Schumer says Americans object to two people having such 'disproportionate power.' Schumer: Attacks on Kochs working

Democrats’ strategy of repeatedly attacking the Koch brothers is working, Chuck Schumer said Tuesday.

A poll last week showed that 48 percent of Americans know who Charles and David Koch are, a number that critics seized on as showing that the Koch attacks aren’t working. But the New York senator said that poll only serves to underscore that Democrats’ frequent broadsides to the billionaire brothers and their political activities are catching on.


“When I read the numbers, that 48 percent of Americans knew who the Koch brothers were, people said, ‘That’s not great.’ That’s fabulous. That’s incredible,” Schumer told reporters Tuesday afternoon. “As we move on, more and more people know who they are.”

Hoping to blunt the effect of the millions spent by the Koch-backed Americans for Property against Democratic incumbent senators, Democrats in Congress and their campaign operations have increasingly raised the issue of the Kochs’ influence in politics through floor speeches, press conferences and campaign messaging.

Schumer credited the party-wide strategy to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who again targeted the billionaire Kochs on Tuesday, daring conservative groups to continue attacking him for his Koch critiques. But it’s Schumer who is the party’s top message man — and he showed no indication that Democrats will let up, even as Republicans publicly and privately ridicule those tactics.

“Americans object to the fact that two people should have such disproportionate power, plain and simple. And most Americans believe the system is rigged, this gives it a little flesh and bones as to how it’s being rigged,” Schumer said of the Koch attacks.

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