January 19, 2012

"Obama Fights Back Against Koch Brothers in New Ad."

NYT headline for an article that includes this embedded ad (which refers to "secretive oil billionaires attacking President Obama"):



And here's the ad — linked in the article — that the Obama as is fighting back against:



What do you think? Did Obama "punch back twice as hard"?

77 comments:

Levi Starks said...

If the president lie's in a campaign add and the media isn't listening (or hearing) did he really lie?

John said...

Interesting contrast between the coverage the Times gives the Kochs, who are honest business people on the wrong political side in the Times' view, and Jon Corzine, who is an outright crook who stole over a billion dollars from small investors and exemplifies everything the Times claims to hate. The cover Corzine when they have to and the Kochs nearly incessantly and always negatively.

Brian Brown said...

Yes these "billionaires" (bad just becasue) are so secretive that they are easily identified by President Obama and in a New York Times article.

Hoosier Daddy said...

You'd think a guy who has a billion dollar campaign fund would see the irony in attacking billionaires.

Michael Haz said...

Koch Industries employs more than 50,000 workers in America. Most of them belong to labor unions.

Obama hates wealthy, successful people, except those who lavish money and attention on him (cf Immelt, Jeffrey).

Obama cannot run a positive, upbeat campaign. He must always have an enemy, and abesnt a true enemy, he will fabricate one.

BarryD said...

It makes him look weak and pathetic, as President, to "strike back" at a couple of people nobody would have heard of had they not been made the latest Emmanuel Goldsteins of the American coffee house left.

There have been a growing number of reasons to look back and appreciate GW Bush's good qualities. That he didn't do anything like this is one of them.

Calypso Facto said...

garage, when did you get the Obama ad-making job??? Koch Bros!!!!11!! Congratulations, but remember to ask for your pay up front and in cash.

John said...

The other irony about the Kochs is that they spend something like $15 million a year on political projects. Soros in contrasts spends ten or twenty times that. Yet the Kochs are secretive billionaires running the world. They sure do get a lot of bang for their buck.

Ann Althouse said...

Isn't language like "secretive...billionaires" intended (with deniability) to stir up anti-semitic emotions?

Henry said...

From the ad: "Our dependence on foreign oil is below 50%"

With just a few more years of recession and we can get below 40%!

Recession has a lot of silver linings like that. Expect Obama to find them all.

John said...

Are the Kochs Jewish Ann?

I think it is more (without deniability) intended to stir up conspiracy theories about "wreckers and counter revolutionaries" and such. They left has been murdering people under such pretenses since 1789 in Paris. And they have killed a lot more people than even anti-Semites have during that time.

Sprezzatura said...

"Isn't language like "secretive...billionaires" intended (with deniability) to stir up anti-semitic emotions?"

This must be some stereotype I'm not familiar w/.

I read Cedarford's comments (that's my only familiarity w/ anti-semites), and I haven't noticed any "secretive....billionaires" rants. Cedarford doesn't seem to be billionaire focused in his rants. He's equally against non-billionaire and billionaire Jews.

MayBee said...

The President of the United States campaigning against secretive billionaires is just pathetic.

Come on. This is the guy who had campaign buddies get his opponents divorce records unsealed when he was but a Senate-wannabe. We all know that as president, he can uncover any "secrets" about the Kochs he wants to.

Does he want to? Is he threatening them?

F said...

Does it make good sense (politically) to attack the Koch brothers this early in the campaign? Or is this a sign of desperation? I'm asking because I'm not sure what the Obama wants to accomplish with this ad. Discrediting the Kochs doesn't seem like it accomplishes much. What am I missing here?

wv: thett. A classical misspelling; it should read "theft"

ricpic said...

"Secretive oil billionaires." What is this, a comic book?

John said...

"Secretive oil billionaires." What is this, a comic book?

Obama is just jealous that the Kochs have a better secret lair.

Scott M said...

Obama is just jealous that the Kochs have a better secret lair.

How can that be? The White House is the ultimate secret lair. It's got bunkers, footballs that can destroy the world, interns delivering pizza at all hours, and back door garbage that's been blessed by the Dalai Lama. Hell, I bet it's even got sharks with freakin' laser beams attached to their heads.

It doesn't get any better than that.

Hagar said...

Well, the Koch brothers are less well known than, say, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, but not by much.

A very feeble comeback and not resonating outside the NYT faithful readership.

Sprezzatura said...

"attack the Koch brothers this early in the campaign"


How much have the bros spent "this early" in attack ads against BHO?

Is their early spending also a sign of desperation? Or, is it only desperate if a pol doesn't let millions of dollars of attack ads go unanswered? Duh.


