Wednesday, September 19, 2012

The "Yes, We Did Build It" Scam

David Koch, Sheldon Adelson and other multibillionaires have said that they were going to throw a lot of money into the upcoming election in an effort to buy the presidency and put their puppets, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, into the White House.

We now see that some of their lucre being used in Fitzwalkerstan in the form of a scam.

Right wing front groups like Citizens for Responsible Government, Americans for Prosperity, the Heartland Institute and others are coming together this Saturday to host an event they are calling "Yes, We Did Build This!"

The event is supposed to star such teahadist heroes such as Rebecca Kleefisch, Ron Johnson, and Charlie Sykes. They are hyping the event as the revelation of their "plan to take back America." For a taste of just how thick they are laying on the absurdity and grotesque masquerade of being patriots, look at the tripe they have posted on CRG's website:
It is no surprise that the first American Revolution was led by independent business people like Samuel Adams. Large corporations such as the East India Company were too economically important to the throne and were protected. The brunt of new taxes and regulations fell squarely on the shoulders of colonial small business people. Adams sounded the alarm not simply based on current taxes and regulations but what would happen if the trend continued unabated.

Current conditions bear a striking resemblance to those of the first American Revolution. The president and his supporters tell outright lies and use sweeping, "king-like" powers to fundamentally change the the laws of the land. They insinuate that honest, hard-working, risk-taking entreprenuers [sic] and businesspeople "didn't build that" and use it as a pretext to extort ever larger sums for redistribution to the king's cronies.

The time has come for a new, well-mannered American Revolution, one that demands honest representation and an end to the lies, waste, corruption and theft of property by outright taking or regulation that have become the calling cards of these new and would-be kings.

Once again, it must be led by those damaged the most, the economic lifeblood of our country, the small business person. This revolution will not be fought with muskets but with elections. If business as we know it is to survive, we must become adept at winning elections. Sadly, this self-evident fact of life has been widely ignored. We believe we have developed a foolproof plan to win the overwhelming majority of elections.

Wisconsin has been identified as a primary battleground in this new revolution and has attracted significant national attention. We must supply leadership to manage and grow the budding revolution that has produced leaders like U.S. Senator Ron Johnson, Governor Scott Walker, and Vice Presidential Candidate Paul Ryan. These bold and visionary leaders need strong and organized support to counter and defeat our ideological competition, support that only the business community can provide. In order to implement our shared vision for the future of America they need the assurance that can remain in office and, moreover, to rise to higher office in order to finish what they started.

Join us to discover and participate in the new and innovative plan that will make this happen!

This is a free and private event specifically for businesspeople and their employees. Seating is limited and reservations are required for reasons of security and logistics. Register today!
In other words, they are trying to say that the business people are the only ones to save the day against the evil old government, personified by Barack Obama. (Without doubt, there will be a lot of racist code words bantered about at the event.) I also note they don't mention the working people at all in their propaganda. Maybe they are already considering us to be nothing more than serfs.

But what is truly amazing about this event is how much hypocrisy and irony that they can cram into one room.

For example, let's look at some of the characters, or should I say caricatures, involved with this farce.

The figurehead of CRG is Chris Kleismet. Despite his pretenses of wanting to cut governmental spending and having a "responsible government, nothing could be further from the truth. Some of Kleismet's claims to infamy includes trying to parlay his support of Scott Walker for Milwaukee County Executive into a lucrative county contract for getting the county to buy into his Six Sigma plan. This included trying to get Walker to give them an office in the Milwaukee County Courthouse, a move that was not only unethical, but also illegal.

Apparently Kleismet found it too difficult to build it on his own and was looking to Walker to give him some government money to help him out.

The emcee of this hootenanny is local squawker Charlie Sykes. Sykes, as we all know, uses the publicly funded airwaves to promote the Teapublican agenda, even if it means breaking the law to do so.

And Sykes isn't above using those same public airwaves for free advertisement to peddle his books. If he built his reputation as an author on his own, shouldn't he have to pay for commercials like anyone else would?

Likewise, Rebecca Kleehisch first got her name recognition from being a reporter for Channel 12 in Milwaukee. After leaving the station, she got free air time on WTMJ-AM from Charlie Sykes. This naturally led to Sykes giving her more free air time when she was a candidate for lieutenant governor. One has to wonder how well she would have done if she hadn't gotten all that free air time on the publicly funded airwaves. Odds are we'd be looking at Lt. Governor Brett Davis.

But leave it to these teahadists to make the biggest hypocrite their keynote speaker.

RoJo ran for the US Senate claiming to be a self-made millionaire by working hard and building his business from the ground up. The truth is an entirely different matter:
It's a strong possibility that the only thing RoJo did build on his own was his reputation for being a liar and an idiot.

But perhaps the biggest irony of the whole affair is that all of these hypocrites and fakirs are gathering together to preach about their independence and the need to cut government spending in the Waukesha County Expo Center, a government-owned building.

I tell you, I like to think I have a good imagination, but there is no way that I could make up all of this and be ever considered credible again. Leave it to the teahadists to manage to be stranger than fiction.

Perhaps it's the absurdity of this entire charade that is having them make sure that only the true believers are allowed access to the event. Per CRG's website:
This is a private event. Holding a ticket does not guarantee entry nor a right to attend the event. The event organizers retain the right to deny entry or remove attendees without cause. Behavior deemed disruptive or inappropriate by the event organizers may also result in removal from the event and/or prosecution for trespass and disorderly conduct.
Heh. Usually they have to keep the insane locked in a facility. Here they're trying to keep the sane locked out.

I hear that besides their sure fire method to richness and power, they will also be selling the secret to eternal youth, the cure for cancer, Love Potion #9, Dr. Carter's liver pills and other assorted snake oils, elixirs, tonics and charms.

6 comments:

  1. Hey Chris wasn't Becky a reporter w/ Channel 12?

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    1. By golly, you're correct. It would figure she came from the same station that produce Tammy Elliot.

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  2. "Once again, it must be led by those damaged the most, the economic lifeblood of our country, the small business person."

    Sound like they want Ryan to be replaced by Rob Zerban. Rob Zerban IS a small businessman.

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  3. The attendance should be really good if none of the participants use publicly supported transportation infrastructure to get there. Those who do should wear an I am a Hypocrite
    t shirts.

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  4. I also believe that Sen. (Mo)Ron Johnson's main customer is his father-in-law.

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  5. Let us not forget CRG spokesman Orville Sehmer. If those pesky government regulations didn't get in the way he wouldn't have to worry when a piece of the ceiling in one of his rental properties drops onto the head of one of the tennants. He could probably even blame the kid who got hit on the head by a chunk of drywall.

    Let us also not forget "King" Tommy and his warm words. "Stick it to 'em" when Milwaukee and its surrounding counties got stuck with the bill for Miller Park. A baseball stadium paid for with taxpayer dollars and GIVEN to a private business. How many of the people paying for the stadium can't afford to get in to see a ball game?

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