Oh my stars and garters, the chutzpa of the left knows no bounds.
Byron York got his hands on a new report; “The Billionaires Behind the Hate” from the Center for American Progress, the liberal think tank run by John Podesta. Discover the Networks profile of CAP, here.
The supposedly hateful billionaires in the article’s title are brothers Charles and David Koch of Koch Industries, one of the nation’s largest conglomerates.
And what do they hate? The “progressive agenda.” The Kochs, according to Podesta’s group, are “responsible for a vicious attack campaign aimed directly at obstructing and killing progressive reform.” First, they opposed the stimulus, financing “television and radio ads deriding the recovery package as simply ‘pork’ spending.” Imagine that! Then, through the group Americans for Prosperity, they helped organize some of the first “Tea Party” protests.
Like most all conservatives, they oppose Cap and Trade, and ObamaCare too, throwing their money at causes they support, as well as, “generous contributions to the arts, cancer research, and the Smithsonian Institute.”
Haters!
Aside from its remarkable language — is it “hate” to believe the stimulus, cap-and-trade and the current health care proposals are bad policy? — the Podesta group’s attack on the Kochs is striking because the Center for American Progress is itself the product of politically-active billionaires. It would never have come into existence without the backing of California-based Herbert and Marion Sandler, who founded Golden West Financial Corporation and made billions engaging in some of the most irresponsible subprime lending of the first years of this decade. (After the financial collapse, their reputation sank so low that they were brutally parodied in a “Saturday Night Live” sketch last year.)
Remember this:
There is another billionaire, George Soros, who is also close to the Center. In 2003, in the middle of spending nearly $30 million of his own money in a quest to unseat President George W. Bush, Soros pledged to give the Center $1 million a year for three years. It was less than the Sandlers gave, but it was key support for an institution then getting off the ground. (I wrote about the founding of the Center, and how Podesta created an institution that combined the functions of think tank and political war room, in my book The Vast Left Wing Conspiracy.)
Bryon, Byron, Byron…come now. George Soros and the Sandlers are big hearted philanthropists. The Kochs are “vicious haters”. See the difference?
In related news:
White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs Decries “The Blame Game”.
Obama lectures the GOP to “stop trying to frighten the American people.”
