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Angle: Dictators Can Have Good Ideas

...and other tidbits from a typically dysfunctional campaign

By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff

Posted Nov 18, 2010 7:22 AM CST | Updated Nov 18, 2010 8:02 AM CST

(Newser) – When she wasn't busy needling Joy Behar or confusing Asians and Latinos, Sharron Angle liked to talk policy: Specifically, that of dictators, reports the Las Vegas Sun. Asked during her campaign about privatizing Social Security, Angle, against the advice of staffers, brought up the example of Chile's Pinochet, saying, "Sometimes dictators have good ideas." Other tidbits from inside Angle's wacky campaign, as per Jon Ralston:

  • Sen. John Ensign played the part of Harry Reid in Angle's debate preparations.
  • It wasn't easy to join Camp Angle, which ran would-be volunteers through three hours of what Ralston calls "indoctrination." Included was what to do when someone who looked like a Reid supporter, Democrat, or member of the media appeared—dial a special number and say, "It's time to water the plants."
  • Campaign staffers referred to Tea Partiers, who largely supported their candidate, as "The Island of Misfit Toys."

Republican Senate candidate Sharron Angle concedes her race against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid at her election night party Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2010, in Las Vegas.
Republican Senate candidate Sharron Angle concedes her race against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid at her election night party Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2010, in Las Vegas.   (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 47 comments
anothernewsjunkie
Nov 18, 2010 1:59 PM CST
name one dictator who ever had a good idea.
Fascist_Jack
Nov 18, 2010 11:01 AM CST
Do Conservatives admire dictators? I would say only in one sense, and that is that non-lefty dictators and conservatives both accept human inequality as scientific fact, but that is where the similarity ends. Conservatives don't want to be ruled under a dictator, but they do want maximum freedom at the expense of entitlement programs for not just the poor, but also the well connected. We Conservatives embrace poverty within our society as just a fact of society itself.
truesoy
Nov 18, 2010 10:16 AM CST
As much as I hate to admit it, she is right that dictators do sometimes have good ideas. Credit should be given to Hitler for the VW. It made it easier for regular folks to own a car, but at what price!!! No human being should suffered such horrors. And while Pinochet as a 'dictator' does not even come close to Hitler, his idea to privatize social security was a financia wreck for most that opted out of the system. She forgot to mention tha Pinochet gave people the option to stay in the system or optout. Many people jump at the 'opportunity' to jump out and into the 'privatized' plan. Why not?. The government social security plan was not adecuate, but they were going to make tons of money going private. Really?. Think again. The market went sour and the 'tons' of money never came, as a matter of fact these people are barely making it. On the other hand those who remained with social security are not doing too bad, and certainly are doing a lot better than those who opted out of the system. Though not everyone lost, the bankers still got their money.
 

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