Beach Peanuts

Florida Watch Protests Koch's "Tentacles Of Influence" Into Florida Newspapers

Florida Watch Action will be protesting the potential sale of the Orlando Sentinel and other Tribune Company newspapers to the Koch Brothers in Orlando this afternoon. 

Protests have been held at other papers owned by the Tribune Company recently as well. At the Los Angeles Times, half their staff threatened to quit, should the Koch's buy the paper, and around 300 labor union members and activists protested earlier this week at an investment firm that holds a 20% stake in the Tribune Company. Last week another protest was held at the Chicago Tribune.

From Florida Watch:

The “billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch have bought more politicians, think tanks, colleges and universities, and media outlets than you can shake a stick at," the group says in a promotion of the planned protest outside the Sentinel set for 5:30 p.m. Thursday.

"And their tentacles of influence are spreading further," the group said. "Now they are trying to purchase eight daily newspapers, including the Orlando and Sun Sentinel, to further their libertarian anti-government, anti-union agenda.”

The Tribune Company's CEO went on the defensive yesterday and sent an email to employees Wednesday calling speculation about a transaction premature:

“A sale transaction is only one of our possible strategic options, and there are many others.”

The Koch Brothers caused a similar stir when they began funding at Florida State University, funding that was subject to their approval of chosen professors, even though they claimed they would have no agenda or economics influence over the curriculum. They also fund the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), Americans for Prosperity, Tea Party groups and the Cato Institute.

If they were to buy the newspapers in Florida, it would push much of the news influence far to the right, especially in the I-4 corridor, the more progressive part of the state. As Progress Florida puts it, it would be tantamount to a Tea Party takeover of Florida news:

The Koch Brothers are chief architects and funders of the extreme right wing political machine. They're behind corporate front group "think tanks" like the Heritage Foundation and the CATO Institute. The Kochs are also the largest funders of the Tea Party movement and are notorious peddlers of falsehoods about Medicare, Social Security, worker’s rights, climate change, and more.

It's important that local newspapers like the Orlando Sentinel and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel remain unbiased sources of reliable news, not as propaganda outlets for the Koch Brothers' extreme ideological machine. But if the Koch Brothers are allowed to purchase the Tribune Company, that is exactly what will happen.

There's a reason why freedom of the press is mentioned in the First Amendment to the US Constitution. The health of our democracy is based on a well-informed citizenry. The Koch Brothers' attempt to subvert local media is a direct attack on this fundamental foundation of our country.

Related articles

The Florida GOP And Sick-Time: "Small Government" Hypocrites

Marco Rubio Has Shown His True Colors, And They Aren't Red, White, And Blue

Weatherford's House Medicaid Rejection Brought To You By AFP And ALEC?

Will Weatherford (R-ALEC) New Man For The Job?

Americans For Prosperity, the Koch funded so-called "grassroots" Tea Party group may have lost Rick Scott on the Medicaid expansion issue last week, but they still had plenty of cards to play in the Florida legislature. By "cards," I of course mean members who have ties to ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, also funded in part by the Koch brothers. ALEC is the group that writes legislation that it passes on to lawmakers in cookie cutter form, which is basically copied, pasted, and passed into law in whatever state it goes to.

Yesterday, AFP got part of their wish when the Florida House Select Committee on PPACA (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act), led by House Speaker Will Weatherford (R-ALEC), voted to reject the Medicaid expansion before today's legislative session began.

Of the reasons given for the rejection, some sounded extremely familiar in comparison to AFP's objections to Medicaid, as shown on their website. They even penned a press release commending Weatherford and the committee for seeing it their way. In that release, entitled "The Florida House Got It Right: Reject Medicaid Expansion, AFP wrote this:

Today, the Florida House of Representatives’ Select Committee on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act voted to reject Medicaid expansion.

Americans for Prosperity’s Florida State Director Slade O’Brien commented:

“I applaud the Florida House’s decision to reject Medicaid expansion and urge the Florida Senate to follow their lead. The majority of House members agreed that expanding the costly and broken Medicaid system is not the correct way to provide quality healthcare for Floridians, and that the financial risks associated with expansion are far too great to force on the taxpayers.”]

