January 26, 2014

"Only a few weeks into this midterm election year, the right-wing political zeppelin is fully inflated with secret cash and is firing malicious falsehoods at supporters of health care reform."

Begins a NYT editorial, which ends:
The Internal Revenue Service and several lawmakers are beginning to step up their interest in preventing “social welfare” organizations and other tax-sheltered groups from being used as political conduits, but they have encountered the usual resistance from Republican lawmakers. Considering how effectively the Koch brothers are doing their job, it’s easy to see why.

69 comments:

Left Bank of the Charles said...

If the cash comes from the Koch brothers, how is it secret?

Sorun said...

I bet the Koch brother have sharks with laser beams attached to their heads.

Michael K said...

The NY Times jumps the shark weekly.

Pitiful.

Bob said...

The blockbuster that's scaring liberals everywhere! It's...Kochnado!

garage mahal said...

And though the ad said health care costs are “skyrocketing,” national spending on health care is now growing at the slowest pace ever recorded, in part because of the reform law.

I'm sure that was just an oversight! I'm positive they are trying to get accurate information out to voters.

Fen said...

I think this is about the recent change in the law (executive order?) that abolishes 501(c)(3) status for groups with no "societal" contribution.

ie. ACORN is exempt, Tea Party is not.

Hagar said...

The Democrats are upset that the republicans are poaching on "their" turf.

Michael K said...

They have never heard, or paid attention to, Napoleon's maxim, "Never interfere when an enemy is making a mistake," sometimes edited to "committing suicide."

The GOP does not need millions to show the collapse of Obamacare and it is only going to get worse. By summer, 100 million people will have lost their insurance or be notified it is to be cancelled.

Carl said...

...says the left-wing political zeppelin fully inflated with the nasty eternal lies and tropes that appeal to everyone's worst nature -- jealousy, greed, fear, selfishness, self-pity.

There's always a them out there ruining it for you guys, isn't there? Republicans stole your lunch money, kicked sand in your face, stole your girlfriend and later your wife, and somehow despite your clear advantage in seeing the forest of Big Ideas and not being distracted by the grubby trees of job skills or market demand, ended up as your boss, your creditor, and your landlord. Even your dog licks their hands and wags his tail when they come by to inquire if you might have the rent by Wednesday.

George M. Spencer said...

Not a whole lotta love there. Must be a communication breakdown.

SGT Ted said...

frickin' LAZER BEAMS!!

Oh noez!! There's money being used to purchase politicians. Where's the fainting couch? I'm feeling lightheaded.

The NYT has nothing to say about the dangers of government going after political dissenters to maintain power, which is how totalitarians maintain power. Because they approve of the target.

LarryK said...

A trial balloon metaphor that goes over like a lead balloon, not a Led Zeppelin.

Hagar said...

40 years ago I made a contribution to Common Cause, which was going to be non-partisan organization.

It wasn't.

Fen said...

225,000 Michigan residents who the ad said received “cancellation notices” were actually told that they could change to a better policy; they were not told they could no longer have insurance,

Sure. You didn't receive a "cancellation notice". You were simply told that your old policy no longer existed. You can change to a better policy... for an additional $800 per month and a $5,000 increase in your deductible.

That's not the same thing as "cancelled". No really.

And if you act now, we'll throw in this free set of steak knives (add $149 for shipping & handling)

LarryK said...

St. George - they're obviously Dazed and Confused.

great Unknown said...

I used to consider the NYT simply an elitist cesspool. Now, I have to classify them with the icons of journalistic history, such as Der Sturmer.

Rose said...

Maybe activistcash.com needs to host an educational summit for IRS and elected officials.

If they're going to do this, they have to shut down every single left wing org - and put an end to their operating outside of our system of laws, outside of all checks and balances. When they're done with that, THEN it will be time to look at Koch Bros. But fair's fair.

The orgs are generally made up of a small group of people, who start up boiler-room style phony 'grassroots groups," generously funded with Foundation dollars, who cross-pollinate, endorse each other, and have been actively working to cramp down on business, on your freedom, and on prosperity, and they've learned how to pressure lawmakers and get their hideous policies installed as law and/or policy.

