David Frum carefully constructs clay human buttocks, places them over his face, goes outside and chats up the locals…
This is what the NYT is saying about the Nazis. You know, they had their bad points, but hey, the stimulus really worked. Limbaugh was blazing away with this Friday, if you heard. What the writer is saying is that Obama’s stimulus will work, and would work even better if it was even bigger. Of course, don’t bother looking at the 558,000 new jobless benefit filers in the latest report. Heads up people, the One is speaking. Achtung baby!
Meanwhile, the union goons are out thugging up the countryside, and Obama and his groupies are hurling patently ridiculous charges of racism and demagoguery at his political foes. Shades of 1933? Of course, they are everywhere….
So, David Frum sits back, takes it all in, realizes that Sarah Palin, for one, and conservatives are making some real progress with the electorate, that liberty is making a stand, and does the above.
It is, as Bugs said to his audience many years ago, to laugh…
The bottom line is Frum will do anything to stop conservative momentum. The country is waking up to the Obamas’ very literal “National Socialism”, up to and including the vastly exaggerated cult of personality of the “leader”, and decides: “you know what I need to do? I need to open fire on the conservatives, because someone has got to stop Sarah Palin’s momentum, and Obama clearly is not up to the job..”
So thanks, David, for that.
Hat tips: Hotair, Rushlimbaugh.com…..
by the way: remember, the definitive word on Keynesian stimulus was given by FDR SecTreas Henry Morgenthau in 1939:
“We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work. And I have just one interest, and if I am wrong … somebody else can have my job. I want to see this country prosperous. I want to see people get a job. I want to see people get enough to eat. We have never made good on our promises … I say after eight years of this Administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started … And an enormous debt to boot!”
[1]
“Who really is Barack Obama?”
Well after all, Barack Obama, he’s an ordinary socialist fascist man,
Who desires nothing more than an ordinary chance,
To make all people live exactly as he likes, and do precisely what he wants…
An average socialist fascist man is he, of no especially clever whim,
Who likes to control everyone’s life, free of strife
With everyone supinely doing whatever he thinks is best, for him
Well… just an ordinary socialistic fascist man…
BUT!
Let some protesters be allowed to speak out against his grand controlling schemes and his serenity is through,
They’ll protest his grand plans, from the cellar to the dome,
And then go on to the enthralling fun of piece by piece eviscerating him…
[2]
A blue ribbon for the kitteh!
[3]
Frum is trying to get hits on his site again. I guess to do that he has to discuss Sarah Palin or Rush. Well, I told you the other week that I don’t read Frum; however, I did see some quotes from him at Hot Air.
Andy McCarthy at NRO is the anti-Frum. He doesn’t mention him, but he does take down the Left, including David Leonhardt who wrote that NYT’s article you link to.
Nazis for Me, but Not for Thee
[4]
CheshireCat…a home run! (or the CheshireCat equivalent)
[5]
A blue ribbon for INC!
[6]
Ok seriously, what is amazing is how the left projects, just as Hitler did.
If you wanted to know what Hitler was going to do, all one needed was to simply listen to how he described and slandered his domestic or foreign opponents.
This gave you a strong indication of how the future would proceed.
Clinton did this, Obama does it, and the country appears to be getting their fill of it.
But it never dawns on the left.
The right does not need to straw-man the left’s arguments, we can base our case on facts and history. But the left lives and dies by the “scare-crow”.
Everything the left accuses the right of being, they in fact are, and the right is not.
[7]
I like the Morgenthau quote.
[8]
I am seriously irritated with people like Frum using straw men as an excuse to take some pretentious high ground and scold.
[9]
Well, didn’t mean to kill the thread!
Krauthammer and Hillyer were both scolding the town hall protestors the other day. Again, I prefer Andy McCarthy’s take:
[10]
I’m done with fairness
Fairness got us a Marxist-Leninist as President
Democrats Want To Murder Your Family! should be our slogan 24/7…
[11]
I always marvel at the left’s ability to lie.
Your average lefty will tell you, and more than a few have told me, that the Nazis were reactionary rightwingers.
But even a moment’s glance at history will show this to be false.
Whether its euguenics, state power vs individual liberty, the grand failure of centrally planned economies, the ubiquitous and impossibly brutal secret police, the propaganda about subsuming your will to the state, the fanaticism and purges, political prisons, the confiscation of wealth and property by badged bandits, it’s all there. National Socialism and Soviet Marxim were different only in their adherence to crackpot racial theory. Where the Soviets preferred to boast of their superiority by the pedestrian way of extolling the potency of their political system, the National Socialists openly boasted of laughable-on-its-face racial supremacy.
