Koch Tea Partiers: More Racist, Bigoted, Authoritarian Than Most Americans

Because we still get people every so often claiming “The Tea Partiers aren’t racists so stop calling them that!”, here’s a little reality check for y’all from last year from the University of Washington, courtesy of Blue Texan:

“The tea party is not just about politics and size of government. The data suggests it may also be about race,”said Christopher Parker, a UW assistant professor of political science who directed the survey.

It found that those who are racially resentful, who believe the U.S. government has done too much to support blacks, are 36 percent more likely to support the tea party than those who are not.

Indeed, strong support for the tea party movement results in a 45 percent decline in support for health care reform compared with those who oppose the tea party. “While it’s clear that the tea party in one sense is about limited government, it’s also clear from the data that people who want limited government don’t want certain services for certain kinds of people. Those services include health care,”Parker said.

Of course, as BT also pointed out, teabaggers love government spending, so long as it’s just for them.

New report on Kochs

Via Avedon and Adele Stan, Tony Carrk, Center for American Progress:

here is a brief summary of the report’s findings:
• The Koch brothers, whose wealth, when combined, is the fourth highest in the
nation, run one of the largest private companies in the country. Koch Industries
is involved in industries ranging from oil and gas, refining and chemicals, minerals,
fertilizers, forestry, consumer products, polymers and fibers, and ranching.
They have operations in 45 states.

• The Koch brothers use their considerable wealth to bankroll the right wing,
including the Tea Party. This serves the purpose of furthering not only their
right-wing ideology but also their bottom line. Koch Industries has a lot to gain
from gutting government oversight and electing candidates who oppose government
regulation, especially in the oil-and-gas industry.

• Chances are the Koch brothers are part of any recent right-wing attack as of
late as they have fought health reform, Wall Street reform, collective bargaining
rights, and efforts to curb climate change, to name just a few.

• We have identified at least $85 million the Koch brothers have given to at least
85 right-wing think tanks and advocacy groups over the past decade and a half.

• Their main advocacy group, Americans for Prosperity, has chapters in 32 states and
spent $45 million in the last election, predominantly to help elect Republicans.

• The Kochs donated directly to 62 of the 87 members of the House GOP
freshman class.

• The Koch brothers are active at the state level, spending $5.2 million on candidates
and ballot measures in 34 states since 2003. They donated directly to
13 governors that won election last year.

• The Kochs are not going away. In fact, they have already pledged to raise
$88 million for the 2012 election and have started scheduling events for
potential Republican presidential

But this is not the whole story. You want to know why there is so much poverty, despair, sickness, and death on the nation’s Indian reservations? The Koch brothers are part of a pattern of thefts against Indians. See also Helfrich for the wider pattern of thefts against Indians.