They're getting away with going after the Tea Party, but they have ignored decades of real abuse of the system.

YoungHegelian said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
SGT Ted said...

Notice how free speech and dissent from the Democrat Party's politics has "no societal value", according to the Democrat Party and the NYT.

But, shilling FOR the Democrat Parties political platform is a defacto "societal value".

How come all the liberals here support such a totalitarian political party?

LarryK said...

In the NYTimes' world,the Koch Brothers are right-wingers' Houses of the Holy

YoungHegelian said...

Both the IRS & the institutional Left will rue the day they decided to weaponize the IRS.

For a NY Senator to stand before the Center for American Progress, of all places, and demand deeper IRS investigation into conservative "public education" groups shows a lack of irony worthy of one of Stalin's commissars.

The Left had no problem with jamming unpopular SCOTUS rulings down the throats of their fellow Americans, social dislocation be damned. But, making the Left live with 1st & 2nd amendment rulings that offend their pretty little consciences, that's a whole different ballgame.

SGT Ted said...

Democrats are abusing the law to attack dissenters.

Big Mike said...

Yeah, people wouldn't notice that their health insurance got cancelled and the best they can get through Obamacare has a $5000 deductible and a higher co-pay and doesn't have their family physician in network if it wasn't for those scurrilous Koch brothers telling them about it.

Yup. That has to be it.

Michael K said...

"And though the ad said health care costs are “skyrocketing,” national spending on health care is now growing at the slowest pace ever recorded, in part because of the reform law.

I'm sure that was just an oversight! I'm positive they are trying to get accurate information out to voters."

There is no mention of the fact that the slowdown in medical inflation dates to well before Obama's election and the Reid/Pelosi law.

Look at the graphic. The rate of increase in cost peaked in 2002. Maybe managed care, the Republican program to control medical costs, is responsible. No mention of that possibility, though. The economic collapse in 2008 also contributed. Obamacare ? Nope.

garage mahal said...

Oh the irony of Hillary raising a billion dollars.....as a result of the Citizens United ruling.

Michael K said...

" garage mahal said...
Oh the irony of Hillary raising a billion dollars.....as a result of the Citizens United ruling."

garage, you still don't understand. I am OK with Hillary raising a ton of money. What I object to, and I'm not alone, is using an agency like the IRS to attack and silence opposition. This is what Mussolini would do.

SGT Ted said...

Oh the irony of Hillary raising a billion dollars.....as a result of the Citizens United ruling.

Oh the irony of politicians that opposed Citizens United are completely cool with scooping up all that evil cash money that corrupts politics.

Its as if those campaign finance laws supported and passed by Democrats are just bullshit designed to allow Government to restrict political speech. Like, say, using the IRS to legally harass your opponents.

MD Greene said...

Funny. Just days ago, the Times ran a front-page story about how the Obama political organization, with its vast (love that word) wealth and superb data analytics, has moved into gear to support Hillary Clinton. The plan is to scare any other potential candidates out of the 2016 Democratic primaries.

garage mahal said...

What I object to, and I'm not alone, is using an agency like the IRS to attack and silence opposition.

The IRS was trying to silence liberal groups too?

YoungHegelian said...

@garage,

Oh the irony of Hillary raising a billion dollars.

Do you hear conservatives bitching about how illegal, immoral, or fattening it is for Democrats or any other political group to raise money?

You may hear conservatives bitch about how 1) Obama took illegal foreign donations, or 2) the hypocrisy of complaining about the CU ruling while raising a billion, but you don't hear conservatives claiming that raising money per se is anything but an unpleasant part of doing politics (nobody likes to go a-begging).

tim maguire said...

The truly astounding thing is that The New York Times still masquerades as a newspaper.

Seeing Red said...

Secret cash? Lolololol

bleh said...

Nice subtle attempt at recasting the IRS scandal as the fault of the Koch brothers. NYT readers of course are very receptive to that. It's helpful to remind them of the talking points.

David53 said...

I bet the Koch brothers have sharks with laser beams attached to their heads

.... ROBOT CONTROLLED sharks with laser beams attached to their heads."

