The Scrutinator

Scott points me to this post by Christopher J. Priest: the fourth reich. It's so much the archetypical piece of paranoid hysterical moonbatism that I would think it's a joke, an unfair caricature written by a Republican, if I didn't know better. It doesn't really deserve a serious response, but as a favor to a friend, let's wander through it. (Let me know if I miss something important.)

Republicans are using the very liberties we espouse to foment a political monolith...

A less hysterical person might call that "a majority."

These men are, in fact, crafting a one-party, one-thought, one-idea system, where what we think and what we believe are dictated to us in daily talking points emailed from Washington. ...

Daily e-mails?! Why, that's self-evidently evil! But Dems use e-mail, too! Ok, how about a more serious response: a less paranoid person might show us the text of all e-mails sent by both parties, choose a few from each at random and show compelling evidence how one is any more "one-thought, one-idea" than the next.

Challenges to the party line are not to be tolerated.

Except on issues like immigration, the Iraq war, the size of government, etc.

Impeaching the sitting president is an act reserved for high crimes and misdemeanors. Clinton’s lying under oath certainly fit the misdemeanor description, but it was a real stretch.

At least he says "lying under oath" instead of "sex." But that's a felony, not a misdemeanor. Unless the Constitution makes provision for a President serving his term from prison (it doesn't), or being above the law (it doesn't), that leaves impeachment.

Reagan's 1984 Republicans enjoyed a laugh about bombing the Soviet Union. Bush's 2006 Republicans actually want to do it.

I've gotta sign up for these "one-thought, one-idea" e-mails! One really says "let's bomb the Soviet Union"? Oh, wait! The Soviet Union doesn't exist any more, so it would have to be "let's bring back the Soviet Union, then bomb them!"

Republicans used the cover of an American tragedy to invade a sovereign country that has never attacked us in naive hope of (1) avenging Bush's daddy, (2) installing a western-style democracy, and (3) snatching the oil--and thus reducing our dependence on Saudi Arabia.

Hey, some substance! Let's look closer.

First, I think he's talking about Iraq, not Afghanistan. He considers Saddam's murdering his way into power a legitimate path to sovereignty (talk about blood for oil). Was the Taliban's take-over in Afghanistan any less "sovereign" by his standards?

"Never attacked us?" When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, we attacked two countries, Germany and Italy, who "never attacked us," and had no more link to the Pearl Harbor attack than Iraq does to 9/11. We decided then to fight against world fascism. Likewise, after 9/11, we decided that outlaw regimes like Iraq, with ties to terrorism and pursuing WMD, who declared war on the US as flagrantly as Osama bin Laden did, needed to be opposed.

"...snatching the oil..." Groundless accusations are cheap, and he provides no more evidence for this than anything else. Shouldn't US oil companies brag about this to their shareholders? Their stock prices would soar! There was discussion before the war about calling the war's costs loans (to be repaid), but that didn't go far. And, of course, there's the blind eye to Saddam shedding serious blood for oil.

Name me one substantial positive or effective foreign policy objective President Bush has achieved in his six years in office.

Um...

• Recruiting Pakistan,
• Toppling the Taliban and liberating (to a great extent) Afghanistan,
• Ending Saddam's outlaw regime.
• Disarming Libya,
• Exposing extensive UN corruption
• Stopping the recession he inherited. Oops, not foreign policy! Sorry!

These guys even put it to music!

...(I mean, substitute “gay” for “Jew” and see what you get)...

Good advice! Take this article and substitute "Jew" for "Republican" and "GOP" and see what you get! An article Hitler himself would approve. "Crush the evil other!"

The saddest and most tragic bi-product of Karl Rove’s brilliance ...

ARC's Law: "As a Lefty online discussion thread grows longer, the probability of a nefarious reference to Karl Rove approaches one." A pretty fitting reference in such a Godwinian post.

Even the graphic at the end seems to be ripped off of this, which Michael Moore ripped off, too.

A parting thought, from Vodkapundit:

President Bush isn’t a fascist, and I can prove it.

We’ve seen what American bookstores and publications and universities do when confronted with real fascists: they knuckle under. You might not be able to find those Danish cartoons anyplace respectable, but you’ll sure find lots of anti-Bush stuff.

Ipso facto, America is doing just fine, thankyouverymuch.

By The Scrutinator @ 2:00 PM