The Dark Money Is on a Contested Convention and Paul Ryan

[Hortensis]

Nostalgic for the smoke-filled back rooms of yesteryear, Wisconsin's dark money don Eric O'Keefe was given almost a full page in The Wall Street Journal's opinion section over the weekend to call upon GOP convention delegates to seize the nominating process to stop Trump and ensure that the right kind of candidate is chosen. The paper's opinion page, of course, is run by Green Bay native Paul Gigot.

...

O'Keefe is no stranger to back rooms. He has deep ties to the Koch brothers going back to David Koch's 1980 run for VP on the Libertarian ticket. O'Keefe and his Wisconsin Club for Growth (WCFG) dark money group were previously under investigation for secretly funneling the money of millionaires and billionaires into the Wisconsin recall campaigns.

O'Keefe did not say who his perfect candidate was for the GOP convention in Cleveland, but given his history, Paul Ryan and Scott Walker would be on a very short list.

The Kochs seem to be leaning in that direction as well. An unnamed source "close to" the Koch brothers told The Huffington Post that Charles Koch believes Ryan is a "shoo-in" for the nomination at a brokered GOP convention. Koch Industries has long been one of Representative Ryan's top contributors, and now is one of Speaker Ryan's biggest boosters. This quarter, the Koch's are helping to fuel his staggering $17 million war chest, reports Politico. Charles Koch, CEO of Koch Industries, and his wife gave his "Team Ryan" fundraising vehicle $488,400 in March alone; Koch Industries gave $71,000.

When Obama was first elected, Charles Koch gathered together a coalition of over 700 American megamillionaires and billionaires to fight the threat to their hegemony from the left. When Charles Koch speaks, he's speaking for an army battling for control of our nation.

The only legitimate purposes of government are protection of person and property - Charles Koch

[FreakinDJ]

1. NONE of the Republican candidates have given paid speeches to Wall Street either - just Hillary.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12511749409

[Hortensis]

2. Are you freaking KIDDING? I post about

a potentially critical development in the plot to completely destroy progressive government, to literally make progressivism in government illegal, and you play games?

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

3. Sadly, many here do not fear Ryan, Cruz, Trump......

....they fucking embrace them.....

[Hortensis]

4. Then they should fear losing their chances for a better life,

Last edited Sun Apr 17, 2016, 09:09 AM - Edit history (1)

for themselves, for their children, for the rest of their lives. It will take decades to undo the harm hard-core conservatism has already done to the socioeconomic wellbeing of the various working classes, and a lot more to undo what they are planning now.

These people believe inequality is the natural state of man, social and economic. The very notion of the rabble taking large-scale progressive action through government is anathema.

Our new democratic republic thrived because Thomas Jefferson and men like him believed compulsory, publicly funded education for all voters was absolutely necessary. Their view prevailed over the intense opposition of conservative leaders who thought educating the lower orders was dangerously foolish. 225 years later, conservative extremists intend to fix this really bad mistake, and many other "mistakes" a majority of Americans so foolishly chose to make, especially over the past 100 years. Like Social Security, unemployment insurance, the EPA, etc., etc., etc., etc.

Obviously, the popular vote is a severe problem. They need control of SCOTUS in order to control just what we can vote for and against.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

5. A few do. I fear Ryan, Cruz, Clinton.

Any of them would happily cut Social Security.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

9. If you lump Clinton in with them, you. don't. get. it.

Sorry, bub.

[sendero]

7. Sure..

.... taking millions from and being beholden to the banksters is REAL PROGRESSIVE.

[wiggs]

6. Jeb! said: "A Republican has to lose the primary in order to

the general election"

They've found the EXACT way this has to happen. There is no republican that can win a primary via citizen voting and also win the general election. So...gop voters will be ignored to install a nominee who either didn't run at all or ran and lost...

[sendero]

8. One cannot rule out..

... the possibility that Ryan's denial and refusal rhetoric is merely innoculant against what the convention does. He claims to be the hero under protest to dull the rage that many would feel - to shift the rage away from him and to the "machine" instead.