"The Billionaires Bankrolling the Tea Party": Is this important?

[IGBT]

It would be great if everyone would get back on topic. The OP is not about Soros or the Ford Foundation.

Do you think it is important that Billionaires are backing the Tea Party?

your tunnel vision and selective indignation are obvious to the most casual observer.

 

[BoberFett]

Isn't this a repost?

It's even got all the same chimps arguing as the other thread.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2100648

 

[hal2kilo]

But Soros... well...

Oh, this is fun.

But the Koch brothers.... well....

 

[Amused]

Oh, this is fun.

But the Koch brothers.... well....

Exactly my point.

 

[boomerang]

Do you think it is important that Billionaires are backing the Tea Party?

In this thread I have seen no evidence that this is the case. Rumors, conjectures and opinion - yes. Evidence? None. As such it deserves no answer. It's nothing more than fuel for a fire.

 

[nobodyknows]

It would be great if everyone would get back on topic. The OP is not about Soros or the Ford Foundation.

Do you think it is important that Billionaires are backing the Tea Party?

Billionaires are the ones calling the shoots on both sides, that's why I have so much anarchist in me.

 

[Craig234]

Does it really mater who funds these groups?

So, that's your position. It 'doesn't matter who funds our political parties.'

I could explain why that's wrong, but let's hear more from you about how it 'doesn't matter who funds our political parties'. A sampling:

What do you have to say about government unions and their control over our country and the Democrat Party???...

In these two states the unions have essentially taken over the states through their control of the Democrat Party.
Their union dues fund the party and their vast numbers allow them to force the party to do their biding.

Any candidate who doesn't walk lock step with the unions faces a primary challenge or gets their largest source of funding
cut off costing them their office. Then come general election the large Democrat majority in each state ensures that
union approved Democrats stay in control of the state legislatures.

So we now have at least two states that are controlled by public unions who are more interested in their own self interest
than the interest of the people who they are suppose to be working for.

What do you have to say about this?

I would say that there is a 99.9% chance of some type of fundraising scandal post election.

We know he took money from people in the Gaza strip, he gave the ones they found back.

We know there have been numerous reports of donations being made with stolen credit card numbers, again refunded.

We know, if you read the right wing media, that he has disabled basic fraud protection mechanisms on his fund raising
sight. TONS of information about that floating around. People named Osama Bin Laden with address such Afghanistan etc
making donations. In short, Obama does not compare the credit card info to the info given by the donor to see if they
match. This opens up ALL kinds of fraud issues.

How's that 99.9% fundraising scandal coming?

As I have been saying for a long time. It seems that Obama's money miracle is not so much little people giving Obama
little bits of money, but big time donors giving big time money.

BTW Obama raised $9 million in one night in Hollywood. 250-300 People paid $28,500 each!!! Who do you think has a bigger
voice in his decisions, the people who are sending him $50-100 each of the people who paid $28,500??

Think of it this way. In August he raised $66 million, or $2 mil a day. That one $9 million night is the equivalent of
4+ days of fund raising.

In a thread "Why do most Hollywood celebrities support Obama?"

Look at the life styles of hollywood types: drugs, parties, multiple sexual partners. It is very permissive and 100%
opposite of what the right wing conservatives would view as acceptable behavior.

In 1970 a bomb went off killing three members of Ayers group. Later Ayers said the bomb was "destined for the army base
nearby"

Despite this Obama attended a fund raiser Ayers held for Obama at his house....

End with a picture of Obama and Ayers and some question about Obama and his judgement.

The Obama supporters might not care about Obama and Ayer but a lot of other Americans are going to be surprised to hear
about this connection.

You started a thread titled "Big donors are the key to Obama's record haul":

And his pledge to not take money from lobbyists is a bunch of BS as well. At least 130 of his bundlers are lawyers from
law firms with lobbying arms. And another 100 are top executives or brokers from investment businesses. Obama can claim
to not talk money from the lobbyists themselves, but he is taking money from everyone else associated with them.

I wonder how much of this story will get into the mainstream American press.

Clearly, you don't think it matters who funds our political parties.

Except that the funding by a group results in "their control over the country", so they've "essentially taken over the states", as the donations "allow them to force the party to do their [bidding]", and now we have "states that are controlled", when it fits your agenda.

Except that who is funding matters when you insinuate funding from "the Gaza Strip" will drive his policies - or his policies will be bought by those who want "drugs, parties, multiple sexual partners" from Hollywood. Or even better, that the donations from a fundraiser linked with William Ayers will drive him to support the type of terrorist violence you list.