In the end, not much difference. One system overreached and collapsed quickly, the other much more slowly, but with the same result.
And we see the progressives in America, refusing to be allow themselves to be called National Socialists, or Communists, while enacting the self-same policy.
“Of course we are doing what they did, but don’t you dare call us by the same name! We are going to make it work this time!”
What do the Founders of our country and the defenders of our constitution have in common with any of these 20th century political brews?
Nothing, I say.
[12]
Hillyer has always struck me as a milquetoast, but I know that Krauthammer and Matthews have one thing in common:
They both worked for the Carter administration.
I don’t trust Krauthammer, I think he’s got some screws loose, and I stopped reading him years ago.
He used to write speeches for Mondale and was editor of TNR…..
[13]
I have been upset with McCarthy since the Ramos-Compean essay he wrote, but he is right on here, and the rest of his comment is just as meaningful as the first part….
[14]
Your long comment has some excellent analysis and comparison, Yahoo.
It reminds me of David Horowitz’ story. He finally left the Left when he realized it was never going to work. His parents were Communists who I believe were disillusioned when Krushchev’s Secret Speech exposed Stalin’s atrocities. Horowitz and others started the New Left because they thought they could make it work. Finally, when a friend of his was killed by some Black Panthers, Horowitz woke up.
[15]
The new buzzword making its way around the Conservative blogs is LOTUS–Leader of the United States, and, of course, it pertains to Sarah Palin for her work (so far) on ObamaCare.
Wait and see what LOTUS does to POTUS when he refocuses on C&T.
[16]
We have to be prepared for the fact the Dems’ addiction to socialism will force them to call our bluff:
They WILL pass these horrible despotic laws, regardless of the political consequences.
And so we MUST respond by doing whatever it takes to remove them from office, and stop the enactment and enforcement of these absurd and illegal violations of the constitution even if we are not able to quickly repeal them, which we may not be able to do.
Everything is up in the air. We only need to ground ourselves in the beliefs of the founding father and let the chips fall where they may.
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rwy: “the Dems’ addiction to socialism will force them to call our bluff”
we just need to let them know it WASN’T a bluff!
Our LIVES are at stake!!
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That’s right. I don’t consider it a bluff. I consider it my duty to disobey blatant and obvious violations of the Bill of Rights and laws supplanting the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and property.
The constitution is the law of the land. If some leftwing morons in government and the courts crap all over it, what is that to me? Nothing. I will live by it, and if need be, die by it.
/mellowdrama…..
[19]
Part of the irony of Frum’s BS is that the vaunted Stimulus is slowing down. Of the roughly half that is left, the rate of expenditures is slowing down — a lot.
So much for ’shovel ready’. Oh unless moving BS was the metric to be gauged.
[20]
Finally, when a friend of his was killed by some Black Panthers, Horowitz woke up.
Horowitz is an honest man, and a real old fashioned “liberal humanist”. His frontpagemag.com site and his java-driven “discover the network” model showing the leftist infrastructure in the country explains a great deal about how the socialist machinery always swings into action…
[21]
Discover the Networks is a terrific site. He and his colleagues did an invaluable service putting it together.
[22]
Well, the stimulus is part of the Nazi allegory we are living thru right now.
Frum’s point is that all this talk of Nazis is way over the top, and I’m sorry, I don’t think you can realistically say that and retain any credibility.
You have.
Massive political cronyism and corruption
State run media for all practical purposes
A demonized minority
A failing currency
A slavish and craven business sector
An adoring youth, exhorted to believe in what is manifestly a failure
The nationalization of banking, manufacturing, and health
The dictation of profits
The dictation of energy policy
A move to subsume the youth in hard-core left wing politics and even to militarize them.
The similarities are there everywhere you look. Frum is trying to blunt the counter-momentum. He is a “Vichy-conservative”, it’s not too much to say.
He knows exactly what is happening, and he is on the other side. Nothing innocent about it.
[23]
You’ve got Axelrod setting up snitching networks, and threatening emails going out to townhallers. Mothers of kids, for God’s sake.
You’ve got Czars that are setting policy and giving a clear case of “regulation without representation”.
The situation is grave, and nearing the point of no return, and getting worse by the day.
And yet, Frum attacks the right.
[24]
Horowitz is probably one of the brightest around, he’s quick on his feet and knows his stuff. There’s only one person who is as quick as Horowitz, although most people would probably disagree–Ann Coulter.
