Harry Reid lives in a fact-free zone.
A couple of weeks ago he was quoted by Politico as accusing the Koch brothers of trying to “buy the country.”
Harry Reid quoted by Politico
“Because of a United States Supreme Court decisions (sic) called Citizens United, there’s been some really untoward stuff going on in the political world. We have two brothers who are actually trying to buy the country,” Reid was quoted as saying.
Politico points out that in 2010, when Harry was re-elected, the Koch brothers actually gave nearly $200,000 to Democratic candidates — including a $30,000 donation to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
But if you check with OpenSecrets.org, you’ll find the Koch bothers, via their Koch Industries, are nowhere near the top in buying power when it comes to political contributions. In fact, they are 59th in the period between 1989 and 2014.
Out of the top 20 organizations in buying power, only two tilted toward giving to Republicans. Many of the top contributors are unions.
During that crucial 2010 election cycle, the Koch Industries PAC, according to FEC.gov records, spent $2.6 million.
Meanwhile, the Friends for Harry Reid committee spent $22.5 million.
Now, who is trying to “buy the country,” Harry?
OpenSecrets.org top 10
Actually, Reid isn’t buying the country. He is extorting money out of lobbyists so he can maintain his power.
Peter Schweizer’s book, “Extortion: How politicians extract your money, buy votes, and line their own pockets,” has a section on Reid.
Schweizer opens that section with a quote from “The Godfather” by Don Corleone, “Do you spend time with your family? Good. Because a man that doesn’t spend time with his family can never be a real man.”
The book then describes a scene at a restaurant hours after Reid was sworn in on Jan. 4, 2005, for his fourth term and became Senate majority leader. “Reid was seated in the quiet backroom of the restaurant. The lobbyists, who represented the largest and most powerful corporations in the world, took turns saying hello to the new leader. ‘It was like a scene out of “The Godfather,”’ one lobbyist told Roll Call. ‘He was in the room and people were lined up to greet him and pay homage.’”
4TH ST8 
He’s a stain on the underwear of Nevada politics.
Greid.
‘Nuff said.”
That chart also glaringly shows public employee unions are the largest and most pernicious of all political donors.
Tell me again why we, the people, need public employee unions?
I understand that money is access but left unsaid is what it buys in addition to that access. I will have to get Schweizer’s book. I just finished Stephen King’s Doctor Sleep, I hope Schweizer’s book is more realistic but given most books on politics are fanciful it probably describes similar life sucking individuals that are difficult to stop. Back to my initial sentence, a great story would be the travels of a single dollar bill through the political donation system, the author could dispense with its printing at the mint unless he, or she, wanted to explain how a scrap of paper gained worth just because the government says it did, okay, forget that, the presses never stop. Instead follow it from an individual worker that passes it to a union official he, or she, is associated with, and how it then escapes the clutches of a union official to be passed to an association of union officials where it escapes from them, and then send it to a lobbying firm of the politician they believe they can buy, after escaping the clutches of the lobbyist, it gets to the politician who doesn’t want his fingerprints directly on it, it’s not exactly a black hole but it doesn’t come back out, it just piles there with millions of others of its kind. How fortunate the little single dollar bill is to get through the whole gauntlet while many of its kind fall by the wayside to union officials and lobbyists.
It could be made like a Disney cartoon, “Run, Bambi, Run. man is in the forest”, as “Run, little dollar, run, stink is in the country”.
“’Because of a United States Supreme Court decisions (sic) called Citizens United, there’s been some really untoward stuff going on in the political world. We have two brothers who are actually trying to buy the country,’ Reid was quoted as saying.”
Senator Reid must really think the voters are stupid. The Koch brothers couldn’t even buy Coralville, Iowa, much less the entire country.
http://thegazette.com/2013/11/05/coralville-votes-for-status-quo-impresses-vice-president/
“Senator Reid must really think the voters are stupid.”
Correction in place of the word “voters” the word “public” should be used.
Senator Reid thinks the public, the whole kit and caboodle, is stupid. He has a special place in his feeling for the stupidest of us all….the libs he has been blinding for decades now.
Steve, the voters ARE stupid, after all they elected Harry!
I’m still trying to figure out how a poor boy from Searchlight whose only job has been public service is now a multi-millionaire?
Bruce, that would be 56 percent is stupid, and God only knows how many of those could legally vote.
Jeff, that seems to be a common occurance with our elected public servants, doesn’t it?
[…] one of his rants on the floor of the Senate in which he accused the Koch brothers of trying to buy the country, Harry Reid also accused them of violating federal law by bribing foreign […]
[…] know those dozens of unions that contributed far, far more to Democrats then the Koch brothers, who rank 59th in the list of top campaign spenders, ever thought about […]
The people with money, including the unions, have always had far more than their share of political power. This decision merely makes it more clear to the working classes. They’re pretty oblivious though and will probably just shake it off.