P.S.
Why aren't you cons following Althouse's lead w/ the anti-semite accusations against BHO?

Sydney said...

I have trouble believing anything the man says, even in a political ad, so it has no effect on me. I thought it was weak. The anti-Obama ad was better. And the reference to not relying on foreign oil seems a particularly bald lie given his recent Keystone Pipeline decision.

Sprezzatura said...

"And the reference to not relying on foreign oil seems a particularly bald lie given his recent Keystone Pipeline decision."

Have we annexed Canada?

Sydney said...

Have we annexed Canada?

Didn't you know they are our great northern national park?

Hagar said...

"Isn't language like "secretive...billionaires" intended (with deniability) to stir up anti-semitic emotions?"

???

There are, of course, Jews named Koch, such as Ed Koch of NYC fame, but Koch is only German for Cook, so what makes AA think this has anything to do with anti-semitism?

Scott M said...

Why aren't you cons following Althouse's lead w/ the anti-semite accusations against BHO?

Perhaps your lens is flawed, PB. Always make sure there's no gunk on it.

Chuck66 said...

So we have the leader of a nation talking about how a cabel of greedy Jew businessmen secretly control the country?

Chuck66 said...

AA, you should go to the web site "Jew Watch". Its an anti-Semitic web site that features the Koch brothers and other Jews who secretly control society.

I know the left calls all of their enemies "Hitler", but the parallels to rally up political support by claiming greedy Jews need to be taken out, is similiar.

Chuck66 said...

Hager says "There are, of course, Jews named Koch, such as Ed Koch of NYC fame, but Koch is only German for Cook, so what makes AA think this has anything to do with anti-semitism?":

Well, maybe the anti-Semetic web site Jew Watch featuring the Koch brothers provides some clues.

Akiva said...

According to Wikipedia, the Koch brothers are Roman Catholic and of Dutch background.

As an orthodox Jew, I didn't read anything anti-semitic in Obama's ad. Maybe I'm not sufficiently paranoid?

I've encountered people who seem anti-semitic but are actually equal opportunity offenders, they insult every ethnicity equally - even their own. I suspect Obama is similar, either you support him or your an evil (fill in appropriate slur here).

Peano said...

No contest.

Kochs 1, Zero 0.

Hagar said...

Chuck,

Well, you would first have to frequent such sites as this "Jew Watch," and if you do, you are probably a lost cause anyway.

Did Obama's ad have a link to this "Jew Watch," and I missed it?

And according to the post above, "Jew Watch" is wrong about the Koch brothers' religious affiliations, anyway.

Sprezzatura said...

Peano,

What is the score for between Althouse and BHO re the suggestion, by Althouse, that BHO's ad is anti-semitic?

Henry said...

For my own part, I thought the OWS obsession with secretive banking billionaires crossed into anti-semitism much more obviously than the Obama's complaints about secretive oil billionaires.

Oil makes you think of Texas, but secretive Texans doesn't work as a meme. Maybe it's those secretive Norwegians we should be worried about, doing all that drilling and awarding all those prizes. In secret.

The point being that the key word is "secretive." That word invokes conspiracy. Every word after that is just a pebble on the path into the bog. And the grand Western conspiracy tied to with money is not about Norwegians.

BarryD said...

"It's got bunkers, footballs that can destroy the world, interns delivering pizza at all hours, and back door garbage that's been blessed by the Dalai Lama."

The interns just deliver pizzas at 2am?

One can easily think up a better secret lair that THAT...

BarryD said...

secretive Texans doesn't work as a meme.

That's a very good point.

X said...

I'm still working on my scorecard. Isn't the New York Times run by a secretive Mexican billionaire?

Chuck66 said...

No anti-Semitism here. Nothing to see.
From a web site called "savethemales"
---------------------------------

Bloomberg News has a story today on how the Zionist Koch brothers bankrolled the campaigns of Governors (like Scott Walker) who are cutting union powers.
--------------------------------
Mayer neglects to mention that the Koch's are Jews or crypto Jews; instead she tries to give them a "goy gloss."
--------------------------------
The real story is that Jane Meyer works for another Illuminati Jewish billionaire, publisher Sam Newhouse. Her job is to create the illusion of free democratic discourse. Between the Sam Newhouses and George Soros' on the Left, and the Koch's and the Rupert Murdochs on the Right, a dozen Illuminati (Masonic) Jewish billionaires are able to define political discourse in America.

chickelit said...

