I guess I continue listening to MSNBC as I drive around (on my Sirious XM car radio) because I keep hoping that at some point there will be a journalistic push to actually “tell it like it is.”  Of course, I end up listening to Chris Matthews (I’ve written before about this frustration) and, while I don’t end up (most of the time) shutting it off like I have to do with the right wing “talkers,” the frustration is almost worse because I believe Matthews “knows better.”  People like Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity or, to a lessor degree, people like Lars Larsen are simply “pimping” for the “invisible” (not so much anymore with the “outing” of Charles and David Koch) “puppet masters” who dictate what they are going to say.  Matthews, on the other hand, in my mind is simply more focused on entertainment than real information – thereby playing into the hands of those on the “right” who will spend BILLIONS in 2016 to complete what Karl Rove calls the “permanent republican ‘majority.'”

Most people I know – even if they’re “ditto heads” have some idea of the motivation of Limbaugh and the other right wing “shock jocks.”  The effect of Matthews (and people like him – who are considered on the “left” by many) is much more surreptitious.  For example, today on my way home from whatever I was doing I tuned into “Hardball” – the MSNBC program that Matthews has which is right in prime time in the East.  Of course, the first thing he was ranting about (as he’s often to do) was ISIL and questioning why we can’t simply exterminate them.  (I always get the “hint” he thinks Obama should simply bomb them to “smithereens” as if that would be easy to do) Then, what really set me off today, was the ensuing discussion about the “front runners” for the 2016 republican presidential nomination.  According to Matthews that would be Jeb Bush and Scott Walker.  He may or may not be correct on that “front,” but what caught my attention – and, confirms things I’ve “alleged” about Matthews in the past – was his contention that he wants a “contested” presidential race in 2016.  I take that – and as I listen to him I believe he’ll work toward that end – as him wanting something that brings an audience to his program with little regard to the consequences of what happens to America if Rove’s “dream” comes true.  (I also gathered, by his lack of discussion regarding Walker, that his “pick” to make 2016 a “contest” is Jeb Bush – yikes!)

In the past, I’ve written about how Chuck Todd, another of the political “experts” on NBC/MSNBC, allows himself to be used by politicians – seemingly unknowingly.  In Todd’s case, what made it worse for me was his mega-blunder was a boon for Mitch McConnell.  To me, no one who thinks as a progressive should be doing anything but exposing McConnell for all the reasons he should be “disqualified” to be a U.S. Senator instead of helping him in his re-election bid.  So today, Matthews started talking about Jeb Bush – with, I’ll give him some credit for a few pointed “questions” Bush will face in the upcoming primary season and campaign should “we the people” be subjected to another Bush in the 2016 election, the hint he wants Bush to be the “man.”  What really bothered me was Matthews left me with the impression that he would be looking to find a strategy to present Bush in a way that would make the election “competitive” – because, that’s what “the people want.”

Well, I’ve got news for Mr. Matthews – I believe there is a growing number of Americans who DON’T want to see Rove’s dream come true.  And, even more who don’t want another Bush.  Let me give you a few reasons:  first, the Supreme Court (which deplorably anointed Jeb’s brother president in 2000) is already on a “collision course” with being the WORST court in American history – ie “Citizens United” (the decision which OVERTURNED 100 years of attempts to keep corporate influence out of politics) along with the McCutcheon decision which further opened the “floodgates” to rich people buying politicians (America’s Congress is ALREADY CORRUPT to the CORE) – plus the GUTTING of the 1965 Voting Rights Act (allowing numerous voter suppression antics by republicans seemingly within days of the decision) just to name a few of their decisions TAILORED for the so-called one percent.  Should republicans “finish the job” (that is control of the Courts, the Congress, the Presidency, and the media) – simply from the standpoint of the Supreme Court – the damage will last for at least another generation!

Then, when you take into consideration that the Koch’s have already PUBLICLY announced their intention to spend UPWARDS of a BILLION dollars to buy the next president, all you have to do is look at their “agenda” to get an idea of what to expect if they pull this off.  For starters, Koch Industries has a “track record” as one of the LARGEST POLLUTERS in America.  Instead of “cleaning up their act” their solution to the “problem” is to eliminate the EPA.  If you’re as old as I am you remember that the EPA came into existence during the term of Richard Nixon (one of the main reasons why “conservatives” hated him) and it has helped to “clean up” major portions of America.  Nixon would be a liberal compared to these people!  I still remember, as a child back in the late 1950’s, being driven across country by my parents and driving through a town in Indiana where there were signs next to a river which said “don’t throw burning material into the river, it will catch on fire.”  While we have a long way to go in cleaning up our environment, I believe it can be said we’ve come a long way since those days.  The Kochs want to “turn back the clock” and get rid of the EPA.

The Koch’s (and their supporters) are at the head of the list of “climate change” deniers – and, it won’t take many presidential terms with people following their lead to get us dangerously close to (or past) the “point of no return” in relation to our need to reduce the effect of fossil fuels on our atmosphere.  Read Naomi Klein’s “This Changes Everything” if you need a bit more input on this subject.

Then there is the New Deal – or, I should say, what is still left of it.  The Koch’s, and the people who they are affiliated with, HATE  the New Deal – they’ve been ranting against it since the days of FDR (well, now we’re talking about Charles and David’s Dad – and those who formed the John Birch Society back during the Eisenhower years – they actually referred to Eisenhower as a “communist sympathizer”).  They’ve managed to “chip away” at many of the breakthroughs of the New Deal and winning the White House in 2016 could very well “finish the job.”

