Category: Propaganda

Posted on

CMR’s Worldview?

Dear Group,

“I think he’s a great President because he moved the embassy to Jerusalem.” That is the answer I got from friend and former neighbor whom I asked the reason she voted for and continues to support Donald Trump. 

“So why is that important to you?” I asked.

“Well, I’m a strong believer that the Bible is the word of God.”

“Where in the Bible does it say the U.S. Embassy needs to move to Jerusalem? I was brought up United Methodist,” I asked. “I’ve read the Bible twice and the Books of Revelation and Daniel several more times and I do not recall anything about the U.S. Embassy. Can you point me to the part of the Bible that suggests the importance of location of the U.S. Embassy in Israel?” 

She could not. Instead, she kindly forwarded to me a nicely presented trifold pamphlet entitled “The Revelation Prophecy Chart” from Turning Point Ministries, a radio and television ministry based at the Shadow Mountain Community Church, a Southern Baptist megachurch in El Cajon, a suburb of San Diego, California

The brochure, written by Dr. David Jeremiah, the senior pastor at Shadow Mountain, laid out for me in great detail Dr. Jeremiah’s learned analysis of how the world will end based on the word of God as revealed to him in the book of Revelation, the last book in the Bible. The pamphlet starts with “The Rapture,” runs through “The End of False Religion,” Armageddon, and the “Collapse of the ‘World Market’,” This leads to the Second Coming of Christ and moves on to the “1000 year reign of Jesus Christ, a period of peace and righteousness [that will] last for a millennium.” In the minds of many, including my friend, moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem is a necessary pre-requisite to the fulfillment of this prophecy. To many in this subgroup of Christianity the embassy move is an obvious sign Donald Trump is guided by Divine Providence, regardless of any moral failing he might otherwise exhibit.

This is not the Christianity in which I was brought up. We read the Bible for ourselves and wrestled with its words to find guidance for our lives. I personally strove to understand the Bible in its historical context, to compare its teachings and words with other sacred texts, to reconcile the Bible with my growing understanding of the world and all its complexity. To be sure, I found (and find) the Book of Revelation interesting, even intriguing, but the idea of staking my worldview on the meticulously detailed  interpretation of Revelation by Dr. David Jeremiah really worries me. Ringing in my ears are exhortations in the Bible against following “false prophets.”

How prevalent is this worldview that Donald Trump is the fulfillment of an end times prophecy? More than you might think, I’m afraid. It turns out that Dr. David Jeremiah, as the senior pastor at Shadow Mountain, is the successor of Tim LaHaye (1926-2016). Recognize that name? You might. Tim LaHaye wrote the “Left Behind” series of books between 1995 and 2007. According to  Time the series sold more than 42 million copies, not including spin-offs. Jerry Falwell described the effect of the series:  “In terms of its impact on Christianity,” says Falwell, “it’s probably greater than that of any other book in modern times, outside the Bible.” The book started with The Rapture as a premise and carried on from there, that is, the books are works of future fiction based on Tim LaHaye’s interpretation of the Christian end times. What better way to capture the people’s imagination in the midst of all the millennial craziness?

Below read words of our Representative to Congress as quoted in an article in The Inlander (that I highly recommend). Remember that McMorris Rodgers received her undergraduate degree from the Pensacola Christian College, an independent Baptist institution unaccredited at the time. Among its Articles of Faith one finds: “We believe in the imminent, pre-Tribulation return of Jesus Christ for all believers. The Rapture of the saints will be followed by a seven-year Tribulation, after which Christ will return in glory to judge the world and set up His millennial reign on earth.” In light of her upbringing and my friend’s enthusiasm for the teachings of Dr. Jeremiah, I find McMorris Rodgers’ words a little jarring:

“President Trump has defended Christianity. He has defended religious freedom more than any other president,” McMorris Rodgers says. “He made the decision to move the embassy to Jerusalem.”  

I’ve asked many friends over the last few weeks what significance they attach to the embassy move. Very few made any connection with Christian end times prophecy. A few even naively asked, “Is your friend Jewish?” In citing the embassy moving to Jerusalem is McMorris Rodgers speaking from a worldview like that of my friend?  When she remarks that her “positive disruptor,” Donald Trump, “...made the decision to move the embassy to Jerusalem” is she lighting up a similar worldview in the minds of some of her listeners, a worldview of which many of her constituents, Christian or not, have little awareness? Is her viewpoint on national policy nurtured by her confidence in Christian end times prophecy? 

