Howard Dean: Walker’s win is the “beginning of the undermining of American democracy”
posted at 5:21 pm on June 6, 2012 by Erika Johnsen
Former DNC chairman and governor of Vermont Howard Dean appeared on MSNBC this morning to bemoan the extent to which Gov. Walker was able to outspend his opponent in the Wisconsin recall. Really, now? Candidate Obama outspent John McCain’s campaign by one of the widest margins evah, but when you don’t get the outcome you want, all that darned money in politics is suddenly not okay?
I think the sad story of the night was the money because this is the beginning of the undermining of American democracy, and this is what you see tonight when you see a guy outspend somebody seven to one with money that nobody knows where it came from.
Ahh, yes. The Koch brothers. There it is.
I would remind any outraged liberals in the audience that evil corporate fat cats gave the Obama campaign booku bucks in 2008 — the Wall Street dollars certainly didn’t favor John McCain that time around. And, by the way, what exactly is President Obama up to today?
It’s D-Day and President Obama is hitting the beaches – of sunny California!
Instead of scheduling a brief event to mark the 68th anniversary of America’s brutal landing on the shores of Normandy, Obama is already on his way to San Francisco, where he will hold two fundraisers before moving on to Beverly Hills to stage two more.
Obama failed to mark D-Day with either a speech or a written proclamation both last year or the year before. He did give a speech in 2009, the 65th anniversary of the event.
After all, what’s a little historical recognition when there are multiple fundraisers to be had?
I can think of an actual way money is undermining our democracy, but I’ll let founding father Benjamin Franklin sum this one up: “When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.” Bam. When the government has become so monstrously huge that rent-seeking, crony capitalism, and pork barrel politics are just the everyday goings-on of the executive and legislative agendas, we’re gonna’ have problems. Oh, wait…
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Where’s the downside? The other half of the staff stays?
novaculus on April 30, 2013 at 4:41 PM
Implying a substantial amount. Fine. Let’s stick with it.
How much would you have in dollars? Go ahead. Tell us. Use standard half-up rounding rules.
rogerb on April 30, 2013 at 4:42 PM
VICTORY!
DTTS on April 30, 2013 at 4:42 PM
Report: Half of staff may quit LA Times if right-wing Koch brothers buy paper.
…so, is there any BAD news?
TeaPartyNation on April 30, 2013 at 4:42 PM
Sorry bayam. Half-up meaning five or greater rounds up to the next number, and four or below rounds down.
rogerb on April 30, 2013 at 4:43 PM
To leaving staff….Buh-Bye! Seriously dont let the door hit you and best of luck in the burgeoning journalism job market.
Guessing the half the staff that will stay are in the sports page.
abnormal_1 on April 30, 2013 at 4:44 PM
Sounds like a good deal.
The half that would quit are likely the unethical lefty scum that should be out of work anyway.
dentarthurdent on April 30, 2013 at 4:45 PM
Fatal flaw: the reporters won’t stay if the bias has to end?
I’d say this: remember the air traffic controllers? They had the upper hand too, until someone with integrity called their bluff.
Which is something the cowardly GOP hasn’t done in years–which explains why we’re in the mess we’re in. They’d bring feathers to a nuke fight…naw, actually surrender signs.
Don L on April 30, 2013 at 4:46 PM
If the Kochs bought the L.A. Times, I would be their first new subscriber.
h a p f a t on April 30, 2013 at 4:48 PM
Good. That’s saves the trouble of firing them.
RadClown on April 30, 2013 at 4:48 PM
Let them all leave!
Surely there are good non-Liberal-fanatic workers available.
greenLibertarian on April 30, 2013 at 4:49 PM
Come to think of it, this would actually have an additional benefit that wasn’t previously discussed. The terminated staff can be replaced with people who were forced into unemployment because of Obama’s policies. There are a lot of people looking for work.
That would be sweet!
Kingfisher on April 30, 2013 at 4:50 PM
Well…….Bye.
portlandon on April 30, 2013 at 4:05 PM
That’s the rumor. But I’m not retired…I’m in my prime. I’ll be your huckleberry.
logicman_1998 on April 30, 2013 at 4:50 PM
Well sure they will… what’s the risk to them?
