Ayn Rand Preferred Marx Bros. to Libertarians, Ripped Reagan

[drakonyx]

Growing numbers of tea party members are embracing Ayn Rand, whose controversial novel Atlas Shrugged is seen by many as a metaphor for American in the midst of a recession.

But Ayn Rand opposed Ronald Reagan in 1976 and dismissed libertarians as anarchists. Would she vote for a Libertarian? Rand replied: "I’d rather vote for Bob Hope, the Marx Brothers, or Jerry Lewis."

http://www.theprovocation.net/2011/09/ayn-rand-opposed-reagan-preferred-marx.html

[FSogol]

1. Groucho would have never voted for her. She "may look like an idiot

and talk like an idiot, but don't let that fool you. (S)He really is an idiot.”

[MineralMan]

2. Kind of like some other mythical figures.

Followers seem to follow what they wish the person said, rather than what the person actually said. Ayn Rand, aside from being a half-assed novelist, was not who the libertarians think she was. But that doesn't matter. They've made her in their own image.

[Lasher]

3. She also was an avowed atheist who hated Christians.

Funny how wingnut fundies never get called on that one.

[Taverner]

4. Ayn Rand embraced Ayn Rand

And her party affiliation was the Ayn Rand party

[eilen]

5. My favorite part in "The Trotsky"

When they kick out the person dressed as Ayn Rand at the Social Justice Dance. "This is a Fascist Free Zone".

[banned from Kos]

6. Ayn Rand called Reagan "an enemy of freedom" -- that is the money quote

that any conservative should here.

She said Reagan defiled capitalism (paraphrase) by mixing it with religion.

[Fuddnik]

7. What did she think of the Lennon Sisters?

Was she a Marxist-Lennonist at heart?

She probably didn't like john Lennon.

[RaleighNCDUer]

8. Gawd help me -

I agree with Ayn Rand on something. (Though probably not for the same reasons.)

ON EDIT

"But instead of exalting her as the symbol of some cause or movement, perhaps we should listen to the words she used to express herself during her lifetime."

No, thank you. She may be different from the libertarians who worship at her altar, but she is no less appalling than they.

[LongTomH]

9. Kim Stanley Robinson on Libertarians

Quoted from Green Mars (2nd book of The Mars Trilogy) 1993:

Even if you want no state, or a minimal state, then you have to argue point by point. Especially since the minimalists want to keep the economic and police system that keeps them privileged. That's libertarians for you — anarchists who want police protection from their slaves. No! If you want to make the minimum-state case, you have to argue it from the ground up