“He has defended religious freedom more than any other president,” Really? Weren’t you free, Ms. McMorris Rodgers, to practice your particular brand of Christianity before Donald Trump? Do you suppose Muslims, Sikhs, and followers of other religious traditions in these United States feel like their religious freedom is defended by your “positive disruptor?” 

from their radio and television pulpits to broad audiences, including my friend, people who believe Dr. David Jeremiah, for example, offers them the one true interpretation of God’s Word. .

Then remember that the current U.S. Congressional District 5 Representative believes her Christian faith and worldview are defended by Donald Trump and his shift of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. 

Keep to the high ground,

Jerry

P.S. I urge you to take a short internet safari into the world of Christian end times prophecy. Listen to Dr. Jeremiah rail against the “New World Order” (as exemplified by the United Nations). Or listen to Dr. Jeremiah explain how the very existence of Israel at this time is proof the end times are near.

Posted on

CMR and the Spokane GOP’s Fox News Bubble

Click here to watch Ms. Borelli in action. 

Dear Group,

The choice of featured speakers at the June 2nd Spokane County GOP Lincoln Day Dinner & Fundraiser reveals something I find very disquieting about the local Spokane GOP. When the GOP picks two talking heads from one pervasive “news” network, it might say something about where the Party faithful get their “news” and what “news” the Party is comfortable with. In this case both talking heads, Jason Chaffetz and Deneen Borelli, are “contributors” to Fox News. 

I discussed Jason Chaffetz, former Republican Representative to Congress from Utah, in an earlier post. For me, he will forever be linked to his asinine comment about personal responsibility, forgoing the “latest version of the iPhone,” and being able to buy health insurance.

Today I want to encourage you to spend a few moments watching Deneen Borelli as an example of the sort of thing she preaches and what the local Spokane GOP seems inclined to listen to and, apparently, to accept as truth. If you have not done so already, click here to watch her diatribe on the “Deep State.” This was posted by the Spokane County GOP as an example of Borelli “getting it right” as an ad for their Lincoln Day Dinner on their Facebook page on May 24th at 12:11AM. (Once you’re at the page, scroll down to that date.) 

It turns out that Ms. Borelli is a “network contributor” for Fox while her main presence is on “Conservative Review” TV (CRTV) in her own program entitled “Here’s the Deal.” A short listen suggests to me that Ms. Borelli’s polemic lies somewhere to the right of Rush Limbaugh’s. I imagine the faithful might bathe in this swamp for hours having their worst biases echoed and amplified.

If you, like I, have been tempted to wonder if the most rabid of people you used to think of as your Republican friends inhabit an entirely different planet, listening to Ms. Borelli for a while will help you understand why you feel that way. That Chaffetz and Borelli were chosen by the leadership of the Spokane GOP to speak as representative of the current Republican Party leaves me feeling sad, angry, and frightened for the future of our country. That the woman who poses as representing Eastern Washington in Congress, McMorris Rodgers, could listen to this and then step up to the same podium with her signature smile makes me queasy.

I dread to think the average Eastern Washington voter could listen to, follow, and accept as truth what was uttered in the not-so-smoke-filled room at the Lincoln Day Dinner. In fact, I have Republican friends who, when I mention the assault rifle auction at the dinner, are appalled. My hope is they would also be appalled by the propaganda served there. If not, this country is in for a wild ride.

To end I offer a glimmer of hope. Lt. Col. Ralph Peters, a retired military and a traditional conservative, left Fox News in fear and disgust. I quote from last Monday’s The Weekly Sift:

“Here’s an unforgettable exchange from Wednesday’s Anderson Cooper 360:

Former Fox News military analyst Lt. Colonel Ralph Peters (retired): As a former military officer of the United States, I took an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. And I saw, in my view, Fox — particularly their prime time hosts — attacking our constitutional order, the rule of law, the Justice Department, the FBI, Robert Mueller, and (oh, by the way) the intelligence agencies. And they’re doing it for ratings and profit, and they’re doing it knowingly — in my view, doing a grave, grave disservice to our country.

Anderson Cooper: Do you think, some of the hosts in prime time, do they believe the stuff they’re saying about the Deep State, what they’re saying about the Department of Justice, about the FBI?

