KEITH OLBERMANN: First, because this is the spot where we make similar pushbacks against the helots, here are "Countdown's" top three nominees for today's "Worst Persons in the World."
The bronze? To Rick Berman, an Astroturfing lobbyist and notorious legend among his peers.
During the Super Bowl, an anti-union commercial ran in the local broadcast of the game in Washington D.C. Paid for by an organization called The Center For Union Facts, it was the usual three-card monte game of trying to convince people who would benefit most from collective bargaining that it is their enemy. Such is life in the post-Citizens United America.
But check something out. This is a picture of Mr. Berman, who turns out to have made the commercial. He has made a lot of money doing stuff like this. (Still photograph of lobbyist Richard Berman shown.) He owns a house valued at three million, three hundred thousand dollars, for instance.
This is a guy portraying a disgruntled union mechanic in the commercial. (Screencap from anti-union Super Bowl commercial shown.) Does he look familiar to you under that ill-fitting cap? That's right. It's Mr. Berman, who saved a little money by portraying the disgruntled union member. Washington's top hit man on behalf of corporations, pretending to be a union grunt.
His rationale for that? "I worked as a mechanic at my father's garage all through high school and college."
I have a Berman story that explains how you can beat somebody that self-rationalizing. Back when "Countdown" was supposed to be a right-wing, pro-Bush propaganda program, run by a former executive from Fox News, they booked Berman to be my guest on the topic of government efforts to impose fat restrictions on fast foods. Mr. Berman insisted that there was no connection between obesity and weight-related illness, and fast foods. He said it was a matter of personal willpower and intelligence. He was being paid by the fast-food industry to say this.
This got me a little angry. I pointed out that for generations, my family — myself included — had struggled with weight issues and that, while it was fair to debate how much biology and heredity influenced weight, that there clearly was a connection.
Mr. Berman scoffed, which is when I asked him if he remembered that — as late as the 1960's — doctors insisted that wearing hats too often led to hair loss, like his hair loss. That heredity had nothing to do with, you know, baldness. That's when he yanked the earpiece out and ran away. So, no wonder he's wearing that cap in the commercial.
The runner-up? Tim Wildmon, the head of a group calling itself the American Family Association.
These are the yokels who responded to the shootings at Virginia Tech five years ago by releasing a video in which God explained that it, and Columbine, had happened because we'd "kicked God out of the schools."
The AFA's newest target is Ellen DeGeneres. That's right, Ellen.
The organization first demanded that the JCPenney Company fire DeGeneres as its spokesman because she's gay. When JCPenney told them to take a hike, the AFA switched to telling its drones to contact — not the corporation — but the managers of individual stores and telling them they should "remain neutral in the culture war." By firing a gay person.
Penney's has gotten a lot of crap over the years, but they're doing the right thing here. So, this is a good time to go in and give them some business. And tell them Ellen sent you.
But our winner tonight? Rachel Burgin, a Republican state representative in Florida.
We all know about ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, the right-wing group that concocts patterns for state laws that push the agendas of corporations and the one percent. ALEC produces these templates, and individual lawmakers around the country alter them slightly and introduce them as their own bills. Like Representative Burgin.
Unfortunately, sometimes, being a vessel through which billionaires do their dirty work does not require great intelligence. Like Representative Burgin.
Her bill — H-M685 — would reduce taxes on corporations in Florida. Except, Representative Burgin apparently forgot about that part about "alter them slightly and introduce them as your own." Her bill read, "Whereas, it is the mission of the American Legislative Exchange Council to advance Jeffersonian principles of —" Blah, blah, blah, blah.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. The main defense of democracy lies not in guns, nor in protest, nor in vigilance. But rather in the stupidity of those who would destroy democracy. Like Rachel Burgin, state representative from the 56th district of Florida — not too bright — today's "Worst Person in the World."