[Mr. O’Brien continued, “Floridians demand opposition to the expansion of the broken Medicaid program and the Florida House of Representatives has agreed.  Expanding this costly program would increase costs for everyone and force a million people into a failing system that provides subpar healthcare services. I can’t believe that the Florida Senate would be willing to expand Medicaid now despite the huge financial burden it will create for future generations of Floridians.  This is not a decision that can be made in a vacuum — the future costs of expanding Medicaid today will have a devastating impact on the welfare of our state, our children and our grandchildren.” 

Weatherford echoed that sentiment in his statement on the rejection, saying:

“I am proud of the thoughtful, thorough and deliberative approach that our Select Committee took on the important issues related to Medicaid expansion and health exchanges. I received their recommendations and agree that expanding Medicaid and setting up a state exchange is not in the best interest of our state. We simply cannot count on the federal government to pay 100 percent of the cost for expansion. The facts show that healthcare costs will go up for many Floridians, while access to and quality of healthcare will go down. The 'all or nothing' approach that the Obama administration is offering will not work for our state. I know there will be continued discussion about this matter, and I look forward to exploring better policies for our state.” 

Weatherford cites that "the facts show" their reasons for the rejection are correct, but he doesn't say what those facts are, nor where he got them. When the actual legislation comes out, those "facts" will probably look very similar to the ones on this list from the AFP website: The Top Ten Reasons Florida Should Reject Medicaid Expansion. We've already heard several from the Capitol already when Rick Scott and others recited them. AFP also makes the claims that they speak for Floridians who feel the same way, and cite polls from like minded think tanks that show this. They also have ready made letters to send legislators and "facts" to convince followers that accepting Medicaid would be the ultimate power grab, disaster, and things of that nature, because that's what AFP does. You, "grassroots" and all.

Below is the Florida House Select Committee on PPACA (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) members who voted on the rejection. The members that we know of with ties to ALEC  are in bold:

Corcoran, Richard [R]   Chair                                 
Hudson, Matt [R]   Vice Chair                                   
Schwartz, Elaine J. [D]   Democratic Ranking Member    
Cummings, W. Travis [R]                                                     
Dudley, Dwight Richard [D]   
Harrell, Gayle B. [R]   
Jones, Mia L. [D]   
Magar, MaryLynn "ML" [R]   
Nelson, Bryan [R]                                
Passidomo, Kathleen C. [R]   
Pigman, Cary [R]   
Roberson, Kenneth L. "Ken" [R]   
Rodríguez, José Javier [D]   
Stark, Richard [D]   
Thurston, Jr., Perry E. [D]   
Trujillo, Carlos [R]                      
Wood, John [R]                         

Will Weatherford also has ties to ALEC. 

ALEC is well known for working to undercut health care reform as well as AFP, as seen in this report.

As fast as Republicans moved to vote against the expansion, you can almost bet the bills against it will be written up just as quickly, because after all, for those legislatures that work with ALEC, we know the legislators who push them have little to do with the paperwork beyond cutting and pasting the minor details. Sometimes, if they're lucky, they even remember to remove "American Legislative Exchange Council" before presenting them.

AFP Calls Rick Scott's Medicaid Expansion: "An Extremely Disappointing Flip-Flop"

Rick Scott may have claimed his decision to back Medicaid expansion in Florida wasn't a "white flag of surrender to government run health care," but his Tea Party supporters don't see it that way.

Americans For Prosperity, the Koch brothers so-called "grassroots" Tea Party group issued this statement on their website following Rick Scott's Medicaid reversal:

Governor Scott Flip-Flops on Medicaid Expansion

Support of Expansion a huge threat to Florida’s financial future 

Tallahassee, Florida— Today, Florida Governor Rick Scott flip-flopped from his long-held stance opposing Medicaid expansion.

