Mitt Romney has a Koch problem. And it's about to get worse, after oil magnate and 1% icon David Koch throws a $50,000-a-plate fundraiser for Romney this Sunday at his posh Hamptons seaside estate.
Clearly, its not a problem for Romney that the Koch brothers and their ultra-rich friends have pledged to exploit Citizens United by spending more than $1 billion to buy the election. That's not Romney's problem, that's a problem for the rest of us.
No, Mitt Romney's Koch problem isn't what the Koch brothers are doing for him -- it's what he'll do for them, and the possibility that voters will find out.
Romney's approach to the economy boils down to this: the ultra rich deserve even more advantages, and the poor and middle class should foot the bill. It's how he approached his job as a vulture capitalist at Bain Capital, buying up companies, laying off their workers, outsourcing their jobs, and saddling them with debt, all so he could extract wealth for his rich investors.
Now he wants to do the same thing to our country. Romney would lay off teachers and firefighters and expand the deficit in order to fund more tax privileges for the richest 1%. Romney would gut safeguards that protect consumers from reckless Wall Street traders. And he'd end Medicare, throwing countless seniors into poverty to pay for more tax loopholes for Big Oil (which not-so-coincidentally happens to be where the Kochs got their money).
No wonder the Koch brothers are bankrolling Romney's bid.
Unfortunately for Romney, voters are starting to wise up to what his presidency would mean for the middle class. Recent polls in presidential swing states show that the more voters learn about Romney's dealings at Bain Capital -- and how he'd bring the same approach to governing the country -- the more they turn away from him. In swing states where the race was tied just a month ago, President Obama has opened a modest but significant lead.
Now here come the Kochs, with their oil fortune and their naked attempt to buy the election for Romney -- living proof for voters that Romney has an agenda, and the middle class doesn't figure into it, except as the easy mark.
Mitt Romney may want to hide his Koch problem with the help of his super PACs, but all the cash in the world won't be enough to stop our people power from exposing the truth. More than 7 million MoveOn members will be working hard every day between now and November to pull back the curtain and expose Romney's 1% habit.
This Sunday, we're staging our latest intervention. As Romney's limo pulls up in front of David Koch's Hamptons estate -- where each $50,000 ticket will cost more than most people make in a year -- our members will be there to greet him. We'll band together with organizers and allies from a diverse array of groups united by our concern about the pernicious effects Koch cash is inflicting on our democracy.
No intervention is complete without a banner, and MoveOn's 99airlines plane will be at the Hamptons fundraiser too, flying a banner overhead that points out the simple truth: "Mitt Romney has a Koch problem." As more Americans find out, Romney's Koch problem will just get worse.
Sunday evening, Follow the "Koch party" outside Mitt Romney's fundraiser at David Koch's Hamptons estate at http://storify.com/MoveOn/mitt-romney-has-a-koch-problem.
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 |
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| Obama | Romney | |
|---|---|---|
| Electoral Votes (270 to win) |
332 | 206 |
| Obama | Romney | |
|---|---|---|
| Total | 65,899,660 | 60,932,152 |
| Percent | 51.1% | 47.2% |
| Democrats* | Republicans | |
|---|---|---|
| Current Senate | 53 | 47 |
| Seats gained or lost | +2 | -2 |
| New Total | 55 | 45 |
| Democrats | Republicans | |
|---|---|---|
| Seats won | 201 | 234 |
Once again just to play Devil's advocate... is this $50,000 that much different then when the President had $40,000 a plate dinners with the Hollywood People, so why was these people not protesting this... I guess it ok cause the $10,000 difference allows the middle class people to go?
But to answer your question - yes, it is different. What quid pro quo is being requested by the Hollywood folks? Do they want "R" ratings relaxed? Do they want personal tax breaks? Not if you listen to their rhetoric - they want taxes raised on the 1%, of which they are a component.
No consider - what quid pro quo is being sought by the Kochs? The list of answers is endless and hits to the core of our society and economy.
I guess there are not a lot of people in that camp anymore. The smarter ones are too ashamed to call themselves Republicans. But many of them still place their votes with the R’s.
It’s not like when you walk in to your favorite grocery store and there is a guy or gal with a cup or a community newspaper they want to sell for “a donation”. So you drop them a buck or two or all the change you have in your pocket. With them it is an ad hoc donation and you are done, until next time.
Well in this case it’s the Kochs dropping the dimes and paper in the cup of Mitt Romney. And these MOTHER FLICKERs aren’t done! They are BUYING a president; they are not contributing to one without EVER expecting anything in return. This is a prostitution transaction. The sex to take place later; Romney will then offer up the American people like sex slaves.
Meanwhile right wingers think it’s cute or awesome that Republicans are out collecting Democrats in campaign contributions. Totally clueless!
If Money equals Free Speech, then Free Speech shares the fungible qualities of money. Therefore, when a Koch spends a million dollars in the political arena, my Free Speech is measurably devalued, which represents an assault on my 1st Amendment rights. The Constitution demands redress!
Tax them all into the Upper Middle Class, where they will not have the wherewithall to threaten usurpation of our democracy!
The Koch Bro's and "Herr Karl Rove-Goebbles" are trying to buy the election and for a back up, Steal it by Voter suppression and Post Office Closures, to suppress the Absentee Voter's in Rural America.
Seek help and medication.