MyDD :: Rumsfeld plays Hitler card with Chavez

Rumsfeld plays Hitler card with Chavez

by Joseph Hughes, Fri Feb 03, 2006 at 08:13:03 PM EST

You know, if U.S. foreign policy under the Bush administration were a high school kid, it would be the formerly meek, pimply faced weakling who bulked up, learned how to defend himself and walked around talking shit, looking to start a fight - with anyone - to prove his manliness. How else, other than our insatiable need to bathe ourselves in the world's oil, do you explain the anti-Hugo Chavez rhetoric that has been coming from the administration and its supporters, including Pat Robertson, who called for Chavez's assassination - not once, but twice.

Now joining the parade is Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

From MSNBC:

"I mean, we've got Chavez in Venezuela with a lot of oil money," Rumsfeld added. "He's a person who was elected legally - just as Adolf Hitler was elected legally - and then consolidated power and now is, of course, working closely with Fidel Castro and Mr. Morales and others."

This is ridiculous, irresponsible behavior. And I'm tired of people defending the actions of this administration. Whenever anyone on our side of the aisle points out this government's creeping slide toward totalitarianism, the right brands us as alarmists quick to throw Adolph Hitler's name around. Where are you, however, when it's your guy playing the H card? And doing it far more irresponsibly?

What amuses me about the ever-so-tough right is how that collection of self-styled badasses bristles like a pack of whiny infants whenever liberals put the administration in the same league as the fascist regimes they're so closely emulating. The truth hurts. And just because the inconvenient facts we lefties point may make conservatives uncomfortable in their own skin, that doesn't mean that they're not true.

But we're not allowed to make simple criticisms. If we do, we're branded as defeatists whose only agenda is to break down, not build up. Meanwhile, the right can make irresponsible, reckless attacks like Rumsfeld's and Robertson's with impunity and get away with it. All the while, this cheap posturing only helps spawn the next generation of the very enemies this administration has so tremendously propped up. And it will be the next generation of Americans, not the Rumsfelds of the world, that must deal with the repercussions.

Tags: Donald Rumsfeld, Pat Roberston, Hugo Chavez, Republicans (all tags)

Permalink :: 6 Comments :: Post a Comment

Re: Rumsfeld plays Hitler card with Chavez (none / 0)

Do you consider Chavez to be "your side?"

by Classical Liberal on Fri Feb 03, 2006 at 08:28:52 PM EST

Straw man alert (none / 0)

Straw man alert! Straw man alert!

543,895 votes

by Michael Bersin on Fri Feb 03, 2006 at 11:26:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]

I Sure Do! (none / 0)

Do you consider Chavez to be "your side?"

At a time when the GOP is savagely cutting assistance to "the least among these," Chavez is stepping up and doing the Christian thing:

Chavez Pushes Petro-Diplomacy
High Oil Profit Leads to Venezuela's Plan to Subsidize Heating in United States

By Justin Blum
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 22, 2005; Page A22

The plea came in a letter from a group of U.S. senators to nine big oil companies: With huge increases in winter heating bills expected, the letter read, we want you to donate some of your record profits to help low-income people cover those costs.

But the lawmakers received only one response. It came from Citgo Petroleum Corp., a company controlled by the Venezuelan government of President Hugo Chavez, a nettlesome adversary of the United States who has accused the Bush administration of plotting to assassinate him and invade his oil-rich country.

The chief executive of Citgo wrote to the senators that the company is "studying potential plans for ongoing, sustained assistance programs in the United States with the goal of lifting our neighbors in need to an improved quality of life." Citgo is planning to announce today that it will provide discounted heating oil this winter to many low-income residents of Massachusetts, Venezuelan officials said, adding that the plan was in the works before the senators sought help. The company also plans to offer similar aid in New York.

by Paul Rosenberg on Sat Feb 04, 2006 at 10:06:00 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Rumsfeld plays Hitler card with Chavez (none / 0)

Rumsfeld has obviously never heard of Godwin's law.

543,895 votes

by Michael Bersin on Fri Feb 03, 2006 at 11:29:23 PM EST

Well, At Least You Can't Say That About Bush! (3.00 / 1)

"I mean, we've got Chavez in Venezuela with a lot of oil money," Rumsfeld added. "He's a person who was elected legally - just as Adolf Hitler was elected legally- and then consolidated power

But neither was Hitler, either. Hitler came to power, appointed as Chancellor following a series of elections in which the Nazis never won a majority of the seats. In fact, they lost two million seats in the election prior to Hitler being elected.

The Reichstag Fire then led to the Reichstag "temporarily" delegating its powers to him--giving him the sort of powers that Bush now claims post-9/11. Hmmm....

In contrast, Chavez has won support from 60-80% of the Venezuelan people.

by Paul Rosenberg on Sat Feb 04, 2006 at 10:22:20 AM EST

Re: Rumsfeld plays Hitler card with Chavez (none / 0)

It always amazes me how little White House Republicans know about history and The Constitution. (Rummy has gaping holes in his knowledge of world history; Alexander Haig thought he was 2nd in line for the presidency after Reagan was shot; Bush GW thinks the powers of the president surpass that of the Constitution when regarding our civil liberties; Anyone remember the 8 grade Constitution test every grade schooler is required to pass?) Hitler never won an election in his life and at his prime never had more 37% popular support. He ran against Hindenburg in the 1932 Presidential election and lost. The Nazis then bullied Hindenburg into apointing Hitler Chancellor. After Hindenburg died in office, the Nazis burned down the Reichstag and blamed it on terrorists. To protect the German people, Hitler created a special elite police force called the Gestapo to whom he gave special powers to combat "terrorists". He then appointed himself fuhrer, or Supreme Dictator, again saying that this was needed to combat the communist terrorists. Like George W. he came to power without ever winnning an election. Why do some people get upset when these similarities to our current dictator are pointed out, instead of getting upset with our current dictator?

by Slapmaxwell on Sat Feb 04, 2006 at 01:51:05 PM EST

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