Lt. Colonel Peters: I suspect Sean Hannity really believes it. The others are smarter. They know what they’re doing.”

Keep to the high ground,

Jerry

Former Fox News Analyst Lt. Col. Ralph Peters Calls Network a ‘Destructive Propaganda Machine’  

Posted on

Which McMorris Rodgers?

Dear Group,

We return briefly to McMorris Rodgers’ two and a half page snail mail letter dated May 4, 2018 sent to most of her constituents in Congressional District 5. We discussed its divisive message on Tuesday.

Nearly half of the print on the first page of that letter is a dramatic endorsement of “Cathy…and the rest of her very helpful staff” for solving a vexing problem. The Social Security Disability payments for a constituent’s wife had ceased. McMorris Rodgers’ staff interceded with with Social Security bureaucracy to get the payments started again. It is a heartwarming story. But let’s put that in perspective: Such aid to constituents is an important part of the responsibility attached to the “Members Representational Allowance” of 1.3 million taxpayer dollars paid to the CD5 office holder. McMorris Rodgers’ staff are gracious and diligent in offering such aid. That’s what we pay them to do. Let’s thank them, but let’s also realize gracious help was offered constituents when Tom Foley was in office and will be next year when Lisa Brown represents us. It’s part of the job.

McMorris Rodgers’ heartwarming anecdote of assistance reminded me of the deference in which we are trained to hold elected Representatives, especially those who are supposed to represent us in faraway Washington, D.C. One hears that deference in the voices of mostly older folks in McMorris Rodgers’ flash telephone town halls. Many of the questions posed by her supporters are almost fawning, reminiscent of the relationship between child and parent, serf and lord. Often the tone is “you know so much more than I do” or “you’ve done so much to fix my problem with ______” (insert Social Security, the Veterans Administration, Medicare…) or “thank you for protecting this or that program.” Often this comes along with “Keep up the good work.”

Observe the disconnect. McMorris Rodgers has a local public face she projects through the fresh-faced, impeccably polite and helpful staff she has hired for her three CD5 offices using the “Members Representational Allowance.” When I first started visiting McMorris Rodgers’ offices after the Trump election, this staff, often interns, recent graduates, struck me as trying hard to be helpful, flawlessly polite and earnest….and remarkably clueless of the goings on in D.C. A question from me about Congressional procedure sent them to the internet to research sources I had already read. 

Their is a different face of McMorris Rodgers. It is the one she presents to the Republican faithful, the face she puts forward at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). There she granted an interview with a reporter from Breitbart where she unguardedly expressed her “excitement” about the “momentum” of the Republican agenda that rammed through the tax giveaway to corporations and the already wealthy (Tax Cuts and Jobs Act), the repeal of the Individual Mandate (a hot poker shoved in the eye of universal health insurance under the ACA), and, perhaps best of all, the opening up of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration and drilling. (For more analysis and the voice recording itself click here). 

On the one hand we have the helpful eastern Washington McMorris Rodgers projected through the diligence of her local staff and touted in her constituent letter. On the other we have the excited Washington, D.C. McMorris Rodgers who revels in kicking 23 million Americans off of health insurance, who speaks in excited terms of ripping open one of the last pristine places in the Arctic for the benefit of her and her Party’s corporate sponsors in the oil industry, the McMorris Rodgers who absolutely refuses to discuss the fiscal irresponsibility of her Tax Law, the McMorris Rodgers who says she wants to “reform” “entitlements” now that she has richly rewarded her wealthy sponsors at the expense of the national debt.

It is time the voters of eastern Washington realize there are two McMorris Rodgerses, the eastern Washington McMorris Rodgers who giveth to the wealthy and the D.C. McMorris Rodgers who taketh away from the support, the personal financial security, and the natural heritage of everyone else.

Keep to the high ground,

Jerry
Posted on

CMR’s Message of Division

Dear Group,

Most of you received a copy of McMorris Rodgers’ 2 sheet, 2 1/2 page snail mail letter dated May 4, 2018. Carefully read it is a remarkable document of Republican/Libertarian messaging brought to you courtesy of your own tax dollars.

It starts with, “My mission is to restore trust and confidence in representative government and the rule of law.” Clearly, that can mean whatever the reader wants it to mean. Note the use of the word “restore.” The underlying message is that government has lost the trust of the people, the Fox News listeners, whom it is supposed to serve. You don’t restore something that isn’t broken. 

