The Attack on Cain

In one of the strangest attacks yet leveled at Herman Cain, the far left is now trying to tie him to the Koch brothers, those favorite targets of progressives. In order to understnad the craziness of this attack, a little background is in order.

1) For at least the last four years, there has been a steady stream of stories about George Soros, one of the richest men in America, and his strong support for leftist causes. Soros has funded all manner of progressive groups. Questions have been raised in various places as to Soros' actual motives (is he truly supportive of these causes or is he seeking to profit from the chaos engendered by some of them?)

2) Since the evidence was so clear, the left was unable to deny the many stories about Soros. As a result, some bloggers dreamed up the charge that conservatives had their own billionaires funding the cause. In this case, the target was the Koch brothers. Unlike with Soros, however, there is little evidence that the Koch brothers are behind many conservative organizations. The Kochs have contributed to some organizations, but no more than one would expect from a politically active family.

3) One organization to which the Koch brothers have contributed is American for Prosperity or AFP. AFP is extremely large with close to 200,000 members. While the Kochs have contributed to AFP in the past, only a tiny percentage of the funds raised by AFP come from the Kochs. The Kochs are no more in control of AFP than I am in control of the AMerican Red Cross to which I have contributed in the past.

4) Herman Cain was associated with AFP in the past. For a conservative like Cain, this is not surprising in the least.

Now we get to the latest nonsense. In the last two days, the Washington Post, the Huffington Post, ABC, CBS and many other main stream media outlets have run stories "exposing" Cain's links to AFP and the Koch brothers. There is no instance set forth in the stories that Cain has been meeting with the Kochs. There is no evidence that Cain has been communicating with the Kochs. There is no evidence that Cain has been sharing strategy with the Kochs. In short, there is no connection. but even more important is that AFP is not controlled or "bankrolled" (to use the favorite term) by the Kochs. This whole story is just a fantasy creation dreamed up by the media in order to undermine Cain.

It is truly funny to see the media react this way. In 2008, when the news broke that Obama had started his political career in the living room of terrorist Bill Ayres, the media ignored the story. When it came out that Obama's relationship with Ayres continued as the served together on the board of the Woods foundation, the media ignored the story. When the story came out that Obama's pastor, reverend Wright was preaching anti-Americanism and all manner of nastiness, the media ignored the story until video of the reverend was shown and the story sprouted wings. While the media could not ignore the Wright story, it still downplayed its importance and reported in an uncritical manner Obama's explanation that while he may have attended Wright's church for 20 years, he had not heard any of the outrageous things Wright had been saying. (At the time, this reminded me of Bill Clinton's famous statement about smoking pot: he did smoke pot, but he did not inhale.)

The funniest thing about the current attempt to tie Cain to the Koch brothers, however, is this: the media actually believes that it still has the power to determine the story that the American people hear. The truth is that there is just too extensive a network of alternative media for the fools at CBS and NBC to stay in control. These guys used to be in charge of news in America, but not anymore. Fortunately for the country, the truth now gets out, and quickly.