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Of course the Nazi analogies are important and accurate, but I worry they will not resonate with the undecided middle. We need better sound bites that sound more… hinged. Reagan could always pull this off.
Conservatism is inherently more complex than liberalism because it takes into account a bigger picture and a longer view. It is the IV antibiotic not the bandaid.
Liberals say “free health care for everyone!”
We say… “Nazis!” in an attempt to stay clear and simple. I worry..
what about “health insurance slavery”?
Too strong?
servitude?
[26]
http://www.frontpagemag.com/
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/Thinkmap%20SDK%202.5%20Standard%20Edition/webapp/TM-1VER/index.asp?keyword=Ford%20Foundation
be sure to have java loaded.
[27]
Well, our retort to the left need not consist of “Nazi! Nazi!.. ok, everyone let’s go home”….
But it is not too much to make the comparisons.
The middle are the ones showing up at townhalls, btw….. they are the ones worried about “death panels” …
There is no need to start hanging Obama in effigy with an armband on his left arm. But like we did when the left denied the death panels, we need to calmly point out the truth and let the people reach their own conclusion.
[28]
In this column by Ed Morrissey, Rights and Wrongs, he talks about those right you mentioned above, RWY:
[29]
Yes.
As an exercise:
Can anyone name a post Marx, ie late 19th or 20th century political ideology that does NOT include socialist calls to exalt the state above all at the expense of liberty?
It seems to me that the legacy of the progressive age, ie, 1890-1950, is one of bondage and tyranny, not of liberty born of the enlightenment…
[30]
My point, Aurelius, is not that Obama is the second coming of Hitler or Stalin, although to be honest I fear deep down that is exactly what time will prove him to be.
It is that just as the Vichy-right went after Sarah Palin for mentioning “death panels”, they are WRONG to denounce these comparisons to the socialist regimes of the past.
And the facts make that clear.
So, you may choose to use the term death panels, or you may not. You may choose to compare the current administration to previous fascist regimes or you may not.
That is all fine, and to each his own. But the point is that, for those who choose to use that approach and those terms and comparisons, there is a great deal of factual and clear-as-day evidence to support it, and the lefts charges of demagoguery and panic will fall short after the examination of the record.
[31]
I haven’t looked closely enough to see if Obama has an arm band. I should start paying more attention to what my president wears.
Now, I’ve heard him speak and I’m pretty sure he isn’t even German, but if I could just hear him say: “What do I want and when do I want it?” then I would know for sure. If it sounds anything like: “Vat do I vant and ven do I vant it?” then I would have my answer.
[32]
rwy: “Frum’s point is that all this talk of Nazis is way over the top, and I’m sorry, I don’t think you can realistically say that and retain any credibility.”
In ‘The Usual Suspects’, Kevin Spacey (as Verbal Kint) says this:
“The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.”
Sadly, aureliusx is right in that most Americans will reject the “Nazi” analogy…apt though it is. The Obama regime will simply snicker (and have their media minions snicker) at the notion.
Yes, action for action they are mirroring National Socialism. But we need to pick apart each action. Otherwise, to defuse any argument they simply have to say: “Do you see us Goose-Stepping?? Are we building concentration camps…gassing the Jews??” then they laugh.
National Socialism was VERY possible WITHOUT hatred for the Jews (early on many Jews embraced it!)…and in fact had NOTHING to do with the Jews. Hitler added that ingredient.
[33]
The point is not what is reasomable to say, the point is what will win us elections.
who thinks the Bushitler stuff worked for the libs?
The only argument that could be made– did it push the “extreme” window far enough that less raving Dems seemed more moderate and reasonable?
Not sure.
[34]
Well if you want allegory and images, then don’t use the Nazi metaphor. Pull one out of our history books and start calling the president George Obama III. The issue is taxes and self determination, and ole King George fits that to a tee.
Or if you want something more recent consider calling him a Stalinist.
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O/T, but really, really funny:
via RedState’s Redhot:
Latest Whitehouse Spam Message
There’s more!
[36]
INC, it would be funny if it weren’t so close to the mark!
[37]
The only argument that could be made– did it push the “extreme” window far enough that less raving Dems seemed more moderate and reasonable?
It worked. Malkin wrote a book mocking the left’s insanity, and meanwhile they won the next election.
We don’t have to lie. All we have to do is tell the truth, and there is no need, while doing so, to excoriate those who make the analogy to National Socialism, because the similarities are plain to see.
It’s the same thing with Sarah’s “death panels” remark. The only reason to take issue with the phrase was to score political points with the left, because on the facts, she was right.
