The New Wingnut Welfare Gravy Train

I think we’re all pretty familiar with the wingnut welfare system. The Republican party nurtures their young leaders by providing them jobs in bogus think tanks, where they can publish books nobody reads, send out press releases and appear on TV as a ubiquitious “Republican strategist.” Apparently Republicans have found an even newer way to shovel money at themselves – health care reform legal challenges.

For example, the Republican Lt. Governor of Missouri is frustrated because his Attorney General is a Democrat and won’t sign up for the states’ legal challenge. That doesn’t stop him though, he’s hiring a private attorney:

A Republican operative who was behind a sophisticated effort to make it harder for poor people and minorities to vote is back in the news. He’s handling Missouri’s lawsuit against the health-care reform law.

Mark “Thor” Hearne has been hired by Missouri Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder to challenge the law’s constitutionality. Several other states are bringing similar claims. Kinder is mounting a fundraising effort — even launching a website — to pay for the challenge to the law because the state’s Democratic attorney general has declined to get involved.

Former New York Governor George Pataki is trying to leverage the health care reform repeal gravy train into a presidential run:

Pataki launched his organization, Revere America, with the lofty initial goal of collecting one million signatures on a petition to repeal “ObamaCare.”

The petition is full of tea party dog whistles: The law (or “bill”): “ignores the will of the majority of Americans who vigorously oppose government controlled national health care;” “tramples on the Constitution” and “represents an arrogant disregard for the personal freedom of the people of the United States.”

But the petition’s real purpose, as Pataki admitted in a C-Span interview, is to “get over a million e-mail addresses of people who would support us in working to repeal ObamaCare.” And, presumably, of people who would support a Pataki for President campaign.

I assume Pataki will use this organization to fundraise as well as building his supporters’ list. I’m pretty unclear on what Pataki’s organization will actually do besides allow Pataki to travel and to give speeches to excite the base.