Happy Earth Day.
Not to scale or ethnicity or nothing
Down in Cave Junction, Oregon, a brave family of castaways makes do without any understanding of the society of the 20th and 21st centuries. Oddly straddling the worlds of legitimate science and the world of crank science; “education reform” and “edumacashun,” they eke out a meager existence only backed by the shadowy zillionaires of the Club for Growth and Long Island political computer crank Robert Mercer. And they’re running for Congress. Again. Part of the story you know:
They’re HEEEEEEERE! (Deja vu)
I wrote about the Robinsons and their shadowy backers in depth in 2010:
- Where Are All The Crusading Newspaper Editors? (29 September 2010)
- DeFazio’s Tormentors Canned by Republican Senatorial Campaign (17 October 2010)
- Peter DeFazio and the Daughters of Mercer (22 October 2010)
- A Mercer-fully Short Investigative Report (31 October 2010)
- DeFazio: La Belle Dame Plus Mercer, Merci! (9 December 2010)
- Because “Cudgel For Growth” Wouldn’t Sound as Warm and Fuzzy (14 December 2010)
And, perhaps, you might now find this information of some interest*. (*”Daughters of Mercer” and “Mercer-fully Short” have been perennial reader favorites ever since published, and are hit at least once a day to this day.)
But now, a NEW Robinson castaway has thrown his loincloth into the ring to be voted off the Island: Matthew L. Robinson. This is what he sent me yesterday (Saturday):
Gee. I’ve never heard of this “Democrat” and I was an Oregon delegate
to the 2000 Democratic National Convention. Hmmmmm.
Readers from Oregon will be way ahead of me, but bear silent witness: there’s fun galore ahead. You see, this four-page mass-mailer cost some definite green. Minimum of four figures, possibly five figures, depending on how large the mailing was. Which is interesting, given that just this week, Oregon newspapers reported the following:
DeFazio rival leads challengers in fundraising
Art Robinson had raised $370,000 through March
[Eugene] Register-Guard
Published: (Tuesday, Apr 17, 2012 05:01AM) Midnight, April 17PORTLAND — Most of Oregon’s congressional races this year are shaping up as lopsided affairs, with only one of the five incumbents so far facing a well-funded challenger.
Campaign finance reports submitted over the weekend show that Republican Art Robinson is the only challenger to raise much money. He again tapped a national fundraising network that helped him spook Democratic incumbent Peter DeFazio in 2010, and reports raising $370,000 through the end of March. He had $170,000 left to spend.
DeFazio still had a solid advantage. He reported raising $600,000 with $530,000 left in the bank.
Robinson’s son, Matthew Robinson, who changed his voter registration to run against DeFazio in the Democratic primary May 15, did not report raising or spending any money.
Art Robinson is a chemist and political newcomer who surprised many observers with his fundraising strength two years ago. He has developed an enthusiastic following among home-schooling activists and climate-change skeptics who helped him raise $1.3 million. His campaign also was boosted by an influx of independent spending….
The unintentionally ironic header of Robinson the Elder’s campaign website
Now, when you check the Oregon Secretary of State’s campaign finance pages (no link provided, since their database has gone from good to freaky deaky to just plain jumbled from 2006-2012), you see this:
2251 Dick George Road
Cave Junction, Oregon
2251 Dick George Road
Cave Junction, Oregon
Now, in light of that, and the fact that he’s managed to print, mail and collect all that cash SINCE Monday, April 16 (when the latest campaign expenditure data was released to the public), let’s see how ironic this little paragraph from page four of the 11X 17 mailer is:
Everything about this campaign is a lie and a sham, and it’s HILARIOUS that this would be in the mailer. But this kind of mild forgery — the kind you see in junk mail that LOOKS like a check, or LOOKS like an “official government” mailing — has long been a staple of Art Robinson’s game.
Art Robinson interviewed in Corvallis, Oregon March 2011
And now here’s Matt, pleading “Please Vote for Matthew Robinson!“
He claims to be a scientist (building nuclear reactors) when not running for Congress from daddy’s place on Dick George Road in Cave Junction.
I say “claims to be a scientist” because he ALSO claims to be a Democratic party candidate for congress.
Robinson’s son, Matthew Robinson, who changed his voter registration to run against DeFazio in the Democratic primary May 15, did not report raising or spending any money.
Just as he claimed to have no money coming in or out on Monday, but had this four-color mailer in my mailbox by the following Saturday.
And, of course, he CLAIMS that he’s honest, not like those “career politicians.”
His flyer’s main argument is, in fact, in FAVOR of term limits, so that honest “volunteer” politicians like himself can be in office a few years, but aren’t tarred with “crony capitalists.”
Really? Peter DeFazio is the former chair of the congressional “Progressive Caucus.” You know, the ones who Rep. Alan West (R, Crazytoken) claimed last week were “communists”?
I could go into all the other weird stuff in the mailer, but, suffice it to say, there IS no “union bug” on the mailer (naturally) — even though that’s more or less an unspoken rule in Oregon Democratic politics.
Yeah, he’s a “Democrat.” And I’m the Easter Bunny.
Jeepers! He’s so gosh-darned HONEST!
This is a transparent lie and con job, much like Art Robinson, global warming denialist, Club for Growth-funded, home school activist (he makes money supplying home school materials and calls public education “socialist”), and, of course, Tea Party member (see video interview above, as well):
Tea Party Rally coming to Roseburg Sunday
By KPIC.com Staff Published: Apr 12, 2012 at 9:47 AM PDTRoseburg will play host to a Tea Party gathering at the Douglas County courthouse on Sunday.
Organizers say there will be three speakers, as well as music and entertainment.
Oregon House Co-Speaker Bruce Hanna, candidate for US Representative Dr. Art Robinson and Aaron Auer of ROAR Ministries are scheduled to speak at the event….
Which I would merely counterbalance with THIS:
Book: GOP freshman class turned into ‘a monster’ for Boehner, other House leaders
By Paul Kane, Sunday, April 22, 1:35 PM
The Washington PostTime and again last year, House Republican leaders faced a nearly intractable opponent: the very freshman class that propelled them into the majority with the historic 2010 midterm elections.
Rebelling from the outset of the 112th Congress and later wreaking internal havoc during talks to increase the Treasury Department’s ability to borrow funds, the freshman class repeatedly created problems for House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), according to a new book.
The freshman resistance caused feuds among Boehner and his lieutenants that led some to fear a mutiny, heightened several showdowns with President Obama …
And, just to bring it full circle, there’s this, from the Federal Election Commission (click on image for original):
$2500 contribution: Mercer to Robinson 7 june 2011
It’s not quite the several hundred thousand Mercer used to pay a front group in 2010, but the election season is still young.
My point?
This is what is being done ALL OVER THE COUNTRY, in race after race. Secret money slushing in, stealth candidates sent in, JUST to bleed incumbents like DeFazio in the primary, soften them up for the old Club for Growth/Tea Party One-Two.
Finish with an upper cut and a roundhouse and wait for the man to count “Ten!”
But it’s American democracy that’ll have been knocked out.
You have no idea how important this election is, nor the stealth forces arrayed against “We the People.”
Courage.
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A writer, published author, novelist, literary critic and political observer for a quarter of a quarter-century more than a quarter-century, Hart Williams has lived in the American West for his entire life. Having grown up in Wyoming, Kansas and New Mexico, a survivor of Texas and a veteran of Hollywood, Mr. Williams currently lives in Oregon, along with an astonishing amount of pollen. He has a lively blog His Vorpal Sword. This is cross-posted from his blog
A writer, published author, novelist, literary critic and political observer for a quarter of a quarter-century more than a quarter-century, Hart Williams has lived in the American West for his entire life. Having grown up in Wyoming, Kansas and New Mexico, a survivor of Texas and a veteran of Hollywood, Mr. Williams currently lives in Oregon, along with an astonishing amount of pollen. He has a lively blog, His Vorpal Sword (no spaces) dot com.