Journalism companies are expanding rapidly raking in money hand over fist and hiring like there is no tomorrow.
I’m sure they’ll have new better jobs within a week.
…
I’m thinking we don’t tell them the difference in unemployment filing between quitting vs. being fired. Lets pretend it’s the same and see if they notice.
gekkobear on April 30, 2013 at 4:50 PM
So half of the LA Times staff opposes gay marriage (which the Koch brothers support?)
Why the homophobia, LA Times?
rbj on April 30, 2013 at 4:51 PM
Good.
Then fire the other half.
Start over.
tetriskid on April 30, 2013 at 4:51 PM
If I had a nickle for everytime a leftist threatened to “quit, leave the country, throw a hissy fit, blah blah blah…
All I can say is Adios bitches, and take Piers Morgan with you…
Kuffar on April 30, 2013 at 4:52 PM
I think there’s more than a few journalists who actually want to report the news … not write liberal love or conservative hit pieces. They don’t do it because they’ll lose their jobs.
I don’t see any problem staffing the LAT with competent fair writers. I bet there will be a line for interviews.
darwin on April 30, 2013 at 4:52 PM
Lot’s of big talk from little people, I don’t think any have them have the guts to quit.
Tater Salad on April 30, 2013 at 4:55 PM
Oh, no! You mean (some) of the “journalists” who have dropped…no, no…ignored…no, no…hidden the ball for the last few years on pretty much every major news story that would in any way reflect poorly on Obama or liberal values might quit?!? Making room for others who might actually (gasp! shudder!) report the news?!? The horror!
Seriously, I would be tempted to find out names of those who raised their hands and begin the incredibly overdue and very much necessary housecleaning with them (in the event that they do not actually quit).
So tired of liberal temper tantrums.
butterflies and puppies on April 30, 2013 at 4:56 PM
Yeah! Go for it guys. There are so many jobs in your career field you can write your own ticket at any newspaper in the country! After all, you’re the paper of record for the left coast. Keep your integrity.
Seriously, I was living in LA during the 2000 Presidential campaign. The paper was so biased even back then I think the Koch brothers could chalk it up to community service.
Happy Nomad on April 30, 2013 at 4:56 PM
OK, looking for the downside here. .., Nope, not seeing any.
Entertainment and Sports writers too? Aw, that’d be a shame, it’s not like they are raging leftists too. We have a lady acquaintance who writes for the AZ Red Star in the entertainment section. After Sandy Hook, she brought up how the US needed to have a “conversation” about gun control. Of course, by “conversation” she meant the US needed to listen to a lecture by the left on gun control. So yeah, they are all leftwing liberals from the entertainment sections to the editorial pages; that’s how we have fallen to the point we have, with not a single objective viewpoint in any of the MSM. I don’t think they would know how to write an unbiased story to save their lives. Let ‘em all go and start over.
The implication by the person making the statement in the story is that if half the “journalists” left the paper, it would somehow harm the value of the paper. Here’s a hint: liberal reporters are a dime a dozen, being churned out like candy from J-schools across the country. You can’t swing a dead cat without hitting one. So replacing them would be easy. Finding an objective reporter, or at least one who could maintain objectivity is going to be much harder. Those folks threatening to leave are self-selecting out and demonstrating that they don’t qualify as objective, thus it makes it easier for the next editor to winnow the remaining employees.
I see nothing but win in all of thise
AZfederalist on April 30, 2013 at 4:57 PM
I love how you hypocritical Democrats lecture your “inferiors” about how they should not rush to judge an entire group of people, or rush to stereotype such a group of people, and then immediately turn around and do exactly what you accuse them of doing.
A+
As for your second comment I bolded, tell us how well the liberal fossil NY Times purchase of the Boston Globe turned out.
F-
Del Dolemonte on April 30, 2013 at 4:59 PM
It’s so amusing how Progressives FREAK OUT over two libertarian billionaires, who support a lot of the same things that they do:
David:
* Opposed the Iraq War.
