Congressloon Broun Meet Michael Godwin
Yes, that’s right, the irrepressible Adolph is back in town, and not a moment too soon. After all, according to the right wing lunafringe, President-Elect Obama clearly presented a stark Hitlerian vision on the campaign trail . . . or was that a Marxist vision? or a Muslim terrorist vision? or a Socialist vision? Well, yesterday, Congressloon Paul Broun of Georgia had his Hitler Vision glasses on. He recalled a July campaign speech during which candidate Obama spoke of building a national service corps, of renewing our commitment to the Peace Corps and the Foreign Service as an important part of our overall “national security” apparatus. The relevant portion:
“And we’ll also grow our Foreign Service, open consulates that have been shuttered, and double the size of the Peace Corps by 2011 to renew our diplomacy. We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we’ve set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.”
Obviously, the last two sentences stirred up the lunafringe last July even though the context of the words was clear. Candidate Obama was speaking of a “national security force” in terms of the non-military diplomatic strengths that a rebuilt Peace Corps and Foreign Service might bring to our national security agenda. Manifestly, he was not referring to a bunch of neo-brownshirts marching around neighborhoods Heiling here and Heiling there enforcing an Obama worldview.
Yet, such is the mind of the Congressloon from Georgia that he had this to say in an interview with The Associated Press, “It may sound a bit crazy and off base, but the thing is, he’s the one who proposed this national security force. . . I’m just trying to bring attention to the fact that we may — may not, I hope not — but we may have a problem with that type of philosophy of radical socialism or Marxism.” Not being struck dead by lightning, he continued to bloviate, nastily violating Godwin’s Law along the way, “That’s exactly what Hitler did in Nazi Germany and it’s exactly what the Soviet Union did. When he’s proposing to have a national security force that’s answering to him, that is as strong as the U.S. military, he’s showing me signs of being Marxist.” Still no lightning, so on another occasion that day the Congressloon attempted to “clarify” his earlier comments, “We can’t be lulled into complacency,” Broun said. “You have to remember that Adolf Hitler was elected in a democratic Germany. I’m not comparing him to Adolf Hitler. What I’m saying is there is the potential.”
This is the typical wingnut ground game, and the election game loss has not – will not – give them the slightest pause. Note his obvious bending of words purposely taken completely out of context; the use of fear to turn off the minds of his constituency and scare their children; the outright comparison of Obama to Hitler while he simultaneously maintains he is not comparing Obama to Hitler. This is pure wingnut.
Another of the basics of their playbook on display was the unintentional psychological projection of their deeds and motives onto others. This is a 
typical and telling piece of evidence. Imagine the audacity of it – and that’s a corollary of the projection, it’s very audacity – the right wing congressional crafters of the overreaching Bush Presidency and its unprecedented power grabs, its politicization of the Justice Department, and its use of privatized paramilitary forces like Blackwater, accusing Obama of Hitlerian purposes. The finger of that particular “J’Accuse!” points directly at what is left of the now even more right wing Republican party.
I do agree with two things you said, Mr. Broun. First, your words do “sound a bit crazy and off base.” Clinically so. At best. Second, and seriously, I also agree that “we can’t be lulled into complacency.” If there is one thing that is admirable about wingnuts it’s their maniacal sense of purpose and indefatigable energy, and we cannot afford to take our eyes off them for even a second.
