Now. Tonight. In Washington. Grifters from all over America are in town sharing tips and better ways to scam the guilble. It is one big wet kiss to the beauty of the con. It is a celebration of the folks who put the “Con” in Conservative.
It is the second annual Faith and Freedom Conference. It was organized by Hall of Fame grifter Ralph Reed. Reed is a fellow who has super-charged the “I am a Christian scam” to levels that would make Satan himself blush. A few years ago it looked like Reed would go down in the Abramoff scandal. He was exposed as a money grubbing, hypocrite who had no problem scamming Christians into support gambling, human trafficking, sex slavery and forced abortions just to make a fast buck. The list of Reed’s exposed crimes and ethical lapses should have ended his grifter career and his influence over anything. But Ralph is a Republican, and we all know that any crime Is OK If You’re A Republican. And so, Republican candidates for President and other elected officials come to the Faith and Freedom Conference to lick Ralph Reed’s ass.
But that’s not all.
They also come to bow before Grifter legend Grover Norquist. He was also exposed in the Abramoff scadal and should have gone to jail, but he made a deal with McCain. Grover supported McCain’s run for the White House and McCain let the investigation end and made sure that evidence of Grover’s crimes were buried for twenty-five years. And now every Republican seeking office must make the stop to lick Grover’s ass as well.
And then the rest of the schedule is just filled with other grifters–big and small–and the politicians compelled to pander to them. Watch some of the C-Span feed if you feel like checking out the freak show. You could drop in anywhere and it would be almost always the same: Obama is bad. He is that scary black thug seeking to destroy America. White values are under attack. And only by giving your time, money, energy and money to the grifters behind this conference can you and those you love be saved from Obama and his nonwhite army of destruction.
And while most speeches are predictable, sometimes they are accidetially revealing. The speech earlier tonight from Dick Morris was an example (see the beginning of this segment). It was a direct appeal to white voters that their very survival depends on opposing Obama–who in Morris’ telling was only elected because ignorant young white voters made common cause with Latinos and shiftless Negroes. It was shameless race-baiting, but It was also OK because, well, they are Republicans.
That grifters like Reed, Norquist, Beck, Armey, Palin, Trump, Ailes, Gingrich, Ryan and so many others control the CONservative movement should tell you all you need to know. It should also inspire you to keep a tight grip on your wallet whenever any of them are near–but no. Instead they are celebrated. And the worst of them must be paid off and give their blessings before any candidate is supported or any action by the Republican Confederate Party is taken. Having Reed and Norquist as GOP gatekeepers is like Democrats deciding that Dollar “Bill” Jefferson, John Edwards and Rod Blagojevich have to approve any candidate or policy before others in the Party would endorse it.
The idea that you out-source control of policy and candidate approval to known grifters is insane, but, also too, IOKIYAR.
Cheers
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
Well, OK. But you should know that from my misspent youth, the proper term is not “Lick my ass”. It is better described as “Suck my ass.” Or suck Grover and Ralph’s asses, in this case.
Thank you, that is all.
rikyrah
this post rocks…telling so much truth it literally is shouting
PREACH PREACH PREACH
LOL
you have to keep telling the truth.
jrg
You’d have to be lobotomized to buy this garbage. At 35, I’ve seen the U.S. not run a deficit once. Under a Democrat.
I do agree with Morris on one thing… The unemployment numbers will hurt Obama, After all, if you believe the GOP will eliminate the deficit, you’re far too stupid to hold a job. All this talk about “hard decisions” will end the millisecond a Republican is back in the white house.
Republican concern about the deficit starts and ends with trying to force Dems to make unpopular trade-offs. That’s it. Anyone with an IQ over 80 should be able to see that.
rob!
Grover Norquist is everything that’s wrong with America as it is currently configured. A man of ENORMOUS power, destructive ideas to all but the top 1%, and access to the halls of power.
And yet, he is not answerable to the voters because he holds no elective office. Millions—tens of millions–of people are suffering due to Norquist’s one-man jihad on ever raising taxes, for any reason. And yet he has managed to convince all Republicans (and a number of the more yellow-bellied Dems) to listen to him.