* Pledged $100 million over 10 years to renovate the New York State Theater in the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
* Pledged $10 million to renovate the outdoor fountains at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
* Has been a trustee of the American Ballet Theater for 25 years and has contributed more than $6 million to the theater.
* Has donated a total of $185 million to MIT
* Donated $20 million to Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.
* Donated $30 million to the Memorial Sloan–Kettering Cancer Center in New York
* Donated $25 million to the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center
* Donated $15 million to New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell Medical Center
* Donated $5 million to the House Ear Institute, in Los Angeles, to create a center for hearing restoration
* Donated $25 million to the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City
* Donated $68 million to Deerfield Academy for mathematics, science and technology
Resist We Much on April 30, 2013 at 5:00 PM
the Khalidi recording would be destroyed long before the Kochs took over, if it hasn’t been already
commodore on April 30, 2013 at 5:02 PM
And yet – to low info / low IQ dem voters like bayam, what is he?
Clueless.
dentarthurdent on April 30, 2013 at 5:05 PM
If that pledge to quit can be enforced I think the brothers can raise enough flash cash to make the purchase. Where do I buy my share?
Nomas on April 30, 2013 at 5:06 PM
PS, this is just for you, Precious. Enjoy!
h/t to Power Line.
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2013/04/the-southern-strategy-debunked-again.php
Del Dolemonte on April 30, 2013 at 5:06 PM
Hmmm…and this is a threat because there is such a shortage of journalists in this country? (Or those with a journalism degree which is not quite the same thing!).
The real danger of course would be for the Koch’s to buy it and make money…illustrating the bankruptcy of liberalism for all to see.
The real problem of course is that dead trees are not much of a business today. My take is that the Koch’s aren’t that dumb but they do enjoy all the foaming at the mouth and misdirected banal spittle that the idea engenders.
camaraderie on April 30, 2013 at 5:07 PM
Proggies supposedly hate crony capitalism.
He supports and funds the ‘Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature project, a scientific effort to compile an open database of the Earth’s surface temperature records.’
Sounds like something the LAT newsroom would get behind enthusiastically.
Donating money to social welfare causes and funding academic research is bad?
Resist We Much on April 30, 2013 at 5:07 PM
Perfect. Self-selecting.
vityas on April 30, 2013 at 5:07 PM
Good Riddance!
lonestar1 on April 30, 2013 at 5:08 PM
.
The video may vanish along with the other half of the staff who didn’t raise their hands?
NightmareOnKStreet on April 30, 2013 at 5:08 PM
If i had a nickle for every time you posted your idiotic nonsense..I’d be a millionaire several times over.
HumpBot Salvation on April 30, 2013 at 5:09 PM
The Koch Brothers are not nor have they EVER been conservatives. They are libertarians.
By the way, pumpkin, 1789 called and it wants its ‘thinking’ back.
Resist We Much on April 30, 2013 at 5:11 PM
So half of the LA Slimes staff will quit if Koch Bros buys the paper?
Be still, my heart.
Seriously, Koch should offer the rest a cash buyout just so they can start with a clean ship.
platypus on April 30, 2013 at 5:14 PM
Talk is cheap, and if anything, liberals are known to be cheap.
GarandFan on April 30, 2013 at 5:15 PM
If I had a penny for every brain cell you compared to, say, just the old, average, potted plant, I’d be richer than both of the Koch Brothers…COMBINED.
Resist We Much on April 30, 2013 at 5:18 PM
The current Board President (Bruce Karsh) of Tribune Company (Who owns the LA Times) gave $33,300 to Obama in 2012 for his re-election. I didn’t delve into the other board members of the current ownership group, but I would venture a guess that similar political contributions are present in their records as well. Mighty strange that the employees at the times aren’t worried about the politics of their current ownership.
weaselyone on April 30, 2013 at 5:19 PM
bub bye heh heh
papertiger on April 30, 2013 at 5:19 PM
I’m surprised they don’t offer to stay and sabotage the Times in true lefty/unionista fasion.
weaselyone on April 30, 2013 at 5:21 PM
Well, bayam never has been much of a thinker – just spouts libtard talking points. I’m just glad to see he/she/it finally mostly got away from randomly dropping names of business leaders as if spouting a name was some kind of irrefutable argument.
