
I’ll join you, one of my first votes was no on prop 13.
Steve
I have absolutely no regrets about supporting Webb in 2006, even if his ego leads him to say stupid things about the President pursuing his own agenda as opposed to Jim Webb’s agenda. Webb won his election over George Allen by a lousy 9,000 votes, and the Democrats wouldn’t have had control of the Senate from 2007-08 without that win. That was a really really really big deal. It was worth it.
Suffern ACE
@David Koch: Well, let’s see. When Hillary spent months coming up with a detailed plan and dropped it off and said “Pass this”, the whole thing wasn’t all that well recieved by Congress. Showing up 18 years later with the request to pass what you can…figure it out…was not well recieved. Meanwhile, my health insurance premium alone would hire 3 Indians, and every entry level position that I used to recruit out of college for is now in India.
He can act like this isn’t a problem, or pretend that people don’t lose their coverage, or imagine that no one ever changes employers, or found themselves, after having paid for insurance for 20 years, facing bankruptcy for a medical condition that they were supposedly insured against at one time. The public can believe that the middle class didn’t have a problem, that the problem was just the poor uninsured, but that wasn’t the case. And I don’t remember the blue dogs doing much to agitate for any change to that outside of taking money from the industry and maybe voting for toothless healthcare bills of rights parts I, II, and IV.
We also have an issue with medicaid and medicare fraud. Maybe the blue dogs were on the forefront of getting on top of that and I missed it. They must have been raising hay about something.
A font of ideas they have been the past 20 years.
Chris
@Karmakin:
This.
The conservative ideology, as near as I can figure it out, is this: there is a natural and hierarchical Order to the world (ordained by God, for most of them; Natural Law or Human Nature, for the minority who aren’t religious). You know what the order is: rich people thrive while the poor live on whatever scraps their “betters” see fit to give them, wives submit while husbands lead, Real Americans set the agenda while filthy un-Americans sit in the corner and wait until they’re called.
The purpose of the government is to protect that hierarchy (from foreign threats and domestic unrest); to help preserve it when necessary (which is why the national security state and the cops armed like Green Berets are so important); and otherwise to stay the hell out of its way (which above all means not encouraging or empowering those whose natural condition dictates that they should be at the bottom, and/or undercutting the Authority of those whom the Gods have chosen to put at the top).
The essence of all their small-government/big-government flip-flops and apparent inconsistencies flows from that, and is easiest to understand when seen in that light.
eemom
@Steve:
I’m not saying I regret supporting him, or that doing so wasn’t worth it.
I’m saying I feel betrayed as hell by him saying this bullshit, in public, in an election year in which his own personal ass has nothing at stake — in which the only POSSIBLE motive is to stick it to the President for accomplishing what I personally believe is right up there with Social Security, Medicare and the Civil Rights Act.
eemom
fywp
RalfW
The moar they’re whining and crybabying about the mean bully libruls, the more it means we’re winning.
ALEC had far too good a run, and will be replaced in a matter of weeks by the next deeply funded, deeply corrupting, deeply immoral right-wing corporatist/libertarian hack-job front.
But we have to keep playing whack-a-mole. ‘Cause its fun to play to win some times!
Frankensteinbeck
@Mnemosyne:
To see it from their perspective, ‘limited government’ is generally measured by bureaucracy. Medicare and social security have huge bureaucracies, and libertarians complain about that. They’re massively paranoid about government clerks, and an argument I’ve heard put forward regularly about the flat tax is that it means less bureaucracy, as if this was somehow a holy goal.
Also, they’re capable of small amounts of nuance. ‘Limited government’ is a good, but not an absolute, overriding good. Enforcing the social mores of their tribe and maintaining a strong military to ease their insecurity are better than reducing government in general. This works particularly well since they believe they never violate their own social mores and thus their freedoms are in no way restricted by these rules. So they’re hardly increasing government power in their eyes.
All of this is merely to explain how they make this superficial logic work, and does not preclude them being massive hypocrites who want an excuse to hurt people, oppose anything a black man wants, or have better excuses to reduce taxes on the rich.
El Cid
Personally I am impressed with the seriousness of an organization which reaches out to the ghost of Andrew Breitbart in its time of need.
debbie
If nothing else, shouldn’t legislators be writing their own bills? Isn’t this what they’re supposed to be getting paid for?
liberal
@Frankensteinbeck:
I don’t know about Medicare, but SS absolutely does not have a huge bureaucracy. It’s admin costs are trivial in comparison to private sector analogues.
In the case of SS, it’s possible that they resent it because the banksters don’t get to extract rent out of that revenue stream, unlike so much else in our economy.
liberal
@eemom:
Well, you could move yourself here to sunny MD, which is also south of the M-D line, and not give your tax dollars to the lazy slugs in non-NoVa who just want to live off of taxes from NoVa (and, well, the other DOD-related revenue producing parts of the state).
Frankensteinbeck
@liberal:
You misunderstand. The size of a private sector bureaucracy is immaterial to the discussion. They’re afraid of GOVERNMENT clerks. Most government functions are more efficient than if they were done in the private sector, but since ‘less government clerks’ is the measure of a good, not less clerks total, that information is not relevant to the thinking.
liberal
@Frankensteinbeck:
I understand that.
TenguPhule
I find a rubber slipper tends to work better. They don’t come back afterwards.
TenguPhule
Which is why these same people who bitch about that also complain when there’s only one clerk working the DMV line.
Less workers, less service. Viva Freedom!
TenguPhule
Corrected for Accuracy.