Koch World Convenes

[Valin]

National Review/The Corner:

Eliana Johnson

August 1, 2015

 

Dana Point, Calif.– Several of the GOP’s top donors have convened at a beachfront resort here at the behest of Charles and David Koch and the Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, their umbrella group. Over the next two days, the crowd here will hear from Republican presidential candidates Carly Fiorina and Scott Walker (today) and Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, and Jeb Bush (tomorrow).

 

Rand Paul, who attended the winter conference but underwhelmed donors in part with his casual demeanor and dress — he wore blue jeans — declined an invitation to join the group this time. And one top official in Koch world made a point of telling me that Chris Christie wasn’t invited because the powers that be in Koch world think he has a crummy fiscal record in New Jersey.

 

(Snip)

 

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Interesting Jeb Bush but not Chris Christie.

[Valin]

Inside the Koch Brothers’ SoCal Confab
2016 candidates convene to audition before some of the GOP’s top donors.
Eliana Johnson

August 2, 2015

 

Dana Point, Calif. — Imagine paradise, and the image you conjure in your head is probably something like the St. Regis Monarch Beach resort here in Southern California, minus the dozen or so protestors milling languidly at the entrance.

 

(Snip)

 

As the Kochs have applied their well-known entrepreneurial skills to the realm of politics, what has emerged is less a group of billionaires plotting the destruction of Hillary Clinton under the cover of dark than a shadow Republican party that attends to the vast array of issues conservatives today are concerned about, from preserving free speech on college campuses to improving the data and technology available to candidates and their campaigns. Koch world is a center of gravity, and the GOP’s top candidates now clamor to come into its orbit.

 

(Snip)

 

Pressed to defend the consistency of his views on issues from immigration to abortion, which have appeared to shift throughout the campaign season, Walker said he’s been “fairly consistent.” On immigration, to which Allen alluded, Walker said he changed his views after visiting the Texas border. “I acknowledged that I didn’t really have much of a position before, this is one where i actually listened to the American people, looked at the facts and took a position,” he said.

 

Audiences love hearing Walker talk about his will to fight and win, and he has a deep reservoir of goodwill among conservatives for having emerged from repeated combat seemingly unscathed. In front of large, well-heeled crowds, though, Walker exudes a sort of anti-charisma that focuses the mind elsewhere. He sparks interest when challenged because he bristles; One is instantly aware not only of that, but of the mental process by which he is straining to find the words to acquit himself, since — as on the matter of his ideological consistency — he is often caught red-handed.

 

Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO who preceded Walker on stage, is his opposite in that regard. Stanford students — Fiorina was one — are often described as ducks: projecting the appearance of effortlessly gliding while paddling furiously beneath the surface. Fiorina never looks phased.

 

(Snip)

[Valin]

Ted Cruz to Koch Group: No, Global Warming Is Not Real
Eliana Johnson

August 2, 2015

 

Dana Point, Calif. – Senator Ted Cruz on Sunday got perhaps the most enthusiastic applause of any Republican presidential candidate to appear before the 450 donors drawn to Southern California for the Koch brothers’ summer conference with a point-blank denial of global warming.

 

Politico’s Mike Allen moderated a question-and-answer session with the Texas senator, who said of global warming simply, “The data and facts don’t support it.”

 

The Texas senator, who dominated his time on stage, leaning into Allen and at one point waving off a question from the moderator, went on to deliver a full-throated denial of global warming and a scathing evisceration of its proponents. The riff showcased Cruz in all of his rhetorical glory – relentless, uncompromising, and witty, talking about an issue on which many Republicans have softened. Cruz at times grate on conservatives, but the off-the-cuff riff was something his supporters will surely point to as a high-point of the campaign season and a reason why this is their guy.

 

Allen asked Cruz if he is concerned by a Boston Globe story published on Saturday that suggests Republicans will pay a price in 2016 for their skepticism about climate change. Cruz’s response? “Not remotely.”

 

(Snip)