Big Money Pulling the Strings of Protests
videocafe Heather Thursday Aug 06, 2009 11:00am
Rachel Maddow exposes the monied interests pretending to be "average Americans" who are fueling the outrage at these "town halls gone wild". First up,
Recess Rally, sponsored by Michelle Malkin, Smart Girl Politics, Redstate, but also
American Majority, and as Rachel points out, this group is hardly made up of average Americans even though they tout themselves as being a
non-profit, non-partisan organization.
The people behind American Majority; Ned Ryun, former George W. Bush speech writer, Lonny Leitner, Regional Field Director for Bush/Cheney '04, Shari Weber, former Republican State Legislator, Matt Pinnell, a former Washington conservative lobbyist.
Rachel notes that American Majority is an offshoot of another Recess Rally sponsor, The
Sam Adams Alliance. Their President, John Tsarpalas, former Executive Director of the Illinois State Republican party, their Director, Joseph Lehman, former Dow Chemicals engineer and president of the nation's largest conservative state level policy think tank.
Another sponsor of Recess Rally,
Let Freedom Ring. Their founder, the money man behind the television ad exploiting 9-11 to promote the Iraq invasion. Another sponsor, the swift boaters.
Yet another sponsor,
Americans for Prosperity, and their subsidiary
Patients First. Americans for Prosperity's Director, Art Pope, who has the headquarters of the North Carolina Republican party named after him since he's given them so much money. Their Chairman, David Koch, the 19th richest man in the world who runs
Koch Industries, which is the largest privately held oil company in the United States.
Americans for Prosperity runs the group Patients First which is busing people across the country to attend these town hall meetings.
continued...
The average middle class millionaires and lobbyists of RecessRalley.com ralleying people against healthcare reform are uncovered -- proving once more that this isn't grassroots but astroturf, and those little guys buying in and spreading the mission are crabgrass [thanks, Dan Jacoby!]. Outrageous indeed!
UPDATE: RecessRalley.com either got too many hits and/or has been shut down, thanks to Rachel Maddow shedding light on the average middle class millionaires behind the town hall hijacking. I've had fun googling RecessRalley.com. Thanks, FireDogLake.com for posting Rachel's video so quickly.
Late Night: Elephants on Parade
By: Gregg Levine Friday August 7, 2009 8:00 pm
How did we get here?
No, I am not asking about how we got to the place where we have orchestrated outrage that has metastasized into dangerous, violent, out-and-out rage—not exactly.
Single Payer: A Medical Insurgence Policy (Update 1)
by Propagandee
This is what a financial coup looks like
Does Michael Moore's "SICKO" Have It's Facts Straight?
Bob Cesca at HuffPo, in his post
The Health Insurance Mafia Deserves a Good Screwing recounts his personal experience of losing his family’s medical insurance after his provider, without cause, raised their premium threefold overnight; and makes the case for a public option.
Atul Gawande of The New Yorker provides a clue as to why medical costs are spiraling out of control in his article
The Cost Conundrum. He travels to McAllen, Texas (population 127,00), located in Hildago County to find out why it is home to the most expensive health care in the country.
