Well I'll be a monkey's uncle! Hell just froze over on MSNBC.

[calimary]

Well, at least one corner of Hell anyway.

Michael Isikoff. Unbelievable! He just went on Tamron Hall's "NewsNation" and reported on this letter from the koch brothers to the republi-CONS in the House of Reps - saying they don't approve of the tactics to tie the Affordable Care Act to all these deadly theatrics and attempted fucking with the national debt limit and possible default. THEN, Isikoff actually pointed out the irony behind it - that the koch brothers were the main financial engines of ALL the bad-guys' efforts to do exactly that. He actually pointed out that it was them, or them indirectly, who bankrolled Heritage Action and other well-organized and funded wrong-wing outfits that are doing their damndest to do exactly this.

Well how 'bout that? For once, Isikoff managed to find his way around a stained blue dress with a Clinton attached, and dig up something that's actually far removed from that. For years, that's all he was capable of, despite all the other material out there that was ripe for investigative/muckraking efforts.

If I didn't see it with my own eyes, I would never have believed it - especially from somebody like him. NEVER expected to see or hear somebody as wholly-owned as Michael Isikoff to connect the dots like that.

AMAZING. Truly AMAZING!!!

[randome]

1. We live in interesting times.

[hr][font color="blue"][center]You should never stop having childhood dreams.[/center][/font][hr]

[daleanime]

2. Buckle up

[calimary]

3. Yeah, no kidding!

I NEVER thought I'd see anybody like him connecting the dots, and pointing out the truths. Well well well. Not just the sheer bald hilarity of the letter from the koch brothers, in and of itself. THAT ALONE is worth a megaton-sized guffaw! But to connect it back to the irony and hypocrisy of their denouncing WHAT THEY BEGAT...

Unbelievable. And no way to work Clinton and/or Democratic sex scandals in there anywhere - and he STILL reported it!

[2naSalit]

17. Probably trying to

create a distraction from his older talking points but, probably unbeknownst to him, this connects THOSE dots as well.

But it's starting to become recognizable to the paid shills that they will not be protected either when the proverbial sh*t hits the fan on this carnival ride.



Good post!

[gopiscrap]

22. that's what I was thinking

[notadmblnd]

93. I think they're trying to cover their asses because they are the ones who financed

the groups who conspired with their bought and paid for republican politicians to shutdown the US government.

This shutdown is a threat to the national security of this country and if that isn't a crime that someone can be charged with, I'd like to know why it isn't?

[yuiyoshida]

37. Living in interesting times...

Is a very old Chinese curse

[Tigress DEM]

71. Plausible deniability - covering their corporate arses from lawsuits.

Probably saw everyone saying if the Government shuts down, we should just sent the bills to the KOCH Bros

[budkin]

4. Everyone knows how irresponsible and dangerous this precedent is

And they realize it needs to stop. NOW.

[calimary]

5. Yeah, somebody in their camp realizes they've blown Pandora's Box wide open

and there are hoards of hungry carnivores in there just waiting to eat some republi-CONS, too!

[Ikonoklast]

35. One of the Koch brothers just heard the door bell ring. "Who's there?", he asked.

"Father, it is I, your greatest creation. I have finally come home...for you."

[TBF]

63. Seriously - those 2 should be held accountable for this mess. nt

[texanwitch]

6. The train is off the tracks and no one can stop it now.

I just hope the damage isn't to bad.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. All the media is having a noticeable swtich

hell, they are joining us in the hair on fire constitutional crisis talk brigade. I guess now it is unavoidable.

[grantcart]

13. It reminds me a little of Nixon times

All of the facts are on one side and then the Republicans tries to stonewall reporters.

A two question press conference is just like 'chumming' for sharks when it comes to building an adverse relationship with the press.

[nadinbrzezinski]

16. Yup, my reaction was, dueling pressers.

wait, one lasted for an hour plus and was detailed, the other lasted ten minutes and was billed as far more than just talking points.

I know I would be pissed. They were closed enough to each other that some crews had to hustle to get from one to the next.

I was also damn glad NOT to be in that market. At least when they did the dueling pressers in San Diego over the Filner scandal they were at a walkable distance from each other.

[grantcart]

23. I was glad that after Boehner's presser my TV was still in one piece.

[YOHABLO]

58. I'm ready to deep six my tv .. !!

[gopiscrap]

18. yup I agree

[babylonsister]

55. But now Obama is stonewalling the m$m! I know I

saw a link about that... and they're pissed!