AFP-Florida’s State Director Slade O’Brien had the following comments:

“Governor Scott’s announcement today is extremely disappointing.  Governor Scott had been a national leader in the fight against President Obama’s healthcare takeover.  He was elected because of his principled conservative leadership against ObamaCare’s overreach, and led the charge, with Attorney General Pam Bondi, to take ObamaCare to the Supreme Court.  But today he came out in support of the Medicaid expansion he vowed to oppose.”

“At every level of government, it is too easy for politicians to spend other people’s money. For far too long, states have fallen for the promises of “free” federal money ignoring the insidious federal strings and the long-term effects on state budgets.  Florida’s Medicaid program already costs the taxpayers more than $20 billion a year, and the financial burden will only grow if a million new people are added to the program. Hopefully our legislative leaders will not follow in Governor Scott’s footsteps and will reject expansion of this broken system.”

And to think Scott spoke as if he was certain he would still be in office in three years when the expansion will sunset.

Let the games begin....

Are Romney And The NFIB Also Instructing Florida Workers How To Vote?

In the past week or so we've heard of several instances where employees in large corporations have been strongly encouraged to vote for Mitt Romney instead of Barack Obama by their employers, who have "warned them of the consequences for them" should Romney lose the election. First it was Koch Industries, then Florida billionaire David Siegel, CEO of Westgate Resorts, followed by Arthur Allen, CEO of ASG Software Solutions.

The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), a lobbying group for "small businesses," is the latest to push voting for Romney, but this time, businesses were instructed to vote for Romney, by Mitt Romey himself.

Back in June Romney addressed employers how to vote in an audio address posted on the NFIB website. In the address, Romney can be heard telling them how "bad for business" Obama's policies are, how it's perfectly legal for them to tell their employees how to vote, and provided them with the talking points to do so.

From In These Times: (Emphasis mine)

Romney was addressing  a group of self-described "small-business owners." Twenty-six minutes into the call, after making a lengthy case that President Obama's first term has been bad for business, Romney said:

I hope you make it very clear to your employees what you believe is in the best interest of your enterprise and therefore their job and their future in the upcoming elections. And whether you agree with me or you agree with President Obama, or whatever your political view, I hope, I hope you pass those along to your employees.

Nothing illegal about you talking to your employees about what you believe is best for the business, because I think that will figure into their election decision, their voting decision and of course doing that with your family and your kids as well.

I particularly think that our young kids--and when I say young, I mean college-age and high-school age--they need to understand that America runs on a strong and vibrant business [sic] ... and that we need more business growing and thriving in this country. They need to understand that what the president is doing by borrowing a trillion dollars more each year than what we spend is running up a credit card that they’re going to have to pay off and that their future is very much in jeopardy by virtue of the policies that the president is putting in place. So I need you to get out there and campaign.

You can listen to the audio here.

The NFIB is well known in Florida politics. I've written before how they were behind the push back against the Affordable Care Act when they joined the lawsuit started by Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum as co-plaintiff in May of 2010, and they endorsed McCollum's replacement Pam Bondi, who continued to fight the ACA all the way to the Supreme Court.

Of course the NFIB are big fans of Florida Governor "Run-Florida-Like-A-Business" Rick Scott and they make no secret of that. Here's some of what they say about Scott on their website:

He’s [Scott] urged lawmakers to reform the state’s unemployment insurance system, demanded that government workers contribute to their own retirement benefits that are now funded solely by taxpayers and called for lawsuit reform. 

Your efforts to elect NFIB-supported pro-small-business candidates last year helped elect governors who are shaking things up in their state houses. We’ll soon share the progress being made by Alabama’s Robert Bentley, Maine’s Paul LePage, Michigan’s Rick Snyder, Pennsylvania’s Tom Corbett, South Carolina’s Nikki Haley, Tennessee’s Bill Haslam and Virginia’s Robert McDonnell. They’re also working to hang out “Open for Small Business” signs.

Also on that website is their list of candidates they've endorsed for the upcoming Florida House and Senate races, because their "priorities align with those of the small-business community, and we’re confident they will be effective allies to our members in the fight to create jobs and improve the economy." They also endorsed Florida U.S. Senate candidate Connie Mack IV in September, and have run ads in the state targeting the Senate race.

