2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumThe Koch brothers have a new message
http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/writers/steven_elbow/the-koch-brothers-have-a-new-message/article_f50fcf8d-290f-5679-a042-43bd4afec95d.htmlCharles and David Koch have apparently conducted their own autopsy of the 2012 presidential election, during which the conservative billionaires' primary political arm, Americans for Prosperity, spent hundreds of millions in an attempt to thwart President Barack Obamas reelection.
An AFP memo to donors that landed on the desk of Politicos Ken Vogel laid out the strategy the group intends to pursue return control of the Senate to conservative Republicans this fall. It comes with a conservative price tag estimate of $125 million.
"AFPs $125 million projected 2014 budget alone would also exceed the total 2012 fundraising hauls of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee or the National Republican Senatorial Committee," writes Vogel.
While the plan aims to put more boots on the ground to counter a superior Democratic ground game and improve data-driven organizing efforts, it took Salon's Simon Maloy to highlight its most challenging aspect: Convincing Americans that the policies AFP pushes don't screw the poor.
If the presidential election told us anything, its that Americans place a great importance on taking care of those in need and avoiding harm to the weak, the memo says.
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"Maloy writes: "Now, I should be clear that the Kochs view this as a messaging problem, not a problem rooted in policy. Theyre still firmly wedded to their beliefs that government assistance programs engender laziness and that the federal government should be slashed down to just the army and the patent office. What theyre trying to do is find a way to convince the less fortunate that cutting taxes for billionaires and blocking minimum wage increases will lead to the sort of shared prosperity that will lift them out of economic hardship."
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)It is messaging and the biggee is optics. Am always stupefied by the huge numbers of Dems who fall for the old trick of believing the propaganda by the Rethugs that folks receiving any type of financial help are in some ways a leech or thief. This AFP group are the Masters of deceit with out a doubt. But,considering the minuscule attention span of today's voters,you will see what we get. Sad. Every person who receives any bennies from Social Security in any form better be ready to expect big time reductions if the Senate falls to the Rethugs. We ain't seen anything yet,there is somewhere near 17 trillion that the 1%ers have their sights set on.this is the only remaining pool of big money left in the U.S.A.. Notice the big push toward Seniors reverse Mortgages ads,something big coming from the Gangsters on Wall Street,here we go again. Friggen thieves.
Krotch Brothers should be seen as the enemy in every Dem campaign ad along with the tag line this is what your savings and job thief looks like.
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)The internet is a great equalizer.