Atlas Shrugged: The Mocking

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Persuasion

At Fire Megan McArdle, which isn't quite gone yet, is an awesome clip of Dylan Ratigan interviewing Mark Ames and Yasha Levine about the Koch brothers. It prominently features our favorite blogger, the Princess of Payola, the Duchess of Deregulation, the Countess of Koch-whores, Mrs. Megan McArdle.

Ratigan gives a lot of credit to Ames and Levine for breaking the Koch story over a year ago and Ames gives a lot of credit to McArdle for supporting the Koches. Ratigan says "the story was crushed, one way or another" and the attack was led by Megan McArdle, who personally vouched for David Koch. Ames said they were shocked that oligarchs were able to crush the story using McArdle and The Atlantic's reputation.

Levine says that the Koches are trying to move the Republican party as far right as possible and Ames says that they are free market when it's convenient and abandon principle when it isn't. Ratigan says they are subverting the free market. The whole thing is very entertaining damning.

In the end McArdle will still be paid to shill, which is the only important thing in her world. But there is no reason why we all can't agree that this is an adversarial relationship and that McArdle is paid to pacify the ambitious middle class, who is seeing their comfortable, safe world become a little less of both. So what if she is a propagandist? It's what her customers want--reassurance that their beliefs are real and their success inevitable.

Here's Mark Ames' run-down of how their story was squashed; it's very familiar to us after McArdle's Elizabeth Warren attack. There's something extremely distasteful and repellent about McArdle's support for shifting all power from the individual to corporations and all responsibility from corporations to the individual. She's not selling entertainment or consumer or financial products--she's selling fascism.

This is what a no-talent Leni Reiefenstahl would sound like if she had a blog.

6 comments:

Lurking Canadian said...

I wonder if there has been some sort of speciation event recently, because I simply do not understand the lengths these already fabulously rich people go to in order to get fabulously richer. I mean, you make $50K but wish it was $100K or $200K. Sure, I get that. You own $1M in financial assets, and wish it was $10M or $20M. Sure, I even get that.

But, you are worth $28B and work tirelessly to suborn journalists and bribe politicians so you can get to $44B? What the hell for? What is left to buy? Why not retire? Why not buy a tropical island, a chalet at Aspen and a private jet, play golf every morning and ski every night? You could invest it in T-Bills, waste $1M/day and the principal would still keep growing because you're not even burning through the interest.

Of course, the fact that I can't wrap my head around this is proof (if I needed any more) that I will not face this dilemma in my lifetime.

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

Lurking Canadian hates Freedom™!

She's not selling entertainment or consumer or financial products--she's selling fascism.

They all are, it's why they need to fling the charge back.
~

Mr. Wonderful said...

GITTES: Why are you doing it? How much better can you eat? What could you buy that you can't already afford?

NOAH CROSS: The future, Mr. Gitts. The future. Now, where's the girl?

Susan of Texas said...

They must get a thrill manipulating everyone around them to get their own way.

Anonymous said...

she and her followers sure do get butthurt about the kochwhore label. they protest too much.

Susan of Texas said...

Yes, which is a very good reason to repeat it as much as possible. Plus, why not? Everyone knows that the very rich own politicians, why not admit it openly and operate on that basis? The right doesn't care and the left doesn't count.