Billionaires for Bush
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Billionaires for Bush is a culture jamming political street theater organization that satirically purports to support George W. Bush for those activities which are perceived to benefit corporations and the super-wealthy.
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[edit] History
[edit] Forbes 1999
The organization had first been founded by Andrew Boyd as "Billionaires for Forbes", but Forbes left the 2000 race for the Republican Presidential nomination early due to a lack of adequate voter support. In 1999, Billionaires were present as Steve Forbes announced his candidacy for President. The Billionaire Manual describes the action:
- They wore conservative jackets and ties (but no bowler hats, etc.) and carried innocuous signs such as "Run, Steve, Run." Happy to have grass-roots support, the Forbes handlers (who believed the Billionaires were students from a nearby business school) placed them in front of the cameras, very near to the podium from which Forbes was speaking. However, each of their signs had another sign behind it. And behind their banner (which read "Forbes 2000: He wants YOU to win") was another banner, waiting. At the most dramatic moment of his announcement, the Billionaires flipped their signs, and pulled away the large banner to reveal one which read: "Billionaires for Forbes: Because Inequality isn’t Growing Fast Enough." The Billionaires started chanting "Let workers pay the tax so investors can relax!" and other slogans. Forbes and his handlers were completely thrown off, a little tussle ensued, and the Billionaires were pushed off to the side away from the cameras. Not wanting to miss the action, half the TV crews left the Forbes speech to cover the Billionaires. The action got lots of coverage.
[edit] Bush (or Gore) 2000
During the 2000 U.S. presidential election the organization was led by Andrew Boyd as "Billionaires for Bush (or Gore)," with the message that whichever candidate became president, corporations and the wealthy were guaranteed to benefit.
[edit] Bush 2004
Their largest events to date took place as part of the 2004 Republican National Convention protest activity. A separate group, however, continued on in the plague-on-both-your-houses style as Billionaires For Bush Or Kerry.
[edit] 2005 and beyond
Since 2004 the group remains active and uses the meme to raise awareness to a myriad of economic issues including Social Security privatization, the Iraq War, the Estate Tax and Gentrification.
The group is currently led by a triumvirate of co-chairs Elissa Jiji, Marco Ceglie, and Melody Bates.
[edit] Attire
Members typically dress in stereotypically wealthy attire, such as tuxedos and top hats or evening gowns and pearls and adopt names like "Mo Bludfer Oyle" (more blood for oil, a reference to the Iraq war) and "Phil T. Rich" (filthy rich).
Members may also dress in less stereotypical attire to perform more subtle pranks, as described in the Forbes example, above.
[edit] Events
Examples of Billionaire events include:
- Musical entertainment at anti-Bush events
- Thanking George W. Bush on his birthday for their tax cuts
- Protesting protests of the Bush administration
- Taking a pro-war stance at peace rallies
- Cross-country limousine tours [1]
- A petition to allow oil drilling and logging of Golden Gate Park in San Francisco
- Bush League baseball
These events and message are designed to attract friendly media coverage.
[edit] Slogans
Some of their political slogans include "Small Government, Big Wars," "Because We're All In This Together, Sort Of," "Two Million Jobs Lost — It's a Start," "Leave No Billionaire Behind," "Make Social Security Neither," and "Corporations are People Too."
[edit] Related topics
- Don't Just Vote, Get Active, a protest organization set up for the 2004 presidential election that denounced the electoral system
- Swiftboat Veterans for Truth, an organization that attacked Kerry's 2004 bid.
- Communists for Kerry, a satirical organization formed as a counterpart to Billionaires for Bush during the 2004 presidential campaign.
- The Yes Men
