Posted on 05/06/2013 4:05:52 AM PDT by Zhang Fei
Mark Zuckerberg is the public face of one of the world's most prominent companies.
But now it's his actions as a private citizen that are making him — and Facebook Inc. — a target of environmentalists and progressive activists, highlighting the pitfalls of political involvement at a level rarely attempted in Silicon Valley.
The 28-year-old billionaire co-founder and chief executive of Facebook has funded a political advocacy group called Fwd.us that has come under fire for spending millions on television ads that support expansion of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline and oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Fwd.us is trying to give political cover to conservatives such as Democratic Sen. Mark Begich in Alaska and Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham in South Carolina to support immigration reform. The ads underscore the conservative credentials of the lawmakers who may be vulnerable in 2014.
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This is the first real test of Fwd.us' ability to shape the political debate over one of the nation's most highly charged issues. It comes at a critical moment in the immigration reform debate. A Senate bill would need support from both sides of the aisle to clear the Senate and make it through the GOP-led House of Representatives.
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His group sought to placate critics by pointing out that the group also has a left-leaning organization to support liberal backers of immigration reform.
"Fwd.us is committed to showing support for elected officials who promote the policy changes needed to build the knowledge economy," Hansen said. "Maintaining two separate entities, Americans for a Conservative Direction and the Council for American Job Growth, to support elected officials across the political spectrum — separately — means that we can more effectively communicate with targeted audiences of their constituents."
(Excerpt) Read more at articles.latimes.com ...
Joe Green, president of FWD.us, is also an organizer of the March for Innovation, "a virtual march on Washington… to push for smart, comprehensive immigration reform to attract and keep the best and brightest to fuel innovation." In other words—you, too, can sign up for an email list to tell Congress you want less restrictions on tech companies' quest to maximize profits! It's the Kony2012 of cyberlibertarianism.
The red-blue website features a commercial of Marco Rubio making a pitch for the Gang of Eight and an ad Zuckerberg is running for Lindsey Graham about what a conservative tough guy Lindsey is, which doesn't mention immigration. The idea is to persuade conservative voters in South Carolina that Lindsey, in general, has "our back," which would imply that they should support his Gang of Eight efforts because he knows best.
The blue-red website features a Lindsey-like ad for Sen. Mark Begich (D-AK) that serves as a quid pro quo for Begich supporting the Gang of Eight in return for Zuckerberg running this ad in Alaska to convince blue collar Alaskan voters that he wouldn't stab them in the back, so they can trust him when he votes for the Gang of Eight's plan.
No amnesty, ever. I do not want anyone granted citizenship whose first act upon entering my country was to break our laws. Do not reward criminals (nor elect them for that matter).
Sickening, but clever, on the part of Suckerberg.
I haven’t seen third parties use the idea of using indirect ads to beef up RINO on unrelated issues...simply because they will vote one particular way on the only issue that means anything to him.
“. . . political involvement at a level rarely attempted in Silicon Valley.”
What? Are Google and Bill Gates not overt Obama supporters?
There, fixed it. A flood of immigrants benefits the corporation with talent and low wages and costs the rest of society for education, healthcare, and crime.
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