She leaps right into “Fighting for Seniors in Eastern Washington.” About half of the first page is a short story of McMorris Rodgers’ office helping out a Senior whose Social Security payments stopped coming. She writes, “I know that working through red tape and bureaucracy can be stressful and can feel like you’re getting the run-around…” The message was essentially “I can help you with the horrible red tape and bureaucracy that characterizes our federal government.” She poses herself as fighting the government for her constituents benefit. What a puzzling message about government for a Representative serving in Congress. 

The second page starts with “Protecting Social Security and Medicare.” Under that heading she leaps into the “sweeping ‘reform’ of the tax code” and tells her stock anecdotes of the benefits of the Republican tax law to the middle class, carefully avoiding, as she always does, the 80 percent of the Republican tax law proceeds that accrue to the benefit of corporations and the already wealthy. She is saying, “Look at the crumbs we threw your way! Don’t look at the whole package. You wouldn’t understand.” 

She tips her hat to “affordable and accessible health care.” Of course, she voted for the American Health Care Act (AHCA) which would have removed 23 million people from the health insurance rolls. Instead, she touts “transparency” and “competition” to make drugs more affordable. 

Near the end of the letter she takes one last jab, “Our budget process is badly broken…” She and her colleagues are bringing “commonsense reforms.”

Apparently, McMorris Rodgers and her Republican/Libertarian colleagues didn’t get the memo telling them they are actually in control of all three branches of the federal government. Since the 1990s the Republican/Libertarian propaganda outlets (Fox News was founded in the mid-1990s) and the Republican Party in general have been stoking anger and mistrust of the government of which they are a part, a government they now control. For the Republican Party there is no longer any “We” that encompasses government. There is no “We the People” who have gotten together to form a more perfect Union. Instead, it is “Us” against the evils of government. “I’ll do battle for you.” “I will fix this cursed thing.”

There is nothing quite like anger and distrust to unite followers to a cause. McMorris Rodgers is careful not to sound too shrill for eastern Washington, but her underlying message is the same as conservative talk radio. It is a message of conflict, mistrust, anger and disparagement—a message of division that runs counter to her frequent mouthing of the word “bipartisan.” Such divisiveness would have been utterly foreign to a statesman like Tom Foley. It is a message we should reject. Let’s put Lisa Brown in this office, a Representative who can work with, not against. 

Keep to the high ground,

Jerry
Posted on

Drip, Drip, Drip–The Changing of Minds

Dear Group, 

A few weeks ago I received a Facebook message from a high school classmate. He is the Pastor of Crossroads Church somewhere in Indiana. He’s a nice guy. He means well. He offered me a link to a 2 minute video originating on a Facebook site called “Uplift Post.” I’ve transcribed the presented text below:

Here’s something you may not know about Denzel Washington. Remember this the next time you walk up to the ticket window of your movie theater with $10 in your hand. The media (accidentally?) missed this one. The troops overseas would like you to tell everybody you know. Subject: Denzel Washington and Brooks Army Medical Center. Don’t know whether you heard about this but Denzel Washington and his family visited the troops at Brooks Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, the other day. This is where soldiers who have been evacuated from Germany come to be hospitalized in the United States, especially burn victims. The Fisher House is a Hotel where soldier’s families can stay for little or no charge while their soldier is staying in the Hospital. BAMC has quite a few of these houses on base, but as you can imagine, they are almost filled most of the time. While Denzel Washington was visiting BAMC, they gave him a tour of one of the Fisher Houses. He asked how much one of them would cost to build. Days later Fisher Houses received a huge donation for an undisclosed amount from Denzel Washington. The soldiers overseas were amazed to hear this story and want to get the word out to the American public because it warmed their hearts to hear it. The question is do: Beyonce, Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, Tom Cruise, the Kardashians and other Hollywood fluff make front page news with their ridiculous antics and Denzel Washington’s Patriotism doesn’t even make page 3 in the Metro section of the any newspaper except the local newspaper in San Antonio. A true American and a friend to all in uniform. This needs as wide a distribution as we can create. Please share it.

Step back for a moment and consider what you just read. The hook, the vehicle, is a heartwarming parable of generosity woven around a beloved actor and his family visiting injured soldiers and their families and offering monetary assistance. You want to share this message of Good News, don’t you?

