Former WSJ Editor & National Review Editor calls Bushies "BROWNSHIRTS"!

[scottxyz]

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy during 1981-82. He was also Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review. He is a CONSERVATIVE who is now saying that Bushies are delusional "brownshirts" (like the Nazis) who will bring about endless war and eventually destroy America.

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=76&ItemID=7056

The Iraqi War is serving as a great catharsis for multiple conservative frustrations: job loss, drugs, crime, homosexuals, pornography, female promiscuity, abortion, restrictions on prayer in public places, Darwinism and attacks on religion. Liberals are the cause. Liberals are against America. Anyone against the war is against America and is a liberal. "You are with us or against us."

This is the mindset of delusion, and delusion permits no facts or analysis. Blind emotion rules. Americans are right and everyone else is wrong. End of the debate.

That, gentle reader, is the full extent of talk radio, Fox News, the Wall Street Journal Editorial page, National Review, the Weekly Standard, and, indeed, of the entire concentrated corporate media where noncontroversy in the interest of advertising revenue rules.

...

American liberals called the Brownshirts "conservative," because the Brownshirts were obviously not liberal. They were ignorant, violent, delusional, and they worshipped a man of no known distinction. Brownshirts' delusions were protected by an emotional force field. Adulation of power and force prevented Brownshirts from recognizing implications for their country of their reckless doctrines.

Like Brownshirts, the new conservatives take personally any criticism of their leader and his policies. To be a critic is to be an enemy. I went overnight from being an object of conservative adulation to one of derision when I wrote that the US invasion of Iraq was a "strategic blunder."

It is amazing that only a short time ago the Bush administration and its supporters believed that all the US had to do was to appear in Iraq and we would be greeted with flowers. Has there ever been a greater example of delusion? Isn't this on a par with the Children's Crusade against the Saracens in the Middle Ages?

Delusion is still the defining characteristic of the Bush administration. We have smashed Fallujah, a city of 300,000, only to discover that the 10,000 US Marines are bogged down in the ruins of the city. If the Marines leave, the "defeated" insurgents will return. Meanwhile the insurgents have moved on to destabilize Mosul, a city five times as large. Thus, the call for more US troops.

There are no more troops. Our former allies are not going to send troops. The only way the Bush administration can continue with its Iraq policy is to reinstate the draft.

When the draft is reinstated, conservatives will loudly proclaim their pride that their sons, fathers, husbands and brothers are going to die for "our freedom." Not a single one of them will be able to explain why destroying Iraqi cities and occupying the ruins are necessary for "our freedom." But this inability will not lessen the enthusiasm for the project. To protect their delusions from "reality-based" critics, they will demand that the critics be arrested for treason and silenced. Many encouraged by talk radio already speak this way.

Because of the triumph of delusional "new conservatives" and the demise of the liberal media, this war is different from the Vietnam war. As more Americans are killed and maimed in the pointless carnage, more Americans have a powerful emotional stake that the war not be lost and not be in vain. Trapped in violence and unable to admit mistake, a reckless administration will escalate.

The rapidly collapsing US dollar is hard evidence that the world sees the US as bankrupt. Flight from the dollar as the reserve currency will adversely impact American living standards, which are already falling as a result of job outsourcing and offshore production. The US cannot afford a costly and interminable war.

[codswallop]

1. The rhetoric is heating up

now that it's fairly safe.

Where was the table pounding before the war?

Still...better late than never.

[RBHam]

2. I called them "brownshirts" when they worshipped Reagan...

Great quote from the post...

"American liberals called the Brownshirts "conservative," because the Brownshirts were obviously not liberal. They were ignorant, violent, delusional, and they worshipped a man of no known distinction. Brownshirts' delusions were protected by an emotional force field. Adulation of power and force prevented Brownshirts from recognizing implications for their country of their reckless doctrines.

Like Brownshirts, the new conservatives take personally any criticism of their leader and his policies. To be a critic is to be an enemy. I went overnight from being an object of conservative adulation to one of derision when I wrote that the US invasion of Iraq was a "strategic blunder."

It is amazing that only a short time ago the Bush administration and its supporters believed that all the US had to do was to appear in Iraq and we would be greeted with flowers. Has there ever been a greater example of delusion? Isn't this on a par with the Children's Crusade against the Saracens in the Middle Ages?"

[robertpaulsen]

3. Kicked, bookmarked & nominated! Good find Scott!

I thought calling Bushbots Brownshirts was something I would only seen done by fellow DUers. If only Dr. Roberts had been saying this BEFORE the election, it might have made a difference. Then again, the Brownshirts have no brains, so it may not have.

[txaslftist]

4. I keep tellin' folks to check out Lew Rockwell's website...

see the tasty little nuggets you can find?

[patdem]

8. Links...links...links...like this...you can provide links...

WE are not brownshirts..there are only two places you cannot link to and they are listed on the rules forum! :hi:

[iverglas]

9. amazingly ... heh heh ...

http://www.lewrockwell.com/

You did promise not to shoot the messenger, right?

I haven't investigated what they're up to any more than cursorily, myself ... but myself, I'd beware of right-wingers bearing anti-war messages.

[liberalhistorian]

5. This is absolutely wonderful,

and so true, but where in the hell was it BEFORE the election? Why is it just coming out now? I'm afraid hes quite correct in everything he says, hell, my family and I have been saying it since 2000, but why in the holy hell wasn't this written and shouted from the rooftops BEFORE the election? Because it's too fucking late now. We're fucked, basically. It breaks my heart, but it's true.

[Mountainman]

6. I wish this would be printed in my local newspaper

Almost weekly or more often there is a letter to the editor calling liberals unamerican or worse.

[AirAmFan]

7. Since there are only 2 constants in *'s support base--blind faith in

Dubya's wildly shifting and contradictory foreign policy pronouncements, and often-camouflaged advocacy for policies that benefit the very wealthy at the expense of the poor and middle class--Paul Craig Roberts won't be the last Rethug to part company with the White House.

Real conservatives are steadfast in their beliefs. They must have a VERY hard time forgetting about all the life-or-death concerns Dubya has loudly announced to the world and then suddenly abandoned--

--Osama WHO?

--WMDs

--Potential threats to US national security

Notice that Paul Craig Roberts didn't leave Dubya's "train" on his own initiative--he was pushed off. He says,

"Like Brownshirts, the new conservatives take personally any criticism of their leader and his policies. To be a critic is to be an enemy. I went overnight from being an object of conservative adulation to one of derision when I wrote that the US invasion of Iraq was a 'strategic blunder.'"

(From http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=76&ItemID=7056 )

We can expect many others to jump off, fall off, or get pushed off, just like Roberts.