It's out there. Multi-billionaire Tea Bagger funder David Koch and his dinner last night with Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson (R-FitzWalkerStan) where they were spotted by a freelance photographer Matt Laslo and reported on the blog Talking Points Memo.
It's OK, though, according to Ron Johnsons office.
"I can confirm they did have dinner, and that they discussed saving America," Johnson spokesman Alex Siciliano said.
Saving America? From what? Or whom? Saving it from rational thought, common sense, science, facts, reality, or the very idea of community? Saving it from all those folks who paid into Social Security and Medicare every single day of their working lives and expect, one day, to receive the benefits due them? Saving it from realizing that Republican Jesus is very different from the Jesus who left explicit instructions on what he expects from us in the Gospels of the New Testment (that whole caring about the vulnerable and doing what's needed to help them)?
I call BS.
Neither one of these rich and even richer dudes gives a rats pajamas about America. They're only interest in America is to make sure they control it in the way Kings and Lords controlled countries in the middle ages.
Of course, Ron and David are buddies (or perhaps King and Lord):
The Center for Responsive Politics also lists Koch Industries as the single largest outside contributor to Johnson's campaign, although the senator's 2010 run was largely funded out of his own considerable wealth.
Koch Industries, based in Wichita, Kan., has a significant presence in Wisconsin, with operations that include pipelines, coal shipping and paper mills. As of last year, it had 3,000 employees, most of whom were employed at its two paper mills in Green Bay when the company bought Georgia-Pacific Corp.
Of course, they do think we're stupid. Ron Johnson was elected Senator on the stupidity that the Kochs created. Johnson defeated Russ Feingold in 2010 with millions in his campaign coffers from the 1% (Koch Brothers were his biggest donor) and lots of outside ad spending including ads by Americans for (the Kochs) Prosperity which is totally funded by the Koch Brothers, as well as a friendly, compliant corporate media which allowed him to present himself as a self-made man (he married the bosses daughter and inherited the business he pretended to build himself).
It was also the media that allowed Ron Johnson to hide his ideology. They never reported on it. He (and his pal Scott Walker) were promoted by our media as the guys who were going to bring jobs, jobs, jobs to Wisconsin. That sound you heard at the start of Ron Johnsons victory speech were jaws dropping all over the state as he announced his election as a victory for the Tea Party.
We're seeing it again with Republicans - particularly visible with Mitt Romney. The never ending series of lies told in paid ads. Some media are calling them out, but they just keep right on lying. The big "Obama is giving away welfare without work" lie got trotted out again and again even last night and nobody who interviewed Rick Santorum after his speech even mentioned it. And last night Scott Walker lied about jobs in Wisconsin - except for 1 month, it's been a parade of job losses in Wisconsin, but you'd never know that from his speech. You'd think that Wisconsin is just exploding with new jobs because of him.
And just as the 2010 lies that Scott Walker and Ron Johnson told us about their agenda being all about bringing jobs to our state, the new lies are aimed at making voters stupid again about the real agenda of the Republican Party. Fueled by endless streams of money and a lazy media more concerned with "access" than the truth, those lies became the truth. And that's the hope of the GOP again.
They'll tell the big lies over and over and over again and if the media reports them as untrue, they'll just keep saying them and running ads on them. The formula worked in 2010 across the nation. Our media rarely asks a follow up question or pushes for an answer to the original question if a Republican being interviewed pivots to an unrelated meme.
I wouldn't object so much if the same were true of interviews with non-Republicans.
Ditto invites to the Sunday talking heads show. Always heavy with Republicans. During the Bush regime this was justified by the networks as a reflection on who was governing. No rationale for the continuing Republican domination after the 2008 election was ever provided. However, we continue to hear the Big Lie about the Librul Media repeated as if it was based in reality.
Our democracy and elections are being stolen bought out from under our feet by those with the money and frantic desire for more. They'll feed us more lies and count they have the money to make us stupid.
They're counting on us to be stupid.
Update: Action Plan: My own action plan is to educate people. I will respond to every RW Republican Meme email that I receive. I will take the time to intervene with anyone repeating a GOP lie. I'll work GOTV with the furvor of Carrie Nation. And I'll do it again and again as often as I need to for the truth to sink in.
If we all join in we can counter a lot of the circulating lies and make sure people know the truth before they vote.
We can't wait for the media to wake up and do their civic duty. They've been paid to become part of the problem.
It's up to us.
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PS: Particularly offensive (from last nights convention speeches) was the lie that half of all Americans are receiving government assistance. Either they're just plain lying or including Social Security recipients in the total which means they're about to include Grandma as one of those lazy, siftless welfare recipients. Sadly, I didn't hear one reporter question Rick Santorum on that statistic.
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