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pleasure to welcome to the program Adele Stan writing for RH reality check
on the anatomy the war on women Adele welcome to the program
thanks so much for having me Sam now this a
you know we have this perception or I don't know that we have this perception
but we certainly
have been sold time and time again
about the indifferent derivations on this team that the Tea Party is
something that's distinct from the republican party that they're at odds
with each other
that the Tea Party is about libertarianism it's about to free
markets
arm E the you did a piece
that is incredibly comprehensive they're really
puts mean puts the final nail in the coffin for their narrative
well one can only hope him right
right yes we have been sold this bill a good especially as regards
that Koch brothers and their investment in the Tea Party movement
that somehow their interest is solely about
and business and deregulation a
and the like right that that's all they care about they don't really care so
much about the quote-unquote
social issues but what I I found by
a going through the tax filings have some
indict choice organizations by going to the
tax filings a coke linked a a
organization called a tender to protect patients rights and by
looking at the reporting at some other great out there to get some fabulous
reporting
on including mother jones in the LA times in Politico
I I was able to look at the funding trail as we can
fine as much as we can find out about it right from the Koch brothers and their
network a and which
but to view it through the land a
anti-choice activity Kylie services really combustible
when the right happen in this 8 at the state level
I'm particularly as legislative sessions due to a close and I
this summer and what I found was
that a its through these layers a
group a that are not required to
reveal their donors but we know to be link
to the Koch brothers a that there was an enormous
that flow of money going to very hardcore
anti-choice anti-lgbt groups such as the Concerned Women for America legislative
action fun
and Americans United for life action
and the Susan B Anthony Wesley and the ironically named
to think big Topeka West so that is what we have come up with so far
and I does really to give lighted notion that somehow it just
all about business but I like to save the coke sure they're all about business
are also back your personal business
you know and I don't even know how much they personally care about these issues
right you know
there let me know that I mean that's that's basically it right i mean it
this is this is the the I mean this is the
the overall met a narrative I love
the Republican Party and it's just now what we're just seeing it sort of almost
like a
I am a subset which is a perfect microcosm for the republican party
as it's always been which is we are going to our
our primary agenda is to structure the government in such a way that it is
attacks in your *** as little as possible
subsidizing us in terms of the corporate America and socializing the costs
of corporate america's profit-making and what we're going to do is we're going to
create an electoral base that is
fundamentally based on well on fundamentalism
on I religious fundamentalism and in this is the same dynamic right it's just
happening in a
sure to be a I the more rabid quadrant
up the Republican Party rate is exactly right i mean it is
the be nine Grand philosophy
you know set to life basically throw anybody under the bus to get
have it your way of getting your for what you perceive to be yours right
so I mean we already know that in the quest
for shrinking government and and all is that they're willing to
you know take money take take food at the
massive hungry children we need help with that
a you know say vis-a-vis the cutting back up spent
food stamp benefits and the like that we we know they don't care about the forty
thousand
American the year who died from at least from lack of health care we know that
right
and that's all the interest quote-unquote shrinking government
but in order to maintain their power
or to accrue more power Inc it's really important that these jokes up their
resentment
fearful people to be their foot soldiers
and how do you do that you go after anybody who is
quote-unquote other anybody who is exchange
in the structure a rights and equality
and so a you and I believe the anti-choice
activity that the money that eight million that
on the pope's put a quote secret bank getting him to pay politico gave to
on Concerned Women for America legislative action
than 1.5 million they gave that senator protect patients right gave to the Susan
B Anthony last
you know all this ghetto is really you know in this service of keeping
in it play in state legislatures and in the US congress people who will
vote their way and the anti-choice
bone is one that needs to be thrown even if it isn't good for the party on a
national level
in order to maintain the you know the power that they want
at the micro-level they have to I
you know allow those folks to go for a pound a flash
and and this is also true I you know from electoral standpoint you know the
big the big story right now
arm the in terms have republican presidential hopefuls
meanest the side obviously from you know the election results yeses
the is Rand Paul's plagiarism and
the thing that I think people miss about that story
I is is a.m.
