by David Safier
The "out of nowhere" candidate Herman Cain is definitely out of somewhere. He comes right out of the Koch Brothers' organization, as does his campaign manager, Cigarette Man Mark Block. Specifically, they both worked for the Americans for Prosperity, the most visible front group of the Brothers K.
[Americans for Prosperity] has a long relationship with Cain. The organization first enlisted him in 2005 to spearhead what it called the Prosperity Expansion Project. Cain went on the road, networking at state chapters of AFP. When he landed in Wisconsin, he met his campaign-manager-to-be, Mark Block.
Cain's "defense" of allegations of too-close-for-comfort ties with the Brothers K is to embrace the association at the same time he makes fun of the allegations. "I am the Koch brothers’ brother from another mother, and proud of it,” he said when he spoke Friday at the AFP’s “Defending the American Dream Summit.” He's playing around as he says it, but listen to the clip. He's pandering to a Koch-friendly audience — friendly, hell, they're rabid supporters — and he's dead serious.
