The Injection of Nazi

On Slate, Anne Applebaum explores the strange and unproductive need for politicians to inject the Nazis into the political discourse. An excerpt:

"Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals. … We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared, 'Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided.'" - George W. Bush, May 2008

"Moreover, in our time, these threats are not diminishing… [and] in these new threats, as during the time of the Third Reich, are the same contempt for human life and the same claims of exceptionality and diktat in the world." - Vladimir Putin, May 2007

No, by citing these two quotations, I am not drawing comparisons between George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin, two vastly different men. Nevertheless, it is clear from the above that Bush and Putin, despite their vast differences, do share a common ailment: They both suffer from the inexplicable need to inject the Nazis into current political debate whether they belong there or not.

...I am not, I hasten to add, arguing here against the public discussion of history. If the Nazis were being invoked more generally - in warnings, say, about the unpredictability of totalitarian regimes - they might be a useful part of a number of discussions. Unfortunately, Nazi analogies are nowadays usually deployed in order to end arguments, not to broaden them. Once you inject "Hitler" or "the Third Reich" into a debate, you have evoked the ultimate form of evil, put your opponent in an indefensible position—"What, you're opposed to a war against Hitler?"—and for all practical purposes halted the conversation.

Invoking the Nazis also changes the tenor of a debate. There may be good, tactical reasons for choosing not to negotiate with Hezbollah or the Iranian regime, for example (the best reason, usually, is that the relevant diplomats are fairly sure that negotiations won't work). But calling opponents of this policy "appeasers" distorts the debate, giving tactical choices a phony moral grounding. In reality, circumstances do change, even where "terrorists and radicals" are involved, as this administration in particular knows perfectly well.

Clearly the circumstances changed, for example, in the case of North Korea, a regime that was featured as a part of the axis of evil in 2002 and with whose leadership a number of Bush administration officials now negotiate full-time. ...Still, that doesn't mean that the Americans participating in talks with North Korea are the precise contemporary equivalents of Neville Chamberlain, and it doesn't mean that the North Koreans are about to invade Poland.

By the same token, we don't learn anything useful by calling Kim Jong-il "Hitler," we haven't achieved much by calling Bush or Blair a Nazi, and the idea that people who want to negotiate with Iran are the moral equivalent of Vichy collaborators is ridiculous. Seventy years have now passed. Let's put the ghosts of Munich to rest, this time for good.

A Man of his Times

Just when we thought we didn’t have Alberto Gonzalez to kick around anymore, he arises once again to add to an already checkered resume. Once a Texas Secretary of State, member of the Texas State Supreme Court, White House Counsel, and Attorney General, he can now claim the illustrious title of “Lawyer of the Year” for 2007. Congratulations Mr. Gonzalez, maybe now we’ll remember you as something more than an incompetent crony who put loyalties to one man and one political party over your constitutional responsibilities and our nation’s best interests.

By the way, is it bad when one of the men responsible for you receiving the award compares it to Stalin and Hitler winning Time’s Person of the Year?

Hijacked Faith

In an event that recently crept under the radar screen, Reverend Joel Hunter stepped down as president-elect of the Christian Coalition. According to Rev. Hunter, he volunteered his resignation, but according to the chair of the Coalition Board, his resignation was called for. The significance of this event is not the decision itself, but the reasons behind it. Hunter saw the Coalition as moving beyond its traditional role of messengers who, in the name of Christianity, have done nothing but polarize Americans by putting partisan politics above a strict adherence to the faith they espouse.

Hunter envisioned a movement that could broaden its agenda beyond abortion and same sex marriage, possibly to such issues as poverty and the environment. But his positions on global warming, increasing the minimum wage and opposing the death penalty left the Coalition running for cover. “These are issues that Jesus would want us to care about," says Hunter. "My position is, unless we are caring as much for the vulnerable outside the womb as inside the womb, we're not carrying out the full message of Jesus."

Hunter believes a large number of conservative Christians are driven away from right-wing organizations like the Coalition because their energies are too narrowly focused on “moral issues.” He also believes the Coalition has lost touch with its constituents because, instead of a focus on grass-roots organizing, their focus is solely on Washington-based advocacy.

"I saw an opportunity to really broaden the conversation and broaden the constituency... I think the board just got scared. When we really got down to it, they said: 'This just isn't for us. It won't speak to our base, so we just can't go there.'" The Coalition claims that he was acting too fast without consulting his superiors, but Hunter says the Coalition's board had already signed off on this approach, only to later get cold feet. The back and forth continues...

It’s just the latest in a long line of missteps by the Coalition, which was founded 17 years ago by Pat Robertson (author of the following quotes and an advocate of dropping a nuclear bomb of the State Department, assassinating Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, and bringing righteousness back to our country so the atheists, liberals and homosexuals won’t bring about another 9/11).

"Just like what Nazi Germany did to the Jews, so liberal America is now doing to the evangelical Christians. It's no different. It is the same thing. It is happening all over again. It is the Democratic Congress, the liberal-based media and the homosexuals who want to destroy the Christians. Wholesale abuse and discrimination and the worst bigotry directed toward any group in America today. More terrible than anything suffered by any minority in history."

"Many of those people involved with Adolph Hitler were Satanists, many of them were homosexuals--the two things seem to go together."

"I don't know that atheists should be considered citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God."

"I know this is painful for the ladies to hear, but if you get married, you have accepted the headship of a man, your husband. Christ is the head of the household and the husband is the head of the wife, and that's the way it is, period."

"The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism, and become lesbians."

"The strategy against the American radical left should be the same as General Douglas MacArthur employed against the Japanese in the Pacific... bypass their strongholds, then surround them, isolate them bombard them, then blast the individuals out of their power bunkers with hand-to-hand combat. The battle for Iwo Jima was not pleasant, but our troops won it. The battle to regain the soul of America won't be pleasant either, but we will win it."

The Coalition quickly became the chief lobbying group and voter organizer for the religious right but since Robertson’s resignation five years ago, it has struggled with creditors, defections by state affiliates and a dwindling presence in Washington. In the mid-1990s, its budget topped $25 million. Today, it is more than $2 million in debt. And yet they continue on their crusade with no regard for the lessons of the past. “Conservative Christians need to be more ambidextrous than just 'right' or 'left' oriented,” says Rev. Hunter. “I'm really over this whole polarization thing." I think the American people would agree.