[icnorth]

84. That is certainly true...

the tee vee fraternity especially. But they are also scared shitless with a social media on steroids operating in real time, they no longer have control of the message. With polls showing the Republicans in the tank even while the M$M is baying a false equivalency message they realize they've lost their grip on an electorate now living in a different reality.

[Iliyah]

15. Well the corporate media is trying to blame Pres O about

death benefits for veterans saying "when did he know about it" bullshit.

Heck, why are we paying the house gopers? Shouldn't they know what bills need to be paid? Shouldn't they know what benefits need to be paid? I'm getting effing tired of this.

[gopiscrap]

21. No shit

[alfredo]

30. They know exactly what they are doing. Remember that Cruz, Bachmann,

Palin, and perry are Dominionist. Their allegiance is not to a democratic government.

[VanillaRhapsody]

78. They are dedicated to chaos....they are conjuring it...

add Louie Gohmert to that mix...and that Lee guy that loves him some Cruz.

They want Mad Maxx from Thunderdome because they need all hell to be breaking loose so they can start their culture war. THEY are cheering for people's suffering! They believe they are living in "The End Times" and they have delusions of granduer and thinks Jesus will reward them for being the catalyst to get the Apocalypse ball rolling...

[alfredo]

89. All of those lawmakers have enough money to insulate themselves from the chaos.

[tabasco]

83. The only allegiance those fucking assholes have is to themselves

They pretend to be Christians to flimflam those who truly believe.

[alfredo]

91. I had a friend who was part of an evangelist family. During the winter he stayed drunk.

In the spring he cleaned up, shaped up and hit the revival circuit in eastern Ky. He made enough money to make it through the winter.

[deutsey]

81. I actually saw things criticizing the GOP on my local TV news this morning

That NEVER happens.

[bunnies]

8. At some point even clowns want to wash the paint off their faces. nt

[AmBlue]

14. +1

[DURHAM D]

9. Ann Coulter and Lucianne Goldberg stopped sending him money.

[Liberalynn]

85. Haven't heard about Coultergeist in a long time

is she crawling back out from under her rock again?

[madokie]

10. I've always wondered about him

He's a little too wild-eyed for my taste.
didn't trust him but happy to hear he might have seen the light

[Lobo27]

11. So let me get this strait they created a monster, and

now they don't know wtf to do... Fucking idiots.

[Myrina]

42. BINGO!!!

nt

[calimary]

72. Yep. That's about the size of it, I'm afraid.

Their very own personal Frankenstein monster.

[Iliyah]

12. The Koch Brothers and their allies are running for cover.

What they have done to the country far reach the notion of sedition and treason. Trying to overthrow the country is a serious fucking issue and I hope more will be investigated into this alongwith investigating the congresscritters who has staunch support of these tactics.

Heritage Foundation, Jim DeMint are another one that needs investigation re: trying to overthrow the government.

[calimary]

31. They're running for cover because their cover's been blown.

Can't hide very effectively anymore.

But what they're funding is a fucking COUP D'ETAT. Hell, I'd try to distance and distract from that, too!

Btw - THANK YOU guys, this thread is now the second one I've ever had that has earned its way into the "Trending Now" column!!!

THANK YOU!!!

[pnwmom]

41. I think they all assumed POTUS would cave, and they're suddenly

realizing he won't.

[calimary]

45. I think you're onto something there.

I think that makes a lot of sense. They were SOOOOO expecting he'd just cave again. And that our Dems would behave as the much-divided nincompoops they too frequently are. We're the "herding cats" party, after all. Well, evidently not! At least - not this time.

[Raksha]

62. Hell, I was expecting Obama to cave again, as recently as this morning.

I'm still not totally convinced he won't. I'm fully expecting some "Grand Bargain" involving cuts to Social Security and Medicare.

What you mean is that he hasn't caved so far, and the teabaggers and their handlers are running scared. Well...so far, so good. I'll be cautiously optimistic from here on, with the emphasis on "cautious."

I don't trust Obama and the Democrats as far as I could throw them--and they have nobody but themselves to blame for that.

[SteveG]

70. I don't think Obama is in a mood to cave

first report from today's meeting with house dems
http://www.salon.com/2013/10/10/obama_on_gop_the_only_thing_not_on_their_list_is_my_resignation/

[Snake Plissken]

19. The Koch Bothers are distancing themselves from the morons to get new morons to run against them

in the primaries ... 'trust us, these new improved 2.0 baggers aren't as crazy as the last ones' ... until we get them elected.

[gopiscrap]

20. I wouldn't trust the fucking Koch's though

they funded and started this shit and now it's gotten out of their control. Kind like an irresponsible kid starting a small fire and then the friggin house burns down.

