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So Jon Stewart and the folks at The Daily Show recently noticed that Koch Industries picked up some ad time during the show’s 11:00 p.m. timeslot. Koch Industries, if you weren’t aware, is run by Charles and David Koch, the conservative billionaires who have been pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into right-wing politics since the Supreme Court’s Citizen’s United decision essentially kicked open the campaign finance fire hydrant. This, shall we say, irked Stewart a touch, which led to the above segment in which he tears the brothers and their wholesome advertisement apart.
The thing I like most about this is that, in theory, it’s the flipside of the Citizen’s United coin. Like, okay, fine, the super-wealthy can buy influence in the government by funneling untold millions and billions through a shady secretive web of non-profits and shell companies. But once we find out who’s behind it, on either side of the political fence, We The People get to mock and shame them for it (especially when they try to air Pollyanna-esque commercials for their family business), which would ideally have an impact on their streams of income by driving up the unfavorables for both them and said businesses.
Will it actually work that way? Well, probably not. At least not in this situation, seeing as the Kochs are sitting on billions and won’t feel whatever tiny hit this causes. It might dissuade someone else from doing it, though, or maybe many someone elses, who don’t have the same resolve in the face of public mocking.
It’s a start, is what I’m saying.
