Well, I write lots of bad ones. But this hit my AP feed this morning:
“Long ties to Koch brothers key to Cain’s campaign” and in the article we see, “But Cain’s economic ideas, support and organization have close ties to two billionaire brothers who bankroll right-leaning causes”
OK, so let me get this straight. MY economic ideas include the fact that demand curves slope down, that central planners (even the best intentioned) don’t have the requisite knowledge to plan much beyond what happens in their small circles, that self-interest and “market-failures” operate in all institutions of society, not just in “market” institutions, that scarcity is unrelenting and forces us to have to make hard tradeoffs, etc. Since the Koch brothers also seem to understand these things, does that mean that I have close ties to them? You know what, I bet a lot of lunatics understand these things, do I also have close ties to them?
And god damn those Kochs! How dare they spread economic literacy to others. It’s certainly better than the nonsense that most faculty members are spreading to their students. So I expect the next AP headline about President Obama to read, “Long ties to economically illiterate union officials, community organizers and faculty members key to President Obama’s multi-million dollar campaign.”
I’d like to hear someone publicly tell me why the Koch Brothers are evil. And as part of that answer, I would like to see a public declaration of why human freedom is not an important value, and why attempts to promote and defend it are nefarious. Please reference George Mason, James Madison, John Adams and some other founders when articulating your point.
But the majority of the rest of the article discusses his actual ties to the AFP, including the relations his campaign manager has with the group, and his work on its behalf. His association with AFP’s economic ideas was not really the focus of the article. Aren’t we making too much of a single clause?
“Through his AFP work he met Mark Block, a longtime Wisconsin Republican operative hired to lead that state’s AFP chapter in 2005 as he rebounded from an earlier campaign scandal that derailed his career.”
“Block is now Cain’s campaign manager. Other aides who had done AFP work were also brought on board.”
“And Cain has credited Rich Lowrie, a Cleveland businessman who served on AFP’s board of advisors from 2005 to 2008, with being a key economic adviser and with helping to develop his plan to cut the corporate tax rate to 9 percent, impose a national sales tax of 9 percent and set a flat income tax rate of 9 percent”
“He’s got a national network now that perhaps he wouldn’t have had 15 or 20 years ago because of his work with AFP,” said Republican Party of Wisconsin Vice Chair Brian Schimming, who has introduced Cain at events in Wisconsin. “For a presidential candidate, that’s obviously helpful to have.”
“While Cain is quick to promote his career at the helm of the Godfather’s Pizza chain, his ties to AFP aren’t something the candidate appears eager to highlight.”
His campaign did not respond to repeated messages seeking comment between Thursday and Sunday, and Cain does not include his AFP work on his biography on his website.
“AFP spokesman Levi Russell said Cain has spoken at dozens of AFP rallies and events over the years to support a number of the group’s activities. AFP has often covered his travel expenses or paid a “pretty modest honorarium” but he has not been paid since becoming a presidential candidate, he said.”
It’s not that I dislike the AFP, or believe that the Koch brothers really have staggering influence. But I do feel that sometimes you overhype particular passages of articles that aren’t actually so controversial. It’s certainly increased a tendency to follow through links.
I think the point of the blog was that candidates are not treated lly by the media, and I think the point is valid. This is a rather dry, non-story that attemptes to catalogue Cain’s connections with the Koch’s, as if that is something evil. I see few stories pointing to say, Obama’s ties to Warren Buffet or Soros that similarly insinuate something inappropriate.