Koch Brothers to Obama: This time it's Personal
by jamess
In case you missed it -- the Koch Brothers are trying to claim they are NOT the Oil-grubbing Billionaires, NOT the Global Warming denialists, that they have spent a minor fortune investing in.
And this time it's personal!
KochFacts.com
A Letter to the Obama Campaign
Mr. Jim Messina
Campaign Manager
Obama for America
Dear Mr. Messina:
Because every American has the right to take part in the public discourse on matters that affect the future of our country, I feel compelled to respond directly about a fundraising letter you sent out on February 24 denouncing Koch. It is both surprising and disappointing that the President would allow his re-election team to send such an irresponsible and misleading letter to his supporters.
For example, it is false that our “business model is to make millions by jacking up prices at the pump.” Our business vision begins and ends with value creation — real, long-term value for customers and for society. We own no gasoline stations and the part of our business you allude to, oil and gas refining, actually lowers the price of gasoline by increasing supply. Either you simply misunderstand the way commodities markets work or you are misleading your supporters and the rest of the American people.
Contrary to your assertion that we have “committed $200 million to try to destroy President Obama,” we have stated publicly and repeatedly since last November that we have never made any such claim or pledge. It is hard to imagine that the campaign is unaware of our publicly stated position on that point. Similarly, Americans for Prosperity is not simply “funded by the Koch brothers,” as you state — rather it has tens of thousands of members and contributors from across the country and from all walks of life. Further, our opposition to this President’s policies is not based on partisan politics but on principles. Charles Koch and David Koch have been outspoken advocates of the free-market for over 50 years and they have consistently opposed policies that frustrate or subvert free markets, regardless of whether a Democrat or a Republican was President.
[...]
Sincerely,
Philip Ellender
President, Government & Public Affairs
Koch Companies Public Sector, LLC
NOW the Kochs are concerned about the "Facts" ??? ... imagine that.
Well the Obama Administration knows that the strangle-hold Big Oil has on the country, is decimating our current recovery, and our future growth opportunities in Clean Energy.
As result, they are having none of the KochFacts indignation. The Obama Team knows full well, WHO has turned astro-turf grassroot organizing into a Science-doubting Misinformation machine.
Obama team fires back at Koch brothers
by Aaron Blake, washingtonpost.com -- 02/29/2012
Dear Mr. Ellender:
[...]
You argue that Americans for Prosperity is a grassroots organization of everyday citizens. But its emphasis on rolling back environmental protections and blocking a clean energy economy appears to be nothing more than an effort to promote the corporate interests of your employers and others who lavishly, and secretly, fund its operations.
[...]
And now it’s been reported that your employers and those close to them intend to spend $200 million in an attempt to defeat the President. You note in your letter that Americans for Prosperity has tens of thousands of members and contributors from all walks of life across the country, suggesting that this is the source of AFP’s funding. There is one way to verify your point: disclose those donors for the public to make that judgment.
What is known about the Kochs’ agenda and business practices would give most Americans pause. According to the Kansas City Star, Koch Industries has enriched itself by keeping oil off the market, storing it in offshore tankers and waiting to cash in when the cost of oil rises. The Koch brothers have also been vocal critics of the administration’s investments in clean energy alternatives. Our energy strategy cannot be set by what’s best for the pocketbooks of politically-connected oil and gas executives. It must be driven by what’s best for the American people, our economy, and our energy security.
[...]
In your letter, you expressed the Kochs’ concerns about debt. We share your concern. That is why the President introduced a plan to reduce the deficit by $4 trillion and put us on a path to solvency. The Kochs must be concerned about the tax and budget plans the Republican candidates have proposed. Those plans would add trillions of dollars to the deficit by massively increasing defense spending to an arbitrary level, and extending and expanding unaffordable and unnecessary tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.
[...]
Sincerely,
Jim Messina
Campaign Manager
Obama for America
Stay tuned to this one people. The Citizen United Koch-empowered agenda is about exposed for what it really is:
Two ultra-wealthy Oil Barons trying to maintain their meager "standard of living" ... at our expense. And the expense of future generations too ... nice guys, huh?
- more -
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/03/04/1070937/-Koch-Brothers-to-Obama-This-time-it-s-Personal
Wow, the Kochs are getting sensitive!
= new reply since forum marked as read
I'm glad Obama is calling BS on this. The infighting should be fun to watch.
It is some nebulous entity that has no tax payer cost but somehow tax payer dollars get sucked into it anyway but they blame that on it going to "entitlements" instead.
This massive massive contradiction of scorched earth slash and burn on everything else BUT the Haliburtons and the rest of the crony capitalists of the world, is what bugs me the most. And the media refuses to call them on it.
How long do they think that people will believe that Defense "spending" is some different type of "spending" or is not any type "spending" at all that contributes to the deficit that they so strongly cling too? Do they think that the billionaires plan to pay for the military spending out of their own pockets? Is it because so much of it has been "off public budget" for so long that they don't think there is a cost for it and if there is (i.e., buying bullet-proof vests for troops, armor for their vehicles, bullets for their rifles, or any other items that they need to actually survive on the battle field), then that is the only thing they point to for slashing? 
K&R for the rapid response team! 
does nothing. Hides it, false equivalencies it, twists and disinforms.
People are so uninformed it's infuriating. 
The Kochroaches have been exposed to light and they don't like it, no sir. Good.
That they're writing letters about it now means it's getting to them.
They can't go to a dedication at the Brooklyn Academy of Music without getting booed by the crowd. This species of capitalist vampire really hates the sunlight. Shine it on them, watch them squirm.
At the end, they can't understand how this black dude is so much smarter than they are. Well he is, Koch Brothers. He's way, way, way fucking smarter than you, and he's going to turn your shenanigans into household fucking knowledge. You're gonna be dodging tomatoes everywhere you go.
or about you. 
And yes, there are "professional leftists" who are every bit as dishonest and slack in "journalism" as the Fox News tea-nuttery we've become all too familiar with.
I can certainly speculate. There are responsible journalists on the left, just as there are on the right, although they are few and far between. But, I have a tendency to distrust those who go for the obvious misleading headlines that have little to nothing to do with the content of the article.
I could name a few, but as you've already named one of the biggest offenders, I won't bother. Your original attack was a useless and worn out talking point of the president's most strident adversaries on the left. I'd say get over it, but really, who cares at this point? 
Eat it!! Next time don't send a lapdog, send the dog!!!
