Remember those anti-health care reform rallies at which Mayor Pat McCrory was the main speaking attraction? They were organized by an outfit called Americans for Prosperity, a front group for various conservative corporate interests (NC GOP honcho Art Pope is on AFPs board of directors). The group is headed by longtime GOP operative Tim Phillips. Last night on MSNBC, Rachel Maddow called out Phillips for his incredibly slimy career as a political hatchet man, during which he has done a passable imitation of the king of Republican hatchet men, the late Lee Atwater of South Carolina.
Maddow confronted Phillips, who still claims the lies told on McCrorys grassroots anti-reform tour were gospel truth, about his various campaigns that have relied on lies and fear to mislead voters. Examples: it was Phillips who led the still-shocking campaign against former Sen. Max Cleland (D-GA), a triple amputee Vietnam veteran, in which Cleland was called a coward and a terrorist sympathizer. McCrorys buddy also worked for a Jack Abramoff client to pressure Congress to vote against making the U.S.-owned Northern Mariana Islands subject to federal wage and worker safety laws despite the fact that Chinese workers there were being forced into prostitution and mandatory abortions. And thats not half of it.
Watch the Rachel Maddow interview with Phillips and see what kind of guy McCrory has been aligning himself with. You may particularly like the part where Maddow tells Phillips hes a parasite who gets fat on Americans fears.
Deliver Us From Weasels, a collection of 50 of John Grooms' best columns and articles, will be published in November by Main Street Rag Press. The book will cost $14.95, but can be purchased in advance through Oct. 26 for $10 including shipping at www.mainstreetrag.com/store/ComingSoon.php
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