How the RW propaganda machine works

The story I saw last week talking about how the Koch Brothers are trying to take over the Cato Institue, another right-wing ideology factory, reminded me of how interconnected a lot of these groups and the GOP are.

With that in mind, check out this video. It shows how the Koch Brothers create fake organizations and produce "experts" that spread their BS to uncritical media, which allows their lies to get exposure that they do not deserve. It also shows how they conspire with politicians and RW media to complete the circle. Narrated by the always-excellent Bernie Sanders, with a special appearance by Wisconsin's own Paul Ryan.


There's a quote in the Koch/Cato story that should be especially resonant here in Wisconsin.

“They said that a principle goal was to defeat Barack Obama,” remembered Levy. “The way David [Koch] put it was, ‘We would like you to provide intellectual ammunition that we can then use at Americans for Prosperity and our allied organizations.’ AFP and others would apply Cato's work to advance their electoral goals.”

If this sounds familiar, it should, because it's the exact same type of move I described 3 weeks ago with the Heartland Institute's Operation Angry Badger, which is an anti-public schools propaganda campaign heavily funded by the Kochs' "group of philanthropists" and Milwaukee's Bradley Foundation. See, the Kochs' and the right-wing network try to use these shadow organizations to give legitimacy to illegitimate politicians and positions, and our media frequently fails to disclose this reality (if they're even aware that these "think tanks" are nothing more than lie machines).

And at the state level, we see how this works as well. Look at James Rowen's excellent work on the mining bill, where he reveals how Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce lobbyists and Scott Fitzgerald's office constantly got inside info on the bill, and how Charles Sykes and Fitzgerald worked together on messaging to smear Dale Schultz when he objected to this one-sided, ridiculous bill.

Lastly, look at the recent article from Rebecca Kemble in the Progressive, which showed how Walker donors were given spots on the state's judicial commission to "interpret" laws and ethics for judges. You may also remember that one of the original members of that selection group was none other than Eric McLeod, who had to step down from his post after being part of Michael Best, & Friedrich's "free advice" group for Justic Michale Gableman.

You can see how a small, insular group that relies on ideological solutions over fact and reality can gain a foothold in this type of environment, and how an unknowing media will give that group credibility when they are worthy of none. What we have to do is constantly expose these back-room connections and lies, and make them pay for hoisting these falisities into public debate. You can bet that the Cato takeover and Operation Angry Badger won't be the last times the Kochs or other right-wing lie machines will try to misdirect people. But if we're in their face at every turn, we can certainly turn them back, and have solutions based on reality instead of corporate pocketbooks and campaign contributions.