Except that you say it matters simply if they're big donors', and demand that the issue of his donors get widespread attention in the media - for something that's 'who cares'?

 

[Craig234]

Billionaires are the ones calling the shoots on both sides, that's why I have so much anarchist in me.

Anarchy is the rule of the rich. It's the end of the only thing that can keep them in any check against the public interests, a democratic government.

Anarchy is nothing but the road to tyranny with a footnote 'but that's not what we wanted to happen', by people who do not appreciate the value of democracy.

It is the end of the people being organized, and the return to the rule of the jungle, which the few will win, the masses returned to their historic norm as serfs.

 

[Jhhnn]

Maybe PJ can offer up a Cheney-esque comment. Maybe "I never said that" or something similar. I mean, it's not like he's on videotape, right?

Another article I offered up earlier in another thread goes into greater depth wrt the Koch bros long time involvement in funding rightwing causes du jour, ruthlessly exploiting the sentiments they've fostered. They played the Fundies for all it was worth, and now it's the tea partiers... Their efforts are referred to as the "Kochtopus" among Washington's insiders, obviously for good reason-

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/30/100830fa_fact_mayer?currentPage=all

 

[dahunan]

Does it really mater who funds these groups?

And how come you guys never complain about the unions spending hundreds of millions of dollars to support left wing candidates?

Losing respect for your party and their principles there eh john? They are social terrorists if they are just trying to cause problems and it would be nice to see their karma take care of them

 

[Infohawk]

The funding doesn't really matter. What matters is that the tea party movement is an incoherent mess.

 

[BoberFett]

The funding doesn't really matter. What matters is that the tea party movement is an incoherent mess.

Isn't that what some Democrats around here claim is a positive about their party? They say the Republicans are an evil hive mind out to destroy the US while Democrats are good and all think differently.

 

[Jhhnn]

Isn't that what some Democrats around here claim is a positive about their party? They say the Republicans are an evil hive mind out to destroy the US while Democrats are good and all think differently.

Heh. There's a difference between being diverse and being outright contradictory, and between transparent funding and stealth attacks.

Obviously, you'll never see that, certainly never admit it if you even catch a glimmer. The Koch bros are bending the Tea Party to their will with their money, exploiting discontent and an economic situation they helped create, bringing the partiers back into the fold of the centralized money distribution scheme of repub politics in general. And the Tea Party will respond as desired, because the membership is either too broke or too cheap to fund their own movement... and because despite their libertarian trappings, they respond well to authority figures who know how to push their buttons, massage their fears and egos...

 

[NoStateofMind]

Heh. There's a difference between being diverse and being outright contradictory, and between transparent funding and stealth attacks.

Obviously, you'll never see that, certainly never admit it if you even catch a glimmer. The Koch bros are bending the Tea Party to their will with their money, exploiting discontent and an economic situation they helped create, bringing the partiers back into the fold of the centralized money distribution scheme of repub politics in general. And the Tea Party will respond as desired, because the membership is either too broke or too cheap to fund their own movement... and because despite their libertarian trappings, they respond well to authority figures who know how to push their buttons, massage their fears and egos...

The Tea Party as it stands now is nothing about what it was supposed to be. This version, with Glenn Beck, Sara Palin and all the other bandwagon jumpers only took what WAS a grassroots movement and championed its name on their sleeve to further their own political agendas. The part that worries me most is that there are many who do not realize its been hijacked, overridden, sucked of any real change and replaced with talking heads who until Bush's departure were all about being a Neo-Conservative.

Mr. Beck is a master at playing on people's emotions. Until recently I never heard him say much about "God", but since he has taken the job at Faux News it seems he likes to make points and analogies relating to religion. Hannity was a coward essentially lambasting Ron Paul for his strict Constitutional views and now supports the very thing that Paul's supporters started. The Tea Party money bomb. He even has concerts!

Those at the Right saw their power dwindling and reached out to steal whatever lifeline they could find which happened to be the Tea Party.

 

[irishScott]

"Money is the mother's milk of politics."

 

[piasabird]

So did the New York Times do an article looking at the backers of the propsed Masque?

 

[BoberFett]

Heh. There's a difference between being diverse and being outright contradictory, and between transparent funding and stealth attacks.

Obviously, you'll never see that, certainly never admit it if you even catch a glimmer. The Koch bros are bending the Tea Party to their will with their money, exploiting discontent and an economic situation they helped create, bringing the partiers back into the fold of the centralized money distribution scheme of repub politics in general. And the Tea Party will respond as desired, because the membership is either too broke or too cheap to fund their own movement... and because despite their libertarian trappings, they respond well to authority figures who know how to push their buttons, massage their fears and egos...

