Jeb Bush's 'Shadow Government' brainchild ramps up the pre-election obstructionism campaign.

[seafan]

Shadow GOP operating in NY? Jeb Bush first recommended it in 2008.




The same vicious, soulless eyes of the brother.



‘Shadow RNC’ Unveils Obstructionist GOP Agenda Proposal: ‘Stop,’ ‘End,’ And ‘Block’ Progressive Policy

August 17, 2010

....today, Crossroads GPS, the advocacy arm of American Crossroads, will release a proposed platform on which Republicans should run in November that is based almost entirely on obstruction. As the conservative Daily Caller notes, “instead of things they think the GOP should do, the agenda…is made up mostly of things they think Republicans should oppose or eliminate.” Indeed, Crossroads GPS is even calling the platform an “emergency intervention to stop” President Obama’s policies:

The program calls on the GOP to “stop” the Bush tax hikes from expiring at the end of the year, to “end” stimulus projects deemed to be “wasteful,” to “call a ‘timeout’” on Obama’s health care bill, to enact a “moratorium” on “government handouts to banks, automakers, labor unions and other politically-connected interests,” to “block” any bill putting a price on carbon emissions, and to “stop stalling” on securing the border.

On the nation’s looming entitlement crisis, Crossroads’ GPS proposes a commission to study the problem and suggest solutions, even though President Obama has already created a commission that has been meeting for most of the year.

.....

Who is funding this Republican obstructionism?


Four Big Money Men, including three billionaires from Dallas.


Justin Elliott reports in Salon:


July 23, 2010

Virtually all of the $4.7 million raised by Karl Rove's new conservative outfit was contributed by just four billionaires, three of whom are based in Dallas, Texas, and two of whom made their fortune in the oil and gas industry.

The IRS filing of American Crossroads, an outside 527 group that was conceived by Rove and ex-RNC chair Ed Gillespie, gives a good taste of who is funding the GOP effort to make big gains in the House and Senate come the fall. The group has already burned through $600,000 on ads attacking Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who is facing a reelection contest against Republican Sharron Angle (see one of the spots below). Chaired by another ex-RNC chair, Mike Duncan, American Crossroads has pledged to raise $50 million to beat Democrats in the midterms and has been seen by some as a competitor to the Republican National Committee itself.

And despite the group's description of itself as "grassroots," Salon's review of its IRS filings show that four billionaires have contributed 97 percent of the $4.7 million it has raised to date. There are no limits on how much corporations, unions, and individuals can donate to 527 groups. Here's a guide to American Crossroads' four donors:

* Trevor Rees-Jones, president of Dallas-based Chief Oil and Gas, gave a $1 million donation to American Crossroads just as the group was starting in April. That's small money for Rees-Jones, who, Forbes estimated in 2009, amassed a $1.5 billion fortune investing in gas prospects around America. He has also been a big donor to John McCain and the Texas Republican Party, Politico reported.

* Bradley Wayne Hughes, chairman of Public Storage Inc, is American Crossroads' biggest donor, contributing $1.55 million to date. Hughes founded Public Storage in 1972 and the company has grown into a self-storage behemoth with over 2,000 locations. Worth $3.9 billion, he lives in Lexington, KY, where he actively raises thoroughbred horses at Spendthrift Farm. (Hughes' son, B. Wayne Hughes Jr., is on the board of former Senator Norm Coleman's new conservative group, the American Action Network.)

* A company called Southwest Louisiana Land LLC] donated $1 million to American Crossroads in June. It turns out Southwest, which doesn't have much of a public footprint, is owned by Dallas billionaire investor Harold Simmons -- no stranger to conservative causes. Since the 1980s, he has ponied up for everything from Oliver North's defense fund, to Newt Gingrich's PAC, to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in 2004, to the American Issues Project, a group that ran ads attempting to tie Obama to Bill Ayers in 2008 (Simmons was the sole funder of the Ayers effort, giving nearly $3 million.) Simmons is worth $4.5 billion.

* TRT Holdings, owned by Dallas' Robert Rowling, gave American Crossroads $1 million. Rowling, whose firm owns Omni Hotels and Gold's Gym, got started at his father's successful company, Tana Oil & Gas. He's now worth $4.4 billion. In 2004 Rowling gave $1 million to Progress for America, an outside group backing President Bush's reelection.


It's also important to note that American Crossroads has set up a partner organization called American Crossroads GPS that, because it has a different tax status, does not have to reveal any donor information and is also more limited in spending its money on campaigns (Politico has more on this). American Crossroads GPS took in over $5 million in June, and we'll likely never know who is putting up the money.

.....

This is just the beginning of extensive collateral damage ahead for our democracy, thanks to the hard right-wing members on the Supreme Court, who unleashed the Citizens United ruling in January, 2010.

Citizens United, along with the nightmarish Dred Scott decision in 1857, will go down in history as two of the very worst decisions, if not the two most damaging, ever handed down by the Supreme Court.



Reuters via Salon



Election Night 2004: Rove with right-hand accomplice, Susan Ralston:


(Hat tip to bleever)



The question ahead of this November's election will be: Do Jeb Bush, Karl Rove and Co. still have "the math"?

[aquart]

1. No man should be so rich he has nothing left to buy but his government.

These men are insufficiently taxed.

[Pathwalker]

4. Your awesome header would make a great bumper sticker!

May I borrow it?

[aquart]

8. Yes.

I've always hoped someone would say that to me.

[Octafish]

2. Shadow Government is a Bush speciality.

Been that way since Dick Cheney was a pup for Poppy.

Thank you for a most important post, seafan.

We got the names. We know the agenda. So, where's the cavalry?

[MisterP]

3. HRC is "progressive"? KnR

[county worker]

5. It amazes me that people with billions of dollars fight to get even more.

How much money do these people want? All of it I guess. Is the idea to see just how rich you can get before you die?

[David Zephyr]

6. He will be on the 2012 ticket.

Laugh all you want. I've said and will continue to say it. Jeb will be on that ticket.

[seafan]

7. Not laughing in the least. This jackal thinks he is bred to rule.

We are on continuous watch for him to make a move.