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Charles Koch Declares War on President: Calls Obama ‘Saddam Hussein’
Think Progress / Feature
Published: Tuesday 6 September 2011
Charles Koch alarmingly referred to President Obama as “Saddam Hussein,” saying that the right had to fight the “mother of all wars.”
Today, Bradblog’s Brad Friedman reports for Mother Jones about a secret meeting that the right-wing oil billionaire Koch brothers held at a Colorado resort in June with hundreds of wealthy donors who plotted to finance right-wing causes and elect conservative politicians.
Friedman reports that audio he obtained from the conference reveals that Charles Koch alarmingly referred to President Obama as “Saddam Hussein,” saying that the right had to fight the “mother of all wars.” He rallied his guests to donate millions of dollars to help defeat Obama and boost other right-wing causes.
Koch also read off a list of 32 donors who gave a million dollars or more to his efforts to build up far-right infrastructure. Mother Jones’s Gavin Aronsen notes that this list was largely corroborated by ThinkProgress research published in 2010. The list includes financiers such as Charles Schwab of the Charles Schwab Corporation and John Templeton, Jr. of the powerful John Templeton Foundation.
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By Tara Culp- Ressler
3164 comments on "Charles Koch Declares War on President: Calls Obama ‘Saddam Hussein’"
September 06, 2011 11:38am
...and certainly no conscience.
September 06, 2011 11:27am
A "secret meeting"? Right wing millionaires "plotted" to finance right wing pols? The Kochs could've held this meeting in the middle of Times Square and surprised no one. As to the slur against Obama ... big deal. It was done in private. I'm tired of off-the-record remarks being picked up and used as cudgels. Like Obama's remark about people clinging to their religion and guns. There's plenty of reasons to hate (or at least dislike) the Kochs without this hyperbole.
September 06, 2011 11:26am
wow...boycott Georgia Pacific, one of Koch's companies. Did you know that Koch also has sworn to keep his company exec's white? Okay that is not earth shattering news, most big comanies have made that declaration albeit quietly. But Koch is certainly showing his true self without the white sheet. I am sad that our prez has no spine. He is no better than GW. Michelle has more power and bigger cojones. She should run, at least she is getting parents to take second looks at how they are feeding the kiddies. Yay for Michelle!
September 06, 2011 11:25am
Don't feel like the only negelected State, here in Oklahoma the State of Big oil and small people we have been written off for years. Our State moto is Labor Omni Vincia, Labor Conquers All, so much for Words. The National Party won't spend a dime here but local County Party Leaders are determined to make the corprate drones spend every dime they have to stop us.
September 06, 2011 11:16am
I don't know Mr. Charles Koch personally - I would like, to actually, if only to have a dialogue with him - but his foolish statement would suggest a person who is mentally ill - not in a psychiatric sense, perhaps (who knows?), but in a social/spiritual sense, where his devotion to one's unconditional right to unlimited wealth has seemingly blinded him to his oneness with the whole human family - the way we've been created. His mindless assault on President Obama reminds me of the mindless assault on Communism by the wealthy long before Joe Stalin developed a despotic state (which had little to do with what Karl Marx advocated). He represents the dark side of American culture - pursuit of wealth and material goods regardless of ecological or global justice consideration. I am frightened by the influence people like Charles Koch can have on so many of a similar mindset on wealth.
Unlike the writer above - Mr/Ms Hepette - I don't think of Charles Koch or any other human being as "evil" - only spiritually ignorant and, with his wealth and influence - thus dangerous to our country and the world and someone whose thinking and actions need to be highlighted as such.
September 06, 2011 11:37am
Thank you for your thoughtful response. I have been struggling with how to respond to positions I find abhorrent without vilifying the person(s) who hold those positions. Yours is one of the first responses I have seen that did not take the knee-jerk reaction of calling these people "evil"--something I have been guilty of in the past--but instead chose to identify them as spiritually ignorant. This makes them no less dangerous, but your approach avoids contributing more venom/hatred into the mix.
September 06, 2011 1:21pm
Your striving for a higher consciousness in this is all very admirable. But a fine line exists between striving for higher consciousness and outright denial and avoidance of the gravity of the present situation. Using "spiritually ignorant" as a euphanism for evil may make you feel better and even a little above the fray. But it also allows for one to jump to the totally irrational belief that these people can be changed; i.e., that if one merely "enlightens" these people to a healthy spirituality, they will see their ignorance for what it is, and will immediately change their ways, and we'll all live out our days in harmonious kumbaya. Again, exactly what our President Uncle Tom's been doing these past three years. That's bullshit, or course. To fight evil, one must first name it, call it out. I resent your describing as "knee-jerk" what I see as others acknowledging reality for what it is. The Kochs and their ilk are evil; they believe in evil, and they do evil things. They believe in world domination, and will stop at nothing to achieve it. THEY DON'T RECOGNIZE ANYTHING AS "SPIRITUAL" UNLESS IT SUPPORTS THE HOARDING OF MONEY AND POWER. Acknowledging the evil takes away all hope the situation can be humanely resolved, and girds those ready to respond for the fight. This is how the world was saved from the Nazis. If we had described Hilter and his followers as "spiritually ignorant," there'd be no Jews in the world now, and any of us who survived would be speaking German.
September 06, 2011 2:05pm
What exactly makes the Koch brothers evil? The fact that they have donated over $100 M to right wing causes? They have also donated over $600 M to charity, including hospitals, cancer treatment centers, the arts, and MIT.
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/09/02/koch-brothers-give-more-to-chari...
September 06, 2011 11:09am
Charles Koch out to be glad that Obama turned out as moderate / conservative as he did. We might have elected a real liberal with a pair of cajones who would have insisted that there will be no sacrifice unless it is a shared sacrifice. And that means that fat cats such as the brothers Koch have to pay their fare share.If Koch can be so disrespectful of the office of the president, then I guess I can be equally disrespectful and say that Koch and his buddies are pig persons. Except pigs are more intelligent and deserve more respect.I am really angry to hear that Chuck Schwab is part of this cabal. Time for all liberals to move their investments out of that company.
September 06, 2011 11:09am
Amazing how much money those of wealthy politics are capable of spending to line their own pockets and their cronies in the name of uprighting the economy...instead of putting their money where it really counts in hiring people within their corporate houses, giving to those hit hardest
September 06, 2011 11:07am
Corporate America is what it is.............. a WHORE
September 06, 2011 11:06am
What is Obama going to say and do to fire up the progressives who helped him get elected? That is a bigger problem, if you ask me.
September 06, 2011 11:04am
Obama's quick and uncontested election must have really hurt them. Here is a freshman Senator, with a "strange" name, admitted to smoking pot as a teenager and the voter's choose him over a seasoned pol, a vet, an ex-pow with the kind of family values the right embraces and his running mate with the nice butt.
The right has done everything they could to hamstring Obama and Obama in a large part played right into their hands.
At the same time, a lot of American's are waking up and seeing the right for what they are; a Party for Billionaires and Big Businesses.
September 06, 2011 11:02am
koch bros are the most evil people on the face of the earth and they have nerve to call the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES names. its so disgusting and hypocritcal!