Thursday, August 20, 2009

Summer Thinking on Health Care Reform IV: Of Protesters and Jews

In less than a week, we have witnessed two protestors against health care reform resort to making direct references (here and here) to the era of the Third Reich to Jewish supporters of health care reform. I'll ask a variation of Cong. Barney Frank's question: On what planet do these protesters spend most of their time?

How dense can one be to bring up Nazi references to Jews, and then accuse them of supporting a "similar" policy, or to invoke the name of Hitler to make one's point (and then look sheepish when called out on it)?

As I've said before, there are legitimate questions regarding health care reform legislation that is bubbling up through Congress, but neither of these protestors seem very interested in having a substantive debate. I suppose that substance can only be found in post Weimar Republic era Germany.

5 comments:

Scott said...

As Frank pointed out, it's a tribute to our First Amendment that people like Ms. Obama-is-a-Nazi can spew their moronic verbal vomit in public.

It's a tribute to Barney Frank that he responded to that crap with all the seriousness it deserved.

Some people oppose health care reform with thoughtful argument. It's important to have the discussion with them. But some people are liars, idiots and bigots. They need to be labeled as such and dismissed with the ridicule and contempt they deserve.

Yay for Barney!

hscfree said...

Cong. David Scott has an interesting confrontation at his town hall meeting a few weeks ago, and he was rewarded with a swastika spray painted onto one of his field offices.

I've said time and again that a substantive debate should be had. I am convinced that the GOP on the Hill is not interested in having that debate; they want an Obama defeat more. That, to me, is the real shame here. Some people actually believe that the Hill GOP members really are interested in health care reform. They are not.

Fiona said...

I read an article about the role of the LaRouche people in all this. The author said that he thought the young woman in Dartmouth was a LaRouche acolyte, and that seems very plausible to me.

Free, haven't you seen those folks on the sidewalks on Capital Hill with posters of the president with Hitler's mustache? They were there throughout July.

hscfree said...

@Fiona: I didn't see anyone like that at all, and I was up on the Hill last month being a "tour guide." Don't know how I could have missed that if they were there when I was up there. I'll look for them the next time I go up.

Fiona said...

Sorry I missed this until today. The entire month I was at the LoC, they were on the corner where the Bank of America is. With those posters showing the president with a Hitler mustache and passing out leaflets. Several of the people I was with (seminar people) would yell at them.

I saw them someplace else, too, but I can't think where. Maybe down on the mall someplace.