Big Koch vs. Big RNC on Big Data
June 12, 2015 9:30 AM Subscribe
Are the Koch brothers creating a shadow voter list to outmaneuver the RNC? Or is it not that big of a deal? Regardless, I get a little choked up when I see an article so thorough and informative--evidence of why a free press and relative transparency in government are so important.
Well, the Republicans are all for privatizing this and that so let them start reaping the whirlwind that they've been sowing.
They would just change from being the unofficial stooges of the wealthy to the official stooges of the wealthy.
posted by Renoroc at 9:43 AM on June 12, 2015 [4 favorites]
They would just change from being the unofficial stooges of the wealthy to the official stooges of the wealthy.
posted by Renoroc at 9:43 AM on June 12, 2015 [4 favorites]
beat me to it gwint, though I was going to add HAHA hHAHAh ahhahaaa aaah... ugh
posted by Golem XIV at 9:43 AM on June 12, 2015
posted by Golem XIV at 9:43 AM on June 12, 2015
In defiance of Betteridge's law of headlines, any headline that asks if the Koch brothers are doing something evil can be answered with "yes."
posted by maxsparber at 9:44 AM on June 12, 2015 [16 favorites]
posted by maxsparber at 9:44 AM on June 12, 2015 [16 favorites]
Some good Koch's money did in 2012. I don't care if they flush it down the toilet again in 2016.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 9:45 AM on June 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 9:45 AM on June 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
Paul Waldman: Could the Koch brothers swallow up the GOP?
There’s a pretty rich irony in hearing an RNC spokesperson complain about the influence of unaccountable rich people on politics. That’s because the power the Kochs (and other mega-donors) are building is a direct consequence of everything Republicans have advocated for years. They’re the ones who filed lawsuits to try to weaken campaign finance laws. They’re the ones who celebrated when those lawsuits succeeded. They’re the ones who rush to exploit every new loophole so the most amount of money can be spent with the least amount of accountability. They’re the ones who say that money equals speech, and liberty demands that the wealthy be able to spend all they want on campaigns.posted by zombieflanders at 9:55 AM on June 12, 2015 [34 favorites]
But it’s possible that party leaders may not have predicted just how serious and involved the Kochs would become in their political activities.
[...]
On one hand, the party argues, quite reasonably, that while someone like the Kochs might lose interest and pack up shop one day, the party will always be there trying to elect Republicans, so it makes sense for them to be the locus of organizing, spending, and coordination. On the other hand, Republicans succeeded in creating something like a free market in political organization, where any new entrant with the means can come in and try to win market share.
In other words, the party fought to give the Kochs as much influence in politics as they were willing and able to take, and the Kochs took them up on it with so much enthusiasm that they now threaten to supplant the party. Maybe a party that lauds the wealthy for their smarts and entrepreneurial spirit should have seen that coming.
let them eat bitcoins
posted by brainimplant at 9:57 AM on June 12, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by brainimplant at 9:57 AM on June 12, 2015 [3 favorites]
Some good Koch's money did in 2012. I don't care if they flush it down the toilet again in 2016.
Are you referring to the presidency? They took over a whole ton of state governments and congressional seats.
posted by indubitable at 10:03 AM on June 12, 2015 [20 favorites]
Are you referring to the presidency? They took over a whole ton of state governments and congressional seats.
posted by indubitable at 10:03 AM on June 12, 2015 [20 favorites]
Yes, I was referring to the presidency.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 10:09 AM on June 12, 2015
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 10:09 AM on June 12, 2015
I don't care if they flush it down the toilet again in 2016.
Consider it "economic stimulus." Just don't tell them that.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 10:15 AM on June 12, 2015
Consider it "economic stimulus." Just don't tell them that.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 10:15 AM on June 12, 2015
“I think it’s very dangerous and wrong to allow a group of very strong, well-financed individuals who have no accountability to anyone to have control..."In other news, fox shut in henhouse expected to calmly gather eggs.
posted by Foam Pants at 10:42 AM on June 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Foam Pants at 10:42 AM on June 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
So not having learned their lesson with the NRA, Rush Limbaugh, the Christian Coalition, Donald Trump, or the Tea Party, the RNC is once again surprised when they can't control the Kochs. Maybe they need to teach their frogs to stop picking up every scorpion promising to deliver them votes.
posted by dances with hamsters at 10:54 AM on June 12, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by dances with hamsters at 10:54 AM on June 12, 2015 [6 favorites]
Fool me once, shame on ... shame on you. Fool me... You can't get fooled again!
posted by Sangermaine at 10:56 AM on June 12, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by Sangermaine at 10:56 AM on June 12, 2015 [3 favorites]
This is pretty normal party politics in many ways. The DNC constantly wars within itself and the rest of the Democratic party. They only difference here is the amount of money involved and sheer political stupidity of the RNC (which seems to have become a defining feature of late).
posted by srboisvert at 11:11 AM on June 12, 2015
posted by srboisvert at 11:11 AM on June 12, 2015
Some good Koch's money did in 2012.
