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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums‘Morning Joe’ freaks out over Democratic claims that GOP is ‘addicted to Koch’
By Travis Gettys
Thursday, March 6, 2014 8:20 EST
Democrats have targeted Charles and David Koch, the billionaire industrialists who help bankroll conservative politics, in advance of the congressional midterm elections.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee launched a digital campaign Thursday that echoes remarks made two days earlier by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), who claimed the GOP is addicted to Koch, reported the New York Times.
Reid accused the brothers, whose last name is pronounced coke, of using their power and influence to push harmful conservative policies by backing Republican candidates and spending $30 million already in television ads in competitive congressional districts.
Many of those ads were financed by the Kochs Americans for Prosperity advocacy group and are highly critical of the Affordable Care Act.
Right now, because of people like the two brothers, the rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer, and the middle class is getting squeezed out of existence, Reid said. Theyre against everything thats good for America today.
Democratic leaders said Reids attacks raised the public profile of the press-shy Koch brothers and presented them as villains to voters who believe the system is rigged in favor of the super-rich.
Part of responding to these attacks that the Koch brothers are spending millions upon millions on is to make sure the voters understand who is behind them, and whats behind them, said Geoff Garin, a Democratic pollster. And our research has shown pretty clearly that once voters recognize the source of the attacks, they tend to discount them substantially.
Garin said his research in 2012 showed that Democratic voters had an overwhelming negative response to the Kochs and their political involvement.
But MSNBC host Joe Scarborough had his own overwhelmingly negative reaction Thursday morning to Reids remarks, noting the Kochs charitable contributions to cancer research and the arts.
Thats all they have? Wow, Scarborough said. Thats an idiotic move. Not a stupid move, but an idiotic move.
He bristled at Reids portrayal of the Kochs as un-American, saying the claim amounted to McCarthyism and calling on Democrats to also mention the industrialists considerable non-political expenditures.
Tell the truth about them and what they do, and put some perspective in it, Scarborough said. Because if were talking about perspective on how much the Koch brothers give, these, quote, villains, its unbelievable what theyve done for cancer research, what theyve done for the arts, what theyve done for education.
Panelist Willie Geist also panned Reids remarks.
Im not here to defend the Koch brothers, but I would just say for the Senate Majority leader to say that Republicans are addicted to Koch, that seems a little beneath the office, Geist said.
Harold Ford, a former Democratic congressman from Tennessee and former chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council, called Reids comments out of line.
Theres no need for that kind of vitriol, Ford said. The Koch brothers, I dont share their political agenda, but at the same time, they have every right to spend their money as they choose, and I have every right to try to counter that with what I believe are strong, positive political messages.
A spokesman for the Kochs said the senate majority leader was attacking the brothers as a distraction.
Attacking Koch is nothing new and appears to happen whenever Senator Reid and the Democratic leadership want to distract voters from their abysmal record and failure to meaningfully address the issues in this country, said Robert A. Tappan, a spokesman for Koch Industries. Congress has a 13 percent approval rating for a reason. We are confident Americans will see through this tactic.
Republicans dismissed the senators comments as howling at the moon.
The reality is that he is powerless to stop millions of Americans from watching ads that tell the personal stories of real people who have been hurt by Obamacare, said Ryan Williams, a GOP strategist. Hes basically spitting in the ocean and fooling himself into thinking that hes making waves.
Watch the entire Morning Joe segment posted online by Les Grossman HD:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/03/06/morning-joe-freaks-out-over-democratic-claims-that-gop-is-addicted-to-koch/
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Full article posted with permission
Laelth
(32,017 posts)-Laelth
Rex
(65,616 posts)Like I care what that murderer thinks.
spanone
(135,831 posts)C_U_L8R
(45,002 posts)Just earned himself a lifetime supply of toilet paper.
librechik
(30,674 posts)too bad no one was there to speak for the 1%. Thank you, Harold Ford. Not.
Ghost of Tom Joad
(1,355 posts)And worse things have been said about Obama without a similar reaction. I had to leave for work before it was over so not sure how bad it got.
Berlum
(7,044 posts)2pooped2pop
(5,420 posts)bahrbearian
(13,466 posts)BrotherIvan
(9,126 posts)It's absolutely true and Democrats should STOP pulling punches against these bastards who are quite literally set on world domination. Harold Ford and his gentelman's club attitude toward politics is why the GOP always wins, even with minorities. Please don't back down Harry!
LuvNewcastle
(16,845 posts)They're buying our representatives in Congress and their influence on elections is far beyond what any other two Americans have. Remind the public about Citizens United and how billionaires are running smear campaigns to control the information people are getting. If the Democratic Party is really on the side of the people, they will discuss these things openly so that Americans will finally begin to understand how far gone our political system is. We can't accomplish anything unless we arm people with the truth, and the more they learn, the more eager they will be to really change things.
father founding
(619 posts)Are all the NBC'ers Koch addicts ?
jsr
(7,712 posts)Fuck Joe Scarborough.
LuvNewcastle
(16,845 posts)their contributions is far outweighed by their political activities. They've done more damage to this country than Al Qaeda ever did. There are a few others I can think of who also hold that distinction. They need to be exposed and America needs to see what they're really all about -- more money and more power for the 1%.
Ino
(3,366 posts)After all, pretty young female aides die in offices all the time!
luckykate54
(50 posts)It's time for Joe to go...
albino65
(484 posts)okaawhatever
(9,461 posts)France. I don't think the Repubs will care about them stealing oil from Native Americans but I do think they'll care about their stealing oil when the money was due to go to the US Gov't.