There will always be those who say “Now honestly, there’s no need for that!” whenever free people start shouting about the left’s desire to squash liberty.
There were quite a few of them in the period of America’s revolution. There were quite a few when Germany started gobbling up free and sovereign states.
The remarkable thing about Obama’s methods is how utterly reckless he is. He is so desirous for absolute power that he cannot be bothered to notice the alarm signals as he moves forward with eyes shut. King George? Stalin? Mao? Hitler? Pick your tyrant.
[38]
Where’s you-know-who? Did she quit again?
[39]
Otherwise, to defuse any argument they simply have to say: “Do you see us Goose-Stepping?? Are we building concentration camps…gassing the Jews??” then they laugh.
Well, goose-stepping? No, unless you want to show the KC youths for Obama, although that was only 8 kids and not 8 million.
Camps? Depends on who you talk to. Fema camps? Doesn’t look like it. Army run-detention camps? Well, the money’s already been allocated. Alcee Hastings’ bill:
[40]
Banned. But, I’m sure she’ll be let out soon enough. Groundhog day again soon.
[41]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdPSqL9_mfM
We’ve all seen this clip before, but still chilling in my view….
[42]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pOt_jl-4O8&feature=related
This as well, we have all seen it, and though it seems hilarious now, wait until a few million are doing this, and it won’t be so amusing.
We are a nation of laws, not of men.
[43]
Oh
[44]
And remember, history is as full of apologists for tyrants as it is full of tyrants themselves…
[45]
Hey, anyone care to join me and Budhamon in taking on idiot lib-fascists over at polipundit?
The only thing(s) inhabiting that site anymore are lib trolls (or simply lib fascists, not trolls – they could be considered the norm…whatever – standard fare these days).
Join me on “Quote of the Day”!
[46]
rwy, those two videos knocked me on my heels when I first saw them…now their impact is, if anything, magnified!
Cult followers cannot be reasoned with, and only very rarely can they be successfully de-programmed.
Today Obama said this: “I take issue with the notion that somehow I ran for public office or members of Congress are in this so they can go around pulling the plug on grandma.”
Of course, this is the flimsiest of Strawmen. As Mark Steyn pointed out today, the issue isn’t PULLING the plug on Grandma…it’s getting Grandman plugged in to begin with!
The “Death Panels” will NOT sentence people to death…they will simply deprive them of the care they need to LIVE! “Pulling the plug” would be an ACTION…the Death Panels will kill through IN-ACTION!
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Of course, Iwill continue to come here for comraderie and fellowship amongst the finest of people, too!
‘Tis possible to do both..
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ok, durman…though I will need a shower afterwards I’m sure!
[49]
One thing Ann Coulter likes to do is ask the question of leftists:
“Really? We are like McCarthy now? And by that you mean we are trying to impugn and lie about the left, cast them as traitors? … Tell me, can you name one person McCarthy falsely accused?”
And then watch as the wretch struggled to answer.
To my mind we could ask a simple question of our leftist counterparts:
“Oh really? You think it’s too much to say that Obama is walking the path of the great socialist dictators before him? Well then. Give me an example of one single issue where Obama proposes to expand freedom and limit the influence of government over people’s lives, rather than the opposite”
And when they inevitably fail, you might say, “Well, I don’t say Obama is Hitler, but you can’t deny he moving in that direction.”
And as always, you’ll have the pretenders who will cover their eyes and refuse to see what is before their face, even when it’s too late.
I suspect Frum is one of those.
[50]
Heh!
Justrand – I find myself going “there” for sparring, and here for enlightenment & refreshment.
That site is only a shadow of its once meaningful existence. Only (mostly) jackals & ne’er do wells inhabit it now….
[51]
durman, “McRock” is McStooopid! Still, I kinda miss playing with my food!
[52]
Justrand You got that one!
Such idiocy…ah, well.
Good night!
[53]
good night from me too. I’ll go trolling over there again…just for sport!
[54]
Interesting thread. Sorry I missed the discussion.
My thoughts are that it matters very little whether Obama himself has similarities to Hitler or not. Instead, what we can be sure of is that when socialists gather all political and economic power within an overreaching centralized government free of moral and ethical restraints, a fascist will eventually rise to wield that power in ways the socialists could hardly dream of. The fascist will convince the frustrated socialist their dream of Utopia can be achieved, but only if the socialist is courageous enough to throws off the vestiges of whatever restraint remains from the old order and is willing to seize their dream by any means necessary. At that point, the scapegoats are designated, the inferno lit and Hell on Earth begins.