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BLOGGER: Mr. Reed You've got a reputation for integrity and morality with thousands of supporters. Do you have anything to apologize for regarding the Indians and the Abramoff double-dealing?
RALPH REED: No. I don't think so. That was thoroughly looked at and it was thoroughly investigated and I was never accused of doing anything wrong.
BLOGGER: Have you visited him in prison?
RALPH REED: I did not.
BLOGGER: Have you written to him?
RALPH REED: Um, I did not. But I prayed for him constantly and I wish nothing but the best for him and his family. And I believe that God can cause something really good to come out of all of this.
BILL MOYERS: That remains to be seen. Meanwhile, "The "Right Hand of God," still mixes politics, religion, and money for party and profit. Still covers his tracks in a fogbank of secrecy, complexity, and sleight-of-hand. Still says to his flock, "Trust me."
You heard Reed boast earlier about how his Faith and Freedom coalition reached out to 600,000 voters to keep Scott Walker from being recalled. The organization's tax forms show no compensation to Reed. However, the Washington bureau chief for Alternet.ORG, Adele Stan, found that the non-profit coalition did hire a for-profit company to help turn out the vote. That for-profit company is Millennium Marketing, a division of Century Strategies, whose founder and CEO is Ralph Reed.
Reed is again armed for "guerrilla warfare" with millions of dollars that are almost impossible to trace. It's reported that some of the money has come from billionaire Bernie Marcus, a co-founder of Home Depot, and some has come from a nonprofit partly funded by the billionaire Koch Brothers. The brothers also have their own tax exempt vehicle, Americans for Prosperity, a 501c4 nonprofit-- which allows them to raise money without revealing the source. It is run by Tim Phillips, Ralph Reed's former business partner.
It's an incestuous world they have created, and much of the money travels in secret subterranean pipelines from donors whose identities and agendas remain hidden. We may never find out where Reed's Faith and Freedom Coalition funds are coming from. The "right hand of God" doesn't have to reveal what the left hand is doing.
RALPH REED: We're going to endure the ridicule and the attacks and the insults. If we have to, we're going to crawl across broken glass, but we are coming and when we come we're going to have the biggest victory we've had for time-honored values in the history of this country. That's what's getting ready to happen.
