Billionaires for Bush! Beautiful Trouble!

[sabrina 1]

We have been discussing strategies to educate voters whose only sources of information is the Corporate Media, about important issues

Does anyone remember how Billionaires For Bush used Opera Singing, Costumes, Street Theater, Satire and Acting to talk about eg, Healthcare, which they called 'Wealthcare', reform in a fun way??



A not too with it Republican actually thought they were FOR Bush but didn't like the way they were 'making him look bad':

“Shut up! You are not helping the President get re-elected. You are making the Republican Party look like a bunch of out-of-touch elitists! Assholes!”
Email from an exasperated Republican

Which was the point! Lol!

Here's some video of them interrupting an AHIP conference. AHIP was spending 5 million dollars a week trying to kill health care reform. Billionaires for Wealthcare is a grassroots network looking to stop them - with song.

They did lots of stuff like this during the Bush era, 'praising' Bush and Billionaire friends etc.

Since any attempt to get Progressive Dems elected is going to be up against huge amounts of Corporate money, I was wondering about ways to overcome that to some extent, using whatever tools are available to help get the message.

Billionaires for Bush operated in several states during the Health Care debate, (and during the Bush years).

On this site there are suggestions about how to conduct successful campaigns. They use Billionaires for Bush as an example of how to get a message across using all the techniques they used.

Billionaires for Bush: Beautiful Trouble

“Some people call you the elite,” George W. Bush joked to his wealthy funders, “I call you my base.” Whether candidate Bush meant it as a joke or not, the Billionaires for Bush (B4B) campaign used humor, street theater and creative media actions to show the country how true the quip was. Working to expose how the Republican Party serves the interests of the super-rich, the Billionaires also addressed the broader issues of economic inequality and corporate greed.

An early version of the campaign in 2000, “Billionaires for Bush (or Gore),” had spread virally via the internet and mainstream media exposure. It rebranded itself for the 2004 election, taking as its crusade the defeat of Bush. The New York City chapter took the lead, assembling talented volunteers, among them professional designers, media producers, and actors. It then put the campaign pieces in place. A stylish logo swapped the Republican elephant with a piggy bank stuffed with bills. Satirical slogans — “Repeal the First Amendment,” “Free the Forbes 400,” “Corporations are people too” — adorned bumper stickers, buttons, and a slick website, mimicking the look of Bush-Cheney propaganda. A songwriter produced tuneful renditions of what the super-wealthy really think, performed by meticulously rehearsed singers. The members themselves adopted personae, with names and
costumes to match, spoofing iconic versions of the .01 percent: the Monopoly-style robber baron (Phil T. Rich), the dim-witted heiress (Alexis Anna Rolls), the trust-fund fuck-up (Monet Oliver D’Place), and so on.

Soon, the Billionaires could be found talking down to “the little people” at Bush-Cheney campaign events, left-wing rallies, and street corners. They could also be found all over the mainstream media, garnering thousands of hits, including multiple features in the New York Times and on network and cable TV. Even the chant “Watch more Fox News, then you’ll share our right-wing views!” made it to air… on Fox News.

Media coverage was generated by carefully planned hoaxes, such as the appearance, to a throng of adoring billionaires, of a Karl Rove impostor at a GOP fundraiser. Other times, the campaign outsmarted the authorities to attract the media glare, such as when it held a croquet match on Central Park’s “Great Lawn,” from which a half-million anti-Bush demonstrators had been banned by New York’s mayor. The media was smitten by the Billionaires’ glamour and charmed by their say-the-opposite-of-what-you-believe theatrics.

The site has lots of suggestions on how to use various techniques to get a message across.

A few, with links on how to do it:

Make it funny
Brand or be branded
Know your cultural terrain
Do the media's work for them
Enable, don’t command
Delegate
Show, don't tell
Think narratively
Create levels of participation
Balance art and message
Don't dress like a protester
Make the invisible visible

Just thought it might be something that could be used IF we find some candidates who need help fighting the Corporate money that will be used against them.

The Billionaires for Bush managed to get on the Media without having to pay for ads.

Anyhow, just something to think about ...

[TheNutcracker]

1. While a staffer for John Kerry, they came to one of my events in Florida! They were great!!

[SheilaT]

2. I remember them well.

They did an amazing job of staying in character.

