Some conversations are simply gobsmacking. Moyers chit chat with Heather Gerkin is uber gobsmacking.
You can listen/watch the program here.
I love that Bill Moyers and Company always provides a transcript for their programs.
Bill begins the program with:
According to reporting by “New York Times” journalists Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Mike McIntire, just after Barack Obama began his second term, Ed Meese and the leaders of three dozen conservative groups met to decide on a “take-no-prisoners” strategy to defund Obamacare, even if it meant shutting down the government.
They gathered big bucks from the billionaire Koch brothers -- over $200 million from one Koch-related group alone.
One of the plotters, Michael Needham, CEO of the Heritage Action Fund, told "The Times” that what happened was “a groundswell that changed Washington from the outside in.” Not so.
This was an inside job by dissidents of long-standing, who, having slipped to minority status, attempted a coup d’état against majority rule. The story’s far from over, and we’ll be coming back to it the weeks ahead.
Bill and Heather are both extremely concerned that the right wing SCOTUS will side with McCutcheon which Bill calls "Citizens United: The Sequel."
Rightfully so. The campaign finance laws are being unwound "one thread at a time" says Moyers.
What I found interesting is the discussion about the Shadow Party found about half way through the conversation.
BILL MOYERS: What do you think's been the main impact of Citizens United?
HEATHER GERKEN: To create what I think are shadow parties. So in the olden days, right, money went through the parties, money went through the candidates. But now Citizens United has made it possible to raise inordinate amounts of money outside of the party system. So this is Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS, this is the super PACs.
And the thing that's amazing about these organizations is they're not really independent. They're technically independent, but they're being run by the campaign staff. They are constantly interacting with the campaigns, which means if you're a politician you can have your cake and eat it too. You can be part of the party which has lots of limits right now, before McCutcheon on what it can raise. But you can have your shadow party with your guys raising money in exactly the way you want them to and running ads for you.
BILL MOYERS: Why do you call it a shadow party?
HEATHER GERKEN: They’re doing all the kinds of things you can do in a campaign, they're framing issues, they're running ads, they're helping candidates get elected.
The one key difference though is that the party faithful who are the people who knock on doors, the foot soldiers of our democracy, the people who show up at rallies with donuts, the people who put signs on their yard, the people who go drive people around to get them out to vote, they're in the regular party. They're not in the shadow party. The shadow party is for the big donors, the elites, the top campaign staff. But the regular everyday people are still stuck back in the old party.
BILL MOYERS: Which is more powerful, the old real party or the shadow party?
HEATHER GERKEN: Right now, we're seeing both of them sort of neck and neck in terms of power. But I'll just say if we continue with this deregulatory strategy, we may see the shadow party by virtue of the fact that all the money is there be the one that really matters.
Again, when you have a chance listen or read this stunning Moyers program. Moyers is deeply concerned that we are losing our democracy and so am I.
I call the GOP Shadow Party The Koch Cabal and their millions of minions HATRIOTS.
If SCOTUS sides with McCutcheon the avalance of Koch Cabal $Millions will swamp the land. Good heck, they have their very own shadow News Bureau already.
Koch Cabal $12Million SECRET News Bureau
We have discovered that many of the richest foundations help make up the Koch Cabal. As much as we dislike like the Koch Brothers, they have a lot of very wealthy company as shown here.
Koch Cabal Exposed here:
Koch Cabal Can't Hide - Searchable IRS Forms Online! w/Instructions
*Shut Down Background reading:
All the Koch Cabal money helps fund professionals, in part, to research and craft parliamentary procedures for Speaker Boehner so he can do his Koch Cabal handlers bidding.
How the Kochs and their Friends Engineered the Federal Shutdown, Part One
How the Kochs and their Friends Engineered the Federal Shutdown, Part Two
NYTIMES - A Federal Budget Crisis Months in the Planning
Pictorial Response to Today's NYTimes Koch Brothers Exposé