In French Rarebit, Bugs Bunny finds himself at the center of a battle between two French chefs and he helpfully provides each chef with advice to help move things along.
It is in the spirit of that cartoon that I decided offer Mitt Romney a tip to help him hold back the Santorum surge sweeping though the base of the GOP. Here it is:
Mitt,
- Did you know that Rick Santorum was one of the first folks in Washington to work with Jack Abramoff?
- Did you know that representatives of the Chinese corporation that owned Sweatshops on Saipan attended a Santorum fundraiser in 1996?
- Did you know that–through an employee–Santorum was given two $5,000 donations by the Chinese-owned sweatshop?
- Did you know that the folks who went to the Santorum fundraiser have been tied to human trafficking, forced prostitution and forced abortions?
- Did you know that shortly after the donation was paid, Rick helped Jack kill some Legislation that his sweatshop owning clients wanted killed?
- Did you know that Rick kept working with Jack Abramoff over the years and that your pal John McCain has the evidence to prove it?
If Mitt Romney wants to take Rick down he should bring up his ties to the sweatshops of Saipan. It is in the public record. For example, in 1996 Jack Abramoff was hired to protect the sweatshops in the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, a US Territory 40 miles north of Guam. The Governor–who was in the pocket of the Chinese sweatshop owners–used territory funds (that came from US taxpayers) to pay Jack to stop legislation that would extend US labor, customs and immigration laws to the rogue territory.
Here are samples from Abramoff’s July 1996 billing invoice where he meets with Santorum:
And here is Jack billing the Marianas for four and a half hours of his time to take the sweatshop owner and some key employees to a Santorum fundraiser:
According to Open Secrets, Satorum’s FightPAC recieved $5,000 just before the sweatshop owner and his employees went to his fundraiser and another $5,000 just after Abramoff and Santorum won a legislative victory for Jack’s sweatshop dependent clients. Both payments to his PAC were from John Pangelinan, a long-time employee of the Chinese family that controlled the sweatshops of Saipan.
The human rights record of the Saipan sweatshops was appalling. There were documented cases of sweatshop owners forcing pregnant employees to have abortions and coercing other young women to become sex workers in local nightclubs. It was a system of abuse that Rick Santorum helped Jack Abramoff to protect and he did it for the money.
I’m sure the negative ad masters working for Mitt should be able to have a field day with this information. For inspiration they could look at the ads Casey Cagle ran against Ralph Reed in the 2006 race to be Georgia’s Lt. Governor. The guy on Mitt’s payroll who created the Willie Horton ad should be able to bring a world of hurt to little Ricky.
And if Mitt’s oposition research team needs more dirt on the Santorum/Abramoff alliance, they only need to ask Mitt’s pal John McCain. During his investigation of Jack Abramoff, McCain collected over 750,000 pages of Abramoff billing records and emails. I expect that you’ll find Santorum all through these documents if you could examine them. John McCain is keeping these from public view, but perhaps he’ll leak a peak to Team Mitt–if they ask him.
I hope this helps Mitt. Santorum’s involvement with Abramoff to protect the sweatshops of Saipan is part of his record that should get some exposure.
And Rick, you might want to talk about Mitt’s Dad and his feud with Barry Goldwater. Did you know that Mitt was with his dad when they walked out of the 1964 GOP Convention to protest Goldwater’s extreme conservative platform?
Have fun boys.
Cheers
Gin & Tonic
That’s what I like about this blog. Always trying to be helpful.
Yutsano
One flaw in the plan: you assume any of this would be a net negative with Republican primary voters. Saipan sounds foreign and exotic and Other to them. It may be an American territory, but it might as well be China to conservatives. They’ll just shrug it off.
feebog
Dennis:
A question about the documents McCain has tucked away? How is it that these are not accessible to Democrats, since they have held the Chairmanships of all major committees since 2006?
barath
Nice. There’s nobody who covered—or covers—the run-up and aftermath of Abramoff like you dengre…
hitchhiker
@Yutsano:
Well, some of them would shrug off the Santorum stuff (eww) and some would shrug off the Mitt stuff . . . but that means that whoever is the nominee, there will be R “base” voters who’ve trained themselves to hate that person.
And they won’t vote at all, if FSM loves us.
Could we have some ad suggestions about how to mock each of them, too please? It’s hard to overcome being made to look like a fool.
Citizen_X
Hmm…forced abortions? I think that even the Teabaggers would not be able to shrug that one off.
capt
You are really more kind about the whole things than I could ever be.
You set a stellar example.
Dennis G.
