The Ethanol Papers - Paperturn manuscript - Flipbook - Page 503
of his video to go, and my computer keyboard still has lots of life in it. If you stay
with me I'm delighted, if you leave now because you've reached your laugh
quota for the day, I understand.
Marching Forward
After Steve Hilton asks his own idiotic question and
answers it with an absurd answer, he goes personal.
He attacks Senators Grassley and Ernst for being on
committees that deal with issues related to their constituents.
He attacks Grassley and Ernst for money contributed to their re-election campaigns from the ethanol "They did what? They're representing their constituents'
industry.
And he then attacks the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) as "the ring master of this swampy circus"
that has spent nearly $8 million dollars on lobbying
since 2010 (about $1 million per year).
concerns? Why
that's...that's... what they're
supposed to do."
Steve Hilton, in his big boy voice, asks, "How dare Senator Ernst use hardworking family farmers in Iowa to cover up her corruption?" And he says that
"Giant corporations (Cargill and Monsanto) are shoveling money into her
pocket..." and that, "they are destroying family farms in Iowa, and Joni Ernst is
helping them do it."
This portion of the video represents a combination of being the most ignorant
and the most disingenuous of his entire diatribe. I had to stop and consider that
perhaps this entire episode has all been just a joke; that he's just taking the piss
(as the British say) out of the anti-ethanol lobby's argument against ethanol. But
he never breaks a smile, he never gives a wink to indicate that he's joking. I
even fast-forwarded to the end of the video clip to see if he broke character. No,
he was serious, he is that ignorant and unconscious about life in the world we
live in. (Or he's really auditioning for Saturday Night Live.)
Stevie rails against RFA for spending about $1 million per year on lobbying.
However, the major oil companies spend more than $115 million per year on
lobbying. The American Petroleum Institute (API), which you could say is the
ring master of the gasoline swampy circus, contributes the largest part of the
$115 million per year, they spend $65 million per year. That's 65 times more
per year than RFA.
