Apocalypse Now - Jerry Brown Cites Scripture to Condemn GOP’s Devotion to Partisan Ideologues

[tabatha]

As Brown explained it in an interview, the Capitol’s deadlock and dysfunction may be traced directly to the “Four Horsemen of the Tax Apocalypse” — his moniker for a quartet of unelected, right-wing advocates and media outlets that so terrify and bully Republican officeholders that political compromise on fiscal issues has become all but impossible.

.....

Nationally, the loose alliance of Tea Party groups, often fueled by contributions from archconservative interests such as the super-wealthy industrialists David and Charles Koch, has succeeded in pushing the congressional Republican caucus and the party’s presidential contenders far to the right in efforts to defund and dismantle government operations. This effort was shown both in the GOP’s recent political brinkmanship over the federal debt limit and disaster-relief funds and in positions taken by its field of would-be challengers to President Barack Obama, who all unanimously agreed in a recent debate, for example, that they would not accept a deficit plan that included $1 in taxes for every $10 in spending cuts.

.....

In Sacramento, any Republican lawmakers inclined to compromise on fiscal issues with the governor and legislative Democrats similarly are systematically pressured, threatened, or attacked by hardball tactics of Brown’s “Four Horsemen,” a group of political players unfamiliar or unknown to many voters:

• Grover Norquist .....
• Jon Coupal .....
• John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou .....
• Jon Fleischman .....

http://www.independent.com/news/2011/sep/29/apocalypse-now/#commenttoggle

[kestrel91316]

1. John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou, a pair of RW talk radio freaks

who are eager understudies of Rush.

Commonly known as simply "John and Ken".