Sunday, May 19, 2013

Stanley Hubbard Circles The Wealth Wagons


On Friday, May 24th at approximately 11:45 a.m. at the Town & Country country club in St. Paul, Stanley Hubbard will draw unto himself a number of people with money which, they believe, gives them insight--if not entitlement--into the political process in Minnesota to decide which republican candidate to support for governor.

You're not invited.

Norm "I couldn't beat a third rate comic" Coleman is, however. Someone should break it to him that he's a has been and his Minnesota Action Network the subject of widespread derision and scorn. I'd ask Laura Brod to do so but I'm assuming with the demise of National Popular Vote in this legislative session she's off to sell herself to whatever next cause pays best.

The problem with being a protege is always the mentor.

Jeff Larson, of FLS infamy and former Chief of Staff (who knew?) to the RNC (the rules of which from last August seems to make Jeff Johnson think he'll win the GOP gubernatorial endorsement) will also be in attendance. Nothing says fresh like this stale bought & paid for fish. "How may I help you help me make money?" He makes the talentless Greg Peppin look like the piker he is. One wonders if the "not waiving but drowning" Kurt Daudt will work again for P2B Strategies in between sessions? One hopes not; it was an egregious mistake for him to have done so in the first instance.

The senate isn't worth speaking about.

Weirdly, Wisconsin senator Ron Johnson is also expected to be in attendance. I haven't figured out why he'll be there unless it's to help show others with money that with dumb luck and a Tea Party speech you, too, can buy higher office. Don't get me wrong: democrats routinely buy higher office and we should as well. Our dumbest are smarter than their smartest.

Quite a number of other unremarkable people with money were invited to show up and are expected to perform as instructed. Trained barking seals come to mind. Like the mail clerk who marries the daughter of the creepy hearing aid founder and thinks himself something. Good enough to be finance director for the MNGOP. Yes, that and no further. Intelligence simply must count at some point. Given our track record in that regard, however, I'm not optimistic.

Besides falling in behind one candidate (does this mean they don't like Scott Honour?) the group seeks, according to the invitation, to channel their financial largesse into some sort of coordinated giving. Think of it as United Way for the white shoe crowd.

All of this begs the question why these otherwise (financially at least) successful people can't think for themselves. Or maybe they can and it just so happens that all their thoughts converge. Unlikely, that.

Maybe this is Stanley Hubbard's opportunity to shove aside the hapless "we are totally *not* Bob Cummins' plaything" Freedom Club? If that club knew anything about freedom, it would free itself from Cummins. But don't you know how much money he gives? Yes and that's another post for another day. It's unclear how many in the Freedom Club know about this upcoming gathering. Yet I find myself wanting both groups to lose. It's like that Cabaret Voltaire line: "money makes up for what you lack." Except in politics it doesn't because it cannot.

The in-gathering of Hubbard's buzzards rankles particularly when one thinks of the Cipher Candidate™ Mike McFadden, who has yet to announce but whom the DC establishment (read House banking scandal--125 overdrawn checks-- cur turned now life-long thick in the waist lobbyist Vin Weber) is set to foist upon the rank and file rubes as our senate candidate. McFadden has money (made in that ethical field of real estate) so why not play into the stereotype and support him? Our pre-positioned hacks will make lots of money. And whenever a lack of ethics is involved, Cullen Sheehan is never far behind. The rest of you can pretend to feel involved, without compensation naturally.





Image above: Lakshmi, Hindu goddess of wealth & prosperity. Click to enlarge. For Bill Krause, @KrauseBill













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