On Koch Supported Herman Cain

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

On Koch Supported Herman Cain
Posted by Robert Wenzel

I've noticed that Herman Cain, who is already an announced candidate for president, seems to have a close association with the Koch brothers. He attended the recent Koch conference in Rancho Mirage and he has been a speaker at the Koch-funded rightonline.

I have seen clips of him speak, but never anything of substance. He sure can deliver a speech though (see below). So I was excited to see that he was going to appear on Eliot Spitzer's CNN show last night. True to form he gave one hell of a performance. Lot's of talk about cutting government down to size (all generalities though), and he threw out the fact that he was a former exec at Pillsbury and CEO of Godfather's Pizza for 10 years. But then Spitzer zeroed in. He asked Cain about the war in Iraq. Cain said he supported it because, get this, Saddam was using weapons of mass destruction against his own people. Cain also said that he was in favor of food stamps (Though the program needs to cut out fraud). It also sounds like Cain is in favor of some kind of "fair tax", whatever that is.

And, oh yeah, he's a former chairman (1995-96) and deputy chairman (1992-94) of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.

What the hell are the Koch brothers thinking?

When you compare Ron Paul to Herman Cain, the choice is obvious. Congressman Paul says, let's start by bringing U.S. troops home from overseas to help reduce the budget deficit and shift priorities to Americans. He is like that on every issue. He is always about details and specifics He doesn't talk in generalities such as  "Well I'm a great manager", like Cain does. Everybody says that, from Mitt Romney to Rudy Giuliani. Who needs more of that?

Congressman Paul is also more principled. You would never see Congressman Paul, as a libertarian, ever say that the food stamp program is a good program. And it appears he has a different view about the Fed, then does the former Fed insider Cain.

So what are the supposed libertarian Koch brothers up to here? It sure isn't about backing the most libertarian candidate. That's clearly Ron Paul. It really strikes me that Cain is likely more controllable than Congressman Paul. You know in advance where Ron Paul is going to stand on issues. He is not about to change anything for a couple of billionaire brothers playing Kochopoly with the world.

Cain on the other hand doesn't strike me as the type that is as hardline on his non-government views. I mean he has already said that he is for food stamps. He has come up with a brand new reason why attacking Iraq was a great idea. And somehow he ends up as head of the KC Fed.

If I'm a billionaire playing Kochopoly, I like this guy. He seems to have that ability to fine tune his thinking to the greater good of the billionaire game. I'm thinking, we may have another Paul Volcker or Colin Powell type. Volcker and Powell, I'm convinced, if called upon by their controls, could justify doing pretty much anything.

Further, Cain's not stuck on liberty the way Ron Paul is, he understands the necessary nuances that so often only billionaire oligarchs see.

In other words, the Kochs must be thinking, "Hey, he's a long shot, but we can make him our long shot. Let's lay down a few bucks on this guy."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-N3-j3HM7-A

UPDATE: Notice this no fact video is put out by the Koch organization, People for the American Way.


http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2011/03/on-koch-supported-herman-cain.html


Cain flip flopped on auditing the Fed.   http://www.unitedliberty.org/articles/7691-herman-cain-flip-flops-on-federal-reserve-audit