I am not a violent man, but every time I see Norquist on TV, I have to turn the channel off immediately. Otherwise I feel the desire to shoot him in the face.
Beta Magellan
Could we stop using the word “grifter” to describe these guys? I only say that because I’m a big fan of Hustle, and I associate the word with a certain honor among thieves.
Scotty
Grifters (grifting?) are quickly turning into a profession in the political world. If you are on TV you are making money for yourself. For profit, but not caring about the outcome of the country.
Shameless musical plug: http://www.woodshedprophets.com/media%20page.html
redshirt
Amazing post. Keep preaching it, Dennis.
To cut to the chase: How do you stop a con? It’s usually not by teaching the conned how to identify future cons, but rather, by taking out the consters.
jrg
@rob!: I beg to differ. At least Grover Norquist knows and understands what it would mean not to provide any government services. Ever.
The real problem is the people that spend their days howling about taxes, then run away scared when someone like Ryan proposes that Medicare be eliminated.
Norquist at least understands the concept of a trade off. I really think about half the GOP base is so god damned stupid they think Medicare falls from the sky like magical pixie snot.
Triassic Sands
Sadly, in the US there are millions of willing griftees.
They line up to be taken, screwed, swindled, and had.
When the ocean is full of splashing, thrashing victims, it’s no surprise that sharks abound.
My apologies to sharks, who are just doing what they have to do to survive.
GregB
Dick Morris looks like he should be wearing a powdered wig and traipsing about Versailles.
What a gross man.
M. Bouffant
You can’t cheat an honest man.
rikyrah
@Beta Magellan:
yeah, another Hustle fan…that show was really good….but, it wasn’t the same when Adrian Lester left. ..I loved Mickey Stone.
cmorenc
@Dennis G:
You’re being way too timid and polite describing these Republicans.
Why don’t you tell us how you REALLY Feel.
Kane
Every three weeks or so, members of the Republican party and their supporters gather for yet another conference where the usual suspects repeat the same tired talking points. C-SPAN will be there, and the media can be counted on to report and then debate in the days ahead any controversial statement. It’s all so predictable.
Strange that the Democratic party doesn’t have monthly conferences like this where they could repeat their talking points. I don’t know, maybe they do, and it just never gets the coverage and attention. (shrugs)
Suffern ACE
@jrg: Yep. I figure that pretty much describes the majority of American voters though. Lots of Democrats thinking too that you can achieve budget normalcy by raising taxes only on the wealthy, when the middle class bush tax cuts blew a hole in the whole budget as well. And the quintessential swing voter-not really low information-but willing to go against tax increases until some program gets cut. All of them easily convinced that we could easily balance the budget without hurting them since waste, fraud, abuse, foreign aid and the grant to build the Black Wimins Lesbian Vegetarian Environmentalist club is costing us a fortune.
Daddy-O
I’m thisclose to becoming a Republican myself. I’m tired of being frustrated and angry about criminals running around loose. And we all know it pays very well.
If you can’t beat ’em…and the Democrats have shown me for the last twenty years that they have no desire to beat ’em…
Petorado
Dennis G. – love the graphic, but maybe it’s time to replace it with this one, from First Draft.
...now I try to be amused
I didn’t know that. Between saving Norquist’s ass, the Keating Five, and injecting Sarah Palin into national politics like a WMD, McCain is going to hell big time.
JS
What’s the difference between what Palin, Gingrich, Reed etc. are doing and what Jimmy Swaggert, Ernest Angley and Pat Robertson did/does?
What they are doing is mortifying from a democracy standpoint, but the other side of the coin is think how much harder it would be on the sane party if half the donations weren’t going to pay for Palin’s new house in Arizona, or for Gingrich’s fourth Cadillac?
Joseph Nobles
Wow, the way Michele Bachmann can just lie and lie and lie! Maybe she just doesn’t know that what she’s saying isn’t true, but I doubt it. If I were still a Christian, I’d be afraid to stand before the Living God after lying like that.
Caz
I can’t find the racist comments. Can you point me to a spot in the video where racist remarks were made?
Also, I don’t understand why republicans would help criminals avoid prosecution without asking for anything in return. What did Norquist and Reed offer the R’s in return for protection from prosecution for their multiple felonies? Was it just purely republican altruism, or was it simply because they are white?
