What if the Republican party had a presidential candidate that was the anti-Donald, a college president, seemingly a friendly, normal guy in the Paul Ryan mold, one who downplays his views and opinions? Right now Ben Sasse, freshman senator from Nebraska, does not have the name recognition to run in 2016, but let me tell you, he has not gone unnoticed as a rising star for the future of the GOP.
Eric Holt III, president of the Council of Conservative Citizens, the group that inspired Dylann Roof to white supremacist terror and murder recently in South Carolina, gave Ben Sasse $2000 for his campaign for US Senator for Nebraska in 2014, more than the $1000 Holt donated to the campaign of Joni Ernst or the $1500 to Steve King's campaign.
In February, 2015, before the FCC made their landmark decision in favor of Net Neutrality, Ben Sasse and three other much more well-known Republican politicians started a petition on a website called ProtectInternetFreedom.com, in which they tried to fool people into thinking that a decision FOR Net Neutrality would allow the government to spy on you 1984-Big Brother style. They even included a porn parody video of a sexy cable guy's installation at a woman's apartment being spoiled by government intervention. In case you don't have the time or interest to click on these links, let me tell you the names of the other three sponsors of the petition, whose pictures and quotes appear prominently if you scroll to the bottom of the page below it: Senator Mike Lee, Tea Party champion of Utah, Senator Rand Paul (you know who he is), and, wait for it, JEB! Bush.
A little more below the orange scroll...
This is my first diary. I have been lurking for a long time and dragged my feet joining because I couldn't think of a user name and didn't think I had much to contribute. Wanting to congratulate my favorite diarist Puddytat for her 400th diary pushed me to move forward.
Once I joined, it seemed wrong not to try to write a diary but what could I possibly write about? So I thought of Ben Sasse, a most dangerous adversary, since he is eminently electable. He had said something near the end of the Net Neutrality battle, about HIS petition, so I looked it up on the internets and found much more than I bargained for. While Sasse is a future threat, Jeb Bush and to lesser degree Rand Paul are clear and present dangers. When I looked at the site at work, I could see their faces prominently but when I access it from home, I can't even see the pictures, so I hope if you access it you can see them. The quotes from the illustrious gentlemen are there below their names, in either case.
I can't BELIEVE JEB really wants to be associated with a liar petition that pretends to be FOR internet freedom when it is against Net Neutrality, which was one of our most important victories in the last 25 years, not to mention that sleazy video about the cable installation. Any ideas on how this can be used against him would be greatly appreciated! As TomorrowsProgressives said in the recent diary with that Bridge Closed Ahead sign in front of Chris Christie, we need to vaporize these campaigns before they gain momentum.
Nebraska could have had a decent US Senator in candidate Dave Domina, who ran because he wanted to help our state and country, but instead we elected Ben Sasse, who raised 10 times more money than Domina did, due to contributions from Eric Holt III of the Council of Conservative citizens and, I imagine, Big Telco and Big Cable. Look out for Sasse - I predict he is going places in the GOP.