What are the chances that Florida businesses are following Mitt Romney's instructions to urge their employees to vote for him, in the best interest of their employer, rather than themselves?

Probably a pretty good chance, because during and since the ACA fight, the NFIB have been recipients of millions in funding from Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS, and from the Koch brothers group Americans For Prosperity. Employees who vote in favor of these groups and Romney, who vows to repeal the ACA, will make it so much easier for their bosses to cut costs like employee health care plans. The NFIB is also involved in fights against minimum wage, paid sick leave, and collective bargaining. They're anti-union and anti-regulation.

We've already seen the bully-businessman tactics of Mitt Romney on full display, especially in last night's debate. He's a man who is used to getting his way, and can get ugly when he doesn't. The Republican Party who didn't want him as a candidate in the beginning have certainly warmed to his no-core, ruthless, anything for profit policies since then.

Are Floridians also being pushed by their employers and the candidate himself to vote for Mitt Romney, or "face the consequences?"

That's aside from the consequences of facing a future of working longer hours for less pay, no paid sick leave, no unions, and no benefits like health care, or losing their job entirely when it's outsourced, should Romney win?

As Romney himself would say: "Want to make a $10,000 bet" that they are?

ALEC's Latest Effort To "Stand Their Ground" Backfires

(Photos: I Stand With Alec, Not ALEC)

While I was off the grid last week, it seems that another company joined the now long list of those companies cutting their ties with the American Legislative Exchange Council (Better known as ALEC.) The pharmaceutical company Johnson and Johnson gave into pressure from progressives pushing back against ALEC which churns out model legislation for mostly Republican and Conservative legislators around the country. Two types getting widespread attention lately are voter suppression laws and the Stand Your Ground law used in the Trayvon Martin shooting, both having a big impact in Florida right now.

While ALEC used to operate in the shadows for the most part, pushback against their right-wing agenda and cookie cutter legislation has been thrust into the spotlight, and now far right wing-nuts and bloggers are going out on a limb to defend ALEC. They're not even keeping up the pretense anymore after ALEC sent out a cry for help from conservative bloggers earlier in the year. They recently put up a website called "I Stand With ALEC" that says: "Fight the left-wing assault on free enterprise, limited government, and individual liberty." The site is filled with the typical ALEC and Koch Industries propaganda in the hopes of coaxing people to "fight back" due to the loss of corporate members who are finally doing the right thing and bailing on ALEC.

One problem though. The group didn't bother to register all the appropriate urls. 

Oops.

The result? Well, this: "I Stand With Alec, Not ALEC."

The site compares ALEC crafted legislation to the liberal leanings and movie roles of actor Alec Baldwin, for example, comparing Baldwin's scholarships for low income students to the "scholarships" handed out by ALEC which are really just perks given to legislators who pen their ideas into law. In another example, they compare the real life ALEC Stand Your Ground laws that are more like "shoot first and no need for questions later" to those of the actor playing with fake guns in movies and television. Each example provides links to the appropriate ALEC legislation.

Once again, the left picks up where the right stumbles off using parody that almost writes itself to shine a light on what ALEC doesn't want you to know.

The truth hurts. Literally.

Nothing funny about that.

Will Scott Side With Koch And AFP And Veto Renewable Energy Bill?

Floridians will be watching to see if Gov. Rick ALEC Scott will veto an energy bill under pressure from Americans For Prosperity to favor the Koch oil companies. AFP is the so-called grassroots organization founded by the Koch brothers that advanced the "Tea Party" platform. Koch Industries opposes the bill as their interests lie in their oil refineries and their own energy development.

Americans for Prosperity and the Heartland Institute have been spearheading an effort that’s flooded Scott with emails and phone calls opposing HB 7117, which would provide $16 million in renewable energy tax credits next year.

The organizations’ condemn the approach as “crony energy” that builds on millions of dollars in incentives already provided for alternate energy production by the Obama administration, which they also oppose.

Scott has a habit of following the Tea Party-Koch-AFP agenda in rejecting policies they don't favor. He bowed to them in rejecting Florida's high-speed rail project in his first year as governor sending away would be profits and jobs badly needed in Florida right along with it.