[PeoViejo]

25. They're just saying this for plausible deniability

...so when the Federal Marshalls come to take them away, they can pull a Sgt. Shultz.

[gopiscrap]

26. I agree

[calimary]

46. Welcome to DU, PeoViejo! Yep. I think it may be time to start talking about nationalizing

Last edited Thu Oct 10, 2013, 12:07 AM - Edit history (1)

some of their industries. We ARE still at war, y'know. I sure wish the President would make a bit more ruthless use of that fact. Those unilateral presidential powers that bush/cheney instituted with everybody cheering and applauding their doing so - are all still in place, last I'd heard.

Glad you're here! We need you! We need EVERYBODY on our team to stay ON OUR TEAM! None of this "No Labels" crap or other assorted splintering off. Not now! Now it is ESSENTIAL that we ALL are in lockstep together, as Full-On Democrats.

[PeoViejo]

96. Thanks for the welcome.

[blue14u]

79. Welcome to DU!!!

[PeoViejo]

95. Thanks for the Welcome.

[MADem]

80. Gee, it's nice to have a few more peos viejos around these parts!

I'm quite sure most folks here have no idea what your name means!

I do....and I resemble that remark!

[PeoViejo]

88. Thanks

LOL...Me too.

[dorkzilla]

29. This.

If Issa wants some fucking credibility, why not investigate this whole incident? This is what the reThugs have planned along along. If that isn't seditious I don't know what is.

[zentrum]

24. If there's no big Koch money to back baggers

...they are not an election threat. So the bagger hold over Boehner and his fear in a primary holds no water.

Time to vote Bone-brain.

[CanonRay]

27. They are just distancing themselves from what they have wrought.

They don't want the blame for collapsing the world economy.

[obxhead]

28. Must be worried about his investment portfolio.

[roamer65]

40. Bingo.

It must be full of US Treasury paper.

[llmart]

52. You stole my post.

Methinks that's the real reason.

[Ellipsis]

68. Thinking the same thought as well. n/t

[annabanana]

32. Maybe even the Kochs see a downside

In the total meltdown that the nihilists are pursuing.....

[florida08]

33. sure because people are rebelling

http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/09/20886586-kochs-to-congress-focus-on-spending-not-obamacare#.UlWwdGV2FkA.twitter

been on twitter several times

[florida08]

34. .

It was also spurred by a floor speech by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Tuesday that blamed the Koch brothers for the government shutdown. The Kochs "have been raising and spending hundreds of millions of dollars to get us to where we are right now," Reid said.

[doc03]

36. So that is why the Obamacare threat was suddenly silenced and now they

are talking entitlement reform and all the other Ryan budget bullshit.

[The Wizard]

38. The Kochs don't have

the same influence as Wall Street and Wall Street does not want a default. The Kochs know this and also know on this one they can't buy enough legislators to compete with the really big Wall Street influence. In short, they're not going to piss money down the rat hole.

[calimary]

47. And as far as pissing money down a rat hole, I bet they're hugely and painfully aware of how much

money they threw away on wrongney and friends during the last election. They made a slew of bad bets. And on their scale of betting, that's just a monstrous amount of money that didn't buy the results they expected. So I imagine they're probably a little more circumspect. Especially now that their names are being kicked around in public a whole lot more than they're used to. Assholes like the koch brothers enjoy such power PRECISELY because they can operate in the shadows. Kinda like dick cheney. They like it a lot better when you can't see what they're doing and you really have nothing to clue you in even to imagine what they might be up to. That's why our Dems have been caught flat-footed so often, and why the ALEC machinery was able to operate so successfully for so long, and why punks like jonathan karl can be elevated to prime network news positions after being schooled and groomed in koch-funded and koch-friends-funded outfits like the Collegiate Network.

And now that it's blaring all over the place, from Harry Reid on the Senate floor (where the cameras are pointed) AND the likes of Michael Isikoff blabbing about how they're the financial sources of all this organized thievery and mendacity, they're desperately trying to back off. Probably batting their eyelashes and trying to write checks to museums and ballet companies across America so they'll look like nice innocent benefactors and supporters of the arts. I don't mind them doing stuff like that. Not at all. But when they're trying to buy a government, when they're fostering and bankrolling absolute flagrant insurrection, then they're setting themselves up for some big trouble. I think their lawyers have spoken to them by now. And maybe they're also heavily invested in treasury bills and other things that a debt ceiling debacle would hurt - where it hurts them the most: in their bank balances.

