Friday, July 10, 2015

Manning Centre for Building American Majority

Last month in Ottawa, PM Stephen Harper and House Leader Peter Van Loan quietly met with Scott Walker, the anti-SSM anti-abortion anti-union Wisconsin governor whose imminent 2016 Republican presidential candidacy is already teetering atop a pile of Koch Bros. dark money. 

When Glen McGregor reported on the meeting yesterday, PMO spokesey Stephen Lecce came out of his little spokesbox and said "These are not the droids you are looking for," and went back inside again. 

Harper and Walker have so much in common to talk about -  union-busting and voter suppression legislation, campaigning on transparency and creating jobs and being completely crap at both, support for tough-on-crime legislation, opposition to gun registration and minimum wage increases and clean energy jobs policies, budget crises due to corporate tax cuts, unfortunate appointments of people who become felons in office ... and the Koch-affiliated American Majority creating a "national farm team of conservative leaders" and "training them in guerilla internet tactics."

Wait. What? American Majority political training group is in Canada?


Why yes it is. On July 4 the Manning Centre for Building Democracy and American Majority sponsored a social media webinar from guns and jesus gal Aubrey Blankenship, communications director of American Majority, to "help you become a better voice for conservatism online."




I don't know what Aubrey's training session on how "to become a better Conservative online" entailed so instead here is one from American Majority's Austin James teaching Tea Party members to spam Amazon profiles of liberal books with negative comments and bad reviews. 



You can still catch another American Majority webinar at the Manning Centre on Aug 10 when Political Communications Expert Jess Nicholson will teach "Crafting Your Message—The art of getting to the heart".

Ok sure, I hear you thinking, but the Manning Centre sponsors tea party trainers all the time so who cares what dumbass shenanigans American Majority touts at the Manning Centre this year?

Well, because as of 2015, American Majority's Wisconsin chapter had trained 128 successful candidates for state or local office for Governor Scott Walker. 
128.  In just one state.
.

6 comments:

the salamander said...

.. fab link and info ! Thank You .. !! !

West End Bob said...

As an uncle of a high school teacher in Wisconsin who battled for months against scott walker's union-busting I'm quite familiar with the cretin governor.

And he's about to announce his candidacy for US prez by joining the repuglican Clown Car of candidates.

You just thought world politics couldn't sink any lower, didn't'cha ? ? ? ?

Purple library guy said...

"Trained 128 successful candidates" sounds impressive, but I'm not sure how much it means. Like, if they trained all the candidates and 128 won, we have no way to know whether this training was even a factor in those 128 winning (let alone how big a factor). Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. Even if the ones they trained won more than the ones they didn't train, it could just be a marker for who got more campaign $$$ support generally or such like.

Like, compared to things such as relentless TV ads, big databases o' voters with lots of detail allowing narrowcasting, or just a right wing media, I'm not sure a bunch of glorified management seminars telling them how to arrange for more dorks to say stupid things on the internet is that significant. Wise to keep an eye on the tactics they're using, sure, but not to imagine these are master strategists capable of making the sky fall on us.

Anonymous said...

Purple Library Guy, AM trained 128 in Wisconsin and all were elected, 125 in Oklahoma and all were elected. They also do "relentless TV ads and big databases o' voters with lots of detail allowing narrowcasting" in addition to campus and activist cell organizing. The sky isn't falling but then neither did Scott Walker.

Anonymous said...

In April David Koch signals preference for Scott Walker as Republican nominee. Walker then meets with Netanyahu in May and Harper in June.
What's not to like?

Owen Gray said...

Insanity has crossed the border.

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