11.09.2009

Thin, thin gruel

The other day, I mentioned the silence of the GOP leaders as they surveyed the so-called "Tea Party" protesters who showed up in opposition to the health care reform bill. Among the Republican lawmakers who attended was Minority Whip Eric Cantor, the party's only Jewish member of Congress. I found it particularly remarkable that he was willing (dare I say enthusiastic?) to attend a rally at which a sign linking the President to the Rothschilds was brandished.

Now, before I get to the main substance of my post today, let me touch upon a point raised by John, our Official Gadfly here at Bleakonomy. He mentioned Cynthia McKinney as a Democrat who egged on the protesters when they did such things as compare Bush to Hitler. I am perfectly willing to concede that she might have done so. I am, indeed, perfectly happy to see the Democrats rid of her, as I'm sure they are themselves. However, it should be noted that McKinney was a fringe character who never had a position of significant leadership within the party. In fact, when she returned to Congress following a defeat between terms, the party failed to reinstate her seniority. Contrast that with the presence at the protest of the GOP Minority Leader and Whip. Unless I am gravely mistaken (and do let me know if I am), the Democrats never offered legitimacy of this kind to the inflammatory rhetoric used against President Bush. (GJ, you mention Dennis Kucinich tossing brickbats as well, which I can imagine, but I strongly doubt Hillary Clinton would have thrown in her lot with a similar crowd. Feel free to disabuse me.)

Anyhoodle, moving along to today's point. I read this in TPM yesterday:
At yesterday's tea party rally on Capitol Hill, at least one protester brandished a large graphic photograph of the victims of the Dachau Nazi concentration camp, comparing health care reform to Nazi policies. Today, Rep. Eric Cantor's (R-VA) spokesman called the photograph "inappropriate."

[snip]

Cantor, in an interview today with Bloomberg, also offered some criticism of radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh's comparison of President Obama to Adolf Hitler.

"Do I condone the mention of Hitler in any discussion about politics?" said Cantor, who is the only Jewish Republican in Congress. "No, I don't, because obviously that is something that conjures up images that frankly are not, I think, very helpful."

"Inappropriate"? "Not very helpful"? Woooooooh! Way to take a strong stand there, Rep. Cantor! What next? Calling Michelle Malkin not very nice? Saying Glenn Beck is a big meany?

How about "flagrantly offensive"? What say you note the utter and complete disconnect between a health care reform bill and an attempt by the Nazis to exterminate your people? Maybe you could decry in terms that are a wee bit stronger the nauseous rhetoric that links the current President with the worst kinds of anti-Semitism, and that misappropriates the memory of the Holocaust for the basest and most vile kind of political attack?

I know that the GOP falls all over itself to stay in Limbaugh's good graces, apparently indifferent to the bloated obscenity that he has become. Perhaps I should be grateful that a prominent Republican is crossing him at all, in the gentlest of rebukes? Bah. The cravenness of this display sickens me.

9 comments:

  1. Eric Cantor is no better than the Capos in the Warsaw Ghetto. In many ways mimics them. Eric Cantor needs to take some medication or require the skills of a psychiatrist when he compares what the D's and President Obama are trying to do for health care. Taking care of people and urging all citizens be allowed access to decent health care is what the D's and our president are all about. Using words to describe the nut-jobs as inappropriate is plain stupid and ignorant. Health care and helping the poor is NOT what the NAZI party was about. When you lie with dogs, (no offense to my Molly) you get fleas and he is loaded with them. This man is looking to feather his bed no matter the personal cost. I am convinced he would throw his mother under a bus if it means climbing the political ladder by a single rung. Hey Dan, that was not so bad.... maybe I am becoming nice. Naaa. A brief word about my favorite far right wing person Dennis Kucinich. I love the guy but never would I vote for him (If I could) in any other office than he now holds. PS Cantor should listed to some of Nixons tapes to hear what the Republicans really thought about Jews.

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  2. I started to put something together, but look at UJ's comment above. Do you really need anything else to testify to the Nazi analogies made by the Left against the previous administration? And do you really need me to point out that Democrats were never roused to condemn any of it, as far as I can recall? If I'm wrong, please, let me know.

    UJ. First, it is Kapo. Second, there were no Kapos in the Warsaw Ghetto or any other ghetto. Kapos worked in concentration camps. Third, Kapos were prisoners with a few extra privileges, and were not leaders in the camps, so your comparison of Kapos and Mr. Cantor is boneheaded in addition to being morally repugnant.

    Next, whatever private opinions Pres. Nixon expressed, he is fondly remembering in Israel today, and I can personally testify to that as fact. Why? Because he saved Israel during the Yom Kippur war. Learn some history.

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  3. JG, I stand corrected on the spelling (shame on me) Yes it was Kapo like and you are incorrect, they were in the ghettos. The Jewish Police of the Shoah ghettos (later becoming Kapos) were a unique group because while they were assigned the duty of keeping the law in the ghettos , they also had the distinction of being prisoners themselves, although with slightly more freedom than other ghetto tenants. Some had been former police officers and soldiers, others athletes, and their position was like the kapos, a somewhat compromised position, policing and bearing force over their own and yet being Jewish at the same time: individual officers were both a blessing and a curse. A few gave way to the same brutality as the Nazis, becoming susceptible to an emotional-cognitive phenomena known as 'identification with the aggressor'. What I suggested was Cantor is very much like them. He has has lost his way. I cannot imagine any person in the R leadership standing idly by if a photo of Jesus Christ was displayed in a disparaging manner. Cantor is a sell-out to his own soul. Period. Oh yea; A rose by any other any is still....a Kapo by any other name is also..... Your replies do not stand up to reason. They were bums and so is Cantor.

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  4. The Ghetto police were not Kapos. See the Jewish Virtual Library. Ghetto police were called the Juedischer Ordnungsdienst (literally, Jewish Order Service). See the Shoah Education website for details. Also, Kapos were not necessarily Jewish, and were usually criminals, in contrast to the Ordnungdienst.

    If your point was to compare Mr. Cantor to the Ordnungdienst, you made a serious mistake calling him a Kapo. If you really want to trivialize the sufferings and deaths of millions to make your point, the analogy you are looking for is to compare him to a member of the Judenrat (Jewish council) in the ghetto. I suggest you quit using Holocaust imagery to advance your petty political agenda, and stop your fellow nutters from doing so, too.

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  5. How in Hell do you think I would trivialize millions of souls being executed? You are truly an for Dan's sake I will not say it. Please give is a break you self-ricjous Republican bigort. I say again, I cannot imagine any person in the Republican leadership standing idly by if a photo of Jesus Christ was displayed in a disparaging manner. Cantor is a sell-out to his own soul. Period. Oh yea; A rose by any other any is still....a Kapo by any other name is also..... Your replies do not stand up to reason. They were bums and so is Cantor

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  6. JG. Just a few mistakes in grammar for you to latch onto. :)

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  7. Hi, UJ! How? I said it explicitly above -- by appropriating the imagery of the Holocaust for your petty political agenda. You are still doing it. Stop it.

    On your claim about Rs "standing idly by", I can only say that your poverty of imagination isn't sufficient reason to insult the memory of people who were actually tortured and murdered by government edict. You dislike Mr. Cantor's politics, fine. But stop with the Holocaust comparisons to people who hold different opinions than your divinely inspired, error-free enlightened views.

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  8. Naptime, Fascism is a collectivist philosophy, entirely compatible with modern liberal social action agendas. The Fascists in Italy were widely admired by FDR and the National Socialists in Germany. But Fascism is completely incompatible with individual rights and free markets associated with the Right.

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