Dallas billionaire Harold Simmons: 'Obama is the most dangerous American alive'

[w8liftinglady]

What do you think?(Is the sarcasm tag necessary?) Give me some hints so I can reply to this oped.There are so many choices

http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2012/03/dallas-billionaire-harold-simm.html#

Dallas billionaire Harold Simmons -- the largest single donor in the 2012 elections -- explains the reasons behind his political largesse in a rare and fascinating interview with The Wall Street Journal.

Among his biggest motivations: a desire to remove President Barack Obama from office.

"Any of these Republicans would make a better president than that socialist, Obama," Simmons told the Journal. "Obama is the most dangerous American alive... because he would eliminate free enterprise in this country."

Simmons, head of Contran Corp., goes on to describe his political ideology with a bit more nuance than that. The 80-year-old -- who's given to several candidates in the GOP presidential race -- supports Republicans who pledge to reduce taxes and regulations on businesses.

And he's given enough money -- more than $18 million to conservative super PACs -- for the Obama campaign to take notice. An Obama spokesman told the Journal that Simmons is a "self-proclaimed corporate raider."

The entire story is a must-read for anyone interested in the 2012 presidential race or fascinated by Dallas' elite. Among the other tidbits: his friendships with T. Boone Pickens and Jerry Jones, his like of Luby's Cafeteria and his admission that he'd "probably be pro-choice."

[russspeakeasy]

1. at age 80. ....soon it will be "dirt, meet dirt".

[RobertEarl]

2. His problem is....it's personal

Obama has more power than him.

And he has way too much money. Money that he stole from millions of poor working people. He is the embodiment of the 1% that has to be financially castrated.

[spanone]

3. money has nothing to do with intellect or racism

[ceile]

4. I'm not sure this one is worth your time, w8liftinglady.

1. He's so pro-business that any argument for the workers would be pointless.
2. If an 80 y/o is calling Obama a socialist then he's forgotten WWII all together. Most likely senility.

On the other hand, since he is so old you can probably play the post WWII prosperity card...I don't know, just my thoughts...

[thelordofhell]

5. He's afraid President Obama will raise his taxes

So of course he's the most dangerous man alive.



Oh, and he's black.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

6. He's not quite accurate.

Capitalism can continue in this country, but if it is unregulated, they only think about the short term and screw as many people as possible as quickly as possible. Then the entire country goes into a depression because these dimwitted "businessmen" horde all the money and think "Look at me and how wonderful I am." The world doesn't need that shit. Why can't we have business, regulated, shooting for long term success and moderate growth? I don't understand why you have to have everything NOW instead of making your business successful for decades, you make more money in the long run. These people are like ticks. And I want to pop them like a pimple.

[Initech]

7. No - these billionaire scumbags are the most dangerous Americans alive

It will take decades to undo the damage they've done in just since George W's reign of terror.

[gratuitous]

8. Harold Simmons is a very short-sighted, small man

But because he's temporarily on top, of course he's in favor of reducing or eliminating regulation of the businesses and the economy. He's in the best position to bludgeon his way to even more money, as if he needs another dime to live out the rest of his mean little existence. Sadly, the people most vulnerable to Simmons' bludgeoning have been persuaded that they too can reach his economic heights if only Simmons is allowed to grab even more of the wealth created by the labor of others.

[newspeak]

9. dangerous, to whom?

although, obama is no FDR; I think the right wing have carried the "socialist" meme way too far. Obama is a corporatist, but any corporatist that at least thinks about any american besides the wealthy, are dangerous.

Same right wing wackos who declared JFK should be tried for treason. Why don't they just admit they are fascists, always have been fascists and if hitler would have prevailed, they'd be raking in even more dough on the backs of everyone else.

When some southern repugs are against a memorial to americans who fought against franco, because they were communist; one wonders where the repug party has their alliance. Even though brave men fought franco for doing a coup against a DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED LEADER, these cretins want to see every american who fought against fascism as communists.

Of course, he'd be one of those who wouldn't have minded a coup against FDR, another democratically elected leader.

[newspeak]

10. oh which reminds me

"some call one a saint when they feed the poor; but when questioned why the poor have no food, they call you a communist."

[Puzzledtraveller]

11. It's statements like that

That I am no longer a republican, though my transition has been in progress from some time. There is just so much more stupid on the right than I have ever witnessed on the left.

