One of the genuine problems the right wing has going forward that the Conservative Movement ought to contemplate, but won't, is that the people spearheading their resurgence are stupid assholes. Erick Son of Erick, for instance, is about as intelligent as a fucking dirt-clod, and that's all he anyhow has to throw.
Thank you lefty bloggers so very much for primarying Joe Lieberman and helping him be bold enough to shaft you.
The reason Joe Lieberman got targeted in a primary is that he's not now and has never ever been a reliable liberal vote on anything that matters to us. In other words, he got targeted because he had, and has, a very clear tendency to support the Other Side whenever it comes to anything important.
But whatever. Debate the wisdom of a certain move by the Left Base, if you will. But don't so it while you're waging a fucking jihad against GOP Moderates, lest ye look look like at best a crowlin ferlie, and at worst a shithead. (That last link is et passim, of course. It also shows a rather spectacular ignorance of NY state politics.)
It is also worth pointing out that one of the key differences between the Left Base and the Right Base is that the Left Base isn't barking loony. On healthcare, it really is true that every other Western Democracy has tons more governmental involvement in doctoring than the US does, and yet none of these countries are run by Totalitarian Despots. Norway and Blade Runner are different. Norway has better healthcare. Even Scotland is no dystopia! The Left Base admits this; the Right Base squeals "socialism" and pees themselves.
Sigh...
And then there is this. I've been trying to cope with the awesome idiocy involved in Erick Erickson trying to explicate a Great Book written by Jonah Goldberg... it wearies the soul.
As you may know, RedState has started a Great Books style program. We are rather slowly making our way through a series of books on conservative thought and ideas. We have started with Jonah Goldberg’s Liberal Fascism.
When Jonah Goldberg's Great Ideas are going too fast for you, shoot yourself.
“Contrary to his relentless assertions in Mein Kampf, Hitler had no great foundational ideas or ideological system. His genius lay in the realization that people wanted to rally to ideas and symbols. . . . Time and again in Mein Kampf, Hitler makes it clear that he believed his greatest gift to the party wasn’t his ideas but his ability to speak,” Goldberg writes. I’m reminded of that story Harry Reid tells about Obama where Obama said he, Obama, had a gift. “A real gift, Harry,” he said. It was oration.
This is not to make an Obama=Hitler comparison.
Yes it is. That's why you made it.
It is just to note that like most good demagogues, Hitler and Obama both know the public is more interested in the silver tongue and the Greco-Roman columns as a backdrop than they are in the substantive policy positions.
So Hitler = Obama. Reagan knew "this" too, but let's not mention him. Or any other fucking politician ever. Ha ha! You are eloquent and have stagecraft! You know that most people are not conversant with intricate policy issues like tariffs and such! JUST LIKE HITLER!
That, perhaps, more than anything is the take away from Chapter 2 of Liberal Fascism. Hitler stood for nothing except hatred of the Jews. He was happy to do or say anything to get elected so long as it meant extermination of the Jews and a bolstering of the Germany self.
Lebensraum? Crushing Weimar parliamentary democracy? Rearmament? Reoccupation of the Ruhr? Repudiating Versailles? "The Germany self"? Is Erick Erickson really this baby-brained?
What is also worth nothing is that contrary to left-wing myth about corporatism and the Nazis, derived in part because of the rivalry between communism and nazism, when the Nazis did put out public policy positions, they were right out of the progressive left.
The Social Democrats always wanted to put forward the Nuremberg laws, then, but never got around to it in the 1920s? The Social Democrats wanted to deep-six parliamentary democracy in exchange for the Leadership Principle? The Social Democrats were the prime movers in favor of expropriating Jewish businesses and firing Jewish professors? It was the "progressive left" in Germany in the 1920s that let Hitler out of prison after attempting what was clearly armed treason?
Erick Erickson is pig-ignorant. So is Jonah Goldberg, for that matter. But Erickson is even dumber, Lord Preserve Us:
Jonah does a great job showing that Nazism was distinct from Mussolini’s Fascism and where Mussolini derived much of his platform from his own thinking, Hitler built on existing ideas and, frankly, used leftwing ideas more for filler so he wasn’t just campaigning on the extermination of Jews.
Even accepting the "logic" here, the fact that Hitler never really believed any of that left wing hooey is supposed to be evidence that Hitler was a Man of the Left...? How does that work?
Oh but what am I even saying. Erick Erickson and Jonah Goldberg are very, very stupid people. Gah! Gah! Gah!
Aren't they all stupid assholes?
I just can't figure whether someone like McErick is "successful" because he knows he's a jerk, or because he's in denial abut it.
At S,N! there's another fine example of just how much of a stupid jerk Air-wreck is.