that he he has these
libertarian bone a fee days which right then sibly
have arm at least historically
said okay we don't mess with with your
your sovereignty as a the as a woman
now we don't care about drugs we don't care about these conservative social
issues
are we're not all in that but he knows he has to care
or at least pretend to care to get the votes
I love the base for the republican party because even the tea parties fifty
percent fundamentalist
it right and show he's got to get to
abortion is wrong through this bizarre
I got Gallacher a scenario where this is going to create eugenics
where yes where the idea
I love forcing up taking away women sovereignty is
actually a means in which to prevent
the government from to ran ically planning
the genetics I'll individuals I mean
that's how twisted they have to become I had to make this sales pitch
now of course review the Koch brothers the way you do is you just hide the
money trail
each game cache Christian and citizens united you know really
really I mean yes three things three dynamic forces really came together to
create a scenario we've got now which is
citizens united which allowed these so-called
social welfare group is spend wildly on
and freely in elections while hiding their donor base
an and then you had 2010 backlash to the election
proper Obama a backlash with of commented on the basis that
resentment racial resentment and social resentment
and then a you had the 2010
scented year meaning redistricting so I left that the republicans I'm writing to
the winds at that backlash election got to redistrict a whole lot and then ate
poor all that money in and you have what we see which is really kind of a
minority position
a E a having control
love the country right now and
a it but that this back to your philosophical twisted miss and
a a narrative its
so each rule I mean I bristle anytime
anybody calls Rand Paul a libertarian yes Okies just know I
he's just totally not I khomeni or libertarian a repeal libertarian and he
should not
and and you also see you on the other side
semana well a the in their allies on the religious right and the overlap with the
religious right as you rightly
noted I'm the theology Ising
have these quote-unquote free enterprise ideas yes into
evangelical theology which is really fascinating actually
yeah I mean this is this is this is basically
I mean this seems to be this year the game plan is she
the you must encompass in a
the self-identification we talk about identity politics
the the a the the long-term project at the right has been
to create an identity that captures
mean that's the way that they're creating their their big tent but you
need to take off
every single one of those identified as rackets so being anti-abortion
E goes hand in hand with of course being
I am you know anti-deficit
on some level where they had the same cultural resonance where
being pro gun or anti gun safety has the same residence as being
I anti-marriage equality they all
are these checklist to create this sort of identity
with the same sorta fundamentalist fervor that debt debt debt debt
underpins all those please that's right in the new brand it right with the
American flag overlaid with across
and you've already got a homogeneous spaces almost 100 percent white people
I N you do and that's what you do. you created
this this ideology that may be incoherent but that
everybody who is afraid have change
a in our social structure and Cheney in a freedom
demographic change in all of those things and
seeking trying to gather under that umbrella
and find plenty things cue you know funny
fear-based narrative a to fuel
a the these assaults on in the right to serve
as American you know what's interesting to me is a I just the
interviewed a.m. Isaac william Martin is written this book
rich people's movements which basically the
takes a sociological look at the various
anti-tax movement I am I have
will run through the the past century it's interesting that we haven't played
it yet but
one other things he you know he talks about the Tea Party movement
are re the the the sort of the straw that
the broke the camel's back toward the this the real thing that unleashed the
Tea Party movement
was its a anti-obama care hysteria
I left right and its interesting to me
that the money that you have traced
enters into organizations that ostensibly
are arguing again parts about Obamacare but a right
surf the it's doing double services talk a little bit about that
well you know this this organization is very
China murky organization called the center to protect patient rights
that was I an organization that was
extensively found it too opposed Obamacare
and indeed it did you know and it it was
at founded concurrent with that and
that fomented uprising thank you will
and I in 2009 and 2010
a so it's got that imprimatur right that's it
name it's run by a copout coke operative named Jean
noble when I first ran across and
and a conference sponsored by
David Koch Americans for Prosperity foundation
in Washington DC in 2010 where they were already
having breakout sessions and had a repeal Obamacare and John Noble was
actually running a breakout expression
on on and opposing Democratic candidates in an upcoming November election
a it so anyway SoCon overruns things
military not really just be what you call a pastor organization right
and it's getting a lot of its money after 2011 its beginning I've its money
from another pastor organization called freedom partners
so E so dream partners give the 115 million
to a to they tended to protect patients rights to do
a to tend to spend other groups and
among those groups are the ones that I noted that her you notably anti-choice
where you also see it you know the anti-choice groups a
concerted efforts to oppose Obamacare extensively for reasons trumped-up
reason
false narrative having to do with abortion and then that questions the
whole
on consternation over counter bid we should has
a you know coverage for prescription contraception
but you know the so you had it going two ways
so by giving it though the anti-choice groups which have a long-standing