[Jackpine Radical]

3. Those rules are great.

The whole idea is great.

One of the first things that came to mind was Abbie Hoffman, who "cried 'Theater!' in the middle of a crowded fire."

[sabrina 1]

6. Lol, they ARE great. There is an ad on TV that made me think of them.

It is done in the same style B4B did their performances. It is very effective as they sing the phone # '877-CashNow!' Lol, you can't forget it even though you WANT to.

They are using Opera singers and when I saw it, I wondered if they got the idea from Billionaires for Bush.

And that's what made me think, that candidates could use them and/or some of their tactics.

[Jackpine Radical]

7. Not just candidates, imho. I'd put the major focus on causes

rather than personalities. We gotta change the underlying thought patterns in the populace at large. This may be the most ultimately effective tool against the Corporate Media.

Imagine small troupes of players showing up everywhere, stealing each other' material, becoming a cultural phenomenon sorta like break dancing. Combine that with Youtube videos of the best of the routines & suddenly you've created an intelligent input into the national consciousness that's just a helluva lot more fun than watching the mass media or listening to Rush rant.

I mentioned Abbie before. I was at UW-Madison in those days. We didn't get Abbie, but a lot of our big lectures were broken up by little antiwar theatrical groups. The faculty, mostly antiwar themselves, allowed their classes to be hijacked. (I do know of a couple exceptions that occurred with authoritarian faculty types, but that's a story for another time. Short version is that the actors left without a confrontation.)

[sabrina 1]

9. You're right, and I love that idea!

This especially:

Imagine small troupes of players showing up everywhere, stealing each other' material, becoming a cultural phenomenon sorta like break dancing. Combine that with Youtube videos of the best of the routines & suddenly you've created an intelligent input into the national consciousness that's just a helluva lot more fun than watching the mass media or listening to Rush rant.

Maybe we could have a thread here where people could make up lyrics about eg, the TPP.

What a great way to get information to people. Sort of like medieval times, word of mouth but in a fun way.

[Jackpine Radical]

10. Something like this would fly right under the radar of the Guardians.

They're still preparing to fight ever-larger acts of rebellion and uprising; they're not prepared to infiltrate a bunch of clowns (no matter how dressed), and what are they gonna do to a dozen people putting on a skit on the street (with cameras everywhere)?

The age of the Flash Playlet is born!

[sabrina 1]

17. Yes, exactly! That's why I love it! Lol!

[Blanks]

4. It's difficult to get people's attention...

But in this day and age, something is more likely to be spread by social media than by the TV. There are segments on TV showing what is trending on social media.

Something clever can get a lot of mileage just on the Internet. I think it works best when satire is taken to the right of the right (the way Colbert does). Moronic conservatives spread the message unaware that they are being ridiculed.

[sabrina 1]

5. Yes, Social Media is definitely a great tool we have now, that we didn't have even back

when they started.

And actions like this, plus Flash Mobs etc, DO get a lot of attention on Social Media. And on Utube.

B4B really used what was available to them very effectively.

And would be even more effective now on Twitter and FB etc.

[Jackpine Radical]

8. Ahah!

I see you guys anticipated my post above. Yeah, this could be a really exciting and positive way for us little mammals to bug the shit out of those big, stupid dinosaurs.

[Jackpine Radical]

11. I was especially taken by your comment on Colbert & the Morans.

[Blanks]

19. Robert Reich said that a conservative came up to him after his appearance on Colbert...

The conservative seemed to believe that Colbert ate his lunch.

I guess that kind of humor is a type of IQ test. The folks who believe that Colbert is serious are the ones you want to give a wide berth.

[rpannier]

12. I was a member

It was a lot of fun
Just wish we had been able to find the old Pat Paulsen skit from the early 80's on America's smallest minority group

[sabrina 1]

18. That must have been so much fun!

I loved their opera routines which were so professional. Great to have so many talented people willing to give their time to trying to improve this country for everyone.