@feebog: He had them marked “confidential” and put in storage for 25 years. Unless something changes they should be made public in about 2030 or so, but there are always leaks to campaigns that could make a few more public and copies of all these documents and more were gathered by the DOJ. Copies also exist with Abramoff, his old lobbying firms, clients and a few others.
Jack has the ability to drop a dime on anybody he wishes to and I expect that if Newt ever has a third surge to the top Jack will take him out. There is some bad blood between them over the way Newt treated Jack when Abramoff had his recent difficulties with the law…
kvenlander
I just can’t get over the fact how cheap it is to buy politicians. Not the fact that they are for sale, but don’t they have any self-respect? $10,000? Peanuts.
Check this out, investing in lobbyists can net 22000% (yes, twenty-two thousand percent) profit: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/01/06/144737864/forget-stocks-or-bonds-invest-in-a-lobbyist
nevsky42
More than anything, this post wanted me to go through my Looney Tunes DVDs again. French Rarebit’s a good one…
WereBear (itouch)
But does Mitt want to drag up Abramoff? Wouldn’t that get him in trouble?Something that would have had it’s own show on Fox if a Democratic scandal got buried fast.
Jennifer
Sorry to go OT but just wanted to say the site has been loading flawlessly for me since I weighed in on the rebuild thread – so if it was you, Comrade Mary, who fixed it, thank you! And if it wasn’t you, thanks to whoever did.
Back on topic…I did a post once where I offered Sarah Palin a “Mama Grizzly” mascot – well, actually, I offered it to Bill Kristol for Sarah Palin. Of course it was Pedobear, but it was worth a try. Imagine the lulz if it had worked.
Suffern ACE
For all that showy piety, he doesn’t appear to be a very honest man.
Soonergrunt
I don’t think that will really work for Romney for the GOP primaries. Taking away people’s rights and exploiting them is a feature, not a bug in today’s GOP. It’s who they are.
gex
@Citizen_X: Because they are all about fiscal issues. They are not culture warriors at all. No siree.
ShadeTail
@Suffern ACE:
He’s a republican.
gex
@Suffern ACE: Bible says nothing about campaign fund raising. So he’s cool.
Spaghetti Lee
@efgoldman:
Duck Amuck?
Feebog
Dennis:
Thanks, now if some rising young intern with access to the congressional storage bin happens to be reading this blog…
Tara the Antisocial Social Worker
Funny how the “morality” police who are so concerned about everyone’s sex lives never show any interest about the immoral, cruel treatment of human beings.
Jennifer
@efgoldman: “Oh Bwunhiwda, youw so wuvwy…”
“…yes I know it, I can’t help it…”
“…oh Bwunhiwda, be my wuvvvvvv….”
eemom
ok, I am raising this here just because it is too fucking weird and I need help dealing with it.
I remembered hearing before that Santorum, when he was a Senator, got high marks from animal rights orgs. I did a little googling just now and evidently it’s true. He also sponsored something called the Pets Animal Welfare Act (PAWS) that targeted puppy mills.
The teatards only recently used Santorum’s support for “leftist animal rights organizations” against him.
WTF??
Dennis G.
@Feebog: Your lips to the FSM’s ears…
Jennifer
@Tara the Antisocial Social Worker: Slavery is a GOP family value. Always has been; always will be.
rikyrah
this post cracked me up.
while what little Ricky did would offend you and me, it’s music to the ears of the GOP base.
Spaghetti Lee
@eemom:
Against my better judgment, I clicked on the link.
These are some of the political cartoons I drew at the time. Additional artworks may be seen at my website http://www.nickvanduren.com.
I’m getting out my wallet as we speak!
Liberty60
I wonder if we googled “Rick Santorum, forced abortions”…
Dr. Squid
@Yutsano: Actually it sounds worse. Foreigners donated to Santorum and had Santorum do their bidding, including allowing forced abortions?
Even the hardest core people who live to piss off liberals can’t wriggle out of that.
Rathskeller
@efgoldman: This is one problem with being a high-information voter. I first read about the forced abortions in those sweatshops in a book by Al Franken over ten years ago, and I’m still pissed about it. I had hoped for national revulsion, instead of the page B43 snoozefest it engendered. But fucking Rick fucking Santorum gets to act holier-than-thou against the whole United States, when in reality he doesn’t meet the moral requirements needed to be a hot dog vendor. I am reminded of the line from Hannah & Her Sisters: “If Jesus came back and saw what’s going on in his name, he’d never stop throwing up.”
Jay C
Much as I hate to throw cold water on all the Rick-raking going on, while I quite agree that some (probably most) of Santorum’s past associations are pretty skeevy, I’m not sure that they are going to make good campaign fodder:
1) Jack Abramoff is yesterday’s news: sleazy as he was, I don’t think the connections are quite the “hot” item that is going to make the media, or the GOP primary base, take much notice.