A Bloomberg Markets investigation has found that Koch Industries -- in addition to being involved in improper payments to win business in Africa, India and the Middle East -- has sold millions of dollars of petrochemical equipment to Iran, a country the U.S. identifies as a sponsor of global terrorism.
Internal company documents show that the company made those sales through foreign subsidiaries, thwarting a U.S. trade ban. Koch Industries units have also rigged prices with competitors, lied to regulators and repeatedly run afoul of environmental regulations, resulting in five criminal convictions since 1999 in the U.S. and Canada.
From 1999 through 2003, Koch Industries was assessed more than $400 million in fines, penalties and judgments. In December 1999, a civil jury found that Koch Industries had taken oil it didnt pay for from federal land by mismeasuring the amount of crude it was extracting. Koch paid a $25 million settlement to the U.S.
Phil Dubose, a Koch employee who testified against the company said he and his colleagues were shown by their managers how to steal and cheat -- using techniques they called the Koch Method.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-02/koch-brothers-flout-law-getting-richer-with-secret-iran-sales.html
Pretzel_Warrior
(8,361 posts)90-percent
(6,829 posts)The reason that is so is because the politicians they have purchased over the years have changed laws to make the formerly illegal perfectly legal.
There was a time in America where what the Koch's are currently practicing would have been perfectly ILLEGAL.
-90% Jimmy
kimbutgar
(21,141 posts)I wrote this back on February 7th about the Kochroaches
Americans for THE prosperity of the billionare Koch Bros.
I saw one of those nasty commercials yesterday against a democratic candidate. Between now and November we should do everything in our power to illuminate and expose them for the kochroaches they are.
My bumper sticker and twitter ideas.
No infrastructure spending in the US- thanks Koch bros.
The tea party brought and paid for by the Koch bros.
Like that oil spill in your community? - thanks Koch bros
The GOP brought and paid for by the Koch bros.
Chris Christie, Ted Cruz,Scott Walker etc owned and operated by the Koch bros.
Tea party = Koch bros.
Undrinkable water in your community - thanks Koch bros.
Deadlock in DC - thanks Koch bros.
Scalia, Alito and Thomas the supreme ct judges owned by the Koch bros.
No immigration reform - thanks koch bros
No gun control bills - thanks Koch bros ( they give money to the NRA)
No increase in minimum wage - thanks Koch bros.
Alec - legislative lobbyists who write bills to take away our voting rights - thanks Koch bros.
Koch bros destroyers of American democracy
Koch bros. your republican parents old John birch society
Koch bros they won't stop until we are all serfs and they are the monarchy
Koch bros destroyer of American brains by propaganda
Koch bros liars and traitors
Koch bros destroyers of the American dream
Horrible commercials with annoying music - thanks Koch bros
No expansion of Medicare in republican states - thanks Koch bros
Making people so stupid they think and vote against their best interests - thank Koch bros
Koch bros billionaires buying up and destroying our country one state at a time
Koch bros - America's pimps with their GOP whores.
I spent a week in Arizona and saw the ads and dealt with the Koch heads recently and it frightened me to no end.
Mobilize, educate, tweet, facebook, instagram, email do anything you can to tun the bright light on these kochroaches and expose these mother f ers and return this country to the people.
okaawhatever
(9,461 posts)illegal activity. It's not just that they're buying politicians and favorable treatment, it should be explained to the public that the reason they're doing it is to make money. They don't want the EPA because they have paid almost half a billion in fines, they don't want involvement in groups like the UN because they keep getting caught bribing foreign officials, ditto the orgs that caught them stealing oil and the rules that made it harder for them to sell oil equipment to Iran.
The Iran argument may be especially effective with Republicans because Fox news and the like have been hammering home what an evil threat Iran is to America. I think that would be too much cognitive dissonance for a Republican/tea partier to handler. Maybe the next time Iran is in the news for something, and Fox is covering it and the country's danger to America we should all tweet the link to this story.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-02/koch-brothers-flout-law-getting-richer-with-secret-iran-sales.html
freshwest
(53,661 posts)luckykate54
(50 posts)and MIKa Mouse. MSNBC only understands ratings. I'm hoping the reason they put Thomas Roberts there is to replace Joe in the future. Since he has been on Way to Early its been a better show. I even think the crew likes him better than Willie.
Pretzel_Warrior
(8,361 posts)Just like the Koch's. They are attacking Reid and Dems because they KNOW how effective the right light shining on Koch's really is.
Fuck Republicans. They have shown themselves to be AGAINST AMERICA! They hate Obama. They hate anyone not pulling don 6 figures in income or more per year.
They should never be listened to again after their behavior around shutdown, food stamps, unemployment extension and fighting for defense spending.
FUCK THEM!
Omaha Steve
(99,628 posts)Need I say more?
K&R!
OS
politicaljunkie41910
(3,335 posts)Maybe the $30 million figure is just for the current primary season, so far.
Fantastic Anarchist
(7,309 posts)And Willie Geist ain't his father.
And I'm willing to bet that Ford does "share their political agenda."
spanone
(135,831 posts)luckykate54
(50 posts)Zen Democrat
(5,901 posts)I'm so glad he lost his campaign for the Senate in Tennessee. I get sick just looking at his sell-out Wall Street snobby face.
MFM008
(19,808 posts)and the way the sprung to their defense. They do so much for the arts and cancer...yada yada blah blah, with out mentioning their environmental and civil rights destruction. TV went click.
Cha
(297,203 posts)Reid is right. Can't argue with the gop's addiction to Koch.