[Gothmog]

39. Good news

The media needs to get the facts out there. The Koch brothers caused a mess and now want to claim that they were not responsible

[bluestate10]

43. Koch brothers. When you find a fucking rattlesnake freezing in the snow, either let it die, or

call someone who know what they fuck they are doing to rescue it. Don't bring it inside, nurse it to health and expect it to do anything but bite the shit out of you.

[grahamhgreen]

44. Keeping the Koch's out in front. Good.

[calimary]

48. YES. Out there in the open. Up front. With all the lights turned on and focused on them.

And all the brush and rocks cleared around them so there's nowhere they can hide.

[bklyncowgirl]

57. Turn a light on and they scurry like cockroaches

Apologies to real cockroaches, of course.

[calimary]

73. Yep. Absolutely. Figure it this way: if they thought what they were doing was

on the up-n-up, wouldn't they be up front and out in the open about it?

Just consider:

All these things they've been up to involve their sneaking around. And all their little pals in the GOP, with 'em, too. Seems totally fitting that mitch mcconnell's cabal would be called to order to make sure Barack Obama was a one-term president - behind everybody's back, in secret, WHILE the 2009 Inaugural Balls were underway. The same night. Nice cover, 'eh? Good distraction. The press was all gonna be covering the balls. They failed. Then they tried a second time, this time with ed meese's cabal on Inauguration Night 2013, to plot the destruction of the government in general and the Affordable Care Act in particular. Also on the Q-T, under cover of the distraction of the second term Inaugural Balls. Toward which the press was all going to be side-tracked. And now their second-round efforts are unraveling as well. As they should!

DAMN I HATE these assholes!!!! They're guilty of nothing less than fomenting a fucking insurrection! Plotting and financing a coup d'etat. Plotting and financing the overthrow of a duly-elected government. OUR duly-elected government. Doesn't that sound like something VERY illegal to you? Doesn't that sound like conspiracy to you? I'm sure the koch brothers have some VERY high-powered and heavy-hitting lawyers. Lawyers who should be savvy and experienced enough to try to warn their clients to back off because they're flirting with some VERY bad juju here. I for one would love to see that pursued. And just because you give money to groups that are bound and determined to overthrow a duly-elected government doesn't mean you are protected by an extra layer of insulation or firewall, or separated from it in any way. YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY, AND INTIMATELY INVOLVED. Your hands are filthy with the stains of this crime and the filth extends up past your shoulders all the way to what's left of your hairlines, davey and chuckie.

How I would LOVE to see them facing prosecution.

[regnaD kciN]

49. So, the Kochs have finally realized what was obvious to everybody else...

...that, however much they want to use the threat to push a far-right agenda, the catastrophe resulting from a default is going to hit their assets as hard as anyone else's.

One small problem: having created this monster, now they find it's out if their control. Like the sorcerer's apprentice, they could animate the water-carrying brooms, but don't have the spell to stop them from their determined mission…that will drown us all.

[Fantastic Anarchist]

50. Reccing for using "wrong-wing" ...

The Left-wing is correct. The "wrong-wing" is always wrong.

[libodem]

51. Koch Bros. fund front groups

Disguised and rebranded as 'Think Tanks'. They are no more the intellectuals creating original thoughs and ideas they are paid to shill and publish John Birtch Fascist bullshit, endorsed by Corporate profiteering and monopoly building, meglomanics.

[4bucksagallon]

53. Feeding frenzy, no one wants to be the one to take the fall.

[TBF]

64. Julian Castro posted a great link tonight -

Republican approval rating falls to lowest point in Gallup poll history
Wednesday, October 9, 2013

http://blog.chron.com/txpotomac/2013/10/republican-approval-rating-falls-to-lowest-point-in-gallup-poll-history/


I think we can all see who is taking the fall.

[calimary]

74. And it's Gallup. Sweeter than sweet!

Gallup tends to swing CONservative, rather reliably. So if Gallup is saying this (and Rasmussen, which also skews CONservative, wasn't looking very favorable either, last I saw), then the GOP is in some pretty bad trouble. Nobody deserves it more!

[Curmudgeoness]

54. So does this mean that the House Republicans will STFU

and do something. Let's hope they take their marching orders seriously and stop the foolishness.

[marble falls]

56. Seed the Tea Party winds, reap the elected Teabillie/Teapublican whirlwinds. Dumb shits.

[struggle4progress]

59. Folk at the Old Boys' Club must be givin the Kochs the hairy-eyeball: "If y'all trash the economy

and hurt my investments, I'm foshizzle gonna spend every day of the rest of my life figurin out how to ruin you fuggers"

[Stinky The Clown]

60. Just for the nostalgia: "Spikey" Issikoff

That was the name bestowed upon him from us lefties back in the day.

