Little more than a week after President Barack Obama entreated the country to make a new commitment to civility in discourse, the president’s party has returned to its vitriolic ways. In a statement that has generated stern disapproval from the Jewish community, and utter silence from the Left, Representative Steve Cohen (D-TN) stood in the well of the House of Representatives early Wednesday morning and compared his opponents to Nazis and their cause to the Holocaust. One can’t help from wondering: Is this what our president had in mind when he said that we should make sure “that we are talking with each other in a way that heals, not in a way that wounds”?
Maybe Rep. Cohen didn’t get the memo. Perhaps he fell asleep during Obama’s speech. More likely, the member’s bloodlust was up when he let loose with a spectacular example of liberal “civility” as called for by his leader.
Cohen angered Republicans by playing the “Nazi Card” in describing what he termed was, “a big lie just like Goebbels,” when the GOP referred to a “government takeover” of health care.
If Cohen had stopped there, he would have only been guilty of gross hyperbole, saying Republicans use Nazi tactics, not that they are themselves, Nazis. But in this new age of civility, you should never let a metaphor go to waste – especially when you can compare the “lies” told about health care reform with the murder of 6 million Jews. Cohen went on:
“The Germans said enough about the Jews and people believed it–believed it and you have the Holocaust. We heard on this floor, government takeover of health care. Politifact said the biggest lie of 2010 was a government takeover of health care because there is no government takeover…”
Now that’s what we’ve come to know and expect from the Left; a totally baseless, wildly exaggerated claims smeared with a patina of Hitlerisms and a Holocaust accusation that even has the left wing National Jewish Democratic Council taking Cohen to task for his hate-filled words.
It is not in the truth or falsity of what Cohen is saying about health insurance that is of concern. It is the breathtaking speed with which liberals shunted aside Obama’s call for civility and went for the jugular in the crudest, most disgustingly hateful manner that hasn’t been seen in a long time on the House floor. Perhaps not since Speaker Tip O’Neill referred to Ronald Reagan as “evil” and Rep. William Clay of Missouri accused The Gipper of “trying to replace the Bill of Rights with fascist precepts lifted verbatim from Mein Kampf,” has anything said in the people’s House sunk to the level of the gutter so ignominiously.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the lickspittle bloggers on the Left gave Cohen a pass, if they didn’t applaud his efforts outright. At Crooks and Liars, Heather excuses Cohen because, obviously, the “propaganda” by the GOP is so outrageous, it would drive anyone mad. She opines, “I think most liberals who follow politics were already more than aware of the amount of propaganda we’re being exposed to from Republicans and their enablers in the corporate media without Rep. Cohen pointing it out to us.” Crazy is as crazy does.
Then she dismissed the smear outright, saying, “I also don’t believe he meant to literally call Republicans Nazis by giving some historical context to the tactics they’re employing.”
Thus, is the greatest mass murder in recorded history reduced to “historical context.”
Using the term “Holocaust” when describing the effects of Republican “propaganda” – or anything else – is beyond incendiary. To excuse it as mere “historical context” shows a breathtaking insensitivity to the victims and a towering ignorance about the nature and meaning of language. But as long as it is used in service to the higher political goal of savaging your opponent, it is just another means to an end.
Then, just as everyone had taken a deep breath following the initial outrage at Cohen’s remarks, the flamethrowing Congressman was interviewed by Washington Post blogger Greg Sargent and tossed a little gasoline onto the fire. He declared, “Not in any way whatsoever was I comparing Republicans to Nazis. I was saying lies are wrong…I don’t know who got everybody’s panties in a wad over this statement.”
Where do the Democrats get such classy characters?
Cohen has also pulled “the ethnic card” in this interview with TPM’s Ryan J. Reilly, saying that “I think being Jewish I’ve got a little more standing to bring up Goebbels and Nazis and the lies that they perpetrated on my ancestors.” He added the impossibly tone deaf notion that “I’ve kept the civil tone, and lies are lies and I’ve got a long track record of standing up against lies.”
No retreat, no surrender…no remorse. It also appears that Mr. Cohen was in the back of the line when God was handing out empathy genes. It takes a lot to outshine your congressional colleagues when it comes to exhibiting soullessness and a cold blooded approach to political combat. No doubt Representative Cohen is next in line to become DNC Chair.
A few liberals have taken Cohen to task for his blood libel. Kevin Drum at Mother Jones called Cohen’s defense “feeble” and accused him of having the clear intent of smearing Republicans by comparing them to Nazis.
But there was also much agreement elsewhere among liberals that Cohen spoke “truth to power” or, whatever. Libby Spencer at the Impolitic blog, called the comparison “apt” and added, “Good for him. No reason to apologize.”
And at the Democratic Underground, where reason and logic are on permanent holiday there is much rejoicing. A sampling from one thread:
No more caving in to their bullying. Good for him!
He did his part to bring truth to the national dialog.
Our problem is that we back down whenever something this incendiary is said. Even if it is the truth.
Because it’s a valid comparison that has needed to be said for a long time
If the Left isn’t dismissing Cohen’s comments by pretending he really wasn’t equating the GOP with fascists while chastising the Right for making a big deal out of them, they are supporting the use of the Nazi analogy as proper political discourse, and that Democrats should give Republicans more of the same.
Politics is a blood sport where it’s perfectly alright to question your opponent’s antecedents, and where hair pulling, eye gouging, and knee twisting is an accepted form of combat. If you’ve got a weak stomach, or are the sensitive sort and easily bruised, it would probably be better than you find a less strenuous occupation – perhaps being shot out of a cannon is more your cup of tea.
But there are lines that cannot be crossed. Call it “civility,” or something else, it hardly matters. Representative Cohen crossed it, Democrats and liberals aren’t objecting, and the president’s words seem like so much water flowing over the rocks, quickly disappearing in the cracks, and leaving no mark where they ebbed.
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