Reply #73: Many abused children grow up to be child-abusers.

[DLnyc]

As a Jew, I can tell you some of us reacted to the Holocaust by becoming opposed to fascism, bigotry and scapegoating in ALL its forms (this is the message, unspoken but unmistakable, that I was raised with and also was an idea underlying a lot of the civil rights movement, I think). Others reacted by becoming opposed to fascism, bigotry and scapegoating when it was directed against them, but felt okay using similar techniques to protect themselves and their loved ones. I was really hit by this the first time I saw it, and I think it is quite analagous to the abused child sydrome.

I see Joe as one of the deluded crowd that feel they can compensate for their feeling of fear and vulnerability by cozying up to the big bad dictator. Maybe after he loses the primary he can spend some time looking at pictures of Iraq torture victims and perhaps rethink his position.