I swear this is not based on an article in The Onion. Here's the headline from Mediaite:
The Young Turks Network Raises $4 Million From Former Republican Presidential Candidate.
Yes folks, Cenk Uygur has sold a large stake in his TYT franchise to Buddy Roemer, whose career in Republican politics was capped by his run for President in 2012. Roemer's private equity fund, Roemer, Robinson, Melville & Co., LLC. ponied up $4 million in financing for The Young Turks, with an option to raise that investment to $8 million as reported by Matt Willstein at Mediaite.
Buddy Roemer started out in politics as a Democrat in Louisiana. However in March of 1991, while serving as Louisiana's Governor, Roemer switched his affiliation to Republican at the urging of John Sununu, George HW Bush's chief of staff.
Roemer announced his candidacy for President in May of 2012 after forming an exploratory commitee. Roemer's bid for the Presidency was never really taken seriously. The Republicans kept him out of the Presidential debates and Roemer courted endorsements from various fringe political parties. Roemer refused to accept contributions of more than $100 dollars per citizen, which didn't net him much campaign cash, but he did get a lot of publicity, especially when he starred in an ad produced ny Stephen Colbert's PAC.
It's hard to say what is behind this investment decision. Cenk Uygur, who is the driving force behind The Young Turks has always had something of a Libertarian streak. I have always been one of Cenk's harshest critics, so I must confess this marriage of Roemer and Uygur strikes me as a cynical marriage of convenience, whose ultimate purpose I cannot fathom. Roemer is someone who dearly wants to wield some political power once again and maybe he sees TYT as the vehicle that can make him relevant and Cenk may be willing to sell his soul for the big bucks.
In any event, I can't wait to see how this develops