The hypocrisy of the right wing is amazing. Hyperbole is virtually the norm in their writings. We regularly see attacks on those who oppose the war as being unpatriotic and traitors. Liberal supporters of the free market are called socialists while they ignore the corporate welfare policies of the right. Support for free choice in one’s life is equated with immorality, and support for a woman’s right to control her body is called baby killing. However, if a liberal makes a reference to Nazis with regards to the right they go ballistic. The latest example of this is in the New York Post and The New Republic with an attack on George Soros which is being echoed through the right wing blogosphere (such as here and here).
The problem with using references to Nazi Germany is that it is too often done with hyperbole comparable to the right wing examples noted above. To simply call George Bush a Nazi is certainly a gross exaggeration which diminishes the horrors of the Nazi years. The context of any comparison is important. The Post reports:
After asserting that the United States is recognizing the error it made in Iraq, Soros said, “To what extent it recognizes the mistake will determine its future.” He went on to say that Turkey and Japan are still hurt by a reluctance to admit to dark parts of their history, and contrasted that reluctance to Germany’s rejection of its Nazi-era past. “America needs to follow the policies it has introduced in Germany,” Soros said. “We have to go through a certain de-Nazification process.” Soros spokesman Michael Vachon told Page Six: “There is nothing unpatriotic about demanding accountability from the president. Those responsible for taking America into this needless war should do us all a favor and retire from public office.”
For George Soros to draw on comparisons to the Nazi-era is not surprising as this is part of his personal past. It is notable that Soros is not making a general statement comparing America to Nazi Germany but is referring to a specific example that American leaders need to admit the grievous mistakes made during the Bush years. Naturally those who supported this unjustified and disastrous war, including both publications attacking Soros, are going to take offense and they try to avoid taking responsibility for their mistakes. This is the typical right wing strategy of demonizing those who criticize them while avoiding discussion of the true issues, in this case of the American mistakes in Iraq which they supported. (more…)
