The War on the Koch Brothers
October 6, 2011 — John Hinderaker
In Bloomberg Whiffs, Parts one and two, I documented various errors in two of the main themes of Bloomberg Markets’ politically-motivated hit piece on Koch Industries. The subjects of those posts were Bloomberg’s false claims that Koch Industries illegally did business in Iran, and terminated an employee who was responsible for compliance because she discovered that employees of a French subsidiary had made improper payments in support of sales. This
»
October 4, 2011 — John Hinderaker
I wrote here and here about Bloomberg Markets’ hit piece on Koch Industries. Yesterday’s post focused on Bloomberg’s false claim that a European Koch subsidiary illegally sold products in Iran. This post will deal with the second major theme of Bloomberg’s article, an incident in 2008 in which Koch learned that a French subsidiary had made improper payments to officials and others in support of sales. Bloomberg begins its piece
»
October 3, 2011 — John Hinderaker
Last Friday, I wrote about a Bloomberg Markets story on Koch Industries which at that time was still in preparation. According to multiple reports, the story was expected to focus on claims that a European Koch subsidiary had business transactions in Iran, while another European subsidiary made improper payments to government officials and others overseas. I pointed out that it is legal for foreign subsidiaries of American companies to do
»
September 30, 2011 — John Hinderaker
For more than a week, it has been rumored that Bloomberg Markets is preparing a hit piece on Koch Industries. Mark Tapscott of The Examiner wrote on September 19 that “[a] couple of Bloomberg reporters have been digging dirt on the Kansas brothers who own one of the world’s largest private corporations.” According to Tapscott, Bloomberg is looking into an incident several years ago in which employees at a Koch
»
September 27, 2011 — John Hinderaker
In Power Line vs. ThinkProgress, a Scorecard, we noted that a reader has gone to the trouble of summarizing some of the lies and misrepresentations that the left-wing web site ThinkProgress has propagated, particularly in connection with its smears of Charles and David Koch. That summary, with links to to the TP posts and refutations of them by us and others, is called the CAP Error and Dishonesty Tracker. I
»
September 13, 2011 — John Hinderaker
Last spring, it became apparent that the Left had decided to create a distraction by demonizing Charles and David Koch and their company, Koch Industries. A series of crazed attacks on the Koch brothers appeared, most of them originating at ThinkProgress, an Obama administration mouthpiece headed by John Podesta, co-chairman of Obama’s transition team. Several of these attacks by ThinkProgress–TP for short–were picked up by the New York Times, the
»
August 30, 2011 — John Hinderaker
Maybe you thought it was Jane Mayer of the New Yorker who came up with the idea of recasting conservatism in general, and the Tea Party movement in particular, as the creature of two rich brothers, Charles and David Koch. Or maybe you thought this bizarre meme was traceable to ThinkProgress, the wacky left-wing web site with the apt acronym TP. But no: at Big Journalism, Joel Pollak traces the
»
August 10, 2011 — John Hinderaker
I wrote here about a Bloomberg News article that criticized the American Legislative Exchange Council (“ALEC”) for having the temerity to bring together state legislators and experts from the private sector to develop legislative solutions to the problems of the day. The horror! As silly as Bloomberg’s attack was, it was quickly outdone by the youngsters at Think Progress, a billionaire-funded far-left web site with close ties to the Obama
»
July 26, 2011 — John Hinderaker
Many liberals think that the primary purpose of government is to protect them from private industry. I have never understood that. History suggests that it is governments that should be viewed warily, not private enterprise. When has the electric company ever hauled people out of their beds, lined them up against a wall and shot them? When has an automobile manufacturer ever asserted the right to appropriate big chunks of
»
July 8, 2011 — John Hinderaker
How desperate are they? This desperate: the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee solicited a contribution from the Koch brothers. Yes, those Koch brothers, whom the Democrats have mercilessly smeared for the last year, and used as fundraising foils. It takes chutzpah, to say the least, to come to the Kochs for money after the way the Democrats have trashed their reputations and done their best to make life miserable for them,
»
July 6, 2011 — John Hinderaker
It is a phenomenon we see over and over again: a liberal will make a wild accusation or engage in defamatory speculation about a political opponent. The accusation will then be taken up by left-wingers across the internet and, if it looks promising, it will be repeated in far-left newspapers like the New York Times. Liberals everywhere will eat it up and elaborate on it. Then, in due course, it
»
July 1, 2011 — John Hinderaker
MSNBC featured this over-the-top interview with Howard Dean on Tuesday. With that crazed look that Dean sometimes gets, he went off on a rant against the Koch brothers. You almost have to see it to believe it. Rachel Maddow, of course, eats it all up:
»
June 30, 2011 — John Hinderaker
ThinkProgress is a left-wing web site that is often viewed as a mouthpiece for the Obama administration. Some months ago it made a tactical decision to try to demonize the Koch brothers, and Lee Fang, who previously was best known for faking videos, was put in charge. The results have frequently been hilarious. Most notoriously, Fang produced a post called “The Contango Game” which we took apart here. It was
»
June 22, 2011 — John Hinderaker
We wrote here, here, here, and here about Robert Greenwald, a failed Hollywood director who, after being responsible for one of the biggest bombs in show business history, retreated to making paid propaganda videos on behalf of far-left causes. Currently, Greenwald is working on a series called “Koch Brothers Exposed.” These videos try to blame everything under the sun on Charles and David Koch. The latest in Greenwald’s series is
»
June 14, 2011 — John Hinderaker
I’ve had quite a bit of fun at the expense of ThinkProgress since that site got on my radar screen earlier this year. But TP has no regard for truth or accuracy, and its penchant for casual libel isn’t funny. Another case in point is this post on Saturday: “After David Koch Leaves NIH Board, NIH Hands Down Long-Delayed Classification Of Top Koch Pollutant As A Carcinogen.” This is, of
»
May 24, 2011 — John Hinderaker
We wrote here and here about Robert Greenwald, a failed filmmaker who is now paid to produce far-left “documentaries.” His current series is called “Koch Brothers Exposed.” It is a series of video attacks on Charles and David Koch and their company, Koch Enterprises. It is possible that someone, somewhere, has produced worse “documentaries” than these, but it isn’t likely. The current effort tries to tie Koch Enterprises to a
»
May 23, 2011 — John Hinderaker
This year’s National Magazine Award for Reporting was won by Harper’s magazine and Scott Horton, for an article that claimed three detainees were murdered by American troops at Guantanamo Bay. Unfortunately, the story turned out to be a lie. Not only that, but a lie that was peddled to a number of other left-wing news outlets that turned it down because it wasn’t plausible. Scott Horton’s named seemed familiar. Sure
»
