The GOP Is Addicted to Oil Industry Money

The GOP is addicted to the oil industry's money. According to the Center for Public Integrity, the GOP has accepted 73% of the whopping $67 million the oil industry made in political contributions between 2000 and 2004. Bush himself is the oil industry's largest recipient, having taking over $1.7 million from the oil industry from 1998-2004. The wheels of the conservative movement, meanwhile, are lubricated by Koch Industries, the largest privately held oil company in the US. The anti-government think tank, the Cato Institute, was created by the Koch brothers, who remain its largest funders. Koch has also been a significant financier of the career of Sen. Sam Brownback, the man Nick Kristof hailed as "the new internationalist." So now that Bush, an addict, has pointed out America's addiction to oil, will his party now hold itself to a different standard than its constituency? Come on.