Yep, you got it. First, the Bush administration said that anyone who disagreed with it was ‘with the terrorists’ — an incredibly simple-minded view. (“You either love lettuce or you hate farmers. Which is it?”)
Now Rumsfeld adds another example to Godwin’s Law, comparing people who disagree with the President with those who appeased the Nazis.
Rumsfeld alluded to critics of the Bush administration’s war policies in terms associated with the failure to stop Nazism in the 1930s, “a time when a certain amount of cynicism and moral confusion set in among the Western democracies.”
Again, it’s a wonderful example of the Bush administration’s policy of oversimplifying to the point of nonsense. It assumes — incorrectly — that the administration’s policies are the only ones that will work.
What if Bush said, “The way to fight terrorists is to buy more lettuce! And anyone who disagrees with me is an appeaser!”? Well, maybe someone has a better idea to fight terrorists than that, and it certainly doesn’t make them an appeaser.
What if Bush said, “The way to fight terrorists is to give me absolute, unquestioned power, and to force Americans to give up as many civil rights as we can”? Maybe, just maybe, someone else would have a better idea.
Oh, wait. According to Rumsfeld, not only would those people be akin to those who aided the Nazis, they would also be wimps!
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Tuesday accused critics of the Bush administration’s Iraq and counterterrorism policies of lacking the courage to fight terror.
Have things really gotten so bad that the administration has resorted to name-calling? Apparently so.
If you don’t agree with me, you obviously hate puppies. And lettuce.
The Fray
Leland says:
It would be interesting to read a transcript of the entire speech.
But from what I read of the story Andrew linked, Rumsfeld did not say that. He did point out the similarities between the 1930s mind set and the antiwar people. The lessons we learned from leaving post WWI Germany in a no win situation, the profound blindness and stupidity employed by Neville Chamberlain and Edouard Daladier while dealing with Hitler and even President Carter’s stunning blunders in the middle east should not be forgotten. I think that’s what he was getting at.
And remember that very few of the antiwar folks from 1930s were Nazi sympathizers. They were more of the “mind our own business” folks. They had no idea they were only giving Hitler and Co. time to build their military and make it just that much harder to clean up when we joined the fight.
But don’t take my word for it, let me quote the first paragraph from that story:
“(AP) Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday the world faces “a new type of fascism” and warned against repeating the pre-World War II mistake of appeasement.”
I think he’s right. Let the flaming begin.
greyrat says:
You think anyone is going to make a comment here? Why, clearly only nazi wussies would have anything to say!
Hmmm… Wait a minute…