The billionaire who got booed at the ballet for trying to destroy the middle class is throwing a party today for the new members of Congress whose campaigns he helped finance.
David Koch, the 49th richest man in the world, finances a vast and powerful network of groups that aim to keep taxes low for billionaires and turn the U.S. into a low-wage banana republic. He' and his brother Charles provide much of the money behind the Tea Party and Right-to-Work-for-Less campaigns.
Lee Fang at ThinkProgress has done tremendous work exposing Koch's links to anti-worker political organizations. He was the first to report that Koch secretly gathered corporate billionaires, Glenn Beck and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce at a lavish resort in June to plan the midterm elections.
Who should Fang run into on Capitol Hill yesterday but the billionaire himself. Fang managed to grab a quick interview with Koch. Fang asked him if he was proud of the Tea Party. His answer was a jaw dropper:
There are some extremists there, but the rank and file are just normal people like us. And I admire them.
