Ever wonder how the Tea Party got such traction?
How they came out of nowhere -- to become an influential presence on the National Stage?
Me too.
It was simple really.
Take 2 parts unlimited Libertarian Billionaire Funds.
Add 1 part unlimited say-anything Loon, one with a giant soapbox.
Get 8 Conservative Think Tanks, to develop a half-dozen Distraction Appetizers.
Stir ingredients, briskly. Mixing in some super-hot Jalapenos, for effect.
Blend it all together, day after day, in the media Mix-master called Faux News.
and Voila!
The Tea Party, is formed.
Very half-baked, of course.
3 guesses, who the Loon is ...
I wrote a ranty diary yesterday, looking into the Tea Party creation Question. And the name of Koch was fairly easy to spot as some of the Chief Chefs.
The Tentacles of Outrage and Denial -- Funded by Koch! by jamess -- Jan 14, 2011
(pronounced as "Coke", I believe)
The discussion thread dared to make the wild conjecture that Glenn Beck is probably getting some help from the Koch PR Machine. And to my mild surprise, THAT did turn out to be the case. Glenn has yet to "story board" their Agenda though.
So let me fill in, on that regard -- and Connect a few more Koch Brothers Dots.
For those who are saying Koch Who? I would point you to yesterday's diary, above, which has a wealth of info and links, for all-things Koch (ignore the ranty parts if you want). Here is a quick thumbnail about the Koch Brothers' means and motives:
The billionaire brothers who are waging a war against Obama.
by Jane Mayer, NewYorker -- Aug 30, 2010
The Kochs are longtime libertarians who believe in drastically lower personal and corporate taxes, minimal social services for the needy, and much less oversight of industry -- especially environmental regulation. These views dovetail with the brothers’ corporate interests.
In a study released this spring, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst’s Political Economy Research Institute named Koch Industries one of the top ten air polluters in the United States. And Greenpeace issued a report identifying the company as a "kingpin of climate science denial."
And the "smoking gun" evidence that links the Beckster with the Kochsters ...
(Big mistake Glenn, mentioning the Name of those, that shall not be named.)
Beck credits oil magnate Charles Koch during rant parodying An Inconvenient Truth
by Oliver Willis, mediamatters -- June 29, 2010
During Beck's latest bizarre parody/rant today about GDP and Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, you may have missed him acknowledging the source of his information.
Beck said, "I want to thank Charles Koch for this information." Who is Charles Koch? Beck never said, but Charles Koch is the CEO and president of Koch Industries. Koch is also a co-founder of the conservative Cato Institute (Cato Institute representatives have appeared earlier this year on Beck advocating the privatization of Social Security and Medicare).
Koch Industries is in the manufacturing industry and is heavily involved in the petroleum, chemicals and energy sectors. Forbes magazine currently ranks Koch as the second largest private company in America. In 2000, Koch Industries was ordered to pay a "record fine" by the EPA and the Justice Department for claims resulting from "more than 300 oil spills from its pipelines and oil facilities in six states."
They got to keep that Denial Machine running don't they. Business kind of depends on it.
Afterall "remaking America" in their image, is hard work. Just ask the breathless, tearful one.
Glenn Beck, Rupert Murdoch and the Koch brothers - are these the guys who have the answers?
By Joyce Pines - Kalamazoo Gazette -- Sep 07, 2010,
[...]
But David and Charles Koch are not content just to get rich. No, they appear to have decided to work behind the scenes to remake America in such a way as to allow them to continue to get richer without having to worry about things like paying much in taxes or dealing with pesky environmental regulations.
Quietly, they are spending millions on lobbyists to insure that nothing gets passed into law that will get in their way.
Their politics, according to Mayer, is not just right-wing Republican, they are actually Libertarian. David ran for vice president on the Libertarian ticket in 1980. The platform called for the abolition of the FBI, CIA, federal regulatory agencies, the end of Social Security, minimum wage laws, gun control and all personal and corporate income taxes. It proposed the legalization of prostitution, recreational drugs and suicide, Mayer reported. It advocated that government should be reduced to one function: the protection of individual rights.
Nice Guys. ... Nice if you're in the Top 2 Percent that is.
Very Persuasive Guys too -- that is the scary part ... Several Billion Dollars on hand CAN buy you a lot of Delicious Appetizers -- and LOT of Faux PR too.
It can buy you an overheated, angry group of Citizen Activists -- ready to vote against their own best interests. Against the interests of their Children too.
Tea time, anyone?
Secretive Republican Donors Are Planning Ahead
By KATE ZERNIKE, NYTimes -- October 19, 2010
Koch Industries, the longtime underwriter of libertarian causes from the Cato Institute in Washington to the ballot initiative that would suspend California’s landmark law capping greenhouse gases, is planning a confidential meeting at the Rancho Las Palmas Resort and Spa to, as an invitation says, "develop strategies to counter the most severe threats facing our free society and outline a vision of how we can foster a renewal of American free enterprise and prosperity."
[...]
Those efforts, the letter makes clear, include countering "climate change alarmism and the move to socialized health care," as well as "the regulatory assault on energy," and making donations to higher education and philanthropic organizations to advance the Koch agenda.
[...]
Charles Koch, whose wealth Forbes magazine calculates at about $21.5 billion, argues in his letter that "prosperity is under attack by the current administration and many of our elected officials." He repeatedly warns about the "internal assault" and "unrelenting attacks" on freedom and prosperity. A brochure with the invitation underscores that to the Koch network, "freedom" means freedom from taxes and government regulation. Mr. Koch warns of policies that "threaten to erode our economic freedom and transfer vast sums of money to the state."
Money, money, ... MONEY!
turning the page
[...]
The participants in Aspen dined under the stars at the top of the gondola run on Aspen Mountain, and listened to Glenn Beck of Fox News in a session titled, "Is America on the Road to Serfdom?" (The title refers to a classic of Austrian economic thought that informs libertarian ideology, popularized by Mr. Beck on his show.) The participants included some of the nation’s wealthiest families and biggest names in finance
[...]
To encourage new participants, Mr. Koch offers to waive the $1,500 registration fee. And he notes that previous guests have included Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court, Gov. Haley Barbour and Gov. Bobby Jindal, Senators Jim DeMint and Tom Coburn, and Representatives Mike Pence, Tom Price and Paul D. Ryan.
That's the behind the scenes world of Political Influence that probably won't see on your TVeees.
Beck would you care to Diagram that Aspen Meeting on your Chalkboard please?
Nope, didn't think so ...
"Letting people sink or swim on their own," is probably something Glenn only says to certain well-funded audiences.
Pull on that thread long enough, and the Panel of Koch-funded Climate Experts is likely to unravel just like this one did, not so long ago.
http://www.youtube.com/...
"I too, believe that Nicotine is Not addictive."
Look at how that one, finally turned out.
The Climate Change Issue -- is no different --
in fact it's even more dangerous, given the total number of people, and species, that will eventually be impacted, by the fake testimony of so many paid experts.
Denial is denial, no matter What Spices you mix it up with. Just ask the EPA.
Funny how such patently-obvious Lies, look so scandalous, a few decades later, in the Light of Facts. In the real world of where the other 98% of us, are forced to live with the fallout, of those clever lies and deceptions.
Denial has consequences.
On second thought Funny, is not the right word for it.
Scandalous is.