Posted by: M. Bouffant | October 28, 2009 at 03:33 AM
A certain segment of the far-right is working very hard to institutionalize the "Hitler was a lefty" meme. I wouldn't be surprised if it's already made it into the curriculums at all those impressive high-standard wingnut colleges like Liberty and Regent.
Posted by: Gummo | October 28, 2009 at 09:07 AM
They are both haters appealing to haters. You know who else appealed to haters? But I digress.
Erick is a red-meat variety, and yes, is probably that damn un-self-aware that he doesn't realize his arguments have no basis in consensual reality. That's a feature, not a bug. "Obama is Hitler! Booga booga booga!". It's just a rage outlet.
Jonah is more the smarmy type. He pushes faux sophistication and is more for the Asberger's/libertarian set. Jonah is stupid enough to believe his bot mots are the height of wisdom that mere plebes cannot begin to grasp (although he is sufficient aware of his lack of merit that he immediately resorts to ad hominem attacks when someone bothers to point out the myriad logical flaws in his magnum dopus.
Both, though, appeal to the Future Shocked. Ol' Toffler was right, he just didn't work it out far enough ahead to predict the political outcome.
'Standing athwart history yelling "Stop!"' really does capture the essence of today's (political) teabagging set.
Posted by: LittlePig | October 28, 2009 at 09:10 AM
Reading Erick Erick's Shite requires heavy medication. I suggest a chugging a quart of Jamesons with 3 Quaaludes. The pain then becomes bearable. Jonah only require 2 Quaaludes.
Posted by: DrDick | October 28, 2009 at 10:22 AM
When wingnuts start talking about Hitler it unerringly contorts into a grade school understanding of the Nazis. This is why it is so easy for Erickson to believe that the only thing that matter to Hitler was killing Jews.
They tend to find it illuminating that Nazi stood for National Socialist which, obviously, means that the Nazis were leftists. Just like the German Democratic Republic was, in fact, a democratic nation.
You would think that, given their obsession with calling everyone else Nazis, they would at least spend some time reading up on the history of the Nazis.
Perhaps they could read up on the Steel Helmets and what the Nazis did to the Social Democrats the moment they seized power.
I used to post on RedState for several years. While it was usually frustrating as hell at least there were some sane people there. Since Obama won the election it has chosen to embrace a sanity-free environment.
Posted by: flyerhawk | October 28, 2009 at 10:38 AM
a crowlin ferlie
Wasn't he the landlord on Three's Company?
Posted by: actor212 | October 28, 2009 at 10:42 AM
We are rather slowly making our way through a series of books...
I'll bet slowly.
Posted by: Bitter Scribe | October 28, 2009 at 10:49 AM
If Lieberscum made his play without the consent of Rahm and/or Reid then we can no longer even pretend that the Democrats have anything to offer us. If he made his play with their consent then we're just as fucked. Best case scenario is that Lieberwipe is doing it for the money that Hadassah is being paid by Hill & Knowlton.
Posted by: Jay Schiavone | October 28, 2009 at 12:44 PM
Contrary to his relentless assertions in Mein Kampf, Hitler had no great foundational ideas or ideological system.
Never mind what this guy says or believes, it's how he says it that confirms his leftism.
As a member of the center-right, I am completely shocked that our ideological allies don't embrace that old maxim more often "Don't do what I say, but do how I say it."
Posted by: Jay B. | October 28, 2009 at 12:56 PM
We are rather slowly making our way through a series of books on conservative thought and ideas. We have started with Jonah Goldberg’s Liberal Fascism.
Does Erik of that ilk explain what Liberal Fascism has to do with "conservative thought and ideas", when by its very title it purports to discuss liberal thought and ideas? Without such an explanation, I can't help suspecting that LF is on the booklist simply as another feckin' purity test; a symbol of his fellow-readers' Adherence to the Cause.
Feel free to insert 'touchstone' and 'shibboleth' into the preceding sentence in the appropriate places.
Posted by: herr doktor bimler | October 28, 2009 at 07:17 PM
They boot anybody from comments so there's no point trying to engage them that's for sure. They are all about Palin worship. I think their heads all exploded when Fred Thompson abandoned his strange primary campaign. Palin fills the void for now.
I used to think it was interesting to go over there. Now it's all the same - outrage-o-meter dialed all the way up 24/7/365.
Posted by: luko | October 28, 2009 at 07:51 PM
hdb, that's a good point; the answer is of course that "fuck you hippie" is the sum total of Conservative Thought.
Posted by: Thers | October 28, 2009 at 08:06 PM
Are you saying that Conservative Thought is lacking in "great foundational ideas or ideological system"?
Posted by: herr doktor bimler | October 28, 2009 at 09:14 PM
It's dumbasses like Erikson that make me think "Conservatives are the dumbest motherfuckers on the planet" whenever I think of today's conservatives. LOL!
