Just a few days after conservatives on the Supreme Court handed multi-billionaires like the Koch Brothers and Sheldon Adelson the gift of buying future elections, poor unpopular Charles Koch took to the Wall Street Journal to express his poutrage at the "Collectivists" (Socialists/Liberals/Democrats) who are against him. In his Op-Ed he tells "merica how things are 'sposed to be, with he and his brother at the top of the ruling class, and we rabble way down below.
The tone is defensive and some would say "hurt," possibly aimed at Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid who is going full-honey badger again as he shakes the tail of the Tea Party Snake in attacking the Koch Brothers. With language straight out of his father's John Birch Society pamphlets from the 1950s, and using Tea Party dog whistles, Koch tries to Koch-splain just how misunderstood he is. Because Patriotism, and because those darn "Collectivists" are saying things about him, something no Republican would ever do to that Feckless Communist/Collectivist/RadicalSoros-cialist Kenyan Emperor who is destroying the country from the White House and taking all our guns.
And the biggest derp - WSJ used clip-art also used by Democratic blogger site Daily Kos to illustrate the Op-Ed. #EpicFail
Charles Koch in the Wall Street Journal
More than 200 years ago, Thomas Jefferson warned that this could happen. "The natural progress of things," Jefferson wrote, "is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." He knew that no government could possibly run citizens' lives for the better. The more government tries to control, the greater the disaster, as shown by the current health-care debacle. Collectivists (those who stand for government control of the means of production and how people live their lives) promise heaven but deliver hell. For them, the promised end justifies the means.
Instead of encouraging free and open debate, collectivists strive to discredit and intimidate opponents. They engage in character assassination. (I should know, as the almost daily target of their attacks.) This is the approach that Arthur Schopenhauer described in the 19th century, that Saul Alinsky famously advocated in the 20th, and that so many despots have infamously practiced. Such tactics are the antithesis of what is required for a free society—and a telltale sign that the collectivists do not have good answers.
. . . Those in power fail to see that more government means less liberty, and liberty is the essence of what it means to be American. Love of liberty is the American ideal.
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On April 1st, Harry Reid wrote several tweets about #Kochtopia
(More Quotes and Videos from Reid at Bottom of Post)
Then he wrote more on April 3-4 while Supporters Chimed In.
The #Kochtopia Hashtag is Here to Stay
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About the Daily Kos Figurehead used by WSJ
From the Pundits:
Just to put the whole joke in context. Here we have the Wall Street Journal owned by Rupert Murdoch. Here we have a full-page Op-Ed piece that just happens to come out after the (Supreme) Court decision (on McCutcheon). Ghost-written for Charles Koch. Who knows who writes this stuff for him? He pays for it as if he's literate. I'd like to put that guy in a room for an hour and see if he could actually write an Op-Ed piece!
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Chris Matthews on Hardball
Let’s us have a moment of silence for the plight of misunderstood businessmen. Time’s up.
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Joe Romm, ThinkProgress
Poor Charles Koch who fancies himself an American Patriot. Just tryin' to do what's right! Who only has access to a small little outlet called the Wall Street Journal! Charles Koch "I'm trying to restore a free society."
. . . Mary! Oh, Mary! Zuzu! Zuzu! You're alive, and I'm here, and Mr. Potter's here. That mean man, Barack Obama, who's trying to take wings from angels!
. . . This is the essence of big government and Collectivism. Things like food stamps and why can't you go out and own your own Big Ag company. Why I remember there was a time when my Daddy could just go out and hire a couple a' thugs with baseball bats. And you know, do a little bean bag on people's heads.
. . . Collectivists seek to intimidate members of the press. I could barely get into the pages of the Wall Street Journal to write this. In fact, I had to make two phone calls. Well, my assistant did.
They engage in character assassination. Why, why - I almost couldn't get that documentary about me on PBS squashed. That's how HARD it is for folks like me.
. . . That's why I spend so much money in politics - 'cause I don't want any favors.
~ Sam Seder on Majority Report
STOPPPPPP YOU’RE HURTING MY FEEEEEELINGS is apparently the new clarion call of the conservative movement. I’m still a little shocked by it.
. . . When you spend a ton of money to control democracy, particularly on ads that are shamelessly dishonest like the Koch ads have been, people are going to say things. They’re going to say mean things that aren’t nice, and if your best response is to go crying to your mommy you’ve exposed just how weak your soft underbelly is.
And we’ll get louder.
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Oliver Willis on The Daily Banter
So the trouble is that his critics attempt to “discredit” and “intimidate” him and employ “character assassination.” All these terms appear to be Koch synonyms for “saying things about Charles Koch that Charles Koch does not agree with.” In the kind of “free and open” debate he imagines, Koch would continue to use his fortune to wield massive political influence, and nobody would ever say anything about him that makes him unhappy.
Luckily, Koch restrains himself from overtly comparing the Obama administration to Hitler and Stalin, instead likening it to unnamed 20th-century “despots." No character assassination here!
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Jonathan Chait, NYMag
Like the spoiled kid whose extravagant birthday party is ruined by one of the kids his mom made him invite, Charles Koch is sick and tired of being yelled at for trying to remake the entire country as he sees fit.
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Philip Bump, The Wire
Is this what your little rant is all about? You know you've lost the war on Obamacare, and so now it's all about "collectivism?"
The more government tries to control, the greater the disaster, as shown by the current health-care debacle.
I'm suppressing the urge to scream "neener neener neener" in your face. It really is about health care! Wow, you're truly angry that I have access to affordable health care. Too damned bad.
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Karoli on Crooks and Liars
A liberal sparrow does not fall from the sky that these guys (the Koch Brothers) do not know about."
. . . Modern conservatism have been really good at creating "conjuring words" that with their base, that all they have to do is say them: Alinsky, Benghazi, Acorn. . . . The Right has been very good at creating political symbols that are durable for political purposes within their own base. Harry Reid is trying to turn "Koch Brothers" into a conjuring spell for Democrats and I think he's doing it.
Harry (Reid) is starting from a deep hole because he doesn't have a megaphone and he doesn't have the Right Wing Media Bubble to strengthen the "conjuring words."
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Charles P. Pierce of Esquire on "In with Chris Hayes"
I think I must be getting under their skin. Most people here are familiar with the Koch brothers. If I've helped make them a little more infamous or famous, I'm glad I've done that. These two men are a pair of shadowy billionaires spending millions of dollars to rig our political system. And who does it help? Them.
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Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, via Washington Post
(The Paul Ryan Budget is) ...a blueprint for a modern… how would we say this? Koch-topia. Yes, that’s it. Call it whatever you want. We might as well call it the Koch budget because that’s what they’re doing, protecting the Koch brothers.
It’s a fool’s errand for the Koch brothers to think they can use their money to frighten me or to brainwash Nevadans or the rest of the country. There have been times in my life I’ve been a little afraid, but I’m not afraid of them.
. . . To any and all groups who wish to attack me on behalf of multibillionaires, fire away … I am very happy, I’m proud to be the target of those attacks. I will gladly endure them in order to call attention to the unscrupulous acts of these two barons
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Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid
Via Politico
