Cantor Says Tea Party's Dachau Photos 'Inappropriate,' Takes Issue With Limbaugh
At yesterday's tea party rally on Capitol Hill, at least one protester brandished a large graphic photograph of the victims of the Dachau Nazi concentration camp, comparing health care reform to Nazi policies. Today, Rep. Eric Cantor's (R-VA) spokesman called the photograph "inappropriate."
Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY) has also condemned the poster.
I guess I applaud this step in the right direction. But "inappropriate" is not the right response to showing graphic photos of genocide victims and comparing it to lowering healthcare costs. "Inappropriate" is when your 12 year old kid tells a fart joke at the dinner table. Steve Israel got it right: the correct response to dragging the Holocaust into a healthcare debate is
condemnation.
Cantor was equally tepid with the topic of Limbaugh's appalling behavior. In an
interview with Bloomberg News he said
“Do I condone the mention of Hitler in any discussion about politics? ... “No, I don’t, because obviously that is something that conjures up images that frankly are not, I think, very helpful.”
What a weasel job. Letting your mom carry in the groceries from the garage while you watch Scooby Doo is "not helpful." When Limbaugh compares Obama's healthcare logo to a swastika is vile and disgusting. Of course in the next few days I expect Cantor to have to apologize to Limbaugh for even this mild distancing from his sickening antics. But for the time being, Cantor seems to be taking the role as this year's Condi Rice.
You remember Rice? She was one of the craven assclowns who in 2002 ridiculously called themselves "The Vulcans" as they prepared for a totally awesome string of wars for other people's kids to fight (the hit list included Somalia, Syria, and mind-bogglingly Iran all in a projected three to four year time line) and fancied themselves the new Napoleons. Then, when Colin Powell left the room in disgust following the '04 elections, she somehow became the designated adult in the room. The job was not a good fit. She managed to quit the childish "liberate the region" and "form of a mushroom cloud" talk, but she didn't actually get anything done. Still she did manage to at least sound responsible--ultimately meaningless but at least a stab at recognizing the limitation of earthly, grown up realities.
Well, Dr. Rice has crawled back into her corporate cubby hole, a ridiculous and discredited failure like all her fellow Vulcans--a reference to the Roman god of the forge rather than Leonard Nimoy--and the designated grown up role in today's Republican circus has fallen onto other shoulders. More well-bred than genuinely responsible, it's Eric Cantor's job now to hang back from the right wing's rhetorical mosh pit and meekly wonder, "Gee, guys, I'm not sure if this whole 'Hitler' thing is such a good idea."
If he can manage to withstand Limbaugh's inevitable smackdown for even that meek bit of "not helpful" criticism, we might begin to see a movement within the Republican Party to actually debate against healthcare on conservative principles rather than assaulting it with a toddler's temper tantrums. We might, but honestly, I hold out no hope that the vast bulk of Republicans can behave like adults in this debate.
History has consistantly upheld the 'open marketplace of ideas' concept created by the Founding generation of Americans, the US Constitution, and the First Amendment. If you let the competing ideas fight it out in public debates, the best ideas generally win. Conservatives have had their chance to discuss their ideas, even to put them into practice over the past 30 years since the Reaganauts commandeered the Republican Party. Their ideas, for the most part, have failed. Had they been successful, Republicans wouldn't today resort to bogus "you're unamerican" arguments and hysterical name calling tactics to distract their voters from actually thinking about the Democrats' counter proposals. It's not just hubris or hatred that motivates the Conservative elite to abandon civility in debate; it's fear.
They fear that, given the full run of the federal government for six years, their core ideas proved to be utter, utter failures. The fear that their movement is doomed, in the words of their patron saint, to be "left in the ash heap of history." If Republicans seem a little nihilistic in their debates, please be kind, for they have a reason for fearing the end of the world. Like with a child throwing a tantrum, you won't help them with their problems either by screaming at them or by trying to reason with them. They need reassurance, not logical arguments. Logic is for grown ups. Someday they'll get there, but for the time being they need unconditional love. If you really want to give them that love, passing healthcare reform would be a good place to start.