Populists For Profits

by digby

Ben Smith reports that this spot is running in Pennsylvania:

The ad’s sponsor, the Committee for Truth in Politics, is an obscure third party group reportedly run by a former North Carolina GOP official. The group has battled disclosure requirements in court after launching attacks connected to abortion policy and sex offenders during the presidential election. The group’s lawyer, Jim Bopp, didn’t immediately respond to a request for information about the spot.

Jim Bopp is the right wing activist who filed the Citizen’s United case and went to the Republican party meeting demanding a purity test and the ability to cut off funding for any Republican who is not deemed sufficiently conservative (thus enforcing party discipline even beyond what they have today.) He is a servant of corporate power, not a fighter of it.

Far be it for me to suggest that this exploitation of populist anger to tank the financial reform bill might just be a little bit self-serving.  Sure, the financial reform bill is hardly Rooseveltian in scope and may very well end up being completely toothless, but let’s not kid ourselves that the people who made this ad did it because they think the bill’s not strong enough. “Bailout” is now a dogwhistle.

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