Michigan Messenger has a pretty awesome piece up today totally debunking state Rep. Al Pscholka and his ludicrous claims that the protesters that showed up by the hundreds at the Blossomtime Grand Floral parade last month were paid professionals.
hen people from around the state announced their intention to converge on Benton Harbor during the Blossomtime parade to protest the takeover of that city’s government under the new Emergency Manager law that he’d sponsored, state Rep. Al Pscholka (R-Stevensville) dismissed them as hired guns.“It is truly unfortunate that some groups have decided to send in professional agitators by the bus load to try to create a political sideshow,” he said.
~SNIP~
Asked during a recent interview who he thought paid the demonstrators that lined the streets during the Blossomtime parade, Pscholka fingered the Kentucky-based group Heartland Revolution.
“Look at their website,” he said. “It says ‘where issues are being debated, we will utilize our resources to spread the truth.’”
Pure Republican comedy. Pure Republican fail. This is akin to all those right wingers who claim that liberal bloggers are funded by George Soros. Let’s be straight about this: there is no money in grassroots activism. Bloggers like me and organizers like John Waltz of Heartland Revolution pay way more out than we ever receive, financially. Even with ads on my site, I make next to nothing for all my Eclectablogging efforts. There simply isn’t any money in being a lefty organizer or blogger unless you are one of a very select few.
But, hey, I encourage Al Pscholka to keep on thinking that. Because I would far rather he underestimate the power and passion of the anti-Republican grassroots movement right now. He thinks he’ll safely avoid recall but what he doesn’t realize is that, in addition to all of us on the left who despise his actions and politics, many on the right who traditionally vote conservative are mad as hell at Republicans right now, too. Senior citizens, a strong base for the GOP, are angry that their pensions will now be taxed. Many in the tea party movement are aghast at the massive government overreach represented by Emergency Financial Managers’ new powers, powers they have thanks to the new law that Psholka authored. Tea party members may not be taking to the streets of Benton Harbor, but I have been in contact with some folks from that movement who feel as strongly that the EFM takeover of Benton Harbor is unconstitutional as I do. They see it as a stripping away of the power of the voters — which it absolutely is.
It’s not surprising that Pscholka thinks in this way. He’s a big fan and likely beneficiary of the Koch brothers and other far-right conservative groups; groups with very deep pockets and who are not bashful about their sponsorship of fake grassroots efforts. When you operate in that realm, I would imagine it’s difficult to see others doing things differently.
So, yeah, Al, keep thinking we’re a bunch of astroturfing posers. That plays well into the movement against you and your comrades who are attempting to takeover Michigan and other states around the country. Underestimate us all you want.
And, if anyone out there knows how to score some Soros bucks for being a liberal activist, organizer, and blogger, shoot me an email. I’ve been fighting conservative tyranny for a very long time and have yet to be paid a single cent.
