• Security incident: ISF was recently accessed by intruders. Please change your password, and change it anywhere else you used it. Read more

Charles Koch slams leading Republican candidates

Puppycow

Penultimate Amazing
Puppycow
Joined
Jan 9, 2003
Messages
34,167
Location
Yokohama, Japan
Sometimes I think these guys get more of a bad rap on the left than they really deserve. Which is not to say I agree with them on a lot of things, but not everything they say they believe in is bad.

Charles Koch suggests that another Clinton in the White House might be better than Trump or Cruz

Koch said he has not and probably will not back any Republican in the waning weeks of the primary campaign because of the divisive rhetoric.

“We said, 'Here are the issues: You've got to be like Ronald Reagan and compete on making the country better rather than tearing down your opponents,'” he said. “And right off the bat, they didn't do it. More of these personal attacks and pitting one person against the other, that's the message you're sending the country. That's the way you should — you're role models, and you're terrible role models.”

He slammed Trump's call for a ban on Muslims entering the country as “antithetical to our approach, but what was worse was this 'We'll have them all register' [notion]. That's reminiscent of Nazi Germany. I mean that's monstrous, as I said at the time.” Koch was referring to comments Trump made, then backed away from, in the fall suggesting that he was open to the idea of a database to track Muslims in the United States.

He also had harsh criticism for Sen. Ted Cruz’s threat to “carpet-bomb” the Islamic State militant group. “Well, that's gotta be hyperbole, but I mean that a candidate, whether they believe it or not, would think that appeals to the American people — this is frightening.”
Click to expand...

They also favor criminal justice reform and an end to mass incarceration:
Koch Bros to Bankroll Prison Reform

Prepare for the softer side of Charles and David Koch.

The libertarian-leaning billionaires who funded an endless stream of anti-Obamacare ads against Democratic candidates in 2014 are turning their focus to a new mission: galvanizing conservatives to pass meaningful criminal justice reform.

Their policy wish list includes securing more money for public defenders, lessening sentencing disparities that affect the least well off, reforming mandatory minimums, and aiding prisoners so that they can re-enter society after serving time behind bars.
Click to expand...
The Kochs say they’re concerned about mass incarceration, too many criminal laws, and a system that disproportionately weighs on the poor and minorities. And over the next year, they promise to refocus on criminal justice reform.
Click to expand...
 
Maybe THEY are making a run for the candidacy? Taking their comments on face value, they are certainly more acceptable and considerate conservatives than either of the current top two GOP candidates.
 
Last edited:
Maybe they would consider supporting Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party candidate?
IIRC one of them once ran for president as a Libertarian.
I highly doubt either one is running this time though.
 
There is no such thing as "mass incarceration" (a term that could be used to describe any number of people who are incarcerated, so it is meaningless, IMO), and I doubt seriously if there are many "disparities in sentencing". It has been my anecdotal experience that those who complain about the sentencing disparities are not taking into account prior arrests and convictions, only the crime for which a person is convicted.

That said, more money and resources for public defenders should be the very top priority, and I would be pleased if mandatory minimum sentences were eliminated entirely. Although mistakes are made in some cases when a judge is a bit too lenient, I would argue that forcing those convicted to serve way too much time is far more likely to create hardened criminals than the problems caused by those who get off easy. (There was a time in Detroit -- I think during the crack epidemic -- that 18 year-old kids were getting sentenced for life with no parole for possession of some significant amount of crack. If that isn't "cruel and unusual", what is?)
 
It is useful for the more simple-minded on the left to cast anybody who supports Republicans as a cross between Genghis Khan and Adolf Hitler. Remember Richard Mellon Scaife? He was the equivalent of the Koch brothers in the 1990s, funding the Arkansas Project, which led Hillary Clinton to talk about the vast right-wing conspiracy pursuing her husband.

Scaife later in life became something of a Hillary booster:

Scaife wrote about the meeting in a piece called "Hillary, reassessed."

Hillary Clinton walked into a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review conference room last Tuesday to meet with some of the newspaper's editors and reporters and declared, "It was so counterintuitive, I just thought it would be fun to do."

The room erupted in laughter. Her remark defused what could have been a confrontational meeting.

Next, Scaife praises Clinton for her "impressive command" of issues, and answers that were "thoughtful, well-stated and often dead-on."
Click to expand...

Scaife's paper later endorsed Hillary over Obama in the primaries, and Bill Clinton himself gave the eulogy at Scaife's funeral.

BTW, I should admit that it is common on the Right to do the same type of demonizing: substitute Soros for the Koch brothers, and claim that Obama is a cross between Mao and Stalin. I suppose it is useful for the idiots on both sides to have a one-dimensional view of the opposition.
 
thaiboxerken said:
A Koch says something good.... I don't buy broken clocks myself.
Click to expand...
Not that I think a Koch any more likely to win in the presidential, nor do I agree with their politics (I certainly do not).

