Is He You?
by digby
Do you remember the days when "the left" was excoriated because of a couple of Hitler images in a video that was briefly entered in a Move-On contest? Those were the days ...
Today we have Republican Tea Party candidates for office who belong to groups who characterize the Nazis like this and participate in reenactments to celebrate their valor:
Nazi Germany had no problem in recruiting the multitudes of volunteers willing to lay down their lives to ensure a "New and Free Europe", free of the threat of Communism. National Socialism was seen by many in Holland, Denmark, Norway, Finland, and other eastern European and Balkan countries as the protector of personal freedom and their very way of life, despite the true underlying totalitarian (and quite twisted, in most cases) nature of the movement. Regardless, thousands upon thousands of valiant men died defending their respective countries in the name of a better tomorrow. We salute these idealists; no matter how unsavory the Nazi government was, the front-line soldiers of the Waffen-SS (in particular the foreign volunteers) gave their lives for their loved ones and a basic desire to be free.
It's no biggie, of course. He's just a nice conservative Tea Partier with an unusual hobby. No reason for anyone to make sweeping generalization about the worldview of these far right candidates who are going to be swept into office next month. They are just salt-of-the-earth Real Americans for whom Nazi fetishes, theocratic philosophies, fluoridation obsessions, immigrant hatreds and racial animus are defining characteristics. And they are going to stop the Godless, socialist liberals before they destroy the very fabric of this great country. You got a problem with that?
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