On today's Talk of the Nation (audio not yet available), Lynn Neery hosted a segment called This Angry Moment and the Political Divide. It was about, wouldn't you know it, the angry response to health care reform.
She introduced one guest, George Nethercutt, as a former Republican congressman from Washington. Sadly, it took a commenter in the forum part of the Web site to point out that Nethercutt is a lobbyist in business with J. Steven Griles, of Abramoff fame. Hmmm...maybe that explains his talking points.
I tuned in to the show while running an errand away from my desk. I was just in time to hear Nethercutt say that 7/10 Americans approved of Obama when he was elected, but once they started to hear his policies, his numbers dropped like a rock.
Hmmm..., says I. There might be some truth to the dropping numbers line, but it's definitely framed as a talking point. He went on to parrot some time-tested canards, such as the free enterprise market solves all woes.
His script was so obviously out of the Repub play book that when I got back to my desk I went to the show's page at NPR.org to post a comment. Turns out I wasn't the only one who thought it was ridiculous.
But about 40 comments in, I read this comment by "Panko":
I note in your guest list that you identify George Nethercutt as a former congressman from WA. I missed the introductions portion of your show and I was wondering if you mentioned his current employment as co-manager of a lobbyshop in partnership with J. Steven Griles, who is the highest ranking Bush administration official convicted in the Abramoff lobbying scandal? If not, do you think it would have been more appropriate to have indentified him as a current Republican lobbyist rather than former Republican congressman?
Looks like Panko's right. Here's the Sourcewatch profile on Nethercutt. The Wiki entry is informative. And here is another lobbying firm in which Nethercutt is involved, BlueWater Strategies.
About Griles (Wiki):
On January 10, 2007, the United States Department of Justice notified Griles that charges would be brought against him for making false statements in his 2005 testimony. On that date Griles resigned from Lundquist, Nethercutt & Griles. He pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice charges on March 23, 2007. On June 8, 2007, Federici pleaded guilty to tax evasion and obstruction of justice.
I don't know who his clients are, I don't know what they're working on, but NPR sure as hell should have told me that the guy they gave such authority to is a frackin' lobbyist!