Billionaire Who Denies Connection to Tea Parties Addressed Crowd at Glenn Beck Rally

[Joanne98]

By Adele M. Stan, AlterNet
Posted on August 29, 2010, Printed on August 30, 2010
http://www.alternet.org/story/148014/

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In a darkened hotel ballroom, on the eve of Glenn Beck's burlesque of self-righteousness at the Lincoln Memorial, some 2,500 activists listened politely to the tall, impeccably dressed elder at the podium as he stumbled through his introduction of the evening's guest of honor, the conservative columnist George Will. The speaker was introduced simply as chairman of the board of the Americans For Prosperity Foundation, the organization that sponsored the event.

Few among the rank-and-file recognized the billionaire David Koch -- heir to the fortunes of Koch Industries -- or knew him as the man who bankrolls their activism, whose largess subsidized many of their trips to the nation's capital to take part in AFPF's organizing conference, and the Beck rally the following day.

Beck, you'll recall, is in the employ of the billionaire Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corporation (the parent company of Fox News and the Wall Street Journal) has been in cahoots, as AlterNet reported, with Kochs' AFPF since the inception of the Tea Party movement. Koch's halting public speaking style befits his usual reluctance in recent years to interact with the public. He prefers to be known as the philanthropic presence behind the great institutions of New York: the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the American Museum of Natural History and the New York City Ballet. Indeed, he made his entrance to the stage at the AFPF banquet to the strains of "New York, New York," which seemed a bit out of place in a room filled with the sounds of Southern drawls and Midwestern twangs.

But over the course of the past year, Koch has earned a new reputation, one he's not keen to have: the Daddy Warbucks of the Tea Party movement.

http://www.alternet.org/teaparty/148014/billionaire_who_denies_connection_to_tea_parties_addressed_crowd_at_glenn_beck_rally/

[Oceansaway]

1. K&R...n/t

[Ninga]

2. We need to do all we can to make sure this story keeps its legs. Right now it is the Dems

who are on the defensive.

As far as I am concerned, the right gets a pass at having their feet to the fire, and they skate on having to ansswer.

Let's keep this Koch story afloat. I will be writing a letter to the editor about this strange association.

[emulatorloo]

3. It appears to be "too hard" for any of the media to report it, other than Maddow, New Yorker and NYT

Every other media outlet seems to take the teaparty at face value,

I will do what I can to bring it to their attention. Letter to the editor is a great idea.

[MinM]

8. The author of "Friday Night Lights" is obviously aware...

of the Koch Family as evidenced by this tweet over the weekend:

http://twitter.com/buzzbissinger/status/22477000525

Beck like Hitler also had the backing of rich industrialists (the Koch brothers) supporting him for their own agenda.

via

LaRussa & Pujols Attend the Glenn Beck Rally, Buzz Bissinger Stews, St. Louis Cardinals’ Season Burns | The Big Lead

http://thebiglead.com/index.php/2010/08/30/larussa-pujols-attend-the-glenn-beck-rally-buzz-bissinger-stews-as-st-louis-cardinals-season-burns/

[monmouth]

4. What is disturbing is George Will...I mean, WTF??? How can he

be seen as a legitimate columnist/panelist with such ties to this group?

[pscot]

7. George Will is a political hack

He surrendered any claim to journalistic legitimacy 30 years ago when he used a stolen Carter briefing book to prime Ronnie Reagan for the debates with Carter. He's a well paid political prostitute, no more, no less.

[era veteran]

5. Koch family has chops though, Big supporters of the John

Birch Society. One founding member of the JB Society was Fred Koch, founder of Koch Industries. John Birch had no manners and that got him killed, not a commie thing either. Fuck the Koch family, pigs!

[flamingdem]

6. The REASON they can function as they do = Koch Brothers nt

[MinM]

9. Democrats file IRS complaint against Americans for Prosperity

This is a start...

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2010/08/americans-for-prosperity-ads-/1

Now we need to say on top of this.

Note to Dems: Run Against the Koch Brothers