2) The Saipan Sweatshop Zone is, if anything, the day-before-yesterday’s news: scandalous as the conditions were (are?), and for all the exposure it got, it never had any traction as an issue outside of a few blogs, AFAIK.
3) Sad to say, I think the commenters who have opined that the average GOP electorate couldn’t care less about what happens to a bunch of foreign garment workers on a remote Pacific island are correct; abortions notwithstanding.
some guy
the Fritz Freleng Tweety’s are an underappreciated set of masterpieces, too. tweety, sylvester, and that mutt.
rewatching them now with little dude, and despite the catch phrase I find myself enjoying them immensely.
Suffern ACE
@eemom: Hmmmm. I have no idea what PAWS act did, but the fact that the author of that rant didn’t mention what it did except “infringe on the rights of every dog owner” leads me to believe that it might have been something beneficial. Beyond helping the the “shelter racket” in their socialistic Alinsky takeover of the country.
WereBear (itouch)
@Dr. Squid: Yes, except if it’s bad enough; they won’t believe you.
Suffern ACE
@eemom: Hmmmm. I have no idea what PAWS act did, but the fact that the author of that rant didn’t mention what it did except “infringe on the rights of every dog owner” leads me to believe that it might have been something beneficial. Beyond helping the the “shelter racket” in their social-i-s-tic Alinsky takeover of the country.
some guy
@Jay C:
Senator Rick Santorum took lobbyist money to make sure Chinese sweatshop owners could force their employees to have abortions.
full stop
Dennis G.
@efgoldman: and don’t forget the music of Carl Stalling. The WB cartoons were held together by his compositions…
xian
@eemom: re
Sure, he was especially concerned with preventing dogs from being seduced by men.
jayboat
All kinds of win in this one, Dengre.
We can only hope that someone on Mitt’s team is reading. You’ve done the heavy lifting for them.
Geez, that santorum is some slimy shit.
some guy
@Dennis G.:
Stalling AND Blanc
some guy
@efgoldman:
OK, but the people who are inclined to vote for him in GOBP primaries won’t believe it:
which is why G-d created SupePACs
Dennis G.
@some guy: Word!
Like Lennon and McCartney they change the world…
Comrade Mary
@Jennifer: Oh, God, I didn’t fix it! I’m just tracking suggestions for John. Good to hear it’s loading properly for you!
Chris
@Dr. Squid:
Well, when asked about China’s forced abortion policies (incredibly, the dudes manage to be anti-choice AND anti-life), Pat Robertson shrugged it off by saying that they were just doing what they had to do and he didn’t think we Americans could judge. So clearly SOME Hardest Core People Who Live To Piss Off Liberals are okay with the “forced abortion” part.
As for the “doing foreigners’ bidding,” well, doesn’t seem to bother them much when the foreigners in question are Bibi Netanyahu or Benny “Palpatine” XVI.
MikeJ
@efgoldman:
Si
Si
Sy
some guy
we are watching the Showcase Edition dvds right now, MUST get my son addicted to the Chuck Jones bugs and daffy soon, but really liking the way Stalling uses an oboe to set up Sylvester’s shotgun blast to the face
burnspbesq
@Dennis G.:
Which FOIA exemption is that? Somebody needs to submit a request.
xian
@jayboat: maybe veritas can win a ride in the dog-carrier for reporting this up to his master.
MikeJ
@MikeJ: To reply to myself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gy1ztCTrBEU
The prophet Nostradumbass
@efgoldman: The toon is called “Hare Brush”.
“My name is Elmer J Fudd, Millionaire. I own a mansion and a yacht.”
MacKenna
Please don’t help Mitt. Let Santorum become the nominee and then pass the info to Obama. (Because Santorum is screaming insanity and he doesn’t stand a snowball’s chance of hell of competing with Obama).
Mitt on the other hand, does. And though he is not Santorum awful, he’s still bottom of the barrel hideous. He would still turn the Whitehouse into Bain Capital, impoverish the nation, and nuke Iran. Please, Mitt Romney must never be the nominee.
burnspbesq
@efgoldman:
Blasphemer! It’s Duck Amuck!
Hill Dweller
As was pointed out earlier in the thread, McCain put that stuff on lock down for a quarter century, but not before leveraging it for Norquist’s support for his Presidential run.
If the rumors are true, that report would take down McCain Newt, Ralph Reed, Norquist, and some former and current members of Congress, from both sides of the aisle. A lot of people have good reason to keep that stuff under wraps, which means it won’t see the light of day.
