The group and its funders are getting some prominent attention this week in items that I’ve already linked to: the New Yorker, New York Times, Washington Post, Slate.
But the story of the Koch brothers’ political involvement is not new. Here‘s Peter Overby of NPR on the Tea Party-AFP-Koch connection back in February, and here‘s a 2008 story.
I think there are three factors in explaining the focus. (1) Democrats are pushing the point, from President Obama’s specifically calling AFP out to the new IRS complaint leaked to the Times. They get political mileage out of connecting the Tea Party movement with corporate sponsorship (especially a corporation that engages in controversial business activities). (2) The Glenn Beck rally in Washington, coinciding with the AFP connection, renews questions on who is financially backing the tea party. (3) Jane Mayer’s extensive story is just terrific—though I was somewhat aware of the Koch brothers’ activities, it is only this kind of long-form journalism that can really tell a story that is so compelling.
With the elite media focus on AFP, and these other forces coming together, I expect we’ll be getting many more stories on this in the coming weeks.