The Nazis were very sharp dressers
by digby
Via Think Progress:
JEFFREY Roobin: “This country fought Adolf Hitler. And I don’t really believe that Osama bin Laden and his group are worse or more dangerous than Adolf Hitler...We managed to defeat Adolf Hitler by following the rule of law.”
ARI FLEISCHER: They [the Germans] followed the law of war. They wore uniforms and they fought us on battlefields. These people are fundamentally, totally by design different. And they need to be treated in a different extrajudicial system.
See, the Nazis weren't so bad after all. Sure, they committed genocide and other war crimes and atrocities of an unprecedented nature, but you have to admit they were very sharp dressers. Which made all the difference. Plus they were white, so there's that.
This is not unusual actually. The right has been pimping what I call "The War of the Worlds scenario" since 9/11 to justify their proclaimed intention to "take the gloves off." Not only did they create the illusion that we were fighting an epic war on the scale of WWII (as Chris Hayes memorably examined in this piece back in 2006) they took it one step farther and constructed an "enemy" with supernatural powers that presents an existential threat so grave that we must abandon all pretense of civilization to stop it. It is incredibly fatuous. And it exposes a cowardly side of the American character that will embarrass us forever. This is not the reaction of a strong and confident nation. It's the reaction of a bunch of pants-wetting panic artists.
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