Posted by: Silver Owl | October 28, 2009 at 09:40 PM
"Contrary to his relentless assertions in Mein Kampf, Hitler had no great foundational ideas or ideological system [...] Time and again in Mein Kampf, Hitler makes it clear that he believed his greatest gift to the party wasn’t his ideas but his ability to speak,” Goldberg writes.
I like the near-juxtaposition here. Hitler's statements in his mid-career autobiography (A) are a reliable guide to his beliefs and self-assessed strengths; and (B) can be completely disregarded if they contradict my thesis.
Posted by: herr doktor bimler | October 28, 2009 at 10:07 PM
You know who else couldn't close tags? HITLER.
Posted by: herr doktor bimler | October 28, 2009 at 10:08 PM
Are you saying that Conservative Thought is lacking in "great foundational ideas or ideological system"?
More like "Conservative Thought" is an oxymoron.
Posted by: DrDick | October 28, 2009 at 10:20 PM
Douchetags!
Posted by: Substance McGravitas | October 29, 2009 at 12:25 AM
Are you saying that Conservative Thought is lacking in "great foundational ideas or ideological system"?
The only foundation Conservative Thought has is Pammycakes's bra.
Posted by: actor212 | October 29, 2009 at 12:26 PM
It is deeply concerning to see Mr McGravitas and actor212 using the same gravatar.
Posted by: herr doktor bimler | October 29, 2009 at 03:59 PM
Bimler and Bouffant,
Sitting in a tree
P-I-S-S-I-N-G
Posted by: Substance McGravitas | October 29, 2009 at 11:19 PM
Bitter Scribe, LittlePig and Flyerhawk -- All. one. guy.
Posted by: herr doktor bimler | October 30, 2009 at 12:38 AM
It is deeply concerning to see Mr McGravitas and actor212 using the same gravatar.
You worry too much. Eat some bacon!
Posted by: actor212 | October 30, 2009 at 10:29 AM
When discussing politics and Hitler, I find it convenient to refer to an old college history text I have which dates from 1937.
This book has the twin advantages of viewing Hitler as a contemporary political figure, and of not viewing him through the lens of all that he wrought which came afterward.
Curiously enough, the book clearly labels Hitler as a favorite of big industrialists, who looked to him as "their great hope in frustrating radicalism", which per the usage of the times meant communists, or the left. The "liberals", if you will.
It later points out that in addition to launching anti-semitic drives, he "crushed the radicals and stemmed the tide toward communism".
"The industrial workers and the peasants...found that Hitler's promises with respect to radicalism and social justice were mostly a hollow sham. Neither the great industrial trusts nor the banks were nationalized, and little was done to redistribute the estates of the great landowners".
It goes on at length about the left-right tensions which developed among Hitler's followers, culminating in the purges in July of 1934, where "...General von Schleicter, the conservative leader, and Capatain Roehm, chief plotter among the radical Nazis, were both summarily executed."
Evidence enough that Hitler was never a creature of the left, but much closer to the right. Although he didn't seem to have any qualms whatever about eliminating rivals from that quarter, either.
All this "liberal fascism" stuff is just a bunch of baloney, pure and simple. This book was written at the time, and should be considered a much more authoritative source than the fantasies of either Jonah Goldberg or Glenn Beck.
The source text is THE ILLUSTRATED WORLD HISTORY by Sir John Hammerton & Dr. Harry Elmer Barnes, second printing, 1937, by William H. Wise & Co. of New York
Posted by: JayDee | October 31, 2009 at 07:42 PM
"The reason Joe Lieberman got targeted in a primary is that he's not now and has never ever been a reliable liberal vote on anything that matters to us."
It is telling on how far the discussion in liberal fantasy land has shifted to note that in the 90's Lieberman represented the middle left wing of his party standing just rightward of loons like Kucinich and race scammers like Jesse Jackson.
Posted by: Amused Observer | November 01, 2009 at 06:10 PM
the Nazis did put out public policy positions, they were right out of the progressive left.
Outlawing unions, for instance.
It is telling on how far the discussion in liberal fantasy land has shifted to note that in the 90's Lieberman represented the middle left wing of his party standing just rightward of loons like Kucinich and race scammers like Jesse Jackson.
If I told you that this is harebrained bullshit without the slightest basis in actual fact, you wouldn't believe me, would you?
Posted by: Phila | November 01, 2009 at 09:58 PM
Goldberg got fisked within an inch of his miserable life by Orcinus. His screed is best read sitting down, in a place where it will most benefit the user afterward.
Connaisseurs say the pages of the trade paperback are softest and hence best suited for the recommended use.
Posted by: Metro | November 03, 2009 at 03:48 PM