Posted by Tina
A lot has been written about the power of the Koch brothers. The extreme nutcases actually claim the brothers are leaders of an evil cabal that controls the world. This fear-based nonsense devolves from the fact that these very productive wealthy men are not progressive thinkers who don’t allow themselves to be pulled around by the nose. If anything these men are independent thinkers, conservative and libertarian, who strongly support the constitution. Is that a bad thing? Are these men too powerful and influential? Are they more powerful than other persons of wealth with political views?
Since the Supreme Court decision in Citizens United vs Federal Election Commission the Kochs have come under specific targeted attack meant to destroy their reputations and the causes and candidates for which they stand. As Marc Tapscott points out in the Washington Examiner today, Jane Mayer made a concerted effort to make the case for their evil intentions. She hasn’t been alone in her criticism and targeting of these two men. Why these men? Why not other wealthy people with influence?
The Examiner calls attention to a list compiled by Open Secrets that invites curiosity and speculation about the obsession with the Kochs. Turns out that when it comes to financial political clout the Kochs are slackers compared to, say, the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees who are number two on the list having donated $60,667,379 in 2012, with only 1% going to Republicans. In contrast the Kochs are number 59 on the list, having given $18,083,948, with 8% going to Democrats. Number 1 on the list is Act Blue, a leftist political fund raising organization and blog that donated XXX and put out the following tweet a couple of days ago:
Calling all c4s: we’re putting on an awesome email fundraising training with @AFJustice. Check it out: blog.actblue.com/2014/02/11/act…
Act Blue, number one on the list, gave $97,192,340 in the 2012 election, 99% went to democrats and 0% to Republicans.
Clearly the fairytale about the Kochs is a pack of lies meant to deceive and distort the truth about power and influence in America and who has had the upper hand for decades. Citizens United was a victory for liberty and the Kochs are all for liberty.
It’s all your fault, Tina. I wasn’t really interested in the Koch brothers. They’re out there, and there really isn’t anything I can do about it, and I wasn’t going to read the Slate bit today … but you provoked me. Your fault.
And from Slate I go to the actual ProPublica article, and how’s this for a first sentence:
“Fundraising by the libertarian billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch supports a tangle of nonprofits, sometimes referred to as the Kochtopus, all aimed at advancing conservative causes.”
Sounds dirty, that.
But this interactive, wildly complicated chart they got is worth checking out.
And the Slate guy, he is consoling:
“It’s a great story, and its accompanying chart is just as useful—clickable, revealing, getting into an even more complicated story about the downside of spending this much money. Koch-world money goes into projects that are working directly against one another. Over there, Freedom Partners is giving $500,000 to Heritage Action for America, which supports the strategy leading to the 2013 shutdown. Over here, Freedom Partners is giving $32,300,000 to Americans for Prosperity, which doesn’t support the shutdown strategy. Here’s American Principles in Action, which gets $100,000 from Freedom Partners then runs ads attacking Liz Cheney’s support of gay marriage. But David Koch is fine with gay marriage.”
The gist would seem to be that, absent a coherent strategy (and the Kochs don’t seem to have one) throwing a lot of money around is just … throwing a lot of money around. But I’m sure any number of community activists and advertising professionals are glad of the employment.
Yep. If the Koch brothers were funding progressive left wing Marxist organizations the left would be sucking up.
Yes Pie is right, it’s only a dastardly deed when you spend YOUR own money and has even a more evil essence when they support the politics of their choice, if it isn’t the party of your choice.
Progressive thinking 101.
Libby, the Kochs lend support to those who fight for fiscal discipline, liberty, and more power vested in individuals and communities. Lock step agreement doesn’t fit in that picture. Their intent supports a much larger goal…countering the monster monetary clout on the left that is killing freedom, democracy, and the republic.
The amounts of money donted by public and private unions, big bankers, corporations, Hollywood elites, and the vast network supported by billionaire George Soros are much greater. These elitist socialist work against liberty and fiscal discipline and toward power and control in the hands of a few. They work toward the redistribution of other peoples money.
The Kochs are responsible citizens fighting for America and American principles. They are targeted, as Pie notes, because they represent a threat to the power elites and their power hungry socialist agenda.
Pie the Kochs invest in companies that hire a lot of people and produce products that make our lives better. They also donate a lot to charities.
Soros invests to make more money and spends for political influence and power.
There is no comparison.
LOL
The koch brothers admit their goal.
left wing marxist? Reminds me of WW2 propaganda
Time for the Tea Party just to admit they are the fascist party. Even Perkins came out and said votes should cost a dollar each.
LOL Fred Koch earned his money working with Stalin.
You post is just not true. Why does the tea party try to hide their agenda?
LOL Republicans shut down the fascist Ted Cruz in the Senate yesterday.
America will rid ourselfs of this fascist org. That is our #1 goal.
The koch’s are 2 of maybe 50 billionaires who bought out our system.
Tea party tie to Koch proof from Davids own mouth
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JjQxPJOAfg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTwqkl8BqSc
Bottom Line we should call it Tea Party scam exposed!
Anybody who is against Democracy is Treason-ist
Anybody who thinks they should dictate their beliefs to all others belong in a communist country
The Koch’s have bought out our Courts, Judges, Schools, and to date have 27 million invested in the 2014 midterms compared to about 4 million combined by all other donors
So they just throw money around? No they buy out laws to tear up this country for foreign profit.