[geardaddy]

13. This reminds me of "The Yes Men"

I love it!

http://theyesmenfixtheworld.com/story.htm

[sabrina 1]

22. That is hilarious! I don't think I ever saw them but what a great routine:

They have an unusual hobby: posing as top executives of corporations they hate. Armed with nothing but thrift-store suits, the Yes Men lie their way into business conferences and parody their corporate targets in ever more extreme ways - basically doing everything that they can to wake up their audiences to the danger of letting greed run our world.

One day Andy, purporting to be a Dow Chemical spokesperson, gets on the biggest TV news program in the world and announces that Dow will finally clean up the site of the largest industrial accident in history, the Bhopal catastrophe. The result: as people worldwide celebrate, Dow's stock value loses two billion dollars. People want Dow to do the right thing, but the market decides that it can't.

The reality hits Andy and Mike like a ton of bricks: we have created a market system that makes doing the right thing impossible, and the people who appear to be leading are actually following its pathological dictates. If we keep putting the market in the driver's seat, it could happily drive the whole planet off a cliff.

At conference after conference, the Yes Men try to wake up their corporate audiences to this frightening prospect, in the process taking on some of the world's biggest and baddest corporations. Just one example: as Exxon, Andy and Mike demonstrate a new biofuel made from climate-change victims. It's a gut-busting laugh riot - one of several in the film - to see the unsuspecting audience learn that the lit candles they hold are made out of dead people.

I'll have to see that. Dedicated to the people of Bhopal!

Thanks for the link!

[TNNurse]

14. This is great

However, it is over the head of the general population voter and most members of Congress. Remember the people who invited Stephen Colbert to do the White House Correspondents Dinner? They have not gotten any smarter and they still have the hearts and minds of too many of the populace.

I hate to insult the intelligence of the general population but they re-elected too much of Congress or some other idiots or they did not vote.

[zeemike]

15. Oh yes I remember them well...glad to see they are still active.

It was some of the best theater the left has.

It is really like the Hippies "freaking people out" with theater in public.
It got attention, but mainly from young people who saw them as rebellion and most kids love rebellion.
And still today the young people are the ones who need to see it.

[Hulk]

16. The problem pointing out that the repuKKKes are corporate and big money funded...

...is that so are the Democrats. I'm not saying to avoid that point, as I assume the repuKKKes are much more involved with the Koch bro's and the 1% and corporate Wall Street, but we have an awful lot of Democrats who are just as guilty, or just as bad as the repuKKKes.

[Jackpine Radical]

20. You're correct, and that's why I suggested somewhere above that

street theater ought to be about promoting progressivism and rationality rather than candidates, ought to be about principles and not personalities.

Popularize your ideas with street theater magnified a thousand times by Youtube, and then find candidates who will stand for those values in the electoral season, and remain true to those values when they take office.

[sabrina 1]

21. I agree with that. Eg, the B4B did some about Healthcare.

They did one to the tune of 'We Shall Overcome' but the lyrics were 'we shall overcharge'.

[LiberalElite]

23. I remember B4B - they were great, very inventive nt

[olddots]

24. I did sound for them a few times and loved thier attitude

We need more humor in our quest for freedom and equality...look at the repukes they are not happy even when they have power and money they all look constipated .

[sabrina 1]

25. That must have been fun! I agree we do need more humor to attract people to politics.

Someone was saying in another thread that low info voters wouldnt' 'get it' if we tried to explain the Third Way influence on our party.

But if someone could put it to music, and make it funny, while explaining what they are doing, cutting SS etc, it could help to get people interested.

At least it would be fun and creative to use these tactics.

[Warpy]

26. I hope they get started here

I'll dig out my mother's mink and my auntie's fake diamonds and join them.

[Gothmog]

27. Bush announced early to lock up the GOP donor base

It will be fun to see Bush and Romney fight over the GOP donor base

[jeepers]

28. I remember seeing angry crowds of McCain supporters on one side of the street

queuing up to attend some Sarah Pailin gag a long while on the other side of the street was a crowd of Obama supporters heckling the repub heroine. I remember wishing that the Obama people had brought their drums and guitars and answered the anger and racism coming from the other side with music and joy. Hippies had it right. Theater is what holds our attention.

[sabrina 1]

29. Yes, humor is a far better way to deal with that kind of hatred. It confuses them also. See the

response from a Republican to the Billionaires for Bush. S/he believed they really were for Bush but were 'making us look bad'. For telling the truth.