It sort of looked like written Tourette’s – Jobs….. Gates…. uhhhh …. Buffet…..bbbbbbb
dentarthurdent on April 30, 2013 at 5:21 PM
Do you promise?
Socratease on April 30, 2013 at 5:23 PM
Because, you know, there are so many unfilled jobs at other newspapers around the country for them to go to. Right ?
Maybe they’ll all start their own blogs and then they can read each others blogs and feel like they’re making a difference ?
mdavt on April 30, 2013 at 5:24 PM
We can only hope.
skydaddy on April 30, 2013 at 5:28 PM
Who gives a crap about the staff writers?
It’s the editors that is important. Tell the staff STFU and write or go on unemployment.
patch on April 30, 2013 at 5:29 PM
What call their Bluff? That would be a great reason to buy!
lilium479 on April 30, 2013 at 5:32 PM
Koch Companies Public Sector would not have done its due diligence if upon acquisition of the Times they didn’t FIRE half the staff.
de rigueur on April 30, 2013 at 5:33 PM
no one seems worried about the stories the current ownership is killing. you know, hiding video of a certain presidential candidate at a fundraiser. because thats not news, who would be interested in that?
chasdal on April 30, 2013 at 5:35 PM
Memo to LA Times Staff…
Dear DemLibs;
Don’t let the door hit ya
Where the good Lord split ya.
AMF,
Da New Bosses
WestTexasBirdDog on April 30, 2013 at 5:36 PM
Uh, wouldn’t that be a Good thing for the Kochs and the paper?
Come on – these dopes aren’t going to quit – seriously, there are no jobs in California – what else are they gonna do?
Pork-Chop on April 30, 2013 at 5:36 PM
They say that as if it would be a bad thing.
Looks to me like a buyers bonus. No need to worry about cutting staff through lay-offs. Cheaper, too. Less paperwork. No severance buyout packages. No early retirement buyout packages.
farsighted on April 30, 2013 at 5:40 PM
Is this a threat or a promise? I’d have the staffers put it in writing.
They do indeed, assuming it hasn’t mysteriously vanished.
Throat Wobbler Mangrove on April 30, 2013 at 5:45 PM
Would they be saying the same thing if George Soros was looking to buy the paper?
The dummies don’t realize their threats reveal their bias.
farsighted on April 30, 2013 at 5:47 PM
I’m curious about the logic of this statement.
Do you really think a bunch of marginal “journalists” can get hired right away as computer programmers, engineers, actors or movie cameramen? Ok, I can see going from left-wing reporter to sitcom or late night talk show writer; perhaps photoagraphers can get hired as cameramen….
But do you really think anyone from a newspaper can do anything useful in a technology company?
dentarthurdent on April 30, 2013 at 5:50 PM
So the question before the house is what happens to LAT corporation records and files. Should the Koch brothers succeed, will we finally see the Khalidi video?
herdgadfly on April 30, 2013 at 5:51 PM
And – you don’t get unemployment compensation if you quit your job.
dentarthurdent on April 30, 2013 at 5:51 PM
Well I am sure their progressive friends in the media will help them out if they walk out and give them a job, or maybe they can split their paychecks with them. I mean the progressives MSM tells us all the time how unselfish they are, how they hate free market capitalism because it is greed…you know helping the little guy, the struggling artist…journalist…
Right? :)
William Eaton on April 30, 2013 at 5:52 PM
The LA times is finished. The middle class, English speaking people that used to buy and read the Times are largely gone, and the LA Unified school district hasn’t a clue as to how to teach people to read.
Kjeil on April 30, 2013 at 5:58 PM
Umm…er….what’s a newspaper?
GreenBlade on April 30, 2013 at 5:59 PM
This means huge savings on severance plans! That makes the paper even more attractive to conservative buyers.
slickwillie2001 on April 30, 2013 at 6:01 PM
LOL! Yep. My first thought was “SO?”, second “you promise?”.
