Koch Bros. Pledge $100 Million To Defeat President Obama

The money stakes in the 2012 presidential election got even bigger as conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch and about 250 to 300 other individuals pledged approximately $100 million towards the effort to defeat President Obama.

The pledge happened at a private three-day retreat of wealthy donors, Republican politicians and conservative activists. This is the ninth straight year the Koch’s have hosted the conference which last year was the target of protests and arrests. But this year’s meeting went off without hardly a mention in the media, let alone challenge.

Now obviously these donors are governed by limits on how much they can individually donate to a political candidate, which means this money will undoubtedly be funneled into SuperPACS to avoid the contribution and disclosure requirements. That also means this money will go to buy advertising that has no accountability to a particular candidate nor to any regulatory body for the truth of the matters stated.

This dark money will be used for Swift Boat style attacks on President Obama and do nothing to advance any substantive debate and the merits of the Obama administration as compared to his challenger. These ads don’t make voters more informed, they make them less. And on purpose.

The Koch brothers have been the major donors behind the Tea Party movement and efforts to discredit the science around man-made global warming because laws designed to curb greenhouse admissions, for example, threaten their bottom line. And as this latest pledge of dark money shows, nothing, not even the state of our democracy, is as important to the Koch brothers as their bottom line.

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Photo from tracy o via flickr.

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
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M.E. W.

3:51AM PST on Feb 26, 2012

The John Birch Society (ultra right wing cult) was co-counded by Fred Koch - father of the Koch Brothers....this explains a lot!

send a green star

Mark D.

6:10PM PST on Feb 13, 2012

The Satanic Brothers strike again. Too bad these brothers spawn won't be able to take their material wealth with them to the underworld after they die.

Ann S.

1:26PM PST on Feb 13, 2012

Everytime I hear "Kock Bros.", it literally makes me nauseous. Ick.

Nancy L.

9:57AM PST on Feb 12, 2012

This writer makes a lot of assumptions about the Koch's intentions and inner thoughts. Silly.

12:01PM PST on Feb 11, 2012

Paul, the fact that Fox's ratings are up there, just shows how many people are willing to be led by the nose.

And what you didn't mention, is how fast the ratings are falling.

Patrick F.

11:58AM PST on Feb 11, 2012

Paul B. Again with the misinformation. Show us WHERE is states that George Soros pledged ANYTHING to the Democrats, so far I only found pledges to clean energy, the Millenium promise, the Africa Project,the Open Society Institute, Black and Hispanic Youth Initiative, etc.

The closest thing was a $10 million grant to launch America Coming Together to help defeat Bush in 2004.

Robin b.

10:30AM PST on Feb 11, 2012

This is not democracy; this is whoever has the most money wins.
That is not by the people for the people.
Democracy is a good idea, too bad we don't really have one anymore.
Let's overturn Citizens United & cap the contributions. what will the Koch brothers do then?

John S.

7:39AM PST on Feb 11, 2012

Koch is a four letter word.

Paul B.

9:21AM PST on Feb 10, 2012

That is why FOX consistently receives the highest ratings of all other MSM outlets COMBINED in most time slots. There must be a reason no one listens to the others anymore, unless of course you have such a strict ideology you can't even consider viewing news that is unbiased.

I know it may hurt, but your knowledge base of the real actions of this administration will be reveled and you will no longer be treated like a mushroom. Kept in the dark and fed "manure" to put it nicely.

9:19AM PST on Feb 10, 2012

Janice... so Immelt and GE owning NBC and MSNBC would not be considered democratic controlled media. Obama is his best bud. I know they have recently sold to comcast, but they are not right wing group by any means.

Liberals have consumed the MSM. They agree with his policies, so that is all you see and hear from them. Anyone disagreeing with Obama is consistently labelled racist, bigots, stupid, foolish... just because we hold a different opinion. Look at how they treated the Tea Party versus the OWS. Amazing how a bunch of criminals, rioting etc are portrayed as heroic, while the calm, patriotic Tea party is portrayed as racist and bigots. That alone should give you all the insight you need when rating bias in the media.

The media is liberal, CBS, CNN, NBC, MSNBC and every rag in the country all spouts pro-Obama garbage. Where is the reporting on Fast and Furious, Keystone, suing states, the NLRB's fights against right to work, how about anything that doesn't shed favorable light on this administration.

When is the last time you heard a story on any of these media outlets that was NOT pro-Obama. Everything they air is anti-conservative.... everything.