The Koch Party
POSTED BY: Niki2
UPDATED: Monday, February 27, 2023 16:37
VIEWED: 2079
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Only a few weeks into this midterm election year, the right-wing political zeppelin is fully inflated with secret cash and is firing malicious falsehoods at supporters of health care reform.
As Carl Hulse of The Times reported recently ( http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/15/us/politics/ads-attacking-on-health-
law-stagger-outspent-democrats.html), Democrats have been staggered by a $20 million advertising blitz produced by Americans for Prosperity, the conservative advocacy group organized and financed by the Koch brothers, billionaire industrialists. The ads take aim at House and Senate candidates for re-election who have supported the health law, and blame them for the hyped-up problems with the law’s rollout that now seem to be the sole plank in this year’s Republican platform.
In one typical example, the group’s ad against Representative Gary Peters of Michigan ( https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=IsLdhwwSwrQ_), a Democrat who is running for an open Senate seat, is full of distortions and lies. It accuses Mr. Peters of lying when he said the law bars cancellations of insurance policies. Mr. Peters happened to be right, as millions of people who once faced losing all insurance after they got sick now appreciate. The 225,000 Michigan residents who the ad said received “cancellation notices” were actually told that they could change to a better policy; they were not told they could no longer have insurance, as the ad implies. And though the ad said health care costs are “skyrocketing,” national spending on health care is now growing at the slowest pace ever recorded ( http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/19/us/growth-in-us-health-care-spending
-slows-but-out-of-pocket-costs-rise.html?gwh=28A3DE305969848975D563A1C11CC518&gwt=pay), in part because of the reform law.
Democrats intend to counter this campaign with the facts, but few of the candidates have the money to do so now. As a result, the campaign is taking a serious political toll, increasing the chances that Republicans who support a repeal of the law will win back the Senate majority this fall.
Naturally, Democrats are using the campaign to increase their own fund-raising, begging donors to give unlimited amounts to left-leaning super PACs and advocacy groups. But it is unlikely that they will be able to match the resources or the cunning of the Kochs, who are using vast pools of money earned through corporate revenues to build a network unrivaled in complexity and secrecy. This weekend, they are bringing together some of the biggest Republican bank accounts at a resort in Palm Springs, Calif., to collect money and plan this year’s strategy.
As Politico described it on Friday ( http://www.politico.com/story/2014/01/koch-brothers-2014-elections-102
555.html), they have already set up an operation so sophisticated it rivals “even the official Republican Party in its ability to shape policy debates and elections.” Its components include a political consulting firm to recruit, train and support like-minded antigovernment candidates, which will be active in the congressional primaries. There is also a center that provides technology and administrative services to right-wing groups and candidates, an office that compiles and analyzes voter data and a youth advocacy group.
In 2012, as The Washington Post reported ( http://www.politico.com/story/2014/01/koch-brothers-2014-elections-102
555.html), the Koch network raised $407 million, which was secreted among 17 groups with cryptic names and purposes that were designed to make it impossible to figure out the names of donors the Kochs worked with. As one tax expert told The Post, “it’s designed to make it opaque as to where the money is coming from and where the money is going.”
The Democrats have smaller versions of these operations, though they are more focused on building a super PAC to collect unlimited donations supporting Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2016, and they lack the resources to compete with the Kochs at this stage.
The clandestine influence of the Kochs and their PaNOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
"The Democrats have smaller versions of these operations, though they are more focused on building a super PAC to collect unlimited donations supporting Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2016, and they lack the resources to compete with the Kochs at this stage."
So the problem isn't PACs, it's that the Democrats can't find any of their billionares who are willing to spend as big chunk of their money to support Democratic candidates.
Just another attack on the Koch brothers, like Harry Reid's claim they're "one of the main causes" of climate change. Or not.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/wp/2014/05/08/harry-r
eids-claim-that-the-koch-brothers-are-one-of-the-main-causes-of-climate-change/
"When your heart breaks, you choose what to fill the cracks with. Love or hate. But hate won't ever heal. Only love can do that."
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...meanwhile Barry went to a Hollywood fund raiser attended by the people at Dreamworks SKG...who laid off 350 people last year. It was held at the home of the Disney CEO...who laid off over 100 people last year. The lib 1% paid over $64.000 a head to kiss Barry's skinny ass and listen to his lies.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Geezer:
So the problem isn't PACs, it's that the Democrats can't find any of their billionares who are willing to spend as big chunk of their money to support Democratic candidates.
http://news.yahoo.com/gop-enemy-wealthy-donors-democrats-142600330.htm
l
I do not fear God, I fear the ignorance of man.
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Gawd, shock to see this brought back up, I'd forgotten it completely. Thanx Mikers, nice to see someone noticed. It's very frustrating to me, since I think the "purchasing" of our Democracy is one of the worst things that's happened to it in recent years. Like the articles say, tho', "campaign finance isn't sexy", so nobody does anything about it, and the thoroughly "bought" Supremes keep making it easier and easier.
Unlike Geezer's claim, however, I don't like super PACs on EITHER side...it's just funnier than hell that he should attack Dems for doing what the GOP and Kochs have been doing MASSIVELY for years now. I guess we're just supposed to sit quietly in the corner and not complain; anything else is, what, unfair?
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Quote:
Originally posted by MIKER:
A lot of work went into this
That's because niki is a crazy Left wing commie dingbat who is so blind to reality, she can't see that the establishment Left are 10x's guilty of shady dealings and money funneling, but in HER pickled mind, it's ok, because the Left are doing their crimes for all the right reasons, and the Right are just flat out evil.
Back to reality....
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The Koch brothers, despite their wealth and interest in politics, are not even in the major league of contributors to political causes. The nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics compiled a list of “Heavy Hitters,” top political donors from 1989 to 2014, and the Koch brothers are in 59th place. Thirteen of the top 20 donor groups gave nearly all of their campaign cash to Democrats, with ActBlue leading the list with $97.2 million, all of it contributed to Democrats…
Only three of the top 20 donor groups gave predominantly to Republicans.
http://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/feb/21/editorial-when-evil-mone
y-is-ok/
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Pasted this to another political board. Good article. :thumbs up:
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