What would be #1 right now? The Foreign KXL Trans Canada pipeline which transports the worst crude tar sands in the world via a pipeline controlled by a foreign company, leaking in American water tables and farm land to Houston to be exported to foreign countries for a total of 30 permanent jobs.
What do the Koch’s get? They more than double their wealth!
What do taxpayers get? Dirty farm land, dirty water, and in the end the clean up bills.
The oil is too low grade we do not even want any! Nor do we get any. In fact the GOP voted No to demanding any stay here!
To suggest the Koch’s do not buy out the system with that money, that the money is just thrown around and has no effect is totally Absurd.
Paid trolls are so obvious, Unpaid trolls are Anti American at heart.
North Carolina has the largest coal ash spill in US history, VA has poison chemical water that is closing schools, but all that seems to atter is untrue propaganda?
The USA is one of the worst countries for reporting correct news and freedom of the press…..We are a fascist company not a country anymore
Time to get rid of the Koch Brothers Tea Party
http://www.ringoffireradio.com/2011/03/papantonio-koch-brothers-fascism-on-the-move/
Anyone who defends them is Anti Democracy
Epic fail boy fails again. What an ass.
Re #6 Dewey (epic fail boy) :
ROTFLMAO @ epic fail boy
Dear #4%&-for-brains jackass, if I were a billionaire (or heck, even a millionaire) I would be funding the Tea Party big time and anyone who went after and revealed the scum funded by George Soros organizations.
Evidently you have a problem with that, pinhead.
Exene Cervenka of punk band X moves to Texas (and FU epic fail boy, water boy, and blame-the-victim) —
http://reason.com/blog/2014/02/13/exene-cervenka-of-la-punks-x-moving-to-t
Tina, thanks for this great find! I’m glad you were the one to step forward and set the record straight.
Of course this will not silence the nutballs on the far left, they are firmly invested in their absurd conspiracy thoughts about the Koch brothers and no amount of logic and facts are going to get in the way.
However, the upside is when such evidence is presented to the crazies and they react with complete disbelief and anger… then we’ve firmly identified them as just wackos from the far left! No need to engage them further!
Thanks Jack. The extreme radical left is relentless and will never be dissuaded. We don’t speak to them.
It is an honor to expose the lies they spread and the terrible ways they attempt to destroy the reputations of good honest people.
Tina you sure do a great job exposing their sneaking ways and fabrications!
Pie is the left in trouble in CA when punk band singers get it?
RE #12 Tina : Pie is the left in trouble in CA when punk band singers get it?
Unfortunately not, the radical left (aka progressives) have this state bound and gagged.
Oh lookie here Dewey your hated Koch brothers are not even in the top 10 on the big donors list. In fact they’re all the way down at 59 with the big union groups above them with their big bucks going to Democrats.
Washington Examiner:
It turns out the ‘Evil’ Koch Bros are only the 59th biggest donors in American politics. Can you guess who is number one?:
“Charles and David Koch are the two most evil people in American politics, right? We know that because Jane Mayer proved it with her landmark “Covert Operations” tour de liberal force in 2010.
Well, it turns out that Mayer’s aim was off just a little, by like 58 slots on the all-time biggest donors in American politics list, as compiled by OpenSecrets.org.”
http://washingtonexaminer.com/article/2544025
“Think the Koch Brothers Are Among the Top 10 All-Time Political Donors? Sorry, You Are Wrong. Very Wrong.
The Koch brothers, notorious for donating large sums of money to right-leaning political causes, might not be as influential as some may think.
Opensecrets.org recently compiled a list of the top “all-time donors” from 1989 to 2014 and the infamous duo not only fail to take the top slot, but even place in the top 10.
In fact, according to the data, Koch Industries places 59 on the list with $18 million in donations, 90-percent of which went to Republicans.
So who takes the top spot? An organization called “ActBlue” which bills itself as a PAC “allowing individuals and groups to channel their progressive dollars to candidates and movements of their choosing.”
That group has donated more than 97 million to political causes, with over 99-percent going to Democrats.
So who occupies the 58 spots ahead of the Evil Koch Bros? Six of the top 10 are … wait for it … unions. They gave more than $278 million, with most of it going to Democrats.
These are familiar names: AFSCME ($60.6 million), NEA ($53.5 million), IBEW ($44.4 million), UAW ($41.6 million), Carpenters & Joiners ($39.2 million) and SEIU ($38.3 million).
In other words, the six biggest union donors in American politics gave 15 times more to mostly Democrats than the Evil Koch Bros.”
Click here to see entire list of contributors.
http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/list.php
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/02/15/think-the-koch-brothers-are-among-the-top-10-all-time-political-donors-sorry-you-are-wrong-very-wrong/
This pretty much sums up Peggy’s post
“Think the Koch Brothers Are Among the Top 10 All-Time Political Donors? Sorry, You Are Wrong. Very Wrong”.
Another swing and miss from epic fail boy.
Weren’t the names and huge amounts for all of those Democrat groups shocking?
Really answers why the peanuts the Koch boys have given is why the Democrats were able to put Obama and Biden in the WH twice!!!
We should maybe put up for election the very people that are targeted most by the left. They are the one’s perceived to be the biggest threat…Ted Cruz, Sarah Palin, Rand Paul, and a few they haven’t heard of…yet.
Would love after the primary to have the president and VP list their cabinet/staff. I think people would turn out to vote if they knew who was going to be AG, Sec. of State, Treasury, DoD, CIA, Education, Energy, etc.
I can see Palin, Ben Carson, Allen West and many others conservatives would go to the polls for with Cruz and Paul at the top of the ticket.