Secretive oil billionaires

Are they oozing something?

garage mahal said...

garage, when did you get the Obama ad-making job??? Koch Bros!!!!11!! Congratulations, but remember to ask for your pay up front and in cash.

Those Koch ads are running on my TV, right now. As they have been the past two yrs it seems like. Seriously thinking of ditching cable ahead of the carpetbombing headed this way.

Chuck66 said...

Hagar, I am not seriously saying all the looney lefties are Jew haters. Mostly illustrating how easy it is to cast your political opponents in that way. Just as the left keeps saying all Republicans are racist, the right can do the same and try to portray the conspiracy theory fans on the left as anti-Semitic but cherry picking a very small number of wackos who really are, and portraying everyone like that.

Rusty said...

"secretive...billionaires"


Progg code for filthy jews. The proggs hate em some jews, they do.

Michael said...

The president's counter-ad is pretty weak. Loudly trying to support the green energy business is a losing path to take. Most people think it is a load of crap and wont' be impressed with the stats he apparently believes compelling.

The Koch ad is powerful and does not lend itself to rebuttal. The Koch's themselves are unknown to nearly all Americans other than a few in-the-know lefties who go ape shit at the mention of their names. Their investments are mostly rock solid, they directly employ over 50K people, they are active in their communities. They do not share the political philosophy of the residents of Madison, however, which makes them evil indeed.

It is quite difficult to be secretive when you own companies like Georgia-Pacific. Very hard to hide.

damikesc said...

Obama is a multi millionaire and hasn't done a thing good for the country.

The Kochs employ tens of thousands.

Who is actually worthy of respect?

How much have the bros spent "this early" in attack ads against BHO?

Less than Obama buddy Soros has spent attacking them for the last year...

PaulV said...

There are plenty of liberal hate comments on internet attacking the Catholic Kochs as jewish.

garage mahal said...

They do not share the political philosophy of the residents of Madison, however, which makes them evil indeed.

Or many parts of Wisconsin, it would appear.

There are plenty of liberal hate comments on internet attacking the Catholic Kochs as jewish.

Uh huh. Sure.

Brian Brown said...

pbAndjFellowRepublican said...


How much have the bros spent "this early" in attack ads against BHO?


Zero.

henge said...

I guess that Halliburton must've gone out of business.

Pavlov's dogs have nothing on these idiots, I mean Democrats.

Tim said...

"Seriously thinking of ditching cable ahead of the carpetbombing headed this way."

Nothing to worry about. Dairy cows are almost never targets of carpet-bombing.

Random gangs of thugs and rustlers, yeah, sure.

Otherwise, the "Obama for Cannibalizing America's Future" response ad was pathetic.

Tim said...

"Pavlov's dogs have nothing on these idiots, I mean Democrats."

No need to qualify. The redundancy was immediately obvious. It happens to all of us.

Peano said...

Peano,

What is the score for between Althouse and BHO re the suggestion, by Althouse, that BHO's ad is anti-semitic?


The Kochs aren't Jewish.

edutcher said...

Like Willie and the Hildabeast, Barry and Moochelle have only rich friends and they've made sure some of that has sloshed onto them (largely because their friends would be raaaacisst if it didn't).

Which makes GodZero's (and Pelosi Galore's and Dingy Harry's) carping about the rich wear thin rather quickly.

rhhardin said...

Obama wants the US to be a nation of turists, he said at Disney world, probably referring to door worship.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Ricpic said:

""Secretive oil billionaires." What is this, a comic book?"


I was thinking that too.

Plus the super-evil Koch Bros can't be much of a secret when all the Krazy Kos Kids know about them.

Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...

I guess it's tough coming up with new campaign ideas when you're president of the food stamp party.

Scott M said...

I guess it's tough coming up with new campaign ideas when you're president of the food stamp party.

Racist.

Chip Ahoy said...

Always make sure there's no gunk on it.

You know, that is really good advice, Scott. It is easily overlooked. Especially when you are photographing food as you are preparing it.

There could be a smudge that doesn't show in the tiny viewfinder, and the live view doesn't go through the lens, and it will be too late before you learn the whole session is ruined. And that would be really sad, if such an odd thing might actually happen to some special somebody somewhere.

Scott M said...

There could be a smudge that doesn't show in the tiny viewfinder, and the live view doesn't go through the lens, and it will be too late before you learn the whole session is ruined. And that would be really sad, if such an odd thing might actually happen to some special somebody somewhere.

Well, yeah, that...and your laser could eat itself when it hits a grease smudge on it's optics. Did Val Kilmer's genius teach us nothing?

Anonymous said...

