MEDIA ROOTS- Michelle Bachmann’s catapult to fame eerily resembles Sarah Palin’s rise to the top during the 2008 election circus. Both Bachmann and Palin are media made sensations whose extreme antics and shocking ignorance of basic civics have only garnered them more attention. One can’t help but wonder if the popularity of such inept candidates has been in part manufactured by the establishment to provide insurance for another Obama victory.

On a panel discussing Michelle Bachmann’s potential presidential run, Chris Matthews strangely admitted that Bachmann was “created here“– in reference to his MSNBC show Hardball. Was he insinuating that he was partly responsible for Bachmann’s recognition and success?

In 2008, Matthews excoriated Bachmann for her suggestion to catalog and investigate ‘dissenters’ in the House of Representatives, then proceeded to give her a platform to speak at length on his show. Bachmann’s empty rhetoric equating liberalism with anti-Americanism became a viral hit online.

Michelle Bachmann on Hardball with Chris Matthews

Later on Real Time with Bill Maher, Matthews repeats himself, adding gleefully that “Bachmann’s going to win the nomination.” Maybe Matthews is smiling because he is hoping for his Frankenstein-esque creation to fall on her own sword, creating an easy victory for Obama. Tricks or so called ‘dirty’ ones have always been a part of the election cycle. Matthews is an influential partisan talking head, who is experienced enough in the media world to know exactly what he’s doing.

In a recent Media Roots Interview, Cindy Sheehan said that Sarah Palin was picked as Mccain’s VP as “insurance” for an Obama victory. Whether or not that’s true, it’s undeniable that a large amount of Americans voted for Obama in 2008 solely because of how terrifying the prospect of a Mccain/Palin presidency was.

It’s a sad state of democracy when people are fear-mongered into voting against their own interests. As long as the media continues to prop up such extremist GOP candidates, people who identify themselves as liberal, green and libertarian will continue to knee jerkily vote for bought-and-paid for establishment candidates that will proceed the policies that have bankrupted and demoralized this nation.

MEDIA ROOTS- There has been a lot of talk during the election frenzy about how “extreme” and ultra right-wing Rick Perry is. Multiple news pundits are insisting that people of liberal persuasion must, no matter what, vote for Obama, simply because of how terrifying the other options may be: Rick Perry, Michelle Bachmann (oddly though never Ron Paul).

What is it about Perry’s history that makes his supposed Republican “extremism” hard to believe? Like other opportunistic politicians before him (Joe Lieberman, Arlen Specter), Perry once ran and won elections as a Democrat. The fact that he used to adhere to Democratic principles early on in his political career makes it hard to believe that he is an extremist of any sort. Instead, it appears more likely that he’s a political tool who has been groomed for the last decade to become a PR pawn for Wall St. and the Presidential office of the US.

Followers of the Bilderberg group might remember that Rick Perry attended the Bilderberg meeting in 2007, which usually signifies picks for presidential hopefuls. The Bilderberg group is an uber elite neo-liberal think-tank that meets annually in different locations worldwide. In previous years, John Kerry and John Edwards both attended Bilderberg not long before Kerry won the primary and Edwards was chosen as his running mate. William Jefferson Clinton also appeared on the attendance roster when he was merely the Governor of Arkansas.

In 2008, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were alleged to have both attended the Bilderberg meeting in Virginia. Right before the meeting took place, there was an infamous incident that involved Obama’s press agent whisking the entire crew of mainline press away on an airplane flight across the country, without telling them that the president had taken a separate flight to meet Clinton “in private” at Diane Feinstein’s summer home. To separate the president from his press corp in such an elusive fashion is completely unprecedented.

In the following article, Alexander Cockburn from Counterpunch makes a compelling case for the political grooming of Rick Perry and details the amazing series of lucky incidents while rising up the political ladder.

Written by Robbie Martin

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COUNTERPUNCH reports:

Inside Texas he’s one of the most successful politicians in the entire history of the state. George Bush lost his first congressional race.  In a lifetime career of ten elections since 1984 Perry has never lost one. He has an acute sense of political timing. His defeated opponents readily attest to Perry’s relentless  self-discipline as a campaigner , skills at raising campaign cash. He already has a huge prospective war chest for his first national foray. They all emphasize the fatal consequences of underestimating him. He has a team of campaign advisors, notably, notably Dave Carney,  whose skills – ruthless in the crunch – have elicited admiration from  professionals across the board. Prior to  Perry the Texas governorship  were a notoriously weak post, with decisive power wielded by the legislature and State Comptroller and state commissioners, Railroad Commission etc. Perry has changed all that across his three stints as  governor, previously contentious posts now inhabited by his compliant appointees.

But above all, Rick Perry is one lucky son of a bitch. Not just once or twice, but at almost every decisive twist fork in the road Fate has given him a benign tap on the shoulder. “Give me lucky generals,” Napoleon once exclaimed. Looking at Perry’s CV he’d have made him Grand Marshall of France  on the spot.

Back at the pre-dawn of Perry’s political career Democrats were still the most powerful political party in Texas, and Perry began as a (an extremely conservative) Democrat. Son of tenant farmers (dryland cotton) in Paint Creek, sixty miles north of Abilene, Perry says he never met a Republican till he was 25.  He was elected first as a Democratic state legislator and in 1988 was the Texas campaign chairman for (the extremely conservative) Democrat Al Gore who ultimately lost in the primaries to Michael Dukakis. Seeing scant future for Democrats in Texas Perry’s  showed his aptitude for timing and shifted to the Republican Party, making straight for its conservative wing.

Read more about Rick Perry, One Lucky SOB here.

Photo by flickr user eschipul