infrastructure
you know this is really a brilliant on a
joining have an existing infrastructure
groups like the Concerned Women for America exists for what thirty years now
since beginning at the religious right
and in with this overlay up a new infrastructure created by the Koch
brothers and their network
I that dispenses the money I'll show you have it going
you know it when you talk about along the long term
project at the right post and you are just so
very right I mean a been going at it along long time
is derriere I mean it the in in what I love
for where he am the when the
my favorite lines have your story was just there whenever you're talking about
term
the the Center for Penny the Senate protect patient rights
I which now seems to be gone
yeah my follow-up you to register
to confirm some stuff a opensecrets.org which is a great resource for a reported
in anybody want to know about money in politics
and mommy hold their note came up saying well
the their website says that they have concluded their work and then when I
went to this
needed to protect patient rights when a website it was gone
their website it got it's like it's like a love how in pop-up shops
yes totally I mean a victory for what three years in order to dispense you
know
and hundreds of millions of dollars
and now it's gone you know I his dear
have you done any a I'm kid curious
a what what are the things you know getting back to just the
the that the interview with The with martin was
that the one thing that though there is a a history
I think Weigel had a a short piece about this as well
the a above the anti-tax movement
the you know cropping up from time to time as rich people
are concerned that their taxes may go up I am
the the the real fundamental difference
between this era in those in the past is really the tremendous amount of the
infrastructure
that is being created by all this money that's going in
and I wonder if in the course of your reporting because I know that you report
a lot on
on this this earth murky the
the drove a fine day it is our financial infrastructure the search huge
amway a system that seems to have like
been created specifically what what is when
1 I'll find you know the devices a.m. way are very involved in the coke
network well
I don't doubt that there's some other practices are there but I mean I have
this dish is served
theory that we are beyond this arm
the that we're beyond
the this infrastructure being driven
by some type of the ideological agenda
and it's more now just you got show many people making money off this
that the idea that they're pursuing policies which will regionalized
are and sir to create a permanent
I minority status for the republican party is irrelevant because frankly
too many people are are just making money off it is in their job you know I
mean it's not too hard to
to rationalize it I I'm not saying that there are true believers but that like
we're doing God's work and I'm getting compensated well for
I wonder if their is a
a story thereof like you know concern for a woman for america they've been
around for thirty years
but now the sudden they're getting a huge percentage up their funding
be the Koch brothers has it changed what's going on in terms of the dynamics
that debt within these groups and you have a center there
you know I hadn't thought about it in those terms but a
you are so right I mean these people are very handsomely compensated and you look
at a guy like
John Noble who you know was a
in collecting a some for running the center to protect patient rights but
he's also got his own consulting firm
that was being engaged by all these different entities
a and there are at two hundred people making a lot of money on it I mean I did
it
peace a last year I believe it was
for alternate perhaps or $0.04 where we show that ralph reed
consulting firm appeared cue be a
getting money from a
an effort by his a nonprofit
organization the Faith and Freedom Coalition and they're also tied in with
the
with a coke network I you have just
year you write a whole layer have handsomely compensated
consultant involved in this saying to in whose interest is to keep it going
a and at the same time whatever damage they can do 10 government
a is is seen as a big plus for their
overlords the cokes and their allies right because
their deal is to basically you make government
so broke and that even if it is if there are regulations they're unenforceable
because they cannot
the capacity to enforce it right writer that's really what they're doing and at
the same time they want to deplete their ranks ft
organized Democratic voters in the federal workforce
yeah I N end and I think you know the the the bottom line is they provide the
through some type a balanced to pull the national conversation to the right I
mean
the we can talk about an enormous noise machine isn't it
yeah it well it's it's it but they you know we we hear the stories
a we hear the stories I love
the the that you know with the Democrats won the
showdown but do the the debt-ceiling showdown that the budget showdown but
the reality is we're still operating on a budget that far closer with Paul
Ryan's
proposal was then even a fairly conservative
I am proposal from the senate as so
that right the and it's gonna get worse come January when the next round of
sequester cuts go into effect and the guy and the democrats have not been
proposing
you know to roll that back now and I mean ago cuz I i'm fascinated by this
question because you know we we
are for a while particularly in the early the stages at the Obama
administration
we heard a lot on the left the concept above your pen
where you had I inside-the-beltway sort of
the left-leaning are progressive center-left think-tanks
an advocacy group that were afraid of trading their
I am there the their access
for real a confrontation with the administration
right now leaving aside the answer to that the specifics up that
but that dynamic in other words that these people are there
they're willing to sell off part love work there
the their broader agenda is
