ONE MAN’S VIEW: House Republicans caught in the act

It’s the TV ad few saw, but it said so much.

On Wednesday, Nov. 1, the House Republicans were supposed to announce their vaunted “wonderful tax plan” that would allegedly be a boon to the working families of America.

But that morning, Republicans announced a day delay. Seems they had not yet got their act together.

But… on Tuesday evening, Oct. 31 – the night before the plan was to be announced, a surprising 30-second television ad popped up on my TV screen in the middle of a news program I regularly watch. The ad was aggressively promoting the tax “reform” plan as saving the average American over $1,100 and urged Americans to support it by calling their congressman.

HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?
“What,” I thought, “How is this possible? They are telling people specifics about how much they are supposedly going to save even before the plan is finalized? How is that possible when the plan and all its ‘wonderful benefits’ is not supposed to be announced until tomorrow?”

As I thought about it, two things became clear.

First, it was sponsored by Americans for Prosperity, one of the right-wing Koch Brothers propaganda front groups that promote the interests of special interests and certainly not the public good. Ah, now I understood.

Second, the details of the “reform” plan were not actually being fought out to the very last minute. This “delay” was simply political theater.

Given that this promotional ad ran before any final announcement of a plan, the Republicans must have had the final details of their plan wrapped up early enough so that Americans for Prosperity was given the data allowing them time to write a TV commercial, hire actors, physically produce a 30-second commercial and plan and buy a national media schedule to air the ad.

All this in an effort to get a quick start on their intentionally misleading propaganda campaign to convince us that this is plan is “wonderful” and deserves the support of our elected representatives.

SOMEONE GOOFED
Only someone goofed. The TV commercial ran before it should have, the day BEFORE the plan was supposed to be publicly announced.

And I only saw it that once. Obviously someone realized their catastrophic PR mistake and immediately pulled the ad.  After all, how can you tout the “benefits” of a plan that has not yet been announced?

Apparently few saw it because it didn’t become yet another public debacle over the lengths to which the Koch Brothers will go to get this phony plan passed. But I did, and now the word is out.

ANOTHER ‘TURKEY’ TO BE SOLD
One final thought: if this supposed revolutionary tax plan is so good for you and me and all average working Americans, why is Big Business ready to pour MORE millions into an advertising effort to sell this turkey to us (with apologies to Thanksgiving) when its alleged benefits should be obvious and we should all want to joyfully support it?

I say “more” because another right-wing group financed by the radical right businesses, the American Action Network, has already spent $18 million on television ads urging Americans to contact their House and Senate members to support this “tax reform” program that was about to be announced.

The Senate released its version of the plan last week. Now it goes back to the House to try to reconcile the differences.

We’ll have a lot more “turkey” on our plates Nov. 23 than the Pilgrims ever realized when they sat down to that first dinner.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.