It will just save them having to deal with buyouts, severances, etc. Like they really want to keep on the stiffs that ran it into the ground anyways.
Lates, babes. *smooch**smooch*
kim roy on April 30, 2013 at 6:03 PM
We have FOX, why not LA KOX? Pronounced “lah” KOX acknowledging the large Hispanic population.
chickasaw42 on April 30, 2013 at 6:03 PM
Brothers Koch, please buy the paper. CA needs an education and they don’t get it from the LA Times.
If the lefties really will leave (which I doubt) then FINALLY, some neutral and conservative NEWS people can get a good job.
They may have to EARN a living instead of having “news” fed to them by a control-minded central source. What a novel approach to journalism.
This would be sweet.
MN J on April 30, 2013 at 6:04 PM
Haha, is that a threat or a promise? Though I’m sure when the time came to actually quit with the reality of leaving a coveted media job staring them in the face, they’ll suck it up and stay.
supernova on April 30, 2013 at 6:05 PM
Poor brayam-rich guys she doesn’t like coming to take a bite out of the left’s monopoly. Poor little shite.
CW on April 30, 2013 at 6:05 PM
The staff of the LA Times quitting if the Koch brothers buy their paper is a feature, not a bug.
DRayRaven on April 30, 2013 at 6:08 PM
If a buyout appears likely to go through to a conservative corporation, the REB would send the Secret Service in to clean them out first just like they ‘cleaned’ Man’s Country in Chicago.
He uses the Secret Service as his personal ‘cleaners’.
slickwillie2001 on April 30, 2013 at 6:09 PM
Didn’t the LAT newsroom make a big stink about a certain Gov ‘Quitter’?
Oh, but it’s different when they quit!
Resist We Much on April 30, 2013 at 6:11 PM
If I were the Koch’s, I would suspend the action until the other half quit. Then they have a chance to succeed.
Philly on April 30, 2013 at 6:17 PM
Commie journalists out of work? Now that’s a leading story.
RdLake on April 30, 2013 at 6:23 PM
So? What’s the bad news?
princetrumpet on April 30, 2013 at 6:25 PM
You know how many kids fresh out of journalism school would jump at the chance for one of those jobs? And they would probably do the job for less than what some of the seasoned old-timers are paid.
Sounds like a win.
lynncgb on April 30, 2013 at 6:26 PM
Journalism 2.0
–bayam
tom daschle concerned on April 30, 2013 at 6:28 PM
Most would stay. They would just complain about it is all.
Dr. ZhivBlago on April 30, 2013 at 6:30 PM
If TJ Simers doesn’t quit, sack him anyway on principle.
jangle12 on April 30, 2013 at 6:30 PM
This made me use my evil laugh.
WaPo and NyT next,
RovesChins on April 30, 2013 at 6:33 PM
If I had the money, I’d buy ‘em out just to see who would quit.
Then I’d dissolve the company and sell off it’s assets.
GarandFan on April 30, 2013 at 6:39 PM
Why is it that independents and conservatives, about 75% of the country, grits their teeth and learns to live with a 95% liberal media. Most of our local newspapers do not represent the views of their readers, who ignore their editorials and “news items” to get to the sports, classifieds, funnies, crosswords and business sections? If we can do it, why cant the libruls in Kalifornica? We can even give them some tips on maintaining a sense of humor. Sorry~ libruls find no humor in anything unless it is a conservative getting cancer ar having a heart attack.
Old Country Boy on April 30, 2013 at 6:40 PM
Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
~BREATHE~
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
That was funny.
Badger40 on April 30, 2013 at 6:46 PM
They would never quit. They couldn’t find another job.
alanstern on April 30, 2013 at 6:47 PM
If I had a dollar for every progressive newspaper in America that was so biased it qualified as propaganda, I’d buy your leftist state and start it over.
hawkdriver on April 30, 2013 at 6:48 PM
Hey, I can type. Hire me. I ain’t afraid to ask questions of ANY politician.
SouthernGent on April 30, 2013 at 6:49 PM
Still waiting for that first nickel to hit you tin cup, eh?
Tell me, do you come with this stuff on your own?