because it provides them jobs I just I keep getting back to this that i think
is just like this this story that seems to be completely missed
in your reporting the you know in my mind at least serve
at the FIS this idea that there's so much money
you know pick is even when we talk about noble or read
they're still hundreds of people who are getting paid by them
thousands of people this money she's been distributed out in just a sensually
created
this massive industry
any you know I see the Tea Party fight against the establishment Republican
fight to the extent that is there is just basically
to big businesses in the same industry
I and you know hand you know whether to I'll last verses
a for Windows at the end of the day
what they're really concerned with is just making sure the people using
computers
yeah think there's a lot to do that although it is interesting and Pisa
the the Tea Party purses establishment fight in the analogy I think between and
and there that's the the cooks really represent private capital that is not
publicly traded and their network does as well nobody really looks at that
so there's you know its third have in some ways it's like private capitalist
versus
on you know a the faceless corporations that are publicly traded that mean
it they they have their own internal thing battle sure but it all end up with
pretty much the same
results for the rest of the country now has an it yeah I mean this is sort of
like a it reminds me of the swipe fees battle
on some not all that's a good yes that's a very good analogy I hadn't thought of
that
but yeah and you know and democrats have just
traditionally been way to weekend way to reactive
and you know and and
you know some of it has to do is just call Shirley how the two sides expressed
themselves you know
a liberals traditionally love fact
safe and think they can win on
fact and they love there then diagrams in their grass in their charts and when
they're selling health care they're gonna tell you you know about how much
your gonna save and how many
uninsured are going to be insured in all of that and then republicans
and then the right wing in will come out with you know
a cartoon up grandma sitting before
tribunal with a grim reaper at this Center in Scream don't pan out
and you know you're not going to counter that with it with a bar graph
right well I am a dust and the
pieces in RH reality check we will link to it I mean I think this is
I am well let me ask you this went when you write this
peace like who do you hope really
re you know read it and internalize is
I'll what the I guess the
the moral of this story is a
that's a great question but I would really help
that progressive donors will once again
take a look at me infrastructure that the other side
is building and ask themselves you know we can do a parallel infrastructure
because as we have a different culture
and we represent very heterogeneous group
have have people on the left but
you know you have to look at the dynamics here and look at how
strategically you know you're going to confront these dynamics it's not simply
about
you know winning hearts and minds there's a real strategy that needs to be
confronted but I the other part of it is I really hope that
everyday people on will read this and start demanding
that something be done you know demanding that you know we have
outrage City a often on in progressive circles because
we we you know you we
we fight so hard against a against so much only to see it come to pass anyway
so we really can't afford a
in we can't we really can't afford to spare
we really need to fight I mean I had some I am
I II we do you wanna theory this
well I mean frankly I think you know the the
the it would be nice if if if the
Chuck todd's and the the injured the
conventional wisdom who I belie I you know it's hard to know what did these
people believe but
they should understand the idea of what really the dynamics are here that
the idea that the Tea Party is some type of above movement that is
driven by some sensor fiscal responsibility is just is just silly
I right there's just no I am you take this money away
and this is just a group of people are who you don't hear about the
as for the past four years I am and
I had let that be eligible not upset which
right thought anything about this but we're not right
right of course I mean it's just simply another way of saying
the moral majority or the or some other base of the republican party that has
brought out the
you know was ginned up for for electoral purposes I don't think we're gonna see
that same infrastructure on the left not just because the cultural differences
but fundamentally I am you can
you can create these monsters on the right in terms of love
being anti-choice anti-gay
I even to a certain extent although i think is far more dangerous to be
anti-immigrant
for the establishments up the republican establishment agenda
but all these other social issues a home the
and they gun safety they come it really
very little cost to the establishment
if any are you the money that is the
that is flowing through them I am there is I i think
hopefully a legitimate fear by I am
well wealthy left leading donors
that you create a populist movement and they're gonna come
for are some of our resources and
I mean I ike assorted think that's the way it should be
I am but in I am nothing there are exceptions to that but I think at the
end of the day
arm the left the
the the money donors on the left are far more worried about the
the populism that grow up on the left then the
money donors on the right are afraid I love the the populism on the right
a that's very interesting
home fun I haven't done the
exploration there will be you know necessary to
there to know that first I don't think there are any pentagon at least
plausible
you now but the but yes we will see but i hope i I hope you're a piece get so
widely read in I appreciate you coming on and talking about it
well I'm very grateful to you for having me sing him always good to talk to you
okay dust and folks in will put a link TRH a reality check on the blog
appreciate the
talking to you today