Big Mike said...

@David53, you mean ROBOT CONTROLLED FROM SATELLITES ...

Fen said...

Goldstein!

Bruce Hayden said...

It would be humorous, if it weren't so pathetic. They have tried to whitewash both the ObamaCare fiasco and the IRS scandal at the same time, to little avail outside their own echo chamber.

When you have their senior Senator opining publicly that the IRS needs to target even more on the right, and they appear to think that that is just fine, it shouldn't be surprising that the rest of us are seeing this as gross overreach by the left to impose their political will through the use of government coercion. But, that will just make the Tea Party, and the right, all that much hungrier to vote them out of office this coming November.

Seeing Red said...

Jill Abramson - the most secretive White House I have ever dealt with.

then do your job.

gangster government - The Chicago Way.

MadisonMan said...

'hyped up problems'. That is an understatement.

n.n said...

Out-of-pocket, without a script, and with a firm grasp of history and present conditions.

Obamacare not only preserves but exacerbates the status quo. It addresses neither affordability nor availability. It is a revenue generation and vote purchasing scheme designed to compensate for local and regional economic recession or stagnation. It is especially critical to maintain stability in Democrat-controlled districts which are highly financed and subsidized.

Apparently, the population control protocol has been insufficient to reduce the problem set to a manageable size. To make matters worse, the cost of democratic leverage has risen with a progressive demand for money, sex, and ego gratification.

There is a periodic price which will be paid for bubble economics, and in a society where men and women seem incapable of self-moderating, responsible behavior.

rehajm said...

NYT editorials are therapeutic, legalized pot for women on the upper west side.

Fen said...

As this drek was only signed "editorial board", I clicked on a link entitled "meet the editorial board" to see who these Winston Smith's were. I got this:

The editorial board is composed of 19 journalists with wide-ranging areas of expertise. Their primary responsibility is to write The Times’s editorials, which represent the voice of the board, its editor and the publisher.

No names, no photos. It would appear that even the shills who write for Pravda have *some* shame.

Seeing Red said...

I thought The NYT didn't have a problem with blimps?

Sorun said...

"No names, no photos. It would appear that even the shills who write for Pravda have *some* shame."

The White House knows who wrote the editorial in case another WH staff position opens up.

Bob Ellison said...

Do the sharks with laser beams show up in Kochnado? If so, I'm pre-buying my tickets.

What about Kochnado versus Barackasaurus? Has that been green-lighted yet?

Wince said...

The NYT and the Democrats are in a tizzy precisely because they realize that Obamacare, because of its personal immediacy to most voters, is the issue probably least susceptible to manipulation through the media.

Jupiter said...


You have to ask yourself,

Jupiter said...

You have to ask yourself, "Why did Carlos Slim pay them to write that?".


Apparently, the blog troll does not like angle brackets, which are what you put around quotations in Spanish.

lemondog said...

George Soros and his billions must be feeling neglected.

wildswan said...

"The NYT and the Democrats are in a tizzy precisely because they realize that Obamacare, because of its personal immediacy to most voters, is the issue probably least susceptible to manipulation through the media."

Yeah, the "liberals" are in a frenzy because the message is failing within themselves. That would have such devastating consequences on all their friendships and power lines if this internal message failure somehow slipped out that they will say any ugly thing. Look at Cuomo whose family background is Catholic saying that pro-lifers have no place in New York State. He was talking about some at least of own his aunts, uncles and cousins and he was talking about many of his constituents. How can an elected official talk that way? One, he is in personal crisis. Two, he does not expect elections to matter.

Scott said...

Wow, the NYT is shrill. They must be offshoring their editorial board to North Korea.

Skeptical Voter said...

Weaponize the IRS-- and George Soros better lawyer up.

The Godfather said...

It's sad to see the NY Times fall so low. It was always (in my lifetime anyway) liberal, but it used to make cogent, rational, or at least coherent arguments for its liberal positions. This editorial is simply puerile: zeppelins = Koch brothers? A cancelled insurance policy (that "you liked") is an opportunity not a loss? I'd expect better work from one of those "newspapers" they give away on street corners.

