Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery
A Politico piece titled Koch World 2014 revealed that the Koch brothers realized that their failure in the 2012 election was due largely to a poor field organization. They learned from their mistake, according to the article, and are spending their vast resources to help shore up local field organizing.
A clear example of this happens tomorrow night as Americans for Prosperity (AFP) state chapters in twelve at least thirteen states hold “State of the Union Watch Parties”, fully funded by the Koch brothers corporatist front group. There are four here in Michigan alone; one in Marquette, one in Grand Rapids, one in Novi, and one in Traverse City.
Where OFA State of the Union watch parties are typically held in the homes of volunteers, these events are all held at public venues with free refreshments — sometimes even dinner — provided by AFP. In addition to Michigan there are similar events in Arkansas, Florida, Ohio, Kansas, Illinois, Louisiana, Virginia, Texas, Minnesota, Arizona, North Carolina, and New Hampshire.
The Democrats’ ground game and “Get Out the Vote” (GOTV) operation is going to have to be top-notch this year to compete against the incredible amounts of money coming from outside corporate-funded groups like AFP. This is especially true if they are going to begin getting involved in local organizing and GOTV efforts of their own. We’ll need all hands on deck for this. Make sure you’re a part of it.
UPDATE: Talking Points Memo reports that Facebook page for one of the Michigan AFP events contained this image:
It’s a Photoshopped version of this “Thank you, Comrade Stalin” poster honoring the communist monster who killed so many of his own countrymen:
The Facebook link no longer works so somebody at AFP must have realized how moronic it made their organization look.
