VIDEO: Harry Reid’s Koch Rant

Posted on | March 15, 2014 | 14 Comments

In a Senate floor speech Thursday, the Senate Majority Leader used the word “radical” 21 times in attacking the Left’s bogeymen:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Thursday accused Republicans of holding up crucial assistance to Ukraine in order to protect the Koch brothers.
Reid tied the billionaire brothers who have bankrolled conservative causes to GOP demands that language delaying the Internal Revenue Service’s regulation of non-profit political advocacy groups be added to the Ukraine package. . . .
“It’s hard for me to comprehend how with a clear conscience they could say, ‘Ukrainians, we probably can’t help you because we’re trying to protect the Koch brothers,’” he said on Thursday. “And not only that, they’re saying to the American people that protecting the Koch brothers is more important than helping our country.”

Of the top 10 political contributors for the 2014 campaign cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, five represent Big Labor: The National Education Association (#2), the Carpenters and Joiners Union (#4), the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (#5), AFL-CIO (#6) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (#10). Combined with the #1 donor — the Democratic Governors Association — these groups have contributed $21,717,266 to Democrats so far. By comparison, Koch Industries (#45) has spent $963,250, according to the same source.

So what’s with the Koch obsession? Allahpundit professed that he was mystified, but as Chris Good of ABC News explained, the Kochs are believed to have contributed to the Americans for Prosperity TV ad campaign targeting vulnerable Senate Democrats for their ObamaCare votes. I say the Kochs are “believed” to have done this because AFP is a 501(c)4 group and, as such, isn’t required to make its donors public. This drives Democrats nuts, because . . . well, because Democrats hate free speech, I guess.

Anyway, what Harry Reid and the other Koch-mongering Democrats are doing is (a) trying to justify the administration’s crackdown on 501(c)4 groups, (b) hoping to fire up Democrat donors, (c) seeking media sympathy, and (d) trying to establish a narrative that the reason they’re about to get their asses kicked in the mid-terms is because of “shadowy” right-wing mega-funders.

It’s an excuse, in other words — a scapegoat rationalization intended to shift the blame for Democrat political failures onto pre-demonized right-wing villains, so that when Republicans take over the Senate after the 2014 elections, Democrats can claim they were cheated, and assert that the new GOP majority is illegitimate.

Category: Harry Reid

Comments

14 Responses to “VIDEO: Harry Reid’s Koch Rant”

Anon Y. Mous
March 15th, 2014 @ 2:24 am

Ted Cruz had some kind words for Harry Reid on the subject:
http://therightscoop.com/ted-cruz-hits-back-at-harry-reid-for-attacks-on-koch-brothers/
Matthew W
March 15th, 2014 @ 7:10 am

Harry Reid is Koo Koo for Koch Brothers !
Kirby McCain
March 15th, 2014 @ 9:56 am

The Talking Dead
CrustyB
March 15th, 2014 @ 10:05 am

“Radical” is the new “extreme.” If you’re (insert latest bogeyman term here) then you’re bad!
Rob Crawford
March 15th, 2014 @ 11:00 am

It struck me recently that the “speech and debate” clause that lets Reid slander with such impunity was written at a time when there was a mechanism to address his behavior — duelling. Perhaps we need to bring it back.
jim
March 15th, 2014 @ 11:57 am

What’s odd is that Sen. Reid would jeopardize the aid package to Ukraine by inserting language in the bill to attack his political enemies. Then again, not so odd; its his modus operandi.
HWGood
March 15th, 2014 @ 3:05 pm

Another side of the attack on the Koch brothers is to point out to anyone else thinking of becoming a donor to conservative causes just what is going to happen to them if they do.
It’s not just the IRS, OSHA, FBI and much of the rest of the federal alphabet investigating them but the public vilification from public officials and media figures as well.
Moderate Muslims, Stop; You’re Killing Us | Regular Right Guy
March 15th, 2014 @ 3:20 pm

[…] VIDEO: Harry Reid’s Koch Rant […]
zegler
March 15th, 2014 @ 10:03 pm

The “Koch Brothers” are TWO people.
Labor Unions represent hundreds of thousands — millions.
Your comparison (attempt to white-wash the Koch Bros) is ridiculous.
Adjoran
March 16th, 2014 @ 1:59 am

The Kochs provided a convenient Boogeyman for the Democratic left at a time they were sorely lacking in excuses. The fact the brothers are actually more libertarian-leaning than traditional conservatives didn’t slow them down a bit.

And the one year is no outlier. Open Secret’s list of political donors over the last 25 years show the Kochs at #59. Eleven of the top 16 are labor unions with 95%+ of their money going to Democrats. The only Republican-leaning contributor in the top ten is the Chamber of Commerce.

Soros gives more every year just to Think Progress than the Kochs contribute to all political organizations and candidates.

Their total lifetime contributions to AFP are estimated at $40,000, but the last was a couple years before the voting project that incensed the left. The Kochs have donated over $1.2 million lifetime to the ACLU, but that doesn’t seem to scare the lefties.

Besides, Reid, Obama, and most Democrats understand that the only people who will support them at this point are those who are either already true-believing leftists for whom lying is a tactic long approved, or people too darned stupid to figure out they are being lied to (or too busy feeding at the public trough to care). So they are free to lie with abandon, which suits them.
Adjoran
March 16th, 2014 @ 2:01 am

Good flunky. George Soros has a nickel waiting for you, clenched betwixt his buttocks.
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March 16th, 2014 @ 11:41 am

[…] VIDEO: Harry Reid’s Koch Rant : The Other McCain […]
K-Bob
March 16th, 2014 @ 12:16 pm

Harry Reid’s Koch rant smells like shame.
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March 22nd, 2014 @ 10:10 pm

[…] VIDEO: Harry Reid’s Koch Rant […]