Kirk Parker said...

Can't wait to see the mockery James Taranto makes of this.

Steven said...

"The Internal Revenue Service and several lawmakers are beginning to step up their interest in preventing “social welfare” organizations and other tax-sheltered groups from being used as political conduits" . . .

. . . and are accordingly strictly auditing the NAACP?

You know what's really annoying? The limits on political activity are supposed to be stricter for 501(c)3 groups like the NAACP and looser for 501(c)4 groups. That's why donations to 3s are tax-deductible while donations to 4s are not.

Kirk Parker said...

Angle brackets are Magic™ in html. To get them to show, you have to actually enter < and >.

Kirk Parker said...

Carl,

"There's always a them out there ruining it for you guys, isn't there? "

Again, showing the consonance with Stalin. Wreckers and saboteurs lurking everywhere!

George M. Spencer said...

Hey, girl, stop what you're doin'!
Hey, girl, you'll drive me to ruin.
I don't know what it is that I like about you, but I like it a lot.
Won't let me hold you, Let me feel your lovin' charms.

Communication Breakdown, It's always the same,
I'm having a nervous breakdown, Drive me insane!

Hey, girl, I got something I think you ought to know.
Hey, babe, I wanna tell you that I love you so.
I wanna hold you in my arms, yeah!
I'm never gonna let you go,
'Cause I like your charms.

Doin/ruin. Same/insane. Know/so/go. Charms/arms.

Nice lyrics.

damikesc said...

I bet they won't be upset if Republicans yank the tax exempt status from Media Matters.

Rest assured --- I would do that the moment I got into office.

Then yank it from CAP. Why the hell not?

If somebody wishes to rebel against the government, I should criticize them, I'm sure.

I just wonder...why should I?

The IRS was trying to silence liberal groups too?

OK, we can safely label you as a hack as this has been debunked repeatedly.

Keep reciting lies. Knock yourself out.

Keep in mind, one of the articles of impeachment of Nixon was him doing EXACTLY what Chuckles is doing.

Hell, Republicans should pursue the strictest possible campaign finance laws possible.

And then rule that the NYT, NBC, CBS, ABC, etc are not media but political organizations.

Hyphenated American said...

Just as nyt supported Stalinabad dented Khmers, it is now supporting Obama and his issue if IRS, since it's all done for the common good.

Bill R said...

That was an interesting editorial. It should have been in all caps.

SGT Ted said...

Bill R. wins the thread.

AustinRoth said...

NYT - Unfair. Unbalanced. Untrustworthy.

Anonymous said...

I'm auditioning, here:

'Any old democracy-hating fat-cat can trample over the poor on the way to record profits, just like any old robber-baron can bust-up a union by lunchtime with the help of that Senator firmly ensconced in his pocket.

But oh, my fellow righteous seekers of social justice, there is Evil afoot. I have seen progress-hating men in hoods, gathered at midnight, filing down Wall Street. I was nearly lulled by the soft sussurus of libertarian whispers in smoke-filled board-rooms.

They're calling forth the Kochtopus!

Behold this fundraising beast spreading its inky cloud of greed and lies over the People's community of equal equals, social agitators and union reps.

Behold!

*****Kids, be sure and have Mom and Dad bring you to the People's Pavilion to meet Trustbusting Terry this weekend. There'll be games and vaccines, lectures and activism, free subscriptions and more!

Terry's the only card-carrying, environmentally friendly, non-gender specific, non-smoking, sports-free, rights-based mascot in town!

Henry said...

Zeppelins didn't fire guns. They dropped bombs.

Matt Sablan said...

Wait -- are we happy the IRS is being used to restrict free speech and punish political enemies?

KLH said...

KOCH BROTHERS - lol

Fen said...

chr1: I'm auditioning, here....

[clap clap clap]

Forbes said...

garage mahal said...
Oh the irony of Hillary raising a billion dollars.....as a result of the Citizens United ruling...

Probably need to read the Citizen's United decision, as it did NOT upset the campaign finance rules for candidates. So, no irony there. But nice try.