It will be interesting to see if he vetoes the energy bill to favor the Koch agenda again, rather than Floridians who would benefit.

Americans for Prosperity Recruiting, Paying For Signatures At Florida Polls

 
(From the AFP Florida's 2011 Legislative Scorecard)

While Republican lawmakers in Florida passed new election laws last year that equate to voter suppression claiming they want to crack down on non-existent voter fraud, a hearing was held last week in Tampa where Gov. Rick Scott refused to appear and lawmakers who proposed and pushed the laws fought against testifying after they were issued subpoenas. Two of those avoiding depositions were sponsors of the election laws: Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla from Miami, and Rep. Dennis Baxley from Ocala. The other two were  Sen. Paula Dockery and Rep. Seth McKeel, from Lakeland.

Given the so called urgency of such laws, one would think these legislators would be first in line to defend their laws, not to mention Gov. Scott, but then the haste of the matter was about getting the laws on the books ahead of the 2012 elections.

The so-called urgency of voting requirements, ID laws and such magically fell by the wayside in the recent Iowa caucuses where Rick Santorum was shown to be the winner by eight votes, but the Republicans who favored Mitt Romney declared a resounding "meh" and ignored the results.

In short, voting technicalities that might affect results seem to be somewhat selective as far as the Republican Party is concerned, but that shouldn't surprise anyone paying attention to recent events.

Unless.......

Imagine the outrage if members of a certain group showed up at voting precincts on election day to coordinate and recruit members and fund raising while paying for signatures? That might be something the GOP would dream up and project onto the party of opposition like Democrats, after all, recall the faux ACORN outrage where false claims paid off for the GOP.

Well, such a thing is actually happening as the Republican primary is underway in Florida, and the GOP is in fact outraged.  Their imagined scenario is actually being played out against them.

By the "Tea Party."

Now some in the party are crying foul, according to the Sunshine State News:

The conservative group Americans for Prosperity is signing up Florida tea party leaders to serve as regional coordinators, and paying groups $2 per signature to recruit Election Day volunteers.

"It's an opportunity for tea parties to raise dollars for their organizations by helping AFP with an awareness and membership drive on Tuesday," said Slade O'Brien, AFP's Florida director.

But critics say it looks suspiciously like a conservative version of ACORN, buying foot soldiers for election work.

"It's reprehensible," said Apryl Marie Fogel, a former AFP state director. "Slade is doing things we would never have considered doing."

Though O'Brien said AFP does not endorse candidates, Fogel expressed concern about the organization's activities on Tuesday and beyond.

"Incentivizing people with money is no different than what ACORN or other groups are doing," she said.

O'Brien said "about 50" tea party and patriot members have been gathering signatures of volunteers, who, in turn, will wear AFP T-shirts and spread the group's message at precincts on Election Day.

He could not provide a current tally of volunteers, but said they will be working statewide.

"All volunteers are required to sign a release stating that they will only hand out AFP material and will not display, have available or advocate for any candidate while engaged in this project," O'Brien told Sunshine State News.

"Many [tea and patriot] groups struggle to raise money. This is an opportunity for us to boost membership on Election Day."

O'Brien defended the $2-per-head bounties paid to recruiters, saying, "All groups spend money to attract new members. This is an efficient way to have a face-to-face conversation."

But Fogel said the process smacks of "Astroturf."

Smacks of astroturf? Of course it does. That's what the Koch funded Americans for Proseperity is all about. They're in large part responsible for creating the Tea Party monster that Republicans once championed and is now threatening to swallow the Party whole. While some claim the Tea Party is dying a slow death, groups like AFP have an interest in keeping it very much alive. They aren't going anywhere if the AFP has anything to say about it:

O'Brien said he hopes to make the field coordinator jobs permanent, extending beyond November.

"We'll be engaged in Florida in the 2012 cycle, and we're hoping to keep them on board to spread the word of free markets and fiscal restraint," he said.

Now appearing at a polling place near you in a shiny new Americans for Prosperity t-shirt. They're probably there right now.

Cue the Republican outrage?