[nadinbrzezinski]

12. Socialist...Obama. Really.

These people really have no clue what the term means.

[Amonester]

15. He is projecting, as always.

(See my reply #13 below.)

Nothing new there.

[Amonester]

13. Who should care what crap the 0.0000000000000001% say?

They R communist$ for the 1% only and they wage economic war on the 99%, after all. All evidence to this is for everyone to see (subsidie$, privilege$, bailout$, and on...).

[Paladin]

14. "If You Want To Know What God Thinks Of Money, Look Who He Gives It To. " (n/t)

[krispos42]

16. Nothing is destroying free enterprise...

..faster than the transnational corporations.


First rule of capitalism: destroy all competition
Second rule of capitalism: crush all potential competition
Third rule of capitalism: buy the government so you can follow Rule 1 and Rule 2

[newspeak]

20. yep, predatory capitalism

so, those few global corporations who wind up with everything, what's the prize? The free market magic fairy tale.

Way back when, in college, my anthropology professor made a comment and I did not fully understand it at the time. He said that USSR was not truly a communistic country, that the oligarchy used the perceptions of communism to control the people. That, with the power of huge corporations, that communism would be seen in the US first. That it would be communism through corporatization. Today, I think, what he meant was that behemoth corporations with their subsidiaries would grow so strong, that there would no longer be even a chance of competition, that there would be no free market and that there would be a true merging of government and corporations (or the corporation replaces the government). Kind of like the movie "brazil." It wouldn't be like what marx defined for the people. I don't know, I see that as fascism; however, if the corporation is not working with the government; but becomes the government, what is it?

[kiranon]

17. Romney will be like this at age 80 or sooner IMHO.

Greed corrupts as much as power does. Add the two together and you can easily have fascism as the result. Imagine being 80 and having learned nothing about caring for others or only worried about being asked to share some of one's meager billions with those less fortunate. I imagine somewhere in this man's life the government helped him in some way and, if so, it appears that he would be eternally ungrateful.

[geardaddy]

18. I wonder what he thought of Reagan, Nixon, Eisenhower and Ford

[bullwinkle428]

19. How much has this fucker's fortune increased under the three years Obama's been in office?

My guess would be...BY SHITLOADS.

[Amonester]

21. $18 Million = peanuts for him...

So you probably guessed it right.

[HughBeaumont]

30. Look at how much the extremely anti-Obama Koch assholes' net worths skyrocketed:

Oh, and as their payrolls decreased.

Stay Classy, Dave and Chuck!

[pansypoo53219]

22. only a danger to the reaganuts.

zombie reagan + trickle down are dying.

[Horse with no Name]

23. A better use of those millions

would have been to take away the tax breaks that Obama has extended to this ungrateful bottom feeding fucker.

[scheming daemons]

24. breakthru! they admit Obama is an American!!

[Dawson Leery]

25. Kennedy killer.

Simmons, Pickens, and company as well as their predecessors the Hunt family never accept democracy when their side loses.

[tanyev]

26. Well, yeah. He's a Jedi Knight.

[LondonReign2]

27. Sounds similar to the talk coming out of Dallas one other time

...around 1963 to be exact.

Dallas hasn't really changed all that much in the intervening years. (And I work here).

[HughBeaumont]

28. Hey . . . Grandpa Joe? Cold War's OVER.

It's been over for, what, two decades and some change?

Economically, Obama's a center-right Chi-Schooler. "Socialist" . . . if ONLY.

Can we get a new meme? Please? This is not only getting ancient, it's getting downright embarrassing.

"Most dangerous man alive" . . . shut the FUCK up. Here's a clue . . . anyone calling ANYbody "the most dangerous man alive" is probably the guy who's part of the REAL "dangerous" crew you should be worrying about instead.

[JHB]

29. So what was Ike if Obama is a socialist?

Of course, there were people back then who called him a communist. Who did that? The fringe. Birchers and ranting loons.

In other words, the people who have completely taken over the GOP.

[hamsterjill]

31. I would ask him a question

If he's given more than $18 million to conservative super PACs - how much has HE given to feed and clothe the poor? How much has HE given to effect positive change OUTSIDE of the political arena.

If someone has $18 million to give away, and gives it to a super PAC...well that says a whole lot about the person's lack of character as far as I am concerned.

[arthritisR_US]

32. Excellent points! Stupid sod can't see

his way to giving beyond his own selfish interests! Have I said how much I hate these people?