Joseph Could Have Learned a Thing or Two from GOP Master Debaters

By Joseph I am referring to Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Hitler's master propagandist. Now why do you think I would go to the extreme of comparing some Republican commentators to a sworn NAZI? Too many parallels, for one.

Have you ever heard this mantra: "Tax and Spend Democrat". Or how about this one "Liberal Democrat". It has become almost a reflex for Republican commentators to tack on those descriptive words to the word "Democrat". If you have no problem with this, then my point is proven as you are a victim of what was once called "the big lie". Originally described by his mentor Adolf, Goebbels honed the technique to a fine edge that is best described in an OSS report on Hitler's psychological profile:

". . .never admit a fault or wrong; never concede that there may be some good in your enemy; never leave room for alternatives; never accept blame; concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong; people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it".

Does any of this strike a familiar chord?

One thing is certain, there is active application of the above credo nationwide this year, and closer to home, in my congressional district. In Texas Congressional District 22, Democrats nominated a moderate Democrat, Nick Lampson, to oppose conservative extremist Tom DeLay (oops, did I just do it too? Nah, if the shoe fits . . .). Whenever Republican commentators describe Nick's politics, they inevitably reach in and pull out "Liberal Democrat". Anyone who has heard Nick speak knows that is an outrageous lie. Nick knows that working with the opposition through negotiation is best done in the center, not by shouting and pointing from the extremes of the party. Another outrageous lie is that Nick is a "Tax and Spend Democrat". Here, Nick has 8 years of congressional experience where he is on the record as a fiscal conservative. Recently he has even decried the pay raise that "Borrow and Spend Republicans" have given themselves (and their peers across the aisle).

And no, by comparing Republicans to a NAZI, I am not saying that they are all a bunch of murderous, nationalistic expansionists - well not all of them anyway (it's a joke, dummy). But NAZIs were very effective, in their time, at bringing a lot of people to come around to an extremist view of the world. And there are some familiar chords in all of that, too, don't you think?