But that’s just the vehicle for an Us v. Them message. The propagandist has activated and re-enforced pre-constructed mental frames of sympathy for soldiers, veterans, and Patriots; anger toward the media in general; and suspicion and distrust of Hollywood (excepting Mr. Washington). This modified story is a message of division riding piggyback on a mostly factual story everyone tends to unquestioningly accept. 

Warm fuzzy stories with nasty, divisive subtexts have been circulating by email since long before Facebook and Cambridge Analytica weaponized such messages. How many of you have read an email forward like this one from an otherwise benign friend and email correspondent? How many times have you quietly reacted to yourself, “Yuck. Where did that come from? Who was paid to write that?” How many times have you not written back to your friend, the forwarder, to ask them if they caught the subtext? Would they have told you the story with subtext included if you’d been talking face-to-face? 

Here’s the unsettling thing: When I wrote back as blandly as I could to my high school classmate, the well-meaning Pastor of a church in Indiana. He responded, “Sorry I bothered you sir. I sent this because I had read it before and feel like he needed the recognition! I just wanted to pass this along to people who were not aware of that deed. Will not bother you again.” In my mind’s eye I saw him turn and disappear down his rabbit hole into the warren of his congregation where he could comfortably read such emails, pass them along to his parishioners, and not be bothered to consider the subtext or research the details of the real story. A visit to his current Facebook page is an unsettling experience.

My pastor friend is one reason I canvass here locally, knocking on doors, listening, interacting face-to-face, making it clear I share the angst people often express, making it clear the local Democrats are real people, their neighbors, people who, like they, feel the need to change the hateful, divisive direction our country seems headed.

Attend a canvass training, get out and meet people, show your face and your concern. You don’t need an answer to every (or any) political question. You just need to listen, be nice, be friendly. Contrary to what you’d think from the news, your fellow citizens are by far and away decent people. They do not bite. Having knocked on around a hundred doors, I have yet to encounter a nasty person. When I do, I’ll remember their nastiness is not about me, it’s about them…and it is not my task to engage their nastiness or fix their attitude. “Have a nice evening. Thanks for your time.” goes a long way.

Keep to the high ground,

Jerry

P.S. It turns out the real underlying story around Denzel Washington’s visit dates from 2004. You can read about it’s evolution to its current use here at Snopes.

[if mso]> </td> <![endif] [if mso]> </tr> </table> <![endif]

[if mso]> <table align=”left” border=”0″ cellspacing=”0″ cellpadding=”0″ width=”100%” style=”width:100%;”> <tr> <![endif] [if mso]> <td valign=”top” width=”600″ style=”width:600px;”> <![endif]

Posted on

CMR–Who is she really?

Dear Group,

So who is Cathy McMorris Rodgers really? What is her background? Well, here it is. It speaks volumes. 

Most of what follows is based on her Wikipedia article and an article on her life that appeared in the Spokesman in 2004. Cathy McMorris was born May 22, 1969 in Salem, Oregon. In 1974 when Cathy was five her parents and young brother moved to an off-grid farm in Hazleton (pop. 305), British Columbia, not far from Alaska. She was taught in a two-room schoolhouse. Just seven years later when Cathy was twelve they moved again, this time to Quesnel, B.C. (pop. 10,000) 350 miles SE, so her father could take a job as the principal of a private Christian school. That lasted three years. 

Cathy was a fifteen year old high school junior in 1984 when they moved to an orchard near Kettle Falls where she worked at the family’s fruit stand. Cathy and her brother attended the Columbia River Christian Academy, a school established in 1973 by people looking for a way to school their children in their brand of Christian worldview. Her father taught the younger grades at the same school. He served as chairman of the Stevens County Republican Party. They attended a “non-denominational evangelical Christian church”. 

Ms McMorris went off to the “Pensacola Christian College” in Florida. The wikipedia article notes that at the time she attended the College it was not accredited. It is identified as an “Independent Baptist liberal arts college.” The Independent Baptist churches are also referred to as Independent Fundamental Baptist or IFB. A Pew Research Center 2014 survey found that members of Independent Baptist churches comprised a mere 2.5% of the adult U.S. population. The Pensacola Christian College was finally accredited in 2013 by the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools. Ms. McMorris graduated in 1990 with a degree identified as Pre-law.