Transparent No More: The Curtain Has Come Down On The Republican Party

To Believe In The GOP's America, It's Going To Cost You

Today Mitt Romney made a campaign appearance at an empty National Gypsum Company warehouse in Tampa that closed in 2008 and delivered his "prebuttal" to tonight's State Of The Union address. He tried to draw a contrast to the address theme "America, Built To Last."

Romney stated: “The President’s agenda sounds less like ‘built to last’ and more like ‘doomed to fail."

It's somewhat ironic that Romney chose a closed down empty business as a backdrop to slam President Obama, and the location says more about Romney's vision of America than it says about President Obama's.

While last night's GOP debate in Tampa proved to be less of a game changer than advertised, the real news came after the debate was over: The partial release of Mitt Romney's tax returns and Newt Gingrich's contract details with Freddie Mac. Each disclosed just a snapshot of detail and while those disclosures were "bombshells" in themselves, they left more questions than answers.

As Romney made his "prebuttal" he made no mention of those tax returns, which makes perfect sense for him because they show what happened to some of the millions Romney made when he worked for Bain Captial.

Those "job creators" Mitt Romney speaks of so often like Bain Capital buy companies, bankrupt them and make a profit which then gets shuttled off to Swiss bank accounts and tax havens like the Cayman Islands. Those who lost their jobs thanks to companies like Bain, and people like Mitt Romney are now getting a glimpse of where all the money goes. It doesn't go to create jobs, rather it goes into the bank accounts of the job killer at the top like Romney, who lives off his investments and what he saves by paying as little tax as he can get away with. In Romney's case that was a mere 13.9 percent for 2010.

Last night during the debate, when Newt Gingrich brought up Romney's history with Bain, Romney would change the subject to focus on Gingrich's history with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

And what about Newt's history with Freddie Mac?

The consulting firm founded by Newt Gingrich on Monday night released a copy of its 2006 contract with Freddie Mac showing it was paid $300,000 to provide unspecified "consulting and related services" for one of the federally sponsored housing agency's top lobbyists.

But a spokeswoman for the firm said it was unable to find an earlier contract dating to 1999 and renewed until 2002. The spokeswoman, Susan Meyers, also could not say whether Gingrich or any of its employees produced any written reports for Freddie Mac as part of the nearly $1.8 million in consulting fees it was paid.

What we learn by this "disclosure" is that Gingrich made lots of money working for Freddie Mac, but we have little clues about what he did for $300,000. Nice work if you can get it.

When Romney tried to pound Gingrich with questions about his "consulting and related services" with Freddie Mac during the debate, Gingrich would naturally hit back with Bain accusations, and on it went until Brian Williams would call a halt on the subject and move on to something else.

This back and forth between the two was a perfect illustration of everything the Republican Party stands for today, and Romney and Gingrich are the perfect poster boys for what's wrong with those policies. Any argument they make against the other comes back to haunt them. They might as well be arguing with a mirror.

Romney tells voters that "corporations are people, my friends" and to him they are. Romney calls Newt Gingrich an "influence peddler" and, well, it seems he is. Thanks to Citizens Untied, corporations can give boatloads of money to political campaigns without disclosing where it came from, and both men are huge beneficiaries, which they sparred over in earlier debates.

Yesterday the Center For American Progress released a new poll that shows only 17 percent of Americans agree that corporations should be allowed to spend unlimited money on elections. I would guess that this 17 percent in favor of Citizens Untied are the very same big spenders at the top who are "buying" Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney.

There's no shortage of groups taking advantage of Citizens United to influence elections both nationally and in states like Florida where the Republicans are practically puppets for special interests. I'm probably not the only person in Florida who got a robo call interrupting the debate last night from Americans For Prosperity, the Koch funded front group behind the so called "grassroots Tea Party" movement. They were calling to invite me to join them for their local "Obama Forgets" State Of The Union watch party which is described as part of  "a 7-day effort that will highlight some of the Obama Administration's worst offenses to the principles of limited government and free market enterprise." Some of those "worst offenses" no doubt being things like regulations that protect consumers from big corporations like those owned by the Koch brothers, and demanding that those corporations pay their fair share of taxes and create jobs here in the U.S. rather than shipping them overseas, kind of like Bain and Mitt Romney did. Perhaps things like protecting consumers from big banks that contributed to the housing bubble, and those paid "consultants" during that time like Newt Gingrich?

