Discussion for article #222725
First off, your headline on the main page is horribly misleading: “Stewart Rips Reid for Koch Brothers Obsession” is not only inaccurate (he has no problem with him attacking the Koch’s), it’s click baity. Didn’t Josh go to Princeton? Isn’t he supposed to be above this kind of shit?
Second, you’ve missed the real point of the piece. We’re living in an oligarchy, and our politicians are beholden to their backers.
Every so often, Jon has to hit a Dem hard in order to prove his centrism. I though Reid was kinda stupid for backing Adelson too. I wouldn’t call it hypocritical necessarily, but just completely tone deaf. After all, I am sure that Adelson isn’t giving a nickel to Reid, but I may well be wrong.
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Stewart is right. Adleson has thrown almost as much $$ to the crazies as the krotch bros. And he thinks Israel is more important than the US. Adleson gets a pass from Harry because he’s Vegas.
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It has nothing to do with Adelson or Vegas. Harry Reid is not beholden to Vegas Casino Moguls.
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Exactly even though curious One is right. This is click bait stuff from Josh,
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Surprise, surprise. Click bait headlines from TPM
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Where the hell is he getting that Adelson spends money on stuff Harry Ried likes? Sure, his support is stupid and surely has to do with the Nevada connections, but Jon seems to be implying that Reid benefits directly from Adelson’s money.
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Hate to break it to you, but Harry Reid is beholden to Vegas Casino moguls. He IS the Senator from Nevada, and he needs to get reelected every six years just like everyone else.
I have no issue with being business friendly, easing things for the powerful and moneyed, and being beholden, as long as it does not affect the way you serve your other constituencies.
Harry Reid has a long record of trying his best for ALL Nevadans, rich and poor, unlike Congresscritters like Paul Ryan, who show up at soup kitchens for photo ops and attend black-tie affairs with prepared speeches on how awful poverty is and how only Conservative “solutions” can set poor people free. While they get served seared foie gras, frisee salad, and filet mignon au poivre…
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It is totally hypocritical… but its also kinda necessary. If Reid hadn’t said that, Adelson would dump his dirty money on someone else. Really its a reality of your shoddy campaign finance system more than anything else.
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Actually Jon it is hypocritical to draw a distinction between any billionaires money even the ones who throw their milions into pro-Democratic Party causes, PACs and candidates.
The GOP doesn’t have a monoploy on billionaires political money.
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Politics is a separate reality.
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Adelson spends far less than the Koch brothers.
Moreover, the Koch brothers fund individual campaigns AND many right-wing PAC’s that simply spout propaganda.
Also, Adelson is pretty much a one-issue candidate - Israel - that wants his guy in the White House.
On the other hand, the Koch brothers are willing to buy each and any Congressional and Presidential election.
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Just a near monopoly.
It’s math, fakemarine.
You are a prime example of why the system will never change. Keep being a useful idiot for a corrupt political party, they depend on people just like you.
I’m not the one slobbering on Koch, fakemarine.
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Sure you do, it is just spelled differently.
So what Harry Reid is really worried about is not the amount money being poured in by these billionaires but that the Koch brother’s money is a threat to HIS personal political power.
I agree that is all he cares about, but that is what they all care about whether they be Democrat or Republican.
Like most Political Realists, Harry Reid doesn’t believe in Kamikaze politics. Sheldon Adelson will be dead within 5 years, has no organization that will continue his insanity, and does not operate nationally other than for presidential campaigns.
FDR and Churchill had no problem allying with Stalin to defeat Hitler. Were they “moral failures”? FDR had no problem leaving alone the Confederate scum who chaired all House and Senate committees that controlled what he needed for the war effort. Was he a hypocrite? Of course they were. But they managed to keep The Big Picture in focus.
Political purists of whatever stripe are generally ignorant morons with no understanding of how the world works.
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Those rich Casino Moguls sure spend a lot of money trying to defeat him every time he runs for re-election.