MikeJ
@The prophet Nostradumbass: Is that Elmer Fudd in Slackers?
Dr. Squid
@WereBear (itouch): That depends on who it comes from – they’ll believe anyone who shoves his nose in a shitbucket and crows about how wonderfully conservative he is.
Mark S.
@eemom:
Jeez, that was the rantings of an insane man. His drawings are pretty disturbing as well. I have no idea what the hell this one is trying to say. Did Uncle Sam just rape a dog?
Suffern ACE
@efgoldman: The answer to everything is “yes, resoundingly” is a feature not a bug of the brain. Usually we don’t notice that, until something kind of matters, or someone points it out to us.
MikeJ
Should all of the Seattle area juicers go to Tacoma tomorrow to hold up sign about Santorum and forced abortions?
some guy
@efgoldman:
Hare Brush. 1955
Churchlady
@Yutsano: Except that human trafficking has become an issue with even Evangelicals. Not saying the Dominionist crowd would care – they are already part of this exploitation, thank you – but the base is working to end trafficking, and certainly seeing your “moral center” turning a blind eye to forced abortions will give them pause. There is a HUGE difference between the rank and file Evangelical/Pentecostals and the Dominionists who think everything bad is your own fault for not being Christian enough. This could do Santorum major damage with that base. The biggest problem? Romney would not see what’s wrong with it all. He could never state these problems in a convincing way because HE does not care. Nor would Newt nor Paul. All in a day’s work making women sex slaves – and I’m not being snotty about Newt’s own life but simply observing that for radical free marketers, women, espeically foreign women, are merely commodities, so yeah = who cares. But the base might flinch. Worth a shot, IMHO.
The prophet Nostradumbass
@Mark S.: They remind me of the “editorial cartoons” in The Onion, really.
Churchlady
@MikeJ: Yes!!!!
You cannot trust Romney to “out” this since Bain capital might well have had investments there. So go for it! Thank you!
Citizen Alan
@Jennifer:
Well, not always. Long, long ago, they took rather a firm stance against it. Then, sometime around 1880, they began reconsidering.
Churchlady
@xian: LOL!!!! What scares me is I believe you!
some guy
@The prophet Nostradumbass:
In the climax, Bugs is about to capture Elmer (“No wabbit’s gonna outsmawt Ewmew J. Fudd!”) when a government agent (dressed in film noir G-man attire) taps Bugs on the shoulder, asking, “Pardon me, did you say you were Elmer J. Fudd?” Bugs replies with the phrase that turned him into Elmer. “Yes, I am Ewmew J. Fudd, miwwionaiwe. I own a mansion and a yacht.” Bugs is then arrested for Elmer’s non-payment of $300,000 (equal to $2,460,599 today) in back taxes, and tries in vain to explain himself, protesting, “I’m hunting a scwewy wabbit!” This time, the last line of the episode belongs to Elmer: “I may be a scwewy wabbit, but I’m not going to Alcatwaz!”, as he jauntily does the bunny hop into the distance.
Omnes Omnibus
@Jennifer: A right wing value perhaps, but not a GOP one. Let’s try to stay factual, shall we? Abraham Lincoln? The Civil War? yes?
Dennis G.
@burnspbesq: The Senate is exempt from FOIA, which is only for the Executive branch…
gibsojj
Duck Amuck?
Go back to lying your ass off about legel matters burnsfraud
some guy
@efgoldman:
was the Orson Welles Cinema before your time?
was there for the 1st, 2nd, and 4th 24-Hour Sci-Fi Marathons. free champagne if your ticket was punched.
they just don’t make Mass Avenue cinemas in Cambridge like they used to. the balcony of the original Harvard Square Theatre, now there’s a makeout spot. secret backstage exit to the ice cream shoppe on Brattle Street, secret entrance from Brigham’s cellar. they just don’t make cinemas like that anymore
Omnes Omnibus
Credit Chuck Jones as well. Even the most mediocre of the the Bugs/Daffy/Tweety/etc. cartoons are fecking brilliant.
MikeJ
@some guy: I saw Liquid Sky at the Orson Welles and Stop Making Sense at the Harvard Square Theater both for my first time.
Did you hang out at the Channel? The Rat?
Nancy Irving
I’ve always wondered about the (real, non-Savage) meaning of Santorum’s name. If it’s a variant of Santori, Santoro etc., then it means either a very pious person, OR someone who sells religious tchotchkes to pilgrims outside churches.
IOW, someone who is either genuinely religious, or someone who is making money off religion.
Seems to fit.
burnspbesq
@gibsojj:
Aaaahhhh, shaddap!
