AFP

And the takeover couldn't have happened without some Judas Iscariots to betray our freedoms:

Phillips declined to say how much money AFP, which isn’t required to disclose its contributions and spending, spent in the state. “It was significant,” Phillips said. “There will be more old conservative policy changes in North Carolina than in any other state this year,” said Dallas Woodhouse, AFP’s state director. “We have a lot of ground to make up. We have the right mix of state leaders and governor to pass some earth-shattering reform.”

Yeah, that's just what you need when you're trying to struggle your way out of a recession; "Earth-shattering". And just for those Republican lawmakers who happen to be reading this (I know some of them do), I want you to pay special attention to not-the-bus-driver's wording: "We have". That's possessive, meaning Dallas and his paymasters believe you are now a possession. And possessions do as they're told. You don't agree? Prove it.

In our brave new world of Republican extremism in North Carolina, insults to decency come fast and furious. But even still, I couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry when I read this post by Lynn Bonner Under the Dome yesterday.

Americans for Prosperity is preparing a campaign to sell the public on the legislature's plan to change the tax code. AFP representatives and Lt. Gov. Dan Forest will announce the effort at a Tuesday news conference, said AFP state executive director Dallas Woodhouse. The legislature has not presented a detailed plan, though legislators have outlined general principles ... a role for Forest has not been defined, Woodhouse said.

Is the polite facade crumbling?

“There are winners and losers in every election, but just because you don’t like the results or how the results were achieved doesn’t warrant what’s going on right now,” said Jeanette Doran, the executive director of the conservative N.C. Institute for Constitutional Law. “There used to be this measure of Southern gentility. ... But when things get hardball, it sort of shocks the gentility.”

And very often that Southern gentility masked a deep undercurrent of bigotry, injustice, and undue influence being wielded by shadowy business interests that were anything but genteel. I'd rather have a public brawl, which just may reveal deeper motives, than a backroom deal that goes virtually unnoticed, any day of the week.

Trying to keep up with the really rich guys:

Pope has maxed out to the RNC, but it’s not possible to know the totality of his giving 2012, because he gives much of his money through non-profit groups that don’t disclose their donors, and his foundation only discloses its contributions months after giving them. But he said he’s not sure how much more he intends to give this year. “I’m getting close to being tapped out. So, I don’t know whether I’ll be giving more or not.”

It must be sobering for the spoiled rich kid to find out his fortune is paltry compared to that of a billionaire. The Koch brothers might give him an affectionate pat on the back from time to time but, in the scheme of things, he's just a dog fetching a newspaper for his master:

In perhaps the most audacious attempt yet to turn a pile of happy horseshit into gold, Americans For Prosperity and the Civitas Institute are sponsoring a "Real Solutions" tour next week in an attempt to convince people that their deep budget cuts to education are *good* for North Carolina. Help us nip this insanity in the bud: please take a look at the tour stops in the article below and if you would like to get more involved in setting the record straight when they come near you, drop me a line: katymunger @ progressnc.org. We need to talk ... thank you!

(more after the jump)

N.C. Real Solutions Coming To a Town Near You

The good folks at NC Policy Watch are calling on the people at Civitas to take down their wildly deceptive ad about the impacts of their budgets cuts on public education. That'll never happen. If Civitas were to take down everything they write that is wildly deceptive, they'd have nothing left to say.

Art Pope must be proud.

Cancelled due to lack of interest

Just caught these idiots bragging on Twitter:

AFPNC 6:26pm via web AFP to launch one million dollar ad buy in NC exposing Obama radical energy policies #ncga #ncpol #ncgop Ad on air next week

I'm going to issue a challenge right now to the mainstream reporters who will comment on this ad when it comes out: When you talk about this ad, you need to reference the oil industry, if not the Koch brothers themselves, as being behind the commercial. If you don't, you're misleading your audience/readership. We'll be watching. Speaking of watching, watch this:

Straddling the fence of political ideology:

the right wing of his party seems to have real problems with McCrory. No one knows whether he could actually move enough to the right to lasso support from hard-line conservatives. If former Charlotte City Councilman, and longtime local conservative leader, Don Reid had his way, someone would challenge McCrory from the right in the primary.

But neither Don Reid nor the Don't-Tread-On-Me flag wavers have the money or the guts to challenge the corporate puppetmasters who manage the purse strings: