The New Big Lie
"(The Obama health-care plan) is a Hitler-like policy."
Rush Limbaugh (1)
"President Obama has proposed legislation...for which the Hitler regime was condemned in the post-World War II trials."
Lyndon H LaRouche (2)
When you hear people raving that Obama is the new Hitler at town-hall meetings devoted to proposed health-care legislation, and you see pictures of the President doctored-up with a Hitler-style moustache being flaunted by raucous protesters, you might be tempted to conclude that the Republicans must be getting desperate. But you would be wrong!
Although many Republicans have loudly protested the proposed laws, the people using the Nazi connection are primarily followers of conspiracy-monger Lyndon H LaRouche, one of the strangest men in American political history.
LaRouche, born in New Hampshire in 1922, was raised as a Quaker. He served as a conscientious objector (CO) in the early years of World War II, but transferred to the Army in 1944. After the War, LaRouche joined the Trotskyist Socialist Workers Party (SWP) and became a leader of one faction. Ironically, he advocated a communist revolution while working as a management consultant in Manhattan.
After a break with SWP, he founded the US Labor Party and ran for President of the United States on its ticket in 1976, and garnered a measly 40,000 votes nationwide. He has sought the Democratic nomination for President in nearly every election since then, never taking even a quarter of the primary vote in any state. (His peak was 22% in Lousiana in 2000 against Vice President Al Gore.)
Although no longer a communist, LaRouche remains an authoritarian and a devotee of numerous conspiracy theories, including a unique view that Zionism is a front for British imperialism. In 1988 LaRouche was convicted of income tax fraud, and sent to prison for five years. After his parole, he resumed running for office (3). Millions of tax dollars have been spent on his perennial presidential campaigns, thanks to our generous public-financing laws.
Although never capable of winning public office, LaRouche has enough followers and money to disrupt town-hall meetings all over this country. For an 86-year old ex-con, not to mention ex-communist, this is truly remarkable. Sure he is a crank, but a very cunning and prosperous one!
We were warned during the campaign that Obama was a "socialist," but only recently has he been identified as a "national socialist" or Nazi. (4) There is no hope that rational dialogue can affect those imbeciles who believe this crap. Yet it is regrettable that Republicans and other conservatives, who have legitimate objections to Obama's policies, may be unfairly lumped with the crackpot LaRouchians in the public mind.
I would urge recognized Republican leaders, such as Senator John McCain, to clearly disassociate themselves and their party from Limbaugh, LaRouche and anyone else who likens Obama to Hitler. Yes, we should debate the proposed health-care plan vigorously, but it should be done civilly, without resort to name-calling or lies.
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(1) Leonard Pitts in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Aug. 20, 2009, page 11A.
(2) Executive Intelligence Review, July 31. 2009. (LaRouche's newsletter)
(3) Wikipedia biography.
(4) Although the term "socialist" is part of "national socialist" ( German Nazionalsozialist, from which Nazi comes), the Nazi Party did not advocate government seizure of property from Aryans (non-Jews), as did traditional socialists.
Rush Limbaugh (1)
"President Obama has proposed legislation...for which the Hitler regime was condemned in the post-World War II trials."
Lyndon H LaRouche (2)
When you hear people raving that Obama is the new Hitler at town-hall meetings devoted to proposed health-care legislation, and you see pictures of the President doctored-up with a Hitler-style moustache being flaunted by raucous protesters, you might be tempted to conclude that the Republicans must be getting desperate. But you would be wrong!
Although many Republicans have loudly protested the proposed laws, the people using the Nazi connection are primarily followers of conspiracy-monger Lyndon H LaRouche, one of the strangest men in American political history.
LaRouche, born in New Hampshire in 1922, was raised as a Quaker. He served as a conscientious objector (CO) in the early years of World War II, but transferred to the Army in 1944. After the War, LaRouche joined the Trotskyist Socialist Workers Party (SWP) and became a leader of one faction. Ironically, he advocated a communist revolution while working as a management consultant in Manhattan.
After a break with SWP, he founded the US Labor Party and ran for President of the United States on its ticket in 1976, and garnered a measly 40,000 votes nationwide. He has sought the Democratic nomination for President in nearly every election since then, never taking even a quarter of the primary vote in any state. (His peak was 22% in Lousiana in 2000 against Vice President Al Gore.)
Although no longer a communist, LaRouche remains an authoritarian and a devotee of numerous conspiracy theories, including a unique view that Zionism is a front for British imperialism. In 1988 LaRouche was convicted of income tax fraud, and sent to prison for five years. After his parole, he resumed running for office (3). Millions of tax dollars have been spent on his perennial presidential campaigns, thanks to our generous public-financing laws.
Although never capable of winning public office, LaRouche has enough followers and money to disrupt town-hall meetings all over this country. For an 86-year old ex-con, not to mention ex-communist, this is truly remarkable. Sure he is a crank, but a very cunning and prosperous one!
We were warned during the campaign that Obama was a "socialist," but only recently has he been identified as a "national socialist" or Nazi. (4) There is no hope that rational dialogue can affect those imbeciles who believe this crap. Yet it is regrettable that Republicans and other conservatives, who have legitimate objections to Obama's policies, may be unfairly lumped with the crackpot LaRouchians in the public mind.
I would urge recognized Republican leaders, such as Senator John McCain, to clearly disassociate themselves and their party from Limbaugh, LaRouche and anyone else who likens Obama to Hitler. Yes, we should debate the proposed health-care plan vigorously, but it should be done civilly, without resort to name-calling or lies.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) Leonard Pitts in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Aug. 20, 2009, page 11A.
(2) Executive Intelligence Review, July 31. 2009. (LaRouche's newsletter)
(3) Wikipedia biography.
(4) Although the term "socialist" is part of "national socialist" ( German Nazionalsozialist, from which Nazi comes), the Nazi Party did not advocate government seizure of property from Aryans (non-Jews), as did traditional socialists.
Labels: LaRouche
posted by Gerald S Glazer at 2:37 PM
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