I invite you to the Wikipedia article on the Pensacola Christian College to comprehend the narrowness of the experience. This is NOT a place where a student is exposed to wide ranging ideas. 

In 1990 Ms McMorris went straight from college to managing the campaign of Bob Morton in his run for the Washington House of Representatives from the 7th Legislative District. When he was elected and then took office in 1991 she became his legislative assistant. When Morton was appointed to the LD7 Senate seat, Ms. McMorris was appointed to fill the LD7 Rep seat that Morton had held. Ms. McMorris was all of twenty five years old at the time. 

During her time in Olympia she pursued an “Executive MBA” from the University of WA starting in 1993 and graduating in 2002. According to Wikipedia: “Executive MBA (EMBA) programs developed to meet the educational needs of managers and executives, allowing students to earn an MBA (or another business-related graduate degree) in two years or less while working full-time.” 

Serving for LD7 she never faced serious opposition for her State Rep seat. George Nethercutt gave McMorris the nod in 2004 when he vacated the U.S. House CD5 seat to run for Senate, a race he lost. She bested Don Barbieri that year for the seat, winning with nearly 60% of the vote. Peter Goldmark in 2006 whittled her down to 56.5%, the lowest percentage with which she has won in a general election. 

I will save her U.S. Congressional career for another column. 

If, as George Layoff points out in “Don’t Think of an Elephant”, people develop frames around issues that cause facts to bounce off, Cathy McMorris Rodgers’ frame, based on her education and upbringing, must be particularly impervious. She has been steeped in Independent Fundamental Baptist Christianity. From a fundamentalist childhood and education she shot directly into politics. There was no pause to examine her place in the world. Her frame provides rigid certainty with no need to consider other points of view. Empathy, the ability to imagine oneself in another’s shoes, is not likely to be her long suit.

It is not my intent to paint Ms. McMorris Rodgers as evil. She does not go to the mirror every morning and ask herself, “What nasty, awful thing should I work on today.” She does, however, go to that mirror with the mind frame of absolute certainty conditioned by the narrowest of narrow religious upbringings, carefully shielded even from broader Christian thought. She goes to that mirror having spent her entire adult life in politics in Olympia or D.C. and with almost no broader life experience. 

We need a Representative with a broader understanding of the world and how it works.

Keep to the high ground,

Jerry

Posted on

Constituent Biopsy by the Washington Policy Center fbo CMR

Dear Group,

“Constituent Briefing” Turned Gauging Meeting, Constituent Biopsy

Yesterday I attended a “constituent briefing” to which I was invited by an email from Cathy McMorris Rodgers’ office.  It was limited to thirty participants.  About fifteen appeared.  Traci Couture, CMR’s head of staff, officiated, but it was really a meeting held by the Washington Policy Center, the Koch donor network funded non-profit “think tank”.  They were represented by Dr. Roger Stark, who did much of the talking, and Chris Cargill, who said not a word but sat dourly in a corner behind his Washington Policy Center stickered computer, probably recording the event.  The second spokesperson was Megan Perez, CMR’s Legislative Director and Healthcare Policy Advisor who has worked “on the hill” for seven years for a variety of Congresspeople.  I heard no mention of Alison White with Better Health Together, although she was advertised in the invitation.

A handout was provided with all the usual Republican talking points about freedom, choice, and the “failed” Affordable Care Act. Dr. Stark and Ms. Perez each made very brief presentations and then the floor was opened to questions and comments. They got the earful I’m sure they were counting on. When Dr. Stark asked for a show of hands of those who were in favor of a single payer system, every hand shot up. We had been carefully chosen…

I left feeling used. I and others suspect this meeting will be used to craft the Republican defense of their abominable AHCA. This was what some describe as a “gauging meeting”. The image I have is of Frank Luntz, the genius of Republican framing and messaging, carefully choosing the right buzzwords to prescribe for the Republican propaganda machine.  

How much Cathy McMorris Rodgers functions as a mouthpiece for the policies of the Koch-funded Washington Policy Center and the mega-wealthy Libertarian Koch donors seemed glaringly obvious. 

Cathy McMorris Rodgers, of course, was nowhere in evidence. We were told she was “meeting with constituents mostly in the southern part of the district”. Clearly, she isn’t holding town halls. Traci gamely encouraged everyone to sign up for a “Coffee with Cathy”. 

Keep to the high ground,

Jerry