[Kablooie]

61. Why don't I ever see reference to their father who was a co-founder of the John Birch Society?

It seems relevant to me.

[JNelson6563]

65. Sounds like he's not on the gravy train.

Maybe that was his way of telling them "Hey, send that check over here or I keep singing like a canary!".

Or maybe he's trying to do journalism.

Anybody's guess.

Julie

[BootinUp]

66. "Amazing! Fucking amazing!"

[Jim Lane]

67. Isikoff has done good stuff before.

He and David Corn co-authored Hubris, a devastating account of the Bush administration's run-up to invading Iraq. It's full of detail about officials' deceptions of the public and their self-deceptions.

Isikoff is also the one who broke the story about desecration of Korans as an interrogation tactic at Gitmo. (Newsweek retracted the story, because some of the details couldn't be confirmed, but thereafter the Pentagon admitted that its investigation had uncovered instances of Koran desecration.)

[DallasNE]

69. As I Read That I Thought WOW

The Koch brothers just threw the Tea Party under the bus. Will Boehner now throw the Hastert Rule under the bus as well?

But this may not stick because so many of these Tea Baggers ran on the single issue of shutting down the government. It is fun though to watch them eating their own.

[calimary]

75. Shit - just have to say another thank you, DU!

This is the first thread I've ever started that went to the Greatest Threads list on the home page! Dayum! Thanks! I'm thoroughly enjoying kicking these ideas around with my DU brothers and sisters! I'm honored and humbled by your participation!

[ecstatic]

76. You reap what you sow... but I hate that the rest of us will suffer too

THEY built this!

[NYC_SKP]

77. Rec nt

[Enthusiast]

82. Amazing? It's downright shocking!........nt

[Javaman]

86. the reality is this: the koch brothers did a cost/benefit analysis of the situation...

and found that the current round of insanity by the repukes and the tea baggers is a losing proposition. So now they are in spin mode to scrape off the stupid.

It probably looked great at first to them, but then quickly realized that they over reached and realized that their water carrying morons weren't just qualified for this task but also barely qualified for basic every day functions as a human.

So now they are throwing them under the bus publicly, privately they are still funding them, but more than likely through different channels to cover their trails.

but the reality is: the koch brothers are so deep into this, that trying to cover their tracks will be virtually impossible.

they are trying to use an industrial fumigator to get the stink of stupidity off of them now.

[niyad]

87. pod person or walk-in? most likely explanation for him doing his damned job for a change.

[Actionman]

90. Kock's just blinked...

Well the Kock brothers have blinked... must be affecting their bottom line or the monkeys are so unruly they can't stay in the cage with them anymore. What ever the reason the fact they wrote a letter trying to deny their position, when they've usually stay behind closed doors, speaks to them feeling some kind of heat.

GOOD!

[calimary]

94. Welcome to DU, Actionman!

Last edited Thu Oct 10, 2013, 03:19 PM - Edit history (1)

Great to have you with us!

My husband and I were talking about this and I remembered something from a couple of decades (or so) ago. This reminded me of the "'I-didn't-do-it" letter" that was sent around to investors during one period of gold-craziness back in - I think - the 80s or so. This hotshot gold coin and bullion dealer who ran some fast-moving brokerage that advertised a lot and was pretty high profile for a brief time, and gushed about how great an investment gold was and blah-blah-blah - soon found himself with his company tanking. Various kinds of chicanery and fast-talkin' baloney is what he had REALLY been selling. Sort of a ponzi scheme where he was paying earlier investors with later investors' money, knowing he had to keep spinning his wheels to keep investor money coming in so he could pay the later investors - with STILL-later investors... and on and on. Well, his little house of gold cards was all finally starting to collapse around him. So he sent this letter around to all his investors, disavowing any involvement in the fast-n-loose parts of the business, swearing his innocence and insisting there was nothing wrong and the press was wrong and the usual crap. And then he committed suicide. It was a big story here in L.A. back then. My husband had briefly subscribed to his newsletter so he got one of those letters. Thank God he never invested, though!!! And he read it out loud to me, not terribly surprised by what had happened, then turned to me and said with a smirk - "aha! Looks like an 'I-didn't-do-it' letter!"

This looks like another "I-didn't-do-it" letter. koch-brothers-style!

As far as the suicide part that followed for the gold-broker dude, I think the "Suicide Caucus" follows here. Hopefully it'll take the whole damn lot of 'em straight to the unemployment line!

[hue]

92. Kochs will never take responsibility: their puppets are their fall guys-to blame for everything.