My number 1 fan the illiterate (joke) O'Rourkian gives me this (him in italics, me in self-important bold):
"Is there anyone out there who can make a case that
Ashcroft/De Lay are qualitiatively different then
LePen. I argue they're worse. "
Well, I may be an illiterate fool (hey, I may be
illiterate, but I know how to spell 'qualitatively'
;-)) but I don't think you argue that at all.
I think you say it, but you don't provide any evidence
whatsoever. Neither does Krugman - his whole paragraph
is "And then there's John Ashcroft." leaving us to
fill our minds with his evil deeds! - so I guess
you're in good company.
As I keep saying over and over, I don't think Krugman was equating them. So, stick with me. And, you're right, I didn't make the case, except with DeLay (See below), I was just trying to pick a fight.
But while Le Pen has campaigned for the forced
repatriation of non-white French citizens, called the
holocaust a 'detail of history' and also denied it
ever happened, called for the 'incineration' of a
Jewish member of the cabinet, and been arrested for
street fighting with socialists, I don't recall
hearing anything similar from Ashcroft or DeLay.
Well, let's focus on Ashcroft. I think Delay made his own case the other day.
Ashcroft wrote "Traditionalists must do more [to defend Confederate leaders ] or else we'll be taught that these people were giving their lives, subscribing their sacred fortunes and their honor to some perverted agenda."
Despite the revisionist goons who like to claim that that whole mess way back when wasn't about slavery, a quick reading of the declarations of secession puts that notion to rest. Slavery, not a perverted agenda? ahem.
Ashcroft fought repeatedly against voluntary school desegregation.
He questioned people about their sexual orientation when he hired them.
I wouldn't expect him to give a rat's ass about the Holocaust one way or the other necessarily, so I'm not surprise he hasn't said much about it.
Street-fighting? Who cares.
Calling for the incineration of a Jewish cabinet member? Okay maybe you have me there.
The point is that LePen and Ashcroft are *NOT THE SAME*, the issues each faces are different, but they definitely are in the same ballpark.
In what sense do you think they are worse? And I mean
based on their actions - not on some 'well de Lay is a
Christian fundamentalist, and they're all mad, they
want to bring about the apocalypse" level which is the
way the left usually attacks the right - but what have
they actually DONE?
As for DeLay, I didn't say he was a Christian Fundamentalist. I said he was a Christian Reconstructionist. He sees the Handmaid's Tale as a How-To Manual.
"Compared to Le Pen, Bush is a civil libertarian and
Haider is a flower child, and the French know it
better than anyone." uber-liberal Salon 4-24-02.
I didn't make the comparison to Bush, so don't claim that I, or Krugman, did.
I'd disagree about Haider.
Ashcroft and DeLay have a lot more common with LePen than they do with Al Gore. Given his recent rhetoric, DeLay IMHO is as bad as they come. Ashcroft may not call for the forced expatriation of all non-white Americans, but he's fought quite a bit to keep them in their place, and seems to think the War on Terror is nothing but rounding up all the Brown people he can find and putting them in detention centers for minor Visa violations.
I myself committed minor Visa violations while in Europe. It is pretty easy to do. Many of my foreign friends - students, people between jobs, etc.. have too. The system is a mess, it happens all the time.
I'm glad no one put me in a detention center.
[on edit, too many typos, was typing on the run..]
Thanks,
The O'Rourkian
Cheers -A.