98ZJUSMC on April 30, 2013 at 6:53 PM
I DON’T WANT A FREE EBOOK!
ctmom on April 30, 2013 at 6:54 PM
Small problem…….newspapers are dying.
Let them become, after the Federal bailouts, what they are already are. Just organs of the all powerful Progressive state.
PappyD61 on April 30, 2013 at 6:54 PM
Not one of those dopes will quit. Of course, it is LA and they all probably have a movie treatment in their knapsacks. Let’s hope the Koch’s start buying movie studios, too.
flyoverland on April 30, 2013 at 6:55 PM
If those who threatened to quit would actually do so, if and when the Koch brothers buy that rag, it would be the single most important step to bringing that paper back to something resembling objective reporting and make of the editorial section an interesting forum, rather than a post it board for progressives railing against the entire rest of the nation.
I’d be very interested in subscribing if that were indeed the case.
thatsafactjack on April 30, 2013 at 6:56 PM
Liberty is outdated thinking?
I suppose to a communist like yourself it is.
Speaking of pieces of $hit, why is it you say such things & then never come back to reply & back up what you say?
How interesting.
ResistWeMuch has your a$$ in a sling. So I suppose it would be awkward for you to show your face again.
You, sir, or whatever you are, are what is wrong with this country.
You embody the evil that is Prrgressivism, right or left, which is actually nothing but communism in sheep’s clothing.
Badger40 on April 30, 2013 at 6:59 PM
Two birds one stone..let this happen!
celt on April 30, 2013 at 6:59 PM
You mean like that progressive fossil, George Soros, and his attempts to popularize progressive/Marxist outdated thinking with his many purchases of media concerns…. and MEDIA MATTERS? Like that?
thatsafactjack on April 30, 2013 at 6:59 PM
Absolutely call their bluff! They’re not worth a damn anyway. There are so many journalists who would leap at the chance to work for the Times. I’m also glad that the Koch bros are interested in buying all the Tribune properties, not just the LAT.
cicerone on April 30, 2013 at 7:00 PM
There is one possible downside. Would you want to be constantly surrounded by a bunch of unemployed journalists at traffic intersections with signs reading, Will write liberal lies for food.
Kingfisher on April 30, 2013 at 7:02 PM
It would be very nice to see a good movie for once. I have given up mostly on the entertainment industry & have taken to just listening to music at home when I’m not outside, which is most of the time.
When you consider the fact that Hollywood has been steadily infiltrated by actual real communists since at LEAST the early 1930′s, you come to realize they have taken over all mdeia communications quite effectively.
Communists are patient creatures. There is always struggle & revolution. It’s never over for them.
Badger40 on April 30, 2013 at 7:02 PM
Watching Nova right now, a documentary on the development of life in Australia, 400m years ago. I’m sure there’s some kind of reich-wing propaganda in it.
slickwillie2001 on April 30, 2013 at 7:04 PM
Don’t worry. They’d never do that. That would be inconvenient and damage their ego, too. They’ll draw unemployment for as long as possible, then go on the dole, and sit at home in their jammies or sweats writing rants on blogs. Its what they DO.
thatsafactjack on April 30, 2013 at 7:04 PM
If you want an objective paper, fine. That’s totally fine.
I just don’t see how having the Koch brothers accomplishes that.
Now you’re just biased in the opposite direction, which might be fun for you, but drop the whole white knight shit.
triple on April 30, 2013 at 7:05 PM
The Koch brothers should sit back and wait for the LAT to go TU and then buy them at a firesale price. Let’s see how the leftists in the newsroom enjoy unemployment. At the rate the left wing legacy media is dying, there’ll be a real ugly fight for the last remaining seats on the lifeboat before too long and I for one will have the popcorn ready.
jnelchef on April 30, 2013 at 7:06 PM
BS..I’m in the newspaper business. We’ve cut staff to bare bones…
There’s nobody to cut from any newspaper…big or small…only essential staff remain
Redford on April 30, 2013 at 7:07 PM
Geez, do they even have enough people in LA that can read to worry about who writes the propaganda?
Don L on April 30, 2013 at 7:08 PM
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