Rachel Maddow vs. Kock Brothers

After she said all of that, she did this:

Earlier this year, Rachel Maddow did a show on the 

failed and disastrous welfare drug testing debacle in 

Florida. During the show, she traced the legislation that 

demanded that welfare recipients be drug tested back 

to its money source — the Koch brothers.

Following that show, she got a surprise — one that 

delighted her. When Maddow covers the Koch brothers, 

she hears from the Koch brothers’ lawyers. This time?

 The Koch brothers sent her a script with instructions to 

read it on the air. The script contained verbiage that would 

have denounced her reporting of their affiliation with 

groups that control Republicans and legislation at the local, 

state, and federal level.

Maddow points out that MSNBC and her show will make

 corrections when a mistake is made, but there is a 

threshold that won’t be crossed.

“I don’t mind making corrections. That said — 

don’t push it.”

She explains that she covers a lot of right wing politics 

because

“The most interesting story in American politics 

this decade is the effort by the Republican party 

to remake itself in the 

wake of the disastrous Bush-Cheney era.”

“We cover the conservative movement a lot on 

this show and in so doing, we occasionally find 

people who have been 

mentioned in our coverage who are absolutely

outraged that they have been mentioned in our 

coverage. People who are not used to being talked 

about by someone who does not 

take their instructions. And so, what happens is, 

they tend to try to instruct me as to how I ought to 

talk about them. And the conservative political 

figures who you can most count on to threaten 

to sue you and call your boss 

and scream about their victimization as loud as 

they can— whenever they get mentioned by 

name in a way they do not control — are of course, 

the Koch brothers.”

What she revealed about the Kochs that angered 

them, was this:

“They are part of a network of state-based 

conservative think tanks that are designed 

to not look like a network. They all look 

vaguely indigenous. They all have what 

look to be locally-specific names, but their 

funding — if you follow it— comes in part 

from a central source of big money corporate

donors, including groups affiliated with the 

Koch brothers.”

These are some of the groups:

Screengrab via YouTube

Rachel points out something very important:

“The Koch brothers’ lawyers aren’t denying 

that they fund these organizations, but they 

don’t want anyone reporting a connection 

between what these groups do and who gives 

them the money.”

This is important. This is evidence that they are trying 

to run this country from their own agenda, if evidence 

is needed at this point.

Why do these men do what they do? Why do they think 

that they can manipulate politics in this country 

without being held accountable? Maddow explains it 

when people operate at a certain level of power and 

wealth, they “are not used to ever hearing things that 

you do not want to hear, particularly things about 

yourself.”

That.

I’ve experienced that in my own life with powerful and 

wealthy people I know. People in positions of power 

are not accustomed to being challenged. They certainly 

aren’t accustomed to being criticized. They don’t want 

to see the mirror that we hold up to them. It infuriates 

them. How dare we! How dare Rachel Maddow!

As for their lame little script that they wanted her to 

read online, here is her response.

“I am not going to read their script. I’m not going to 

renounce my own reporting on this story, because 

the reporting on this story stands. It is true. And 

now we also know that the Koch brothers do not

wish to be associated with the work and the 

causes that they have funded through their multi-million 

dollar, multi-year massive funding of networks of 

conservative organizations. You not wanting to be 

known for something you have done is not the same 

thing as you not having done it.”

“We will not stop reporting on the political actions and 

the consequences of the political actions of rich and 

powerful men, even if they send angry letters every 

time we do it. I will not read scripts provided to me 

by anyone else. I do not play requests. I will happily 

make corrections when I do get things wrongs. We 

do it on this show all the time, but I will not renounce 

or retract reporting that is true, even if the subjects 

of that reporting don’t like it. Being a political actor 

means being subject to political scrutiny. If you 

don’t want to be known for it, don’t do it. Don’t just 

complain when people accurately describe your 

actions. Your actions are what we are reporting on 

and we will do that on our own terms as a free press. 

If you want to control the words that are used when 

your actions are discussed, then speak for yourself.”

“I will renew my invitation now. Mr. Koch, or the other 

Mr. Koch, you are welcome on this show anytime. 

I would love to discuss these matters with you 

right here in person live and without interruptions. 

Anytime. And it would be easy to set up — 

you apparently already have my number.”

Screengrab via YouTube

Rachel Maddow can’t be bought by corrupt people. 

People who stand on principle can’t be bought. 

They can’t be silenced. They can’t be controlled. 

The Koch brothers, and other conservatives — 

and maybe, truth be told, even some powerful 

Democrats who have lost their way — can’t deal 

with that.

FYI, this is what a patriot looks like. In my opinion, 

what she’s doing is dangerous. These people could 

have her “dealt with” without it ever being traced back 

to them. Oh we would all question it, sure. But they’d 

never see justice. She is a hero. She is….a patriot.

We need for people to see this. Do anything you can 

to get the conservatives you know to sit and watch 

this with you. Bribe them. Offer lunch or booze in 

exchange for them watching this. In fact, make it a 

weekly thing. “Watch Maddow with me once a week 

and I’ll pay for drinks.”

The only way we’re going to get change is to change 

people and open their eyes. That’s going to happen one 

person at a time.

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