Brad Friedman reports that the billionaire Koch brothers
held a secret meeting with hundreds of wealthy donors at a Colorado resort in
June to plot strategy and collect donations to defeat Obama and elect
Republicans in 2012. [ If you are not familiar with the Koch brothers read “Who are the
Koch brothers?” below.] In the following
audio Friedman obtained of the meeting, Charles Koch references Saddam Hussein’s
call for a “mother of all wars” to
describe his strategy to defeat Obama. He
rallied his guests to donate millions (or even better billions) of dollars to help defeat Obama and boost
other right-wing causes. Listen to audio of these remarks obtained by Friedman:
Koch reportedly read off a list of those who had already
donated a million dollars or more toward his “mother of all wars” including Charles
Schwab of the Charles Schwab Corporation and John Templeton, Jr. of the
powerful John Templeton Foundation, John Childs (JW Childs Associates), Rick
and Helen DeVos (Amway), Dick and Joyce Farmer (Cintas), and Diane Hendricks
(ABC Supply) Gavin Aronson provides an
additional list of the Koch brothers' secret donors here: http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/09/koch-brothers-million-dollar-donor-club
Chris Christie of New Jersey, Rick Scott of Florida and Bob
McDonnell of Virginia were in attendance.
Christie reminded the group that It was
time to tackle the "big things," he said, like "Medicare,
Medicaid, and Social Security systems, because they are bankrupting
America." Of course we understand what the Republicans mean by "tackle," they mean "destroy."
Who are the Koch brothers?
Charles and David Koch
are co-owners of Koch Industries, an energy and chemical conglomerate inherited
from their father that is currently America's second-largest privately held
company. To date, the brothers have spent more than $100 million supporting
hard-right political campaigns and institutions. They are key funders of the
movement to discredit climate science and sow doubt on the scientific consensus
that human activities contribute to global warming.
The Kochs have tried
to keep everything about the seminars secret: the content, identities of
attendees and speakers—even meeting locations and dates.
The Kochs also
bankrolled the fledgling tea party by making massive investments in right-wing
political advocacy groups such as Americans for Prosperity, as detailed by Jane
Mayer in The New Yorker last
year. More generally, the brothers have dedicated a portion of their vast
wealth—and that of their benefactors—to influencing elections across the
nationand swaying public opinion on everything from health care and
fracking to labor policy and government spending.
Source: Brad Friedman, http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/09/exclusive-audio-koch-brothers-seminar-tapes
Read more about the Koch secret meeting here:
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