civitas

Yesterday I took my seat at the Civitas polling luncheon and began to chat with the other folks at the table. Turns out that the couple I sat down next to had come up from Wilmington specifically to attend the Take Back the State Rally, and that this was their first Civitas meeting. They heard about the rally from their WPTF affiliate, which had been promoting the event for several weeks.

The commentary part of the luncheon was like it always goes:

Civitas has a luncheon every month or so to spin the results of their push polls. These meetings are primarily used to offer advice to Republican elected officials and GOP campaign workers on how to win elections. Given that Civitas claims a 501(c)3 tax free status, this ought to be illegal.

As a staff person of the North Carolina Democratic Party I attended the lunch yesterday. Ric Killian (R, District 105) was the guest. We tried to tape the presentation, but a Civitas staff person prevented us from doing so.

Imagine my surprise today to open The New York Times and see a near full-page ad for a conference co-sponsored by our own John Locke Foundation. It is the "International Conference On Climate Change" at the Marriott in New York City, which promises to "prove there is no scientific consensus on the causes or likely consequences of global warming."

Map now updated with Myers Park Pat!

I admit to spending less and less time worrying about the "reports" and political activities spewing steadily from the Art Pope Puppetshow. Funded to the tune of $3 to $4 million annually by the knight of the right, the increasingly irrelevant John Locke Foundation and Civitas appear to have attracted all the converts they're going to get.

But as our handy-dandy (and updated!) map of the Show suggests, the Puppetmaster has infiltrated major media outlets and at least one major university, so they are definitely worth keeping an eye on. Which is why I was so pleased to see this post by Rob Schofield at NC Policy Watch yesterday. It's a doozy.

Civitas has a luncheon every month or so to spin the results of their push polls. These meetings are primarily used to offer advice to Republican elected officials and GOP campaign workers on how to win elections. Given that Civitas claims a 501(c)3 tax free status, this ought to be illegal, but who honestly expects the GOP to play by the same rules as the rest of us?

Several of the statements made, particularly by Fetzer, are shocking in their cold ruthlessness. I think it is telling that nobody objected on principle to some of his ideas.

I think this is the best example:

Fetzer: This isn't like what we did with Reagan. Since we don't have anti-communism to unite the Republican party anymore we'll have to find new issues to agitate our political base.

An audience member then suggested, why don't we just replace fear of communism with fear of terrorism?

Fetzer: Yes, that's the plan.

Cross-posted from The Progressive Pulse

If Paul Krugman is right and passing health care legislation should be the number one priority of Progressives, then this is welcome news.

I was reading a new post at Progressive Pulse this morning, where I learned that one of the regular commenters there is being paid to blog by the Puppetmaster. His name is Max Borders (no, it's not a joke) and he is a self-avowed soldier in the so called freedom movement.

I've seen Max's name many times, but always assumed he was an honest broker, another run-of-the-mill free-market fundamentalist without a real job. When I discovered he's actually a shill for the Civitas Circus, I wrote this:

I appreciate the background on Max. Even though I’ve seen scores of comments from him here, I never realized he’s a paid shill for the Puppetmaster. Thanks for saving me the trouble of reading his future commentary.

Note to Civitas: If you’re going to spend a boatload of Art’s money upgrading to a fancy new website, why on earth would you plaster the incoherent ramblings of Jack Hawke on your welcoming video? Just sayin’.

If you haven't read about Thomas Stith, you should. He has long been the token black guy a star in Jack Hawke's Civitas Circus, which itself is an appendage to the Art Pope Puppetshow. He's running for mayor of Durham. Since I live only a mile from the Bull City, I was inspired to read more about Mr. Stith by this post from Barry Ragan. When I got to Stith's website, I found this welcoming letter:

I also realize that we can do better. Durham is a city that continues to struggle with the horror of violent crime and gang activity. We are literally losing our children.

I went to the Civitas Luncheon they do once a month to spin up their poll results.

Verna Collins (NBC-17) and Jack Hawk were the speakers.

Hawk consistently described low Bush and GOP numbers as "bad." Numbers he considered to present a political advantage to the GOP were called "good" or "encouraging." Poll results Hawk considered to be favorable to Democrats were "bad."

Similarly, he repeatedly used the terms "we" and "us" to describe the Republican party. Referring to polls he determined to be favorable to the GOP, he said, "This is good for us" and "We are improving here."

PPP Blog.

Republicans in the US Senate continue to block attempts to establish any sort of timetable for withdrawal from the War in Iraq. North Carolina’s Senators Elizabeth Dole and Richard Burr were among the obstructionist Republicans. According to the latest Civitas Poll, they don’t have the support of North Carolina voters behind them. From the Civitas Poll:

Do you support or oppose Congress passing legislation that would set a timetable for the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq within the next year and also provide full funding for the troops presently fighting in Iraq?

Support 57%
Oppose 33%
Not sure 10%