Zito And The Trib, Helping Out When They Can

Take a look at Salena Zito's first two paragraphs from this morning.  This isn't a column of hers, by the way.  If its URL is to be believed, it's in the Trib's "News" division.  So it's un-opinionated news:

FreedomWorks, a Tea Party organization, is expected today to endorse a former Senate staffer and researcher with the conservative Heritage Foundation in the 18th District congressional race.

Evan Feinberg, 27, of Upper St. Clair is challenging Rep. Tim Murphy in the GOP primary on April 24.

There are two names you should notice in that first paragraph; FreedomWorks and Heritage Foundation.  Couple that with the Braintrust's editorial stance on Murphy and you'll see two things;

• The Trib's not a fan of Murphy (neither am I, but that's beside the point)
• Their Trib's editorial policy is oh-so-conveniently reflected in their "news" coverage.  Again

Tea Party Vs YOU

From Reuters:

With Medicare at the top of lawmakers' fall agenda, Tea Party movement leaders hope to ignite support for Republican plans to transform the popular federal healthcare program for the elderly.

Thousands of Tea Party movement activists are expected to descend this month on town hall meetings across key battleground states as part of an intensifying campaign ahead of the 2012 presidential and congressional elections.

Their priority is a plan to slash Medicare costs proposed by House of Representatives Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, which could gain momentum now that a debt-limit deal between President Barack Obama and Congress has made potential Medicare cuts a centerpiece of the deficit debate.

And what's that plan again? It's:

The Ryan plan -- which the House approved in April but which went nowhere in the Democratic-led Senate -- would preserve Medicare for current beneficiaries but transform it for future retirees from a system that provides guaranteed benefits to one that gives the elderly financial assistance to buy private insurance.

Enough of a change that we get to say this would "end Medicare as we know it." So instead of medicare funds going to doctors and/or hospitals for elderly care, note that it goes to insurance companies.

This from our friends at Freedomworks, an astroturf organization funded in part by, of course, our good friend Richard Mellon Scaife (more than $3 million over the past few decades).

So I am sure we can expect to see more than a few editorials from Scaife's braintrust at the Tribune-Review touting the benefits of Freedomworks and the Ryan plan to eradicate Medicare.

It's just that simple.

They're At It Again

From today's Op-Ed page of Richard Mellon Scaife's Tribune-Review:

It's a huge weekend in the nation's capital for patriotic Americans.

Tonight, it's the "Take America Back Convention" at the DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, sponsored by FreedomWorks. Participants will learn of the hottest congressional races of the year and learn how to get out the vote in November.

And Saturday, it's the "Restoring Honor" rally at the Lincoln Memorial, co-hosted by Fox News host Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor, the Republicans' vice-presidential nominee in 2008.

From the title of this blog post, you can guess where this is going. You're smart. You know you are.

The Take America Back Convention is sponsored by FreedomWorks, right?

Guess, just guess, who's given a ton of money TO FreedomWorks. That's right. Richard Mellon Scaife, owner of the newspaper that contains the op-ed that's "reporting" on the event.

How much money?

According to Mediamatters, the Scaife-controlled Carthage Foundation has given $200,000 and the Scaife-controlled Sarah Scaife Foundation has given $2,960,000 to FreedomWorks and Empower America (as it had been called until 2004) between 1985 and 2007. And this $3.5 million doesn't include the Scaife money from 2008 and 2009:

• Sarah Scaife Foundation $132,500 in 2009.
• Sarah Scaife Foundation $70,000 in 2008.

In case you're wondering, that's an extra 200 large.

So Scaife money is helping bring about the "Take America Back" convention and yet when the convention is being written about in Scaife's own newspaper, there's no mention of the money.

The circle-jerk continues.

Um...And They Don't See The Problem?

So not only are the tea-partiers ignorant on taxes, they're happy to get help from the guv'ment when they need it - all while demanding smaller guv'ment and less guv'ment help for everyone else.

From the NYTimes:

When Tom Grimes lost his job as a financial consultant 15 months ago, he called his congressman, a Democrat, for help getting government health care.

Then he found a new full-time occupation: Tea Party activist.

A few paragraphs later we find:

Mr. Grimes, who receives Social Security, has filled the back seat of his Mercury Grand Marquis with the literature of the movement, including Glenn Beck’s “Arguing With Idiots” and Frederic Bastiat’s “The Law,” which denounces public benefits as “false philanthropy.”

“If you quit giving people that stuff, they would figure out how to do it on their own,” Mr. Grimes said. [emphasis added.]

Then there's Diana Riemer. She her husband lost his job and now, according to the Times, is a "star of the effort by Freedomworks, a tea-party group."

But Freedomworks isn't really a "tea-party group." It predates the current "tea party" organizations by a few years (dating as it does to 2004). It's also an astro-turf organization that's received tons of money over the years from the main financial backers of the conservative movement.

Grassroots, it ain't.

But back to Diana Riemer:

Ms. Reimer often wells up talking about her work. “I’m respected,” she said, her voice breaking. “I don’t know why. I don’t know what is so special. But I’m willing to do it.”