Back around the time the secretive oil billionaires first started paying me to comment on blogs, I got a tour of the flying submarine they use to get to their secret island lair. It was pretty cool.

I'm Full of Soup said...

The ad lies bigtime. There is no credible evidence oroof that Obama has created 2.7 million clean energy jobs. That is a flatout lie. In fact,the entire country does not have 2.7 million clean energy jobs.

Petunia said...

Psul, is the Kochs' secret island lair like the one in Thunderbirds Are Go? Cuz if it is, I TOTALLY want to work for them posting comments so I can get a tour.

Roger J. said...

only January and the national poltical ads are gearing up--going to be a long year

Automatic_Wing said...

But do the Kochs have sharks with freakin' laser beams on their heads? I mean, throw me a bone, people.

Michael Haz said...

Because I live in Waukesha County, every time I vote for a Republican, one of the Koch Bros shows up at my home in a Rolls Royce with a trunk full of money.

They are secretive. I once took a photo of one of them and the film turned out blank.

Scott M said...

But do the Kochs have sharks with freakin' laser beams on their heads? I mean, throw me a bone, people.

You owe me a bone.

garage mahal said...

Once you get out of loony Waukesha Cty, the Koch agenda isn't too popular.

Sofa King said...

The ad lies bigtime. There is no credible evidence oroof that Obama has created 2.7 million clean energy jobs.

The ad doesn't state he *created* 2.7 million clean energy jobs, it just implied it. The actual cited source is on the internet and it state that they estimate that there *are* about 2.7 million "clean sector" jobs, the bulk of which are relatively mundane things like bus drivers and recycling center workers. Renewable energy jobs are a tiny portion of these.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Sofa King- That was my point as well- that there are no way 2.7 million jobs if you did a truly honest count.

And you gotta love how they likely include enviro attorneys and such as green jobs.

Automatic_Wing said...

You owe me a bone.

You are correct, sir. I should've known that you would've been all over that one.

Scott M said...

You are correct, sir. I should've known that you would've been all over that one.

There's a corporation in Eve Online named Sharks With Freakin Laser Beams. Their stock ticker is, I believe, SFLB. Sure, it's funny and hysterical and all, but being on the receiving end of one of their fleets isn't much fun.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Once you go anywhere outside a librul loony bin, no one even cares about the Koch agenda.

Alex said...

Garage will be insufferable until the Walker beats the recall this summer.

Toad Trend said...

That was no punch!

As Jay-Z is wont to say, 'that wasn't even a M.F. slap, bitch!'

Besides, I don't associate punches with lies. Punches can hurt while lies, while 'hurtful', are more annoying than anything.

I expect lies from leftists, just like I expect meconium from newborns. Yawn.

wv - redso

Ask the 'scowler-in-chief' why she's redso.

Rusty said...

Besides, I don't associate punches with lies. Punches can hurt while lies, while 'hurtful', are more annoying than anything.




I'd rather be hit than lied to.
The sting of physical pain is fleeting compared to the treachery of a lie.

J Allen said...

The Dems need to get Mark Wahlberg on their side. He can punch back 3 times as hard..or at least that what he can claim.

Paul said...

Did you guys watch PBS. The Koch bothers donate alot of money to PBS, and PBS sure isn't a conservative outlet!

Now isn't that strange? No, actually it isn't. They are not evil.

But Obama, with his poll numbers so bad, needs a whipping boy. Funny how he accepts so much $$ from the entertainment industry, the ones pushing SOPA, but why the Koch brothers... they are 'evil'.

No, Obama didn't push back twice as hard, More likely he was run over by his own hypocrisy.

Phil 314 said...

Tony Stark and Bruce Wayne are secretive billionaires.

Xmas said...

Calling your ethics record "unprecedented" doesn't necessarily mean it's good.

That response ad was terrible...terrible. Nothing the Obama administration has done has lead to the decreased dependence on foreign oil. The economy is collapsing, while domestic resources on land the Feds have little control over are being explored(e.g. North Dakota's Bakken field). In fact, the Feds have been seen hindering local domestic oil production by slamming down on off-shore oil drilling in the gulf.

Anyway...the topper is all of the solar panels shown in the Obama ad are NOT Solyndra panels.

jeff said...

"Once you get out of loony Waukesha Cty, the Koch agenda isn't too popular."

Considering the "Koch Agenda" includes:
decriminalize drugs,
legalize gay marriage,
repeal the Patriot Act,
end the police state,
cut defense spending.

I have wonder about you non-loony, police state loving, gay hating, nation building, freedom hating, people who want to lock up all the pot smokers. While I disagree with you on all those issues, I am impressed that you admit to all that.