You're quite the magician. You can take the exact same behavior from the left and right and pretend one is good while the other is bad. You're a partisan of the worst kind, and the problem with this country.

 

[Jhhnn]

You're quite the magician. You can take the exact same behavior from the left and right and pretend one is good while the other is bad. You're a partisan of the worst kind, and the problem with this country.

And you merely crawl deeper into denial, refuse to address the actual issues raised in the thread, attack me personally instead.

The exact same behavior? I haven't stealthily spent hundreds of millions to hire propagandists, influence politics over the last 30 years, maybe billions, but the Koch bros have. Nor do I deny their right to do so, but I will claim that they've done so dishonestly, and still are, along with their fellow funders of the Right.

After all, doesn't it seem a bit odd that billionaires are financing what are supposedly grassroots movements, hiding behind a shifting collage of tax exempt organization they created in order to do so?

The way it turns out, Tea Partiers end up not speaking to power, but rather unknowingly speaking for power, the power of wealth, and against the only thing they really have any say in, the govt of the people.

 

[BoberFett]

And you merely crawl deeper into denial, refuse to address the actual issues raised in the thread, attack me personally instead.

The exact same behavior? I haven't stealthily spent hundreds of millions to hire propagandists, influence politics over the last 30 years, maybe billions, but the Koch bros have. Nor do I deny their right to do so, but I will claim that they've done so dishonestly, and still are, along with their fellow funders of the Right.

After all, doesn't it seem a bit odd that billionaires are financing what are supposedly grassroots movements, hiding behind a shifting collage of tax exempt organization they created in order to do so?

The way it turns out, Tea Partiers end up not speaking to power, but rather unknowingly speaking for power, the power of wealth, and against the only thing they really have any say in, the govt of the people.

Keep bleating little lamb. If believing that your side is different helps you sleep at night, I won't take away your security blanket of denial.

 

[Infohawk]

Isn't that what some Democrats around here claim is a positive about their party? They say the Republicans are an evil hive mind out to destroy the US while Democrats are good and all think differently.

As Jhn suggested I'm talking about incoherence in the message and not diversity. The Tea Party movement doesn't have a message. Yesterday they even tried to act like their march or whatever wasn't political. If not, then wtf is it?

 

[BoberFett]

As Jhn suggested I'm talking about incoherence in the message and not diversity. The Tea Party movement doesn't have a message. Yesterday they even tried to act like their march or whatever wasn't political. If not, then wtf is it?

The Democrats preach against the evils of capitalism and how it crushes the middle class as they plow money into banks and other massive corporations, and that's not incoherence of message?

I'm not trying to defend the Tea Party, I don't follow them and have no idea what their platform is outside of the few photos that get posted here with rednecks demanding lower taxes, usually with misspelled signs. But to pretend that there's a difference between the tactics of the two major parties (and let's face it, the Tea Party is still a part of the Republican party) is foolish.

 

[OrByte]

The Democrats preach against the evils of capitalism and how it crushes the middle class as they plow money into banks and other massive corporations, and that's not incoherence of message?

I'm not trying to defend the Tea Party, I don't follow them and have no idea what their platform is outside of the few photos that get posted here with rednecks demanding lower taxes, usually with misspelled signs. But to pretend that there's a difference between the tactics of the two major parties (and let's face it, the Tea Party is still a part of the Republican party) is foolish.

good points.

I just don't think you can call anything "grass roots" when in fact there are less than a handful of people orchestrating/funding operations.

Doesn't seem very "grassroots" to me.

 

[Infohawk]

The Democrats preach against the evils of capitalism and how it crushes the middle class as they plow money into banks and other massive corporations, and that's not incoherence of message?

I'm not trying to defend the Tea Party, I don't follow them and have no idea what their platform is outside of the few photos that get posted here with rednecks demanding lower taxes, usually with misspelled signs. But to pretend that there's a difference between the tactics of the two major parties (and let's face it, the Tea Party is still a part of the Republican party) is foolish.

What you're saying is the Democrats are hypocrites or don't practice what they preach. That's different than having an incoherent message.

 

[dmcowen674]

It would be great if everyone would get back on topic. The OP is not about Soros or the Ford Foundation.

Do you think it is important that Billionaires are backing the Tea Party?

I said over 10 years ago you are all just a pawn in a giant Monopoly game by a few rich individuals.

You all seem to be enjoying being a game piece.

 

[Siddhartha]

Isn't this a repost?

It's even got all the same chimps arguing as the other thread.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2100648

Oops, sorry!