She and others who receive government benefits like Medicare and Social Security said they paid into those programs, so they are getting what they deserve.[emphasis added]

Here's a little thought experiment. What do you think the tea partiers would say if they learned that, oh I dunno, some moveon.org community organizer was on some sort of guv'ment benefits like unemployment or Social Security or Medicare?

Quit yer whinin' and get off yer ass go out and get a job! I shouldn't have to pay for your protests!

So should it be any different when the community organizer is a part of a multi-million dollar astro-turf organization like Freedomworks?

Not to mention Riemer has little understanding of Social Security. The money she "paid in" went to benefit those on Social Security at the time. The guv'ment money she gets right now comes from Americans working right now.

It's a plan to redistribute the wealth for the greater good, isn't it? That's Socialism, isn't it?

Then there's Jeff McQueen:

Jeff McQueen, 50, began organizing Tea Party groups in Michigan and Ohio after losing his job in auto parts sales. “Being unemployed and having some time, I realized I just couldn’t sit on the couch anymore,” he said. “I had the time to get involved.”

He began producing what he calls the flag of the Second American Revolution, and drove 700 miles to campaign for Mr. Brown under its banner. Flag sales, so far, are not making him much. But he sees a bigger cause.

“The founding fathers pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor,” he said. “They believed in it so much that they would sacrifice. That’s the kind of loyalty to this country that we stand for.”

He blames the government for his unemployment. “Government is absolutely responsible, not because of what they did recently with the car companies, but what they’ve done since the 1980s,” he said. “The government has allowed free trade and never set up any rules.” [emphasis added.]

Um, Jeff? The free trade (or at least the freer trade of the past few decades) occurred when the guv'ment relaxed its rules in an attempt to be less intrusive into the free market system that built this great nation into the shining city on a hill that it's been since God ordained it.

But I am guessing these folks watch a lot of Fox "News" and so they must be well informed, right?

Tribbing The Freedomworks

Oh the things you discover once you dig just a little.

In today's Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Craig Smith interviews former member of Congress, Dick Armey. Here's the setup:

Dick Armey championed lower taxes, less government and more freedom while serving 18 years in the House of Representatives. In 2003, he joined FreedomWorks to lead the same political charge on a grassroots level. Since joining the Washington, D.C.-based group, he's traveled to more than 20 states, energizing people, testifying before state and federal governments and meeting with pro-reform legislators.

Um, Craig? You know hat's not exactly true, right? But then again this is the editorial page at the Tribune-Review where "facts" aren't necessarily, you know, factual.

Here's the actual facts:

Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE) and Empower America today announced that they have merged to form a new grassroots advocacy organization, FreedomWorks, that will expand and broaden the national fight for lower taxes, less government, and more economic freedom. Three of the most respected and accomplished leaders of the conservative, free-market movement-- Dick Armey, C. Boyden Gray, and Jack Kemp-- will serve as the Co-Chairmen of FreedomWorks. Bill Bennett will focus on school choice as a Senior Fellow. Matt Kibbe is FreedomWorks’ new President and CEO.

This is from the press release announcing the creation of Freedomworks.

Armey had been on the board of Directors for CSE since January of 2003 right after he left the Congress.

CSE dates back to 1984 and Freedomworks was not formed until more than a year later in July of 2004. Small point, obviously, but to say that Armey "joined" Freedomworks in 2003 (when it was not yet in existence) is, let's be honest here, factually incorrect.

But let's move on to the real point of this post.

Armey joins CSE in 2003. According to Mediamatters, foundations controlled by Richard Mellon Scaife, owner of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, granted CSE

• $325,000 in 2003
• $250,000 in 2004
• $250,000 in 2005
• $200,000 in 2006
• $200,000 in 2007

Though something must've happened after 2007 as the Scaife Foundations own records show only a grant of $70,000 in 2008.

But still that's a tad more than $1.25 million in 6 years.

Doncha think Craig Smith should have mentioned that? Mentioned that his employer funneled more than a million dollars to the organization headed by the guy he's interviewing about that organization?

The circle jerk continues.

Here's something for all the Sarah Palin fans reading this blog:

Q: Where do you see Sarah Palin in this?

A: I think Sarah Palin is an extremely popular personality and she's a unique person, and she's very attractive to people who love freedom. She's very able at expressing her own values on the subject. She is detested by the liberals because she is everything that Hillary Clinton pretends to be. And understand, Sarah Palin did not become governor of Alaska because she was somebody's daughter or wife. She made it on her own terms. She is very clear in her own understanding of who she is and what she values and she's very direct in expressing it, and that, of course, is why people on the conservative side admire her and people on the liberal side detest her. But ... I frankly don't expect to ever see Sarah Palin seek public office.

Q: Why not?

A: My own view is, first of all, she's enjoying being sort of a national spokesman or figurehead of freedom and independence, and I think she's seen that politics at the national level is a pretty grubby business for very little reward in it.

Coincidentally, (if I am reading the forms correctly) according to their 2008 IRS taxes, Freedomworks pays Dick Armey about half a million dollars a year for about 18 hours of work per week. I guess the reward is heading a national "grassroots" organization like Freedomworks.