It was a learning exercise. One big reason they're sucking up Big Data is to make sure they're smarter in '16. I just wonder how much smarter Hillary Clinton is now than in '08. It's gonna be interesting... and scary.
posted by oneswellfoop at 11:49 AM on June 12, 2015 [2 favorites]
It was a learning exercise. One big reason they're sucking up Big Data is to make sure they're smarter in '16. I just wonder how much smarter Hillary Clinton is now than in '08. It's gonna be interesting... and scary.
posted by oneswellfoop at 11:49 AM on June 12, 2015 [2 favorites]
It seems quite likely that both parties will outsource their core VR / GOTV functions to independent expenditures in 2016. Independents are legally constrained when it comes advocating for candidates or coordinating with their messaging. Modern VR / GOTV has almost zero policy / candidate persuasion: it is entirely about targeting people who don't register or turn out consistently, but when they do, very reliably for one party or the other.
posted by MattD at 11:54 AM on June 12, 2015
posted by MattD at 11:54 AM on June 12, 2015
It amazes me that there are any undecided voters left in the United States.
posted by The Card Cheat at 11:56 AM on June 12, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by The Card Cheat at 11:56 AM on June 12, 2015 [5 favorites]
Some good Koch's money did in 2012.
I'd say 2014 showed they learned their lesson well.
posted by Thorzdad at 11:57 AM on June 12, 2015
I'd say 2014 showed they learned their lesson well.
posted by Thorzdad at 11:57 AM on June 12, 2015
Card Cheat -- it's not about people who haven't decided for whom to vote, but the many people who haven't decided whether to vote.
posted by MattD at 11:58 AM on June 12, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by MattD at 11:58 AM on June 12, 2015 [2 favorites]
It amazes me that there are any undecided voters left in the United States.
Maybe Asimov had it right in his short story Franchise. In the future elections will be determined by statistical analysis using a single voter as input.
posted by Sangermaine at 12:16 PM on June 12, 2015
Maybe Asimov had it right in his short story Franchise. In the future elections will be determined by statistical analysis using a single voter as input.
posted by Sangermaine at 12:16 PM on June 12, 2015
This reminds me of when the GOP discovered that "[we] originally thought that Fox worked for us, and now we are discovering we work for Fox"
posted by Pope Guilty at 4:52 PM on June 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Pope Guilty at 4:52 PM on June 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
We've been at this such a long time, and we never learn from our mistakes
We've had plenty of time, plenty of time to find out about all our mistakes
But you can bet your bottom dollar
We gon' keep on fattenin' up frogs for snakes
It was our downfall, back in two thousand and eight (I started checkin')
Yeah it was our downfall back in two thousand and eight
But you can tell all of our rich friends
We're still willin' to fatten up frogs for snakes
Comin' up two thousand sixteen, we never learn from our mistakes
Whoa man, two thousand sixteen, and we just can't learn from our mistakes
So we'll just keep on takin' the money
We'll never stop fattenin' up frogs for snakes
With apologies to Sonny Boy Williamson II
posted by Herodios at 7:00 PM on June 12, 2015
We've had plenty of time, plenty of time to find out about all our mistakes
But you can bet your bottom dollar
We gon' keep on fattenin' up frogs for snakes
It was our downfall, back in two thousand and eight (I started checkin')
Yeah it was our downfall back in two thousand and eight
But you can tell all of our rich friends
We're still willin' to fatten up frogs for snakes
Comin' up two thousand sixteen, we never learn from our mistakes
Whoa man, two thousand sixteen, and we just can't learn from our mistakes
So we'll just keep on takin' the money
We'll never stop fattenin' up frogs for snakes
With apologies to Sonny Boy Williamson II
posted by Herodios at 7:00 PM on June 12, 2015
The Card Cheat: It amazes me that there are any undecided voters left in the United States.
MattD: it's not about people who haven't decided for whom to vote, but the many people who haven't decided whether to vote.
Yeah, we've seen the research-based strategic voter motivation techniques, ranging from the helpful (calls to offer rides to the polls) to the downright creepy ("Did you know that whether or not you voted is public record? 5 of your neighbors on this street voted last time. Please vote, otherwise we'll tell your neighbors that you didn't..."). Now I suspect that we're going to find out about voter de-motivation techniques targeting marginal voters.
That's working on the assumption that general increases in turn-out benefit Democrats, but many of their voters tend to be more marginal and turn out rarely (e.g., for Obama but not for mid-terms).
posted by RedOrGreen at 7:48 PM on June 14, 2015
MattD: it's not about people who haven't decided for whom to vote, but the many people who haven't decided whether to vote.
Yeah, we've seen the research-based strategic voter motivation techniques, ranging from the helpful (calls to offer rides to the polls) to the downright creepy ("Did you know that whether or not you voted is public record? 5 of your neighbors on this street voted last time. Please vote, otherwise we'll tell your neighbors that you didn't..."). Now I suspect that we're going to find out about voter de-motivation techniques targeting marginal voters.
That's working on the assumption that general increases in turn-out benefit Democrats, but many of their voters tend to be more marginal and turn out rarely (e.g., for Obama but not for mid-terms).
posted by RedOrGreen at 7:48 PM on June 14, 2015
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posted by gwint at 9:36 AM on June 12, 2015 [6 favorites]