Which brings us back to Mitt Romney's little "prebuttle" to the State Of The Union address in front of that abandoned warehouse in Tampa, where Romney said this:

“Ours is the party of free enterprise, free markets, and consumer choice. The Republican Party stands for personal responsibility and equal opportunity. We don’t demonize prosperity. We celebrate success.”

The vision of "free enterprise" that Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, and yes, the Koch funded Americans For Prosperity groups aspire to isn't the same vision those who might vote for them think it is.

The Republican Party today stands for anything but personal responsibility and equal opportunity. The evidence of that lies in those Swiss accounts and those in the Cayman Islands.

It lies in those missing Freddie Mac documents.

It lies in countless abandoned warehouses like the National Gypsum Company that Romney used for the backdrop of his Obama bashing buzzword-fest in Tampa.

These Republicans are the ones who prosper and achieve success at everyday American's expense, Americans don't "demonize" that prosperity, they just want a fair chance at what used to be the achievable American Dream. It's the Republican Party who puts that very dream out of reach now for the majority of Americans, and it's the Republicans who demonize those Americans who dare to point that out.

The Republican Party is in shambles, and they have no one to blame but themselves. Romney and Gingrich and all the rest can argue and accuse each other of using those "weapons of the left" all they want. The curtain has come down on the party who are essentially their very own "weapons of mass destruction."

Romney and Gingrich are a traveling road show, a political advertisement if there ever was one for the last person you would trust to put in the Oval Office.

Marco Rubio Gets "Perfect" Voting Score From AFP, Koch

 

 Perfect Report Card For A Faithful Servant

(Photo: Marco Rubio, U.S. Senate)

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) joined four other U.S. Senators to receive a "perfect 100 percent" score from Americans For Prosperity, the Koch brothers astroturf group, for his voting record in line with the group's agenda. According to the AFP website, they were judged by their votes on "the most important economic issues" as defined by the group:

The scorecard included critical votes on such issues as the repeal of President Obama’s new health care law, preempting EPA’s purported authority to regulate greenhouse gases, Chairman Paul Ryan’s budget framework, ending ethanol subsidies, several Congressional Review Act resolutions of disapproval to overturn new regulations and the fiscal year 2012 appropriations bills.

Rubio fell in line along with Sens. Tom Coburn (R-OK), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), and Ron Johnson (R-WI), as well as 39 representatives in the House, who AFP says knew in advance that they would be "scored" by how they voted.

From the AFP website:

All Members of Congress were given notice that AFP would be scoring a specific vote before the vote took place, as well as AFP’s policy rationale for supporting or opposing the vote. All votes are given equal weight in the scorecard; AFP also includes signature of the NoClimateTax.com pledge in its congressional rankings.

Americans For Prosperity is the organized astroturf group which led the so-called "grassroots" protests against President Obama's health care reform bill before it became law. 

Marco Rubio has received $34700 in contributions from the Koch's petrochemical empire, acording to ThinkProgress, combined with contributions to the other four Senators in the 100 percent category totals  $187,400 

The "scorecard" was just for the first half of the 112th Congress.

The Koch brothers are also big contributors to the American Legislative Exchange Council, better known as ALEC, which writes model legislation used by state legislators to "cut and paste" laws for passage in their individual states. The list of Florida legislators with ties to ALEC can be viewed here.

Americans For Prosperity also has a Florida webpage that keeps a close eye on how the state legislators are doing in accordance with AFP issues. On that same Florida website, AFP also keeps a close eye on Gov. Rick Scott. If you spend some time on the website, you'll find Scott's agenda will look pretty familiar, especially the "key issues" page and its drop down list.

Just in case there's any doubt who Marco Rubio, Gov. Rick Scott and the Republicans in the legislature actually "serve," their constituents or AFP and the Koch's, this should clear that right up.