Stephen Colbert had a great piece detailing the Koch brothers' dirty tricks in Wisconsin for the state senate recall elections.
Americans for Prosperity has even sent out these actual helpful absentee ballot applications to Democratic districts. Now, they had to rush these to print, so some people have complained about inaccuracies, but it's minor stuff, like instead of instructing you to send your ballot to the local municipal clerk, where ballots are officially collected, the address on this ballot is "Absentee Ballot Application Processing Center", which, and this is interesting, does not exist.
But I'm sure the Koch brothers were going to hand-deliver those ballots to the proper location once they separated them from the mail sent to Wisconsin Family Association and Wisconsin Right to Life, the two other conservative groups to use that anonymous P.O. Box.
Because why else would they go to the trouble to give Democratic voters helpful instructions like:
Here's a little rhyme to help you remember when it's due.
On August 11th, make your selection
That's just two days after the actual election.
OK? That sticks in the brain. Nothing nefarious here. As Americans for Prosperity's state director explained:
MATT SHELDON (8/1/2011): It was really just a typo.
A typo! I accidentally put 11 when I mean 9 all the time, because 1 and 9 are so close to each other on the keyboard!
Now, if you know anybody who lives in Wisconsin, SHOW THEM THIS VIDEO. Especially your conservative friends. Because sometimes, comedy and satire can be the only way to break through to them.
Video and transcript below the fold.
Of course, folks, people are always asking me, "How much money have you raised?" Well, I am happy to announce that I don't have to tell you. For a long time, at least. But trust me, it will be well spent.
Now one place a lot of the other PACs are spending money is on the Wisconsin state senator recall election that was triggered over Governor Scott Walker's anti-union campaign. Estimates of total spending in Wisconsin have reached $25 million. Holy Schlitz!
And some of that cash comes from my PAC pals at Americans for Prosperity, funded by billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch. They're like the Olsen twins of factory runoff. Americans for Prosperity has even sent out these actual helpful absentee ballot applications to Democratic districts.
Now, they had to rush these to print, so some people have complained about inaccuracies, but it's minor stuff, like instead of instructing you to send your ballot to the local municipal clerk, where ballots are officially collected, the address on this ballot is "Absentee Ballot Application Processing Center", which, and this is interesting, does not exist.
But I'm sure the Koch brothers were going to hand-deliver those ballots to the proper location once they separated them from the mail sent to Wisconsin Family Association and Wisconsin Right to Life, the two other conservative groups to use that anonymous P.O. Box.
Because why else would they go to the trouble to give Democratic voters helpful instructions like:
STEP 4: Mail in your completed absentee ballot which must be received by your city clerk before August 11.
Here's a little rhyme to help you remember when it's due.
On August 11th, make your selection
That's just two days after the actual election.
OK? That sticks in the brain. Nothing nefarious here. As Americans for Prosperity's state director explained:
MATT SHELDON (8/1/2011): It was really just a typo.
A typo! I accidentally put 11 when I mean 9 all the time, because 1 and 9 are so close to each other on the keyboard!
So, who cares whether they typed 9 or 11? The point is, Americans for Prosperity and I want Wisconsinites to vote some time in August. But if you still don't trust them, don't send your ballots to the Koch brothers, send it to Santa at the North Pole, U.S.A.
He'll get it to the right people. We'll be right back.
Stephen led up to this Wisconsin coverage by talking about his Super PAC and how people are putting in fake names like Suq Madiq, though Stephen says that's a real person, whose parents are Liqa Madiq and Munchma Quchi. Oh, and Stephen now controls for the next 24 hours, Major League Baseball's Twitter feed. It has started.
Meanwhile, Jon looked at the many facets of the culture war that's dividing our country:
Lou Dobbs vs. Biracial Spider-Man
Dana Perino vs. free birth control
American Atheists vs. Ground Zero cross
Then correspondent Jason Jones underwent a medical procedure in a clip where they did NOT censor the graphic nature of what happened. Warning: If you click on that link, you cannot un-see what you'll see. Unless you want an image of Jason Jones' hairy ball sack permanently etched into your eyeballs, you may want to avoid that clip. Don't say you haven't been forewarned.
Then Jon interviewed Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), member of the Gang of Six, which of course went long. Here's the full unedited interview in three parts.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3