How dare they pay interns.
Via WFB
MSNBC host Rachel Maddow tried to tie the Koch Brothers to a Florida free market group on Monday by noting that the Kochs have ties to the Institute for Humane Studies (IHS), which has paid stipends to interns at the group.
Maddow did not mention that IHS has also paid students to intern at MSNBC, according to its website.
The Monday segment was the latest salvo in Maddow’s long-running war on libertarian philanthropists Charles and David Koch and their company, Koch Industries.
She has tried to tie the fraternal billionaires to a Florida law, recently struck down by a federal court, requiring welfare recipients to undergo drug testing.
Maddow pointed to work by the Foundation for Government Accountability, a conservative Florida think tank, in pushing the law. She implicated the Kochs in the effort, claiming they have supported FGA.
When pressed on that claim, Maddow relied on multiple degrees of separation: the Kochs, she said, gave to a group called the State Policy Network, which gave to the FGA. Therefore, she claimed, the Kochs were involved in the effort.
Comcast, the parent company of MSNBC, also donates to the State Policy Network.
After numerous media watchers criticized her conspiratorial accusations, Maddow pursued another angle.
The Kochs have given money to IHS, she noted, which has paid students through its Koch Summer Fellowship program to intern at FGA, among about 80 other organizations.