Since Republicans like to toss around the Nazi comparisons, I've got one that fits much better than any of their fabricated Obama-Hitler connections. Straight out of Josef Goebbels' Principles of Propaganda:
Three recent examples--just the latest of many-- of those employing Goebbels' principles. Sen. John Cornyn on Sunday: "I do think it's unwise to build a mosque in the site where 3,000 Americans lost their lives as the result of a terrorist attack."
Sen. David Vitter yesterday: "President Obama's support of building the mosque at Ground Zero is a slap in the face to the American people and I've demanded that President Obama reverse his position."
Sharron Angle, also yesterday: "As the Majority Leader, Harry Reid is usually President Obama's mouthpiece in the U.S. Senate, and yet he remains silent on this issue. Reid has a responsibility to stand up and say no to the mosque at Ground Zero or once again side with President Obama---this time against the families of 9/11 victims. America is waiting."
Repeat it often? Check. Distinctive phrases and slogans? Check. Bring out the underlying fear, bigotry, and xenophobia of the intended audience? Check.
Goebbels would be proud. But hey, why not? It works. Angle and America didn't have to wait long for Harry the Weasel to respond:
Nice, Harry. Just appease the "Ground Zero mosque" propagandists and then they'll vote for the legislation you want to pass. That's worked so well in the past, why not try it again? Tell you what, Harry. Go ahead and get the ball rolling on repealing the Fourteenth Amendment while you're at it. Surely Republicans will vote for additional stimulus and energy legislation if you just give them that. Idiot.
And as predictable as the sun rising in the east and gutless Democrats doing what they do best:
You know what? They're right. Well, assuming Reid actually has principles he believes in. That might be a stretch.
"A propaganda theme must be repeated...
Propaganda must label events and people with distinctive phrases or slogans.
They must evoke desired responses which the audience previously possesses."
Three recent examples--just the latest of many-- of those employing Goebbels' principles. Sen. John Cornyn on Sunday: "I do think it's unwise to build a mosque in the site where 3,000 Americans lost their lives as the result of a terrorist attack."
Sen. David Vitter yesterday: "President Obama's support of building the mosque at Ground Zero is a slap in the face to the American people and I've demanded that President Obama reverse his position."
Sharron Angle, also yesterday: "As the Majority Leader, Harry Reid is usually President Obama's mouthpiece in the U.S. Senate, and yet he remains silent on this issue. Reid has a responsibility to stand up and say no to the mosque at Ground Zero or once again side with President Obama---this time against the families of 9/11 victims. America is waiting."
Repeat it often? Check. Distinctive phrases and slogans? Check. Bring out the underlying fear, bigotry, and xenophobia of the intended audience? Check.
Goebbels would be proud. But hey, why not? It works. Angle and America didn't have to wait long for Harry the Weasel to respond:
"The First Amendment protects freedom of religion. Senator Reid respects that but thinks that the mosque should be built some place else. If the Republicans are being sincere, they would help us pass this long overdue bill to help the first responders whose health and livelihoods have been devastated because of their bravery on 911, rather than continuing to block this much-needed legislation."
Nice, Harry. Just appease the "Ground Zero mosque" propagandists and then they'll vote for the legislation you want to pass. That's worked so well in the past, why not try it again? Tell you what, Harry. Go ahead and get the ball rolling on repealing the Fourteenth Amendment while you're at it. Surely Republicans will vote for additional stimulus and energy legislation if you just give them that. Idiot.
And as predictable as the sun rising in the east and gutless Democrats doing what they do best:
"Literally seconds after Reid's statement hit the wire, Republicans blasted out a press release mocking the Dem disarray on this issue with this tagline: "Great moments in August Democratic Messaging." This just makes the Dems look weak, unorganized, cowardly, and unwilling to take a stand for principles they plainly believe in."
You know what? They're right. Well, assuming Reid actually has principles he believes in. That might be a stretch.
Ok truthsucker, you've just proven that all Muslims aren't monolithically identical and in lockstep of the same mind. So why are you treating them as such?
Canada! Canada! That's where all them damn terrorists are coming from. Is it just coincidence that Canadian Muslims want to keep a low profile. Good God Almighty exercise a little discernment!
Even Muslims don't agree that they should be building this mosque there....
Raheel Raza is author of Their Jihad ... Not my Jihad, and Tarek Fatah is author of The Jew is Not My Enemy (McClelland & Stewart), to be launched in October. Both sit on the board of the Muslim Canadian Congress.
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Mischief+Manhattan/3370303/story.html#ixzz0w4HEvkY3
When we try to understand the reasoning behind building a mosque at the epicentre of the worst-ever attack on the U.S., we wonder why its proponents don't build a monument to those who died in the attack?
New York currently boasts at least 30 mosques so it's not as if there is pressing need to find space for worshippers. The fact we Muslims know the idea behind the Ground Zero mosque is meant to be a deliberate provocation to thumb our noses at the infidel. The proposal has been made in bad faith and in Islamic parlance, such an act is referred to as "Fitna," meaning "mischief-making" that is clearly forbidden in the Koran.
