Associated Press
FreedomWorks, a far-right activist group and super PAC, has been the subject of considerable controversy in recent months. As the Tea Party organization struggles through an ugly, internal staff shake-up, including the ouster of former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, Mother Jones' David Corn has uncovered all kinds of ugly details about FreedomWorks' antics.
But nothing quite as ugly as this.
An internal investigation of FreedomWorks—the prominent conservative advocacy group and super-PAC—has focused on presidentMatt Kibbe's management of the organization, his use of its resources, and a controversial book deal he signed, according to former FreedomWorks officials who have met with the private lawyers conducting the probe.
One potential topic for the inquiry is a promotional video produced last year under the supervision of Adam Brandon, executive vice president of the group and a Kibbe loyalist. The video included a scene in which a female intern wearing a panda suit simulates performing oral sex on Hillary Clinton.
Apparently, just last summer, FreedomWorks was preparing to host a conference and created a promotional video for the event. Borrowing a scene from "The Shining," the video reportedly showed Brandon waking from a nap, walking down hallways, and finding a woman in a panda suit on her knees, with her head in the lap of another woman pretending to be then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
This is not, incidentally, conjecture or rumor. Though the video was ultimately never aired at the conference, a FreedomWorks staffer confirmed to Corn that the video was created, and even Armey said he was "shocked at the ugly and bad taste," though the staffers who made it remain with the organization.
Ed Kilgore added, "[Y[ou do have to wonder what other strange incidents will come out with respect to an organization so loosely run that it's dealing with multiple investigations despite a relatively brief existence."
I shudder to think how much worse it might get for the Tea Party group.
Leave a Comment:
Yet another piece of evidence that Freedomworks is not a healthy organization, filled with unhealthy people, striving to bring ill-health to our democratic heritage!
Any organization not worthy enough to employ a Dick Armey is truly not worthy enough to call itself anything other than an ineffective condom! -Kevo
For God's sake, don't mention, "ineffective condom" to the bear.
Pretty good explanation of the situation is here if you're interested: http://www.sex.com/news/blog/2013/02/14/hillary-clinton-panda-sex-video/
Too terrified to click on that link, @cdusty.
To expect anything like sanity from an organization created and staffed by lunatics is...well Crazy
Which is why I don't CARE how much worse it gets for them.
It's kind of like a terrible car wreck on the interstate. You should really just keep driving carefully by, but you just have to slow down and stare....
But then you cause problems for everyone behind you in the road! Stop looking, pay attention to the road, consarnit!
I'm surprised it didn't go further. The tea-party/freedom jerks were built upon the most vile of ugliness.. A real surprise would be something altruistic accidentally coming from this assembly of idiots!
The tea-baggers have shown themselves to be crass, ignorant, neither knowledgeable regarding facts or reality and have generally displayed a mean/hate filled disrespect toward everyone that doesn't "look" like them (old, white, male, subordinate female).
In other words, the same old base of the republican party since Nixon's Southern Strategy.
Somebody appears to be crying out for therapy.
Doesn't surprise me. Most of those on the extreme far right have no respect for anyone who doesn't walk in lock step with them.
The so-called "family values" crowd manages to offend any sane person with a family.
or values
Just think how pissed they'll be when Hillary is elected President in 2016 . . .
What most do not know is that Steve Forbes is the Secret co-Chair of Freedom Works, does lots of speaking engagments for them at no cost, and in the same week, bills the boy scouts $5,500 for a speaking gig. hmmmm.
Steve Forbes is still p!ssed off about not getting elected president on a platform of cutting the heck out of his own taxes.
For those with only short term history: Steve Forbes ran for president (naturally as a repuke) twice. His only issue was 'cutting the hell out of federal taxes' for himself and other very wealthy people. You might say, he was the original Mittens Romney candidate.
That's a rather polite thing to say, Steve, but I kind of doubt that you're really all that upset.
Shudder in anticipation?
What do you expect from a gaggle of wannabe goose-stepping brownshirts? A lack of any form of good taste, manners, or otherwise-civilized behavior is a hallmark of the right wherever it exists, since it only attracts ignorant bottom-feeders and lifetime losers.
The Tea Party, Freedom Works, et. al., have brought incivility in politics to a new level. And I blame this all on Newt Gingrich and Fox News for making bad taste/bad manners the political norm. This has even seeped into the Senate, i.e. Sen. Cruz (TX). It is ugly no matter how people try to rationalize this with false equivalencies and dismissing it as merely politics.
Ed Kilgore is calling them a bunch of frat boys, with the same crudeness, nasty sense of humor, and total insularity in their point of view.
I'll try again...
Kilgore's observation that FW and AFP are young organizations seems contrary to the facts revealed in a UCSF study of the origins of the Tea Party, for which I provided a link to HuffPo, and which probably led to my comment not being published??
The Koch Brothers and the Tobacco Industry were behind CSE, Citizens for a Sound Economy, the precursor to AFP and FW, founded in 1984.
THIS is who they are
I'm really shocked by this: Shocked the there's something involving Hillary Clinton that Armey thinks is ugly and in bad taste!
What really disturbing is the "concept" attacks Women, Gays and Asian Americans. Being a moderate republican woman it' makes me ill. I made a YouTube video to express my anger. http://www.youtube.com/my_videos?feature=mhsn The GOP needs to RESPECT All people if they want to be relevant in 2014 & 2016