Just that they don't sound or behave like the rest of clowns in the GOP Klown Kar. They sound reasonable and speak sensibly and calmly, as you would expect of a real conservative candidate. That alone should make them more suitable for the GOP nomination than the last few prancing nincompoops squabbling and squawking like seagulls over a dropped fry.
 
Norman Alexander said:
Not that I think a Koch any more likely to win in the presidential, nor do I agree with their politics (I certainly do not).

Just that they don't sound or behave like the rest of clowns in the GOP Klown Kar. They sound reasonable and speak sensibly and calmly, as you would expect of a real conservative candidate. That alone should make them more suitable for the GOP nomination than the last few prancing nincompoops squabbling and squawking like seagulls over a dropped fry.
Click to expand...

Style over substance. They are just as guano crazy as any Conservative.
 
I bet they're worried that the current Republican candidates are acting like the guns-and-Jesus stuff is the real priority instead of being just the smokescreen for the peasants. The real priority is to protect the money of the rich, and it doesn't sound like Cruz or Trump or the other clowns are interested or capable of it. The Kochs may be worried that the candidates are believing the lies they're supposed to be selling the voters, which would literally be having the mental patients run the asylum.

Wish I had a dollar for every time the Kochs have tented their fingers in worry this election!
 
thaiboxerken said:
Style over substance. They are just as guano crazy as any Conservative.
Click to expand...
Without a shadow of a doubt. Just that their style would probably be far more comfortable, non-confrontational and ultimately "electable" to the general populace than the styles of Kasich, Cruz or Trump (such as it is). Perhaps you could say they could have been a better PR bet for the conservative side. Of course, their policies would have been a disaster.
 
TragicMonkey said:
I bet they're worried that the current Republican candidates are acting like the guns-and-Jesus stuff is the real priority instead of being just the smokescreen for the peasants. The real priority is to protect the money of the rich, and it doesn't sound like Cruz or Trump or the other clowns are interested or capable of it. The Kochs may be worried that the candidates are believing the lies they're supposed to be selling the voters, which would literally be having the mental patients run the asylum.

Wish I had a dollar for every time the Kochs have tented their fingers in worry this election!
Click to expand...
I don't think The Donald believes one word of the twaddle he rolls out at conventions. He is simply ****-stirring them to get fights going and other news-grabbing stuff, which all make good news focus. And it's all about keeping the focus on him. Any PR is good PR for The Donald. He is trying to win by getting the violence-prone thick-as-a-brick rube vote. They don't care to understand any political stuff and he is not going to do a single thing for them afterwards; they just have to scream and remember him and vote for him is all.
 
Brainster said:
<snip>

BTW, I should admit that it is common on the Right to do the same type of demonizing: substitute Soros for the Koch brothers, and claim that Obama is a cross between Mao and Stalin. I suppose it is useful for the idiots on both sides to have a one-dimensional view of the opposition.
Click to expand...

Soros really is a nutjob, though, and he is far more involved at the nitty gritty level of politics (e.g. the politics of "personal destruction") than the Koch brothers (and for far longer). As for Obama, he is way to tall to be a cross between Mao and Stalin.
 
TragicMonkey said:
I bet they're worried that the current Republican candidates are acting like the guns-and-Jesus stuff is the real priority instead of being just the smokescreen for the peasants. The real priority is to protect the money of the rich, and it doesn't sound like Cruz or Trump or the other clowns are interested or capable of it. The Kochs may be worried that the candidates are believing the lies they're supposed to be selling the voters, which would literally be having the mental patients run the asylum.
Click to expand...

I never understood why anybody would believe this. These guys have far more money than their family could spend in three generations. To them, money is a way of keeping score, and their competition in the game of life is other rich people. If anything, government policies which hurt "the rich" actually would help them on a relative basis because they can more easily take advantage of the system than less ridiculously rich people.

I think it is safe to say that they are promoting ideas which they think are best for the world. That doesn't mean they're right, but I find the cynicism about their motives to be sophomoric.
 
Puppycow said:
Sometimes I think these guys get more of a bad rap on the left than they really deserve. Which is not to say I agree with them on a lot of things, but not everything they say they believe in is bad.
Click to expand...

Their well-deserved bad rap isn't because of their beliefs, but the way they're co-opting the political process to further them. Sheldon Adelson is worse (does the GOP still have that ceremony at his house where potential candidates show up to kiss his ring?), but that's a pretty low bar to set.
 
Beelzebuddy said:
Their well-deserved bad rap isn't because of their beliefs, but the way they're co-opting the political process to further them. Sheldon Adelson is worse (does the GOP still have that ceremony at his house where potential candidates show up to kiss his ring?), but that's a pretty low bar to set.
Click to expand...

Do you have any specific examples of this?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

ISF - Join now!

Every member here is approved by hand. No bots, no spam, just people who care about evidence and honest debate.

Membership is free!

Create your free account

Back
Top Bottom