As I’ve been noting here, the right has responded to the protests by exploiting a cultural fault line that’s been key to our politics since the 1960s. Conservatives have elevated the protesters’ outsized tactics and violence to push the cultural buttons of blue collar whites and independents-- who will be central to the Massachusetts race-- in an effort to distract them from the populist message embodied by the protests and Warren’s candidacy.



The new Crossroads ad-- which is backed up by a buy of nearly $600,000-- takes this to an almost comical level. It claims: “Fourteen million Americans out of work. But instead of focusing on jobs, Elizabeth Warren sides with extreme left protests.” Of course, Warren’s message, and that of the protests themselves, is all about jobs and unemployment.

This is the most transparent effort yet to use the protests’ theatrical extremes to divert the focus from their-- and her-- actual populist prescriptions, critique of inequality, and diagnosis of our financial crisis, which polls suggest blue collar whites actually agree with.



The ad then doubles down on this effort with an egregious distortion, claiming the protesters “support radical redistribution of wealth.” The ad’s source for that claim is that recent Doug Schoen Op ed that got so much attention for making that claim. But Schoen’s own numbers indicated that only four percent of the protesters he surveyed share that goal. The ad also falsely insinuates that Warren supports the violence we’ve seen, when she’s actually called on protesters to obey the law.

INTERVIEWER: Is it fair or not fair for them to link you so closely with Occupy Wall Street?



WARREN: It’s fair to say that I’ve been protesting Wall Street for years and years. I went to Washington in part to try to stop the bank bailout from giving away money, no strings attached. I’ve gone toe to toe with some of the CEOs of the largest Wall Street financial firms. I’ve even with people in our government about how they treat the biggest firms. So, yeah, I’ve been fighting Wall Street for a very long time.



INTERVIEWER: So these are your people?



WARREN: I’m glad to see lots of people start to really push on this issue. Let’s face it: Something’s badly broken in America right now. We’ve got a middle class that has been hammered financially for a generation. And we’ve got a Washington that works only for those who can hire an army of lobbyists and an army of lawyers. And that means it’s not working for the rest of us. So, yeah, I protest that. I’ve been worried about that. I’ve been working on that for a very long time.



INTERVIEWER: So their mission, their philosophy, their tactics, you all agree with?



WARREN: Let’s be clear. Everybody has to follow the law. There’s no exception on that. More important, though, this is an independent, organic movement. It’s its own voice. It will go in its own direction. We don’t speak with a unitary voice anywhere about what needs to be changed. There are lots of people, lots of voices-- whether they’ve taken to the streets, whether they’re sitting at home saying, 'this doesn’t work anymore.'



We need a lot of voices saying, we’ve got to have change. Because it’s clear: Washington’s not looking to change on its own. And Wall Street is going to keep pumping money into Washington, pumping it into elections, to make sure that their way is the dominant way in this country. I think that’s wrong.

We're one year out from Election Day but the 1% has one big thing going for them: virtually all the country's wealth, almost entirely stolen or illegitimately created. And they give it to slick purveyors of vicious political hatred like Karl Rove. Rove's initial strategy is to go after conservative Democrats who have lost the loyalty of the Democratic base by voting with Republicans on key issues and by forgetting the 99% as they lust after table droppings from the 1% and their lobbyists. So Rove's initial ad buys are against worthless shills in Missouri (Claire McCaskill), Montana (Jon Tester), Nebraska (Ben Nelson) and Virginia (Tim Kaine).won't be wasting any energy defending these 4 worthless pieces of crap, even if the alternatives to them are so much worse (as, in each case, they are). But the biggest ad Rove is doing, the one up top, is worth looking at and talking about-- the absurd red-baiting smear against Elizabeth Warren. Please it watch it if you haven't. It's an attack against Elizabeth and an attack against OccupyWallStreet and an attack against the legitimate aspirations against the 99% for a place in the sun. Rove, a lifelong closet queen who's existence has been lived in the dark, is the enemy of the American family. His career has always been about serving the nefarious interests of the 1% looking to impose their will on the 99%. He's "good" at his job-- and they reward him handsomely. Strike a blow by helping Elizabeth Warren defend herself -- and defend us. Even $5 will help Elizabeth counter the slanderous campaign from the 1%. Remember who pays for Rove's perfidy.Greg Sargent seems outraged today that Rove's ad is filled with lies. What does he-- and anyone-- expect from Rove. Karl Rove. His entire existence is a lie. This is one sick mutha!Would you like to get your hands around Rove's fat neck? You can't. Next best thing: help elect Elizabeth Warren . It will make him a failure.She just did an interview with Boston's WCVB-TV-- and she knows how to stay on her own message and not fall into Rove's traps:

Labels: Elizabeth Warren, Karl Rove, OccupyWallStreet