These people are so far to the “right” that they managed only one percent of the vote when David Koch ran against Ronald Reagan in the 1980 election. (he ran as the VP candidate on the Libertarian “ticket”)  And, if you’ve been paying attention – their philosophy is that if they are supporting you (ie Senator or Representative in the House) you will vote with their interests EVERY time!  My representative is a young lady (who I pretty much disagree with, but I like and respect) who is a republican and she voted against the “flow” on either 5 or 6 votes (meaning she has a something resembling a conscience) out of over 500 votes and the local GOP is in the process of CENSURING her!  You read that correctly, 5 or 6 votes out of OVER 500 with democrats and she’ll probably get “primaried” in the next election come 2016.  (I was talking to a Christian friend of mine the other day and he looked a bit disbelieving when I mentioned the term fascism in relation to the Kochs and their agenda, but they act like tyrants!)

The Koch forces started off the new legislative session by showing their allegiance to Charles and David for all the money the two brothers have “invested” in our “tea party” run Congress.  This should be a HUGE “wake-up call” to all “progressive” Americans – but, with people like Matthews in position to be the voice – it more than likely “aint gonna happen!”  The republicans started the session by going after Social Security (trust me, they HATE Social Security) – and, they did it in the typical “MEAN SPIRITED” way republicans do things these days – with complete contempt for what Jesus Christ referred to as “the least of these.”  The republicans are attempting (and may succeed) to CUT the benefits of disabled recipients of Social Security benefits by 20% – and, in the process, apparently trying to pit disabled Americans against elderly Americans (the category I happen to fall into).  With the exception of actual Social Security support groups (Social Security Works, etc.) and the likes of LIBERAL Congressional members like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren (along with a few others) taking up the fight, you would hardly know this is happening.  People like Matthews are more interested in manipulating a “contest” for 2016 – than “fighting the good fight.”

Then there’s the Keystone XL pipeline – a pipeline that will cross America’s heartland, intersecting about 110 miles of the Ogalalla aquifer, and deliver MILLIONS of barrels of the DIRTIEST oil on the planet (the tar sands oil that originates in Alberta Canada) to refineries in Texas from which the oil will be shipped to China, India, and other countries around the world – but, with virtually none of the oil intended for America.  The Kochs stand to profit in excess of $100 MILLION from this pipeline and “we the people” will be left to clean up the mess – which is a byproduct that is apparently dirtier than the oil itself.  The enduring value of this pipeline in terms of permanent jobs (republicans are calling it a Jobs bill – of course, it’s the FIRST “jobs bill” since the Tea Party took over the House in 2010) will be around 35 to 40 PERMANENT jobs.  All this to create mountains of pollution around the Texas refineries and THREATEN the water supply of untold MILLIONS of Americans from South Dakota to Texas itself.  The very FACT this is one of the first bills of this Congress shows how deep the CORRUPTION of our Congress really is – yet, people like Matthews give us hardly a whimper on the subject.  It’s more important to him that we have a “contested” election two years from now – when the reality is that until this version of the republican party is put away into the history books America will continue the steady decline she’s been on since the Reagan Administration gave us “trickle down” economics and anti-government fervor.

Finally, Matthews was struggling to accept that the ISIL crisis that he so often rants about is a direct result of the Bush/Cheney administration.  While he kind of brought up the question of how will Jeb confront the issue of his brother he certainly didn’t take the same tact that his buddy Chuck Todd took with McConnell’s opponent in the Kentucky Senatorial election – declaring her “disqualified” because she didn’t want to disclose who she voted for (obviously, the McConnell forces were attempting to get a sound bite with her saying she voted for President Obama in a state where Obama is NOT popular).  I don’t expect to hear Matthews (or Todd for that matter) say that Jeb Bush is DISQUALIFIED because he was responsible for the election of his brother by suppressing an untold number of votes in Florida during the 2000 presidential election (by rigging voting machines, hanging chads, etc.) or giving an HONEST appraisal of the HORRIFIC consequences of the Iraq invasion (or the ineptitude of the invasion of Afghanistan) and Jeb’s role in the Project for a New American Century – the group which was lobbying for the invasion before Bush/Cheney took the oath of office.  That might minimize the chances of a “contest” in 2016, because even Matthews understands the rest of the republican “hopefuls” are kind of like a circus sideshow!

I could go on and on about my frustration with people like Chris Matthews (and other journalists who should “know better” – and, I realize maybe the problem is that I’m attempting [or hoping] people like Matthews would act as journalists) who seem to be OK with the republicans completing their goal of what would be generously called an oligarchy and could harshly be called a Mussolini type fascist government (that is – a corporate/government partnership) if it raises ratings for their shows.  Instead of acting like the “muck rakers” of the early 20th century – who were responsible for uncovering what was ostensibly a similar “partnership” as the Koch’s and their “ilk” are pursuing – we are stuck with people who want to see a “contest” with no regard to the potential consequences.  Fox “news” has succeeded in imbedding the “concept” of “fair and balanced” into the “mainstream” of what is transported across the airwaves (While, being the engine for the GOP propaganda “machine”) as “news” and, in the process, has turned the focus of American journalism away from speaking Truth.  In the process, in my view, we’ve ended up with people like Chris Matthews more focused on ratings than on reporting the TRUTH.  The Koch’s have BILLIONS to spend on manipulating the minds of unsuspecting Americans – which they’ll do with an unending barrage of TV adds that have NO relation to the truth – they don’t need people like Chris Matthews helping them succeed!