Keep up the good work!
Quiddity
The opening minutes of Dick Morris is one of the more repulsive things I’ve seen in a long time.
That whole convention is full of people that want to go back to the nineteenth century.
Extra points for Grover bitching about light bulbs.
Joey Maloney
@jrg: Do you think Norquist understands that it would mean his number one expense from that moment forward would be for bodyguards and private security?
TomG
I’m sure it is possible that Gary Johnson will show up to this….but I really, really hope not. (AFAIK he is pro-choice, so I don’t think he’d be very welcome.)
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Caz: “I can’t find the racist comments.”
Sorry, I don’t help the willfully blind. Go troll somewhere else.
Thoughtful Black Co-Citizen
Fuck them. Fuck the assholes who give them their hard earned cash. May they all die of starvation under bridges, where they’ll no doubt spend their last breath grumbling about n!ggers, f^gs and Messicans.
nancydarling
@Odie Hugh Manatee: Odie, I think caz meant the link didn’t work for him/her. It didn’t work for me either.
WereBear
As someone who mindfully tries to moderate my negative energies, I have trouble imagining what it must be like to roll in it like a pig in mud.
Then again, they don’t have much in the way of rainbows and ponies and happyhappy to roll in, do they?
Conservative men, especially, seem to dwell in the Land of Angry as a simple default. Perhaps that explains it.
When you are bitter and paranoid, the whole world is a raw olive.
Mike in NC
These crooks and nuts always manage to pick some great Orwellian names for their little frolics.
Rick Massimo
Remember when identity politics was the worst possible thing anyone could ever practice? Oh, that’s right – white people don’t practice identity politics. They’re just normal.
Carol from CO
Looking at Reed with his pseudo Christian act has always made my skin crawl.
But elsewhere in the blogs today, Steve Benen reports that the Chrystal Cathedral is bankrupt and that evangelical Christians took Paul Ryan to task because of his randian ideology of selfishness and greed. Both reports made my day and gave me hope that the truth will make us free of all the pseudo-Christians who have dominated our politics for way too long.
Jon Marcus
@ Odie Hugh Manatee, Caz, and nancydarling:
I couldn’t find Morris talking either. The verbiage at that link started with someone thanking God for saving the pioneers or some such. There was a brief 20 second mention that Morris would be signing books in the hall, but that was it.
Not trolling, I find it easy to believe Morris would say such things. I’d just like to hear it for myself, or at least read a transcript. Any advice?
Plantsmantx
“I couldn’t find Morris talking either”
Fast forward to the 47:30 mark. Amazingly enough, the music they bring him on with is “Start Me Up”.
Kyle
@Joseph Nobles:
Republican Jesus blesses all lies told in the service of His cause of cutting taxes and hating brown people.
Brachiator
Wow. I still remember when Morris was Bill Clinton’s Karl Rove.
@redshirt:
Problem is, there’s always another grifter waiting in the wings, and people who want to be conned.
catmandoodo
So toesucker Morris was a featured speaker–how does foot fetishism fit in with “Family Values”? That guy is so slimey he makes a garden slug seem warm and fuzzy
TenguPhule
One properly placed high explosive would make the world a much cleaner place.
Its like they’re just waving a “Please insert Hellfire here” sign.
not a gator
IOKIYAR, and why not? The donors are looking for a few good sociopaths to do their dirty work, and the Republican voters are the folks who never could figure out which side their bread was buttered on to begin with.
not a gator
Sadly, in the US there are millions of willing griftees.
They line up to be taken, screwed, swindled, and had.
Ah, but there’s nothing easier to sell than what people already want to hear. (Cutting taxes raises revenue, Southern Baptists are God’s chosen people, you can lose weight drinking chocolate milk shakes.) It practically sells itself!
not a gator
These crooks and nuts always manage to pick some great Orwellian names for their little frolics.
Can’t “like” so I’ll just LOL. Well said.
bjacques
I think it was Molly Ivins who described Ralph Reed as looking like a choirboy who strangles cats behind the church.
MandT
” To stand before the Living God after lying like that” Don’t worry, I’ll listen as long as ya’z buy shares of my scam.