Could the Koch brothers be buying the Republican presidential nomination with a Koch-Cain (pronounced like cocaine) campaign. They've been funding Cain as their mouthpiece for a long time?
Supposedly independent Herman Cain has been funded by the Koch brothers for at least six years, giving dozens of talks across the nation for the billionaires' Americans for Prosperity policy promotion organization.
flickr image by By johntrainor
An AP article, Long Ties to Koch Brothers Key to Cain's Campaign, reports that Herman Cain has had a long standing relationship to the billionaire Koch brothers. He's been a regular speaker at the Koch brothers Americans for Prosperity (AFP) for years and an AFP board member helped devise Cain's 9-9-9 financial plan.
Cain headed the Koch brother funded AFP's Prosperity Expansion Project, an anti-government, anti-tax, anti-regulation messaging org.
Cain has said that Liberals are destroying America and that stupid people are destroying America. One has to wonder how much of what he's saying he's gotten from his billionaire Koch brother backers.
Another tie to the Koch brothers is through Mark Block. Block is deeply tied to the tea party and, as head of AFP's Wisconcin operations, has been integrally involved, according to ThinkProgress, in voter suppression in Wisconsin. Block is now Herman Cain's campaign manager.
Another Thinkprogress article reports,
Though the Kochs have not made a public endorsement in the Republican presidential contest, Herman Cain's rise from niche radio host to presidential frontrunner appears to have been largely fueled by the Koch network. From Cain's early foray into politics to his presidential campaign speeches to his top staff, the former pizza executive has had close, consistent ties with the Koch Brothers.
The think progress article lists a long history of ties between Cain and the billion Koch brothers who have also been major funders of the tea party, then concludes,
" The Koch Brothers' investment in Herman Cain appears to already be paying dividends in advancing their corporatist agenda. Cain has centered his presidential bid around the "999 -- economic plan, an enormous corporate giveaway that would reduce companies' income tax rate from 35 percent to 9 percent. Not only would Koch Industries reap massive benefits, but the Koch Brothers themselves -- already tied for the fourth richest people in America -- would personally see their tax rates fall from approximately 28 percent to around 11 percent."
The AP article reports that Cain has several current or former AFP people helping him in his campaign. That raises questions of whether Cain's campaign is benefitting directly or indirectly from funding of salaries as well as direct and other indirect means of funding his Republican presidential primary efforts.
The internet tubes and TV waves are buzzing with the AP article's report on the Koch-Cain connection but libertarians have been talking about it since at least March, when economicpolicyjournal.com published an article, On Koch Supported Herman Cain, which criticizes the choice of Cain over Ron Paul:
What the hell are the Koch brothers thinking?
...Congressman Paul is also more principled. You would never see Congressman Paul, as a libertarian, ever say that the food stamp program is a good program. And it appears he has a different view about the Fed, than does the former Fed insider Cain. (Cain was chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.)
The article asks, " So what are the supposed libertarian Koch brothers up to here?" and concludes,
"...Cain is likely more controllable than Congressman Paul.
... If I'm a billionaire playing Kochopoly, I like this guy. He seems to have that ability to fine tune his thinking to the greater good of the billionaire game. I'm thinking, we may have another Paul Volcker or Colin Powell type. Volcker and Powell, I'm convinced, if called upon by their controls, could justify doing pretty much anything.
Further, Cain's not stuck on liberty the way Ron Paul is, he understands the necessary nuances that so often only billionaire oligarchs see.
In other words, the Kochs must be thinking, "Hey, he's a long shot, but we can make him our long shot. Let's lay down a few bucks on this guy."
MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan has been saying that the current election finance system makes elections auctions. It looks like the Koch brothers are going to buy the GOP election with a guy they'll control like a twenty-something former video-gamer controls a killer drone-- with deadly power and accuracy-- only they'll be finishing up their war on America's middle class.
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