Last year, the New York Times revealed that petrochemical billionaire David Koch was among a small group of multibillionaires quietly promoting a presidential candidacy for former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. Today, a report by investigative journalist Peter Stone states that Koch actually hosted Romney last summer for one of his first large fundraising parties. ThinkProgress has the story.
Romney’s team boasts veteran bigwig bundlers such as Woody Johnson, who owns the New York Jets; Wayne Berman, who chairs the lobbying firm Ogilvy Government Relations; and David Koch of Koch Industries. This trio and other big bundlers have done yeoman’s work already. Last August, Koch and his wife hosted an evening soiree at their home in the Hamptons for Romney. Since the November elections, Romney has done about one conference call a month with a nationwide group of some 300 fundraisers to keep them in the loop.
The Koch brothers have historically played a key role in selecting GOP candidates. Last year, they guided a large contingent of climate change-denying candidates to victory using their Tea Party “Americans for Prosperity” and “No Climate Tax” front groups.
During the ’90s, Koch heavily supported Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole. At one point, Koch “turned his Gatsbyish estate in Southampton, New York, into the site for celebrating Dole’s 72nd birthday in July 1995, raising $150,000 for his campaign.” Dole reciprocated throughout his career; at one point offering legislation to suppress an investigation into Koch Industries’ massive theft of oil from Indian reservations and public lands.
– A TP cross-post.
Related Posts:
- How Koch Industries makes billions corrupting government and polluting for free
- Video: Scott Brown begs David Koch for money
- Koch Industries outspends Exxon Mobil on climate and clean energy disinformation
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Language Intelligence: Lessons on persuasion from Jesus, Shakespeare, Lincoln, and Lady Gaga
Koch doesn’t really care about ideology- that’s for the rubes. He wants someone electable who will follow orders. Huckabee and Barbour are not.
Are there enough head vises in existence? I fully expect 5 bazillion TeaBaggers to explode.
Do you think the Koch brothers might secretly be Mormons? Hmmmm……
Standing next to Mr. Romney is a real class warrior.
I know I wouldn’t want my picture taken with David Koch.
Class Warfare, the Final Chapter
Tuesday 15 March 2011
by: Michael Pirsch, t r u t h o u t | News Analysis
There is overwhelming evidence that we are entering the final chapter of class warfare in the US. Today, in the “public arena,” it is forbidden to say class warfare, and many citizens do not regard themselves as working class. The assault on language comes compliments of the propaganda apparatus, which includes: public relations, marketing, corporate media and the entertainment industry, universities, think tanks and so on. Its purpose is to distract our attention from serious matters so we can focus on trivial matters – usually involving consuming. Edward Bernays, the founder of the modern propaganda industry, described the process:
“Those who manipulate the unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government. We are governed, our minds molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested largely by men we have never heard of … in almost every act of our lives whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires that control the public mind.[1]”
http://www.truth-out.org/class-warfare-final-chapter68146
VIDEO
The Koch Brothers employed a PR firm (New Media Strategies) to airbrush Wikipedia articles… They edited the Wiki pages of Charles Koch, David Koch, the Political activity of the Koch Family & created baseless comparisons between Koch & conspiracy theories about George Soros…”
http://www.frequency.com/video/are-koch-brothers-paying-people-to/3427669
http://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/g53w8/the_koch_brothers_employed_a_pr_firm_new_media/
Criminals
Prokaryotes, Thanks for these links.
The best little democracy that money can buy.
I forgot that the inspiration for #6 came so long ago. Here’s a link to the original 1971 commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2msbfN81Gm0
Coca-Cola’s commercial — very classy
Koch Industry’s commercialism — not so classy
Why doesn’t Obama declare the Koch brothers to be enemy combatants and throw them into Guantanamo Bay?