Also too, you’re desthpicable.
some guy
@efgoldman:
those are out on disc now.
grasshopper crack humbly accepted
Scott
@efgoldman:
Right up there, but as a musician I am still amazed at Mel Blanc, in two different voices, singing Wagner’s music (with different words, of course).
Um, no. Blanc voiced most of the Looney Tunes characters, including Bugs. Elmer Fudd, however, was voiced by Arthur Q. Bryan.
Blanc did voice one word of Elmer’s dialogue in “What’s Opera, Doc”: “SMOG!”
Yes, I love and have studied this cartoon. Sorry.
CT Voter
Thanks, Dennis. For pointing out the not so obvious particulars that might be of interest to Rick and Mitt, and some other folks who might find those particulars…interesting and helpful when the general election rolls around.
Jennifer
@Omnes Omnibus: Oh please, don’t tell me you’ve fallen for the “Party of Lincoln” crap. The Republican Party of 1860 is the Democratic Party of today.
Splitting Image
Not arguing that Mel Blanc wasn’t a genius, because he was, but he didn’t do Elmer Fudd’s voice. Elmer was voiced by Arthur Q. Bryan until he died in 1959. Mel did one line for Elmer in “The Scarlet Pumpernickel” and voiced him in the 1970s on some of those specials where they added a few new scenes connecting old cartoons.
Wiki entry for Arthur Q. Bryan
EDIT: I see Scott beat me to it. :o)
Scott
@efgoldman:
Well, Blanc was essentially the public face of the cartoon creators for decades. More people knew his name than knew Chuck Jones, Bob McKimson, or Friz Freleng. The only reason I know Bryan’s name is because I was obsessed with Warner Bros. cartoons for years.
EDIT: My fave voice actor is June Foray, who voiced Granny, Witch Hazel, Rocky J. Squirrel, Talky Tina, and scores of others. She’s still alive and still working as a voice actor in animation.
Omnes Omnibus
@Jennifer: I am fully aware of it. I am just saying that, factually, in 1860, the Republicans were the good guys. The fact that the the Republican Party of today has no connection other than its name with that Republican Party is immaterial.
Nutella
@Suffern ACE:
Heh. HAHAHAHahahahahaha. (wheeze)
That’s what Opus Dei plus Republicanism adds up to.
David Koch
Shhhhhhhhhhh!
Citizen_X
So, 27%, then.
Jim in Chicago
From the Wiki entry on Fudd:
Chuck Butcher
@Jay C:
um yep, Ralph bagboy Reed is back on my goddam TV acting as though he has a shred of morality after his stint with Jack and the C*sinos game.
Chuck Butcher
@Jay C:
) Jack Abramoff is yesterday’s news
um yep, Ralph bagboy Reed is back on my goddam TV acting as though he has a shred of morality after his stint with Jack and the C*sinos game.
fucking WP
Comrade Nimrod Humperdink
@Jennifer:
“Norf wind bwow! Souf wind bwow! Typhoon! Huwwicane! Earfquake! SMOG!”
nota bene
See also: 2004, John Kerry, BCCI
Maybe we’ll get lucky and someone from Anonymous will find the McCain/Abramoff stuff and expose it.
Viva BrisVegas
@Jim in Chicago: My understanding is that the producers were loathe to give anyone a voice credit on Looney Tunes and that Mel Blanc only got one in lieu of a raise.
WereBear
NOT that this isn’t important information that I am going to be bringing up constantly. I just know the reaction I’ll get on Facebook. Doesn’t matter.
And there is no “best cartoon,” because when you reach the dizzying heights of such artistry, paring off any part to isolate it is the true blasphemy.
There’s just too many.
Horrendo Slapp (formerly Jimperson Zibb, Duncan Dönitz, Otto Graf von Pfmidtnöchtler-Pízsmőgy, Mumphrey, et al.)
Jeez, don’t be making a big deal about this now. Wait until Santorum is the Republican nominee (and I pray he is), and then start blasting the news around.
Hillary Rettig
MOAR BUGZ PLZ
exlitigator
If only they had forced the abortion of little white babies there would be a scandal. Babies from Saipan… meh.
BroD
In any case, I definitely want McConnell to be the GOP spox on this issue. Who better to scare women into birth control. Indeed a widely distributed MM poster would probably lower the birthrate for decades.
ThresherK
Yeah, I’m late–tending to a sick wife.
That said: One Froggy Evening? Any of the “Sport Goofy” set? I distinctly remember skiing, football, and (worth it for the title alone) Hockey Homicide.
Or, guaranteed to warp a 10-year-old’s sense of humor–and everything–forever: Chow Hound. “Don’t forget the gravy!”