Sunday, October 06, 2013

Far Right - Including Cuccinelli Allies - Planned toMonths to Force Government Shutdown/Debt Default


I get taken to task at times for my harshness towards today's Republican Party, especially the GOP members of the House of Representatives.  I believe the harsh attacks on what the GOP has become are fully justified.  Especially given the willingness of an extreme cabal to destroy the nation's economy - and perhaps the world economy too - in an attempt to nullify two presidential elections and a ruling by the United States Supreme Court.  That is after all what the federal government shutdown and threatened U.S. debt default is really all about.  And as the New York Times reported today, the plan to sabotage America has been in the works for months, funded by extremists like the Koch brothers who seemingly would like to undo even child labor laws in the greed driven quest to make even more money.  What's also interesting is that while Ken Cuccinelli has tried to feign disapproval of the shutdown so as to not alienate Virginia's many federal employees, his mentors and many of his supporters are part of the cabal behind the whole plan.  Talk about talking out of both sides of one's mouth.  Cuccinelli is nothing less than despicable. Blue Virginia names some of Cuccinelli's backers who helped engineer the government shutdown:
Key players in the effort to stop "Obamacare," by whatever means necessary, include the right-wing extremist Koch brothers, big backers of Ken Cuccinelli.
Other top Cuccinelli allies are included in the secret plan to stop "Obamacare" by bringing our government to a screeching halt:Alfred Regnery (President of the Paul Revere Project, a far-right-wing group which helps "local 'patriot' groups connect and share ideas," and which stresses that "[w]herever the real power in a Government lies, there is the danger of oppression"); Brent Bozell (for more on Bozell and his hatemongering, bigotry, etc., see here and here); the hard-core anti-abortion Susan B. Anthony List (for more on them, see here); the secretive, far-right "Ending Spending" group; David Bossie of "Citizens United" - yes, THAT "Citizens United!" - which is running anti-McAuliffe ads in the 2013 Virginia governor's race; etc, etc. 
But back to the New York Times story.  Here are some key excerpts that shows this plan has been in the works for over nine(9) months and, surprise, surprise involves Christofascist organizations:

Shortly after President Obama started his second term, a loose-knit coalition of conservative activists led by former Attorney General Edwin Meese III gathered in the capital to plot strategy. Their push to repeal Mr. Obama’s health care law was going nowhere, and they desperately needed a new plan. 

It articulated a take-no-prisoners legislative strategy that had long percolated in conservative circles: that Republicans could derail the health care overhaul if conservative lawmakers were willing to push fellow Republicans — including their cautious leaders — into cutting off financing for the entire federal government. 

“We felt very strongly at the start of this year that the House needed to use the power of the purse,” said one coalition member, Michael A. Needham, who runs Heritage Action for America, the political arm of the Heritage Foundation.
The current budget brinkmanship is just the latest development in a well-financed, broad-based assault on the health law, Mr. Obama’s signature legislative initiative. Groups like Tea Party Patriots, Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks are all immersed in the fight, as is Club for Growth, a business-backed nonprofit organization.

The billionaire Koch brothers, Charles and David, have been deeply involved with financing the overall effort. A group linked to the Kochs, Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, disbursed more than $200 million last year to nonprofit organizations involved in the fight.

On Capitol Hill, the advocates found willing partners in Tea Party conservatives, who have repeatedly threatened to shut down the government if they do not get their way on spending issues. This time they said they were so alarmed by the health law that they were willing to risk a shutdown over it.

One of the biggest sources of conservative money is Freedom Partners, a tax-exempt “business league” that claims more than 200 members, each of whom pays at least $100,000 in dues. The group’s board is headed by a longtime executive of Koch Industries, the conglomerate run by the Koch brothers, who were among the original financiers of the Tea Party movement. The Kochs declined to comment. 

The defunding idea, Mr. Meese said, was “a logical strategy.” The idea drew broad support. Fiscal conservatives like Chris Chocola, the president of the Club for Growth, signed on to the blueprint. So did social and religious conservatives, like the Rev. Lou Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition.

When Senator Richard M. Burr, a North Carolina Republican, told a reporter that defunding the law was “the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard,” the fund bought a radio ad to attack him. Two other Republican senators up for re-election in 2014, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, were also targeted. Both face Tea Party challengers. 

While conservatives believe that the public will back them on defunding, a recent poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that a majority — 57 percent — disapproves of cutting off funding as a way to stop the law. 

Last week, with the health care exchanges open for business and a number of prominent Republicans complaining that the “Defund Obamacare” strategy was politically damaging and pointless, Mr. Needham of Heritage Action said he felt good about what the groups had accomplished. 

These people are scary.  Moreover, they are in effect trying to overthrow our constitutional form of government as designed by the Founding Fathers.  There's a word for seeking to over throw the Constitution: treason.  These people need to be treated as traitors in my view.  And I have ZERO sympathy for the cretins who are falling for their lies either through ignorance and stupidity or due to religious fanaticism.

No comments: