More Ralph Reed Lies in your face - Commentary by Steve Scroggins

Steve Scroggins

Steve Scroggins is a volunteer contributor to the Georgia Heritage Council who lives in Macon.

More Ralph Reed Lies in your face – Commentary by Steve Scroggins

A recent AJC Inciter column entitled 'Reed between the lines' caught my attention, not because of the not-so-clever pun, but because so many obvious lies could be spotted in one brief story. No, I don't mean Baxter and Galloway, though they may stretch credibility at times---no, I'm talking about Ruthless Ralph Reed...or Judas Reed, choose your own preferred label.

In sentence number two, Reed is announcing a steering committee to help lead his campaign for Lt. Governor. We're all familiar with the common bovine by-product of steers. As the saying goes, "it's getting deep" with Reed around.

In paragraph four, shown below, Reed unveils a not-so-subtle threat to those currently keeping their distance from the scandal-laden mercenary. Baxter and Galloway do not miss the meaning.

"There are two groups of people in a campaign. The people who are with you in the beginning, and the people who are with you in the end," Reed said. No doubt he was trying to put as much meaning behind that observation as possible.

This paragraph above, of course, is also notable because it contains no lies. This is the REAL Reed, who I think is appropriately labeled "Ruthless Ralph Reed."

Reed need not worry about loneliness on the campaign. I'm sure there are many Georgians who will visit his campaign stops (see photo below) from the beginning to the end (when the campaign goes in a body bag). Of course, those citizens won't be "with" Reed in the sense he wants.

Not to worry about too much truth, though, for in paragraph five Reed returns to form and resumes lying. Reed refers to himself as the "mainstream, budget-balancing, tax-cutting, pro-life, pro-family candidate."

Let's look at the "pro-family" plank for just a moment. As Jim Dean points out in his commentary, Reed sells out kids and family values by hiring himself to represent the cable industry as a 'Christian' mercenary to shut down efforts by people who want a la carte channel selections from cable providers.

To summarize, many people want to block profane and vulgar programming from their homes by choosing selected channels in their cable package (leaving out for example, MTV). Instead, cable providers 'package' the profane and the vulgar (and the boring and the mindless) with the desirable channels, effectively forcing the consumer to take the offensive channels in order to get the desirable ones.

Again, it just goes to show that Reed will sellout anything for money. The casino scandals speak for themselves. Note to Ralph: Most Georgians don't consider greed and lying "mainstream" values.

Paragraph six has a very Clintonian poll-driven sound to it:

The former Georgia GOP chairman has yet to chart his course on statewide issues. Income and property taxes are too high, he said, but anything more detailed will have to wait for an RV-driven "listening" tour of the state this summer.

So, in other words, Reed wants some focus-group info before he takes a stand on issues? I'm sure Reed won't like much of what he would hear if he truly began "listening" to the people of Georgia. Maybe Reed meant he would be listening to his steers...they're starting to moo.

The obvious lie this points out is that Reed has no intention to listen to Georgia citizens, he just wants their votes and or their money. Just as Reed advised Perdue to defy the will of Georgia voters on the flag issue, in exchange for money (of course!) from the Chamber, Reed will do what's in his own best interest, financial and political, and the heck with what Georgia citizens want.

In the next to last paragraph, Reed rolls out the even more obvious lies:

Reed said the only people asking questions about $4.2 million he received to help put together a Texas coalition to close down an Indian casino are members of the media. The incident, organized by two Republican lobbyists close to Reed, is now under investigation by two Senate committees and federal law enforcement authorities.

Jumps out and grabs you by the throat doesn't it? Reed says that it's ONLY "the media" who are interested in his casino sellouts. Hmmm. Is Reed suggesting that the U.S. Senate is part of the "media?" No, he's just ignoring the obvious facts...At Senate hearings they ASK QUESTIONS. If there were NO questions, there would be no scheduled hearings.

This is a typical Reed "I'm a victim" line. Blame the media. Don't get me wrong, it's universally accepted (and true) that there's a media bias against conservatives. But in this case, Reed has it coming and defining Reed as a 'conservative' is highly questionable. The media hates conservative hypocrites worse than liberal hypocrites---no doubt about that---but the average citizen doesn't like hypocrites of any flavor, liberal or neocon. And the tendency to blame others for personal failings and vices is a quality no one admires (except perhaps professional hypocrites, also known as "political advisors").

And even if a "media conspiracy" were a fact, Reed's other obvious lie is the suggestion that ONLY the media cares about the casino swindles. Citizens do care, especially if the corrupt liars involved are seeking high political office as is Reed. Others involved are already in the U.S. House. The Jackinthehouse.org website lists most of the players.

In the final paragraph, Baxter and Galloway point out that Reed has repeatedly contradicted himself on the casino scandal by at first claiming he didn't know he was acting on behalf of rival casinos to block prospective new casinos (by organizing Christians to do it for him). Those Christians in Texas and Louisiana had no idea they were working to benefit existing casinos or to get the big payoff for Reed. Later, Reed admitted that he did know. That first lie was so obvious that Reed knew that even he couldn't pull that one off.

"I am opposed to the expansion of casino gambling. I opposed it as a private citizen, and I will oppose it as lieutenant governor," Reed said. In past days, Reed has said he didn't know the origins of the millions that were paid to his firm, Century Strategies. But when asked to repeat that statement, Reed said the following: "I think I've acknowledged in the past that I knew that the law firm that hired me had Indian clients."

So there you have it, folks. Since Baxter and Galloway and many others are pointing out the obvious, more and more folks are equipped to spot those Reed lies between the lines. Of course, if you see him in person or on television and his lips are moving, you know he's lying.

As I pointed out in an earlier commentary, there are a number of Georgia citizens who are eager to give Ruthless Ralph a piece of their minds. If Reed really does venture out on a "listening tour" across Georgia, he's going to hear and see what many of us think about him.

Reed encounters Georgians at Cobb County fundraiser
Reed encounters Georgians at recent Cobb County fundraiser
Many Georgians eagerly await more chances to communicate with Reed
They are "with" Reed at the beginning and will be there through the end.

Steve Scroggins is a frequent GHC contributor of parody and political cartoons and graphics.