Irony never takes a holiday. Want to know what's what about the Koch Cabal antics? The Koch Brothers, in their infinite wisdom, have provided researchers a great tool:
At KochFacts.com you will find a litany of responses to the pesky facts being broadcast about how the Kochs use dark money to thwart democracy.
To be fair, the Koch brothers do not act alone. I call their cadre of democracy subverters The Koch Cabal and
have written extensively about this Cabal.
For example, the Sarah Scaife Foundation is a big Cabal funder:
Here are some other Koch Cabal members and the right wing foundations they fund.
That said, I am not sure which of the Koch Brothers advisors they listened to, but I would have advised them to NOT create a Response Website to the verifiable facts that are surfacing here, there, and everywhere.
The phrase Me Thinks the Kochs Doth Protest Too Much comes to mind.
It is so helpful to learn how perfectly www.KochFacts.com provides great links to information we might otherwise have missed. So, until they take down the Koch Protest site, dig in, find the links, and bookmark them.
Here's a heartening and helpful research source I had missed in my Koch Cabal research. This report was posted by The Daily Caller news site:
The 89 page Media Matters report.
This report really, really riled the Koch Cabal.
How dare the advocates for constitutional democracy plan!!
KochFacts responds. Click on this link, then scroll down until you find this title:
Politically Motivated Attacks and an Internal Memo from a Far Left Group
When you find the above title, scroll down to the beginning of paragraph 4 where you will find the link to the Media Matters 89 page report found in the introduction above.
In the same sentence you will find a link to an article titled
Inside Media Matters: David Brock’s enemies list
Notice how the use of the word "target" is used, btw.
An internal Media Matters For America memo obtained by The Daily Caller reveals that the left-wing media watchdog group employs an “opposition research team” to target its political enemies. Included in the list of targets are right-leaning websites, conservative think tanks, prominent financiers and donors, and more than a dozen specific Fox News Channel and News Corporation employees.
“We will conduct extensive public records searches and compile opposition books on individuals,” declares the memo, likely written in late 2009. Investigations, it says, “will focus on the backgrounds, connections, operations and political and financial activities of the individuals.”
The Media Matters document proves that progressives planned to address the political financial disaster unleashed by Citizens United. We are seeing some of the fruits of this planning beginning to surface!
Here are a few online tools that have surfaced which provide us with research tools to help expose the Koch Cabal.
The links are to diaries I have written about the Koch Cabal that include instructions on how to use these online, interactive tools.
StinkTanks.org for example. Btw, I might have named this group back in July.
Follow The Money
Muckety Maps
Thank you KochFacts for providing a list of PROGRESSIVE FOUNDATIONS linked at the end of paragraph 5. We have been looking for this information so we can responsibly fund them. Hat tip!
KochFacts ends their rebuttal to the Media Matters report with:
The MMFA internal memo outlines in detail the tactics of left and their assault on liberty and free speech. As Senator McConnell says, “For the Left, this isn’t about good government or corporate governance, it’s about winning at all costs – even if that means shredding the First Amendment.”
The internal memo is an important reminder of what we have seen and what we will continue to see if Americans don’t fight back against the intimidation tactics of this Administration and its allies.
Quite frankly, the above quote made me laugh out loud!
Well, the above is just one example of how, in their defense attempts, we can find some really great information.
It is very helpful to know how the Koch's view fact-based reports about their dark money efforts.
To quote the ancient Chinese general Sun Tzu.
"Know thy enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles, you will never be defeated. When you are ignorant of the enemy but know yourself, your chances of winning or losing are equal. If ignorant both of your enemy and of yourself, you are sure to be defeated in every battle."
Speaking of the Sun, here's another new, great research tool:
The Sun Center. Click here for Campaign Finance News for a compilation of dark money reporting easily missed otherwise. Here's an example from Montana that typifies how dark money is used in politics nationwide:
Political practices commissioner widens investigation of ‘dark money’ violations
“These complaints moving through the process should provide some caution and instruction for 2014 candidates: Be careful when you’re dealing with nonprofit corporations that want to help you,” Motl said.
The complaints targeted three groups that sent the mailers — Western Tradition Partnership, the Assembly Action Fund and Montana Citizens for Right to Work — and four candidates who allegedly benefitted from the groups’ actions.
Rep. Ted Washburn, R-Bozeman — the target of the attack mailers in 2010 in the HD69 Republican primary — said Wednesday he’s glad Motl is pursuing the matter.
“There was a lot of dark money, a lot of mailers that went out just before the election,” Washburn said. “They were just vicious, ugly. … I think (this) will be a lesson to the people who are filing and running (for office) that they have to be factual and correct in what they send out.”
Seriously? I guess it's all about persective. The Koch Cabal have theirs and we have have ours. Too bad for them that we know their
roots!
Perhaps The Onion could visit www.KochFacts.com as an inspirational source for their work. I know I will.
You will find a compilation of my Koch Cabal research here.
Koch Cabal Exposé Bonanza: You've Got to See This New Tax Return! Follow the $$