The Koran commands Muslims to, "Be considerate when you debate with the People of the Book" -- i.e., Jews and Christians. Building an exclusive place of worship for Muslims at the place where Muslims killed thousands of New Yorkers is not being considerate or sensitive, it is undoubtedly an act of "fitna"
So what gives Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf of the "Cordoba Initiative" and his cohorts the misplaced idea that they will increase tolerance for Muslims by brazenly displaying their own intolerance in this case?
Do they not understand that building a mosque at Ground Zero is equivalent to permitting a Serbian Orthodox church near the killing fields of Srebrenica where 8,000 Muslim men and boys were slaughtered?
There are many questions that we would like to ask. Questions about where the funding is coming from? If this mosque is being funded by Saudi sources, then it is an even bigger slap in the face of Americans, as nine of the jihadis in the Twin Tower calamity were Saudis.
If Rauf is serious about building bridges, then he could have dedicated space in this so-called community centre to a church and synagogue, but he did not. We passed on this message to him through a mutual Saudi friend, but received no answer. He could have proposed a memorial to the 9/11 dead with a denouncement of the doctrine of armed jihad, but he chose not to.
It's a repugnant thought that $100 million would be brought into the United States rather than be directed at dying and needy Muslims in Darfur or Pakistan.
Let's not forget that a mosque is an exclusive place of worship for Muslims and not an inviting community centre. Most Americans are wary of mosques due to the hard core rhetoric that is used in pulpits. And rightly so. As Muslims we are dismayed that our co-religionists have such little consideration for their fellow citizens and wish to rub salt in their wounds and pretend they are applying a balm to sooth the pain.
The Koran implores Muslims to speak the truth, even if it hurts the one who utters the truth. Today we speak the truth, knowing very well Muslims have forgotten this crucial injunction from Allah.
If this mosque does get built, it will forever be a lightning rod for those who have little room for Muslims or Islam in the U.S. We simply cannot understand why on Earth the traditional leadership of America's Muslims would not realize their folly and back out in an act of goodwill.
As for those teary-eyed, bleeding-heart liberals such as New York mayor Michael Bloomberg and much of the media, who are blind to the Islamist agenda in North America, we understand their goodwill.
Unfortunately for us, their stand is based on ignorance and guilt, and they will never in their lives have to face the tyranny of Islamism that targets, kills and maims Muslims worldwide, and is using liberalism itself to destroy liberal secular democratic societies from within.
Bubba, you said it masterfully. It is indeed bullshit.
Sometimes, the Democratic party seems to be trying to straddle the fence. Make everybody happy. You can't do that. You end up alienating both sides.
Part of the problem is that whenever something like this comes up, the Republicans wait to see what the Democrats do and then attack that position whatever it is. Then the Dems try to make a "course correction" and they end up looking indecisive and wishy-washy. In these political times it is almost impossible to stand on your principles. One foot or the other is very likely to be on a "land mine".
I'm gonna have to think about that one for awhile, but I suspect you've hit on something...
I try for the same thing, actually... I don't know why I've been so damn serious lately!
I try to be a glass half full kinda gal..
Maybe avatism is an avatar with atavism!
atavism that is
Hey bubba,
I with you on this one...even moreso, though, just the perception that the world revolves around political expediency is buying into f*cking stupidity. The right plays the winning hand in that they always, always appeal to the stupid in all of us. I think it was Einstein that said there is no shortage of ignorance and the Republicans reinforce that reality on a daily basis. That the right propagandizes the notion that the 'race' is fighting for its life is the underpin of propaganda since the caveman because (you know what's coming) it's so easy a caveman could do it. All of history should teach us that it is complete bullsh*t but we never learn. It truly is a genetic avatism that is killing us.
I'm afraid that "fun" is a luxury that can be ill afforded at this point in our survival, although it is a compelling thought!
What they said. The issue is treason. Who will subvert the constitution for political (or other) gamemanship? And will the citizens follow into treason, or, will they properly eviscerate them?
Harry Reid (and to an extent President Obama's wimpy "clarification" of his original statement) is why the American public does not trust politicians of any stripe. Even if there is a conviction of values, it is not voiced to "appease" the unwashed masses. Reid is in a tight election so he throws principle aside and panders for the wingnut vote with his self serving stance.
Having said that, as Des already noted, nothing beats the hypocrisy of the Republicans in crassly voting down the funding for 9-11 first responders' health care strictly for political power politics jockeying and yet from the other side of their crooked mouths, speak flowerly of the "memory" of the "victims and families of 9-11" and "sanctity" of the Ground Zero location.
I call BULLSHIT you soulless wingnut asswipes!
It should at least be fun watching the right wingers all of a sudden love, praise, and quote Harry Reid.. maybe a few of their heads will explode.
Politicians like Reid who grasp at issues like this just for political expediency should be drummed out.
Congress should be converted into a parliamentary body, and if it doesn't work, be dissolved immediately with calls for a new election.
We cannot wait any longer for the legislators to represent the People of the United States. Everything is now at stake, the clock is ticking, and the world is waiting...
We have found the limits of our governance.