Reagan official sees fascist overtones in Bush supporters

[nankerphelge]

From Salon.com:

In January, Paul Craig Roberts, assistant secretary of the treasury during the Reagan administration and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal's far-right editorial page, published a damning column in the progressive Z Magazine about fascist tendencies in the conservative movement. "In the ranks of the new conservatives, however, I see and experience much hate. It comes to me in violently worded, ignorant and irrational emails from self-professed conservatives who literally worship George Bush," he wrote. "Even Christians have fallen into idolatry. There appears to be a large number of Americans who are prepared to kill anyone for George Bush … Like Brownshirts, the new conservatives take personally any criticism of their leader and his policies. To be a critic is to be an enemy."

[Haymare22]

1. He found his voice. nt

[autorank]

23. Haymare22, You're right, he did FIND HIS VOICE. Check this out.

http://www.vdare.com/roberts/

OK, go here, look at the titles of the columns. Now imagine you're looking at page 1 of General Discussion: Politics on DU. If you're honest, you will have to admit that you will not know the difference.

We're at war. Any one on our side is to be commended for what they're doing NOW.

This guy kicks ass on Iraq, outsourcing, and a whole lot more and he is one nasty dude with his keyboard.

Its worth the read.

[aquart]

2. And he didn't notice any of this with Reagan?

NOT EVEN IN HIS POLICIES???

The Reaganites set this up. This is the fruit of their womb. Bitter much?

[w13rd0]

3. I don't think that's true...

...you could disagree with Reagan's policies without being "shut down", and you could even do so openly with little fear of reprisal. Dubya is no Reagan. And I didn't like Reagan at all.

[rzemanfl]

4. Compared to Bush, Reagan was just a folksy old guy from

"Death Valley Days." Bush is leading us into the Valley of Death, there's a big difference.

Remember Reagan's stupid bomber joke when he thought the mike was off? If Bush did that, everyone would be on their cell phones calling home to say goodbye to their families, then they would go looking for a change of underwear.

[solinvictus]

8. Reagan...

I certainly agree, Reagan was not as likely to go off half-cocked and start a war. Remember, Reagan's overtures to Gorbachev led to a significant thaw in the Cold War. If El Presidente were in charge during that era, we'd all be dead.

[leesa]

22. Reagan caused the death of many tens of thousands of people. He is

identical to Bush in that he is a GOP media construct who had no substance at all. Most everything he did was bad for our country. Yet he became another undeserving superstar.

Republicans are simply easily led.

[ailsagirl]

26. They don't think for themselves. They have a narrow and, IMO,

intolerant belief system.

You disagree, you're a traitor. Critical thinking is anathema.

[aquart]

12. Reagan began the consolidation of the media.

His innocent little changes in banking and media regulation brought us here. It wasn't accidental.

[Vinnie From Indy]

15. You are right, but it probably wasn't Ronnie getting those things done

There was a rogues gallery of criminals in his administration. I imagine GHW Bush & Co had their own plans as RR slowly went senile. He was great cover for that band of criminals precisely because he was a folksy front man.

[librechik]

19. bingo

Ronnie was an empty suit with a phalanx of fascist hopefuls manipulating him from behind the scenes--George HW Bush the most obvious. He himself was an empty suit being manipulated by even more covert operatives, IMO derived from the original CIA imported Nazis of Operation Paperclip.

It wasn't especially organized or efficient--just a bunch of greedy criminals with every reason to keep everyone's activities secret--more loot for all that way.

It's the fall of the fourth Reich.

[FreedomAngel82]

25. It seems to me

that Poppy is everywhere and in everything. :crazy:

[Just Me]

17. Reagan opened the "pandora's box",...and was like a child in so doing.

Nancy saw what was happening,...watched how her husband was being used.

Ronald Reagan was a "mask",...with some control.

George W. Bush is NOTHING but a "mask", a "spokesmodel", a facade,...a freakin' ICON.

[MisterP]

5. link? I couldn't find it with search

[nankerphelge]

6. Here's the Salon article

Check out the picture; it's a poster that was for sale atthe Conservative Political Action Conference-totally bizarre:

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/02/19/cpac/index.html

I'll have to track down the original Z magaizine article.

[MisterP]

9. that article turned up: neocons sure are demented

[BrklynLiberal]

7. Here is a link to the original article..

End-Timers & Neo-Cons The End of Conservatives
I remember when friends would excitedly telephone to report that Rush Limbaugh or G. Gordon Liddy had just read one of my syndicated columns over the air. That was before I became a critic of the US invasion of Iraq, the Bush administration, and the neoconservative ideologues who have seized control of the US government.

America has blundered into a needless and dangerous war, and fully half of the country's population is enthusiastic. Many Christians think that war in the Middle East signals "end times" and that they are about to be wafted up to heaven. Many patriots think that, finally, America is standing up for itself and demonstrating its righteous might. Conservatives are taking out their Vietnam frustrations on Iraqis. Karl Rove is wrapping Bush in the protective cloak of war leader. The military-industrial complex is drooling over the profits of war. And neoconservatives are laying the groundwork for Israeli territorial expansion.

<snip>

In the Thanksgiving issue of National Review, editor Richard Lowry and former editor John O'Sullivan celebrate Bush's reelection triumph over "a hostile press corps." "Try as they might," crowed O'Sullivan, "they couldn't put Kerry over the top." There was a time when I could rant about the "liberal media" with the best of them. But in recent years I have puzzled over the precise location of the "liberal media."

Not so long ago I would have identified the liberal media as the New York Times and Washington Post, CNN and the three TV networks, and National Public Radio. But both the Times and the Post fell for the Bush administration's lies about WMD and supported the US invasion of Iraq. On balance CNN, the networks, and NPR have not made an issue of the Bush administration's changing explanations for the invasion.

Apparently, Rush Limbaugh and National Review think there is a liberal media because the prison torture scandal could not be suppressed and a cameraman filmed the execution of a wounded Iraqi prisoner by a US Marine. Do the Village Voice and The Nation comprise the "liberal media"? The Village Voice is known for Nat Hentoff and his columns on civil liberties. Every good conservative believes that civil liberties are liberal because they interfere with the police and let criminals go free. The Nation favors spending on the poor and disfavors gun rights, but I don't see the "liberal hate" in The Nation's feeble pages that Rush Limbaugh was denouncing on C-Span.

In the ranks of the new conservatives, however, I see and experience much hate. It comes to me in violently worded, ignorant and irrational emails from self-professed conservatives who literally worship George Bush. Even Christians have fallen into idolatry. There appears to be a large number of Americans who are prepared to kill anyone for George Bush.

<snip>

more.........

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

[hadrons]

10. Paul Craig Roberts has been writing some killer stuff

[CBHagman]

11. Check out this phrase from the Z Magazine article.

"They were ignorant, violent, delusional, and they worshipped a man of no known distinction."

The reference is to the Brownshirts, but does it remind you of anybody else? :scared:

[mzmolly]

13. Recommended. Frighteningly true!

:(

[despairing optimist]

14. Wall Street Journal editors writing for Z Magazine?

Talk about paradigm shift. Can anyone spell, political realignment?

[Just Me]

16. Finally. Reality being communicated,...fascism is happening.

Corporatism

Hate mongering

"With us or against us"

Violent emotions

Symbolism

Controlled media

Enemies (all around us)

Emphasis on punishment

Intolerance

The neoCONspirators dark world view, a tunnel of death, is KILLING what was left of the beacon of human freedom this country held.

Of course, they and their dark lot have been working their asses off delivering death across the globe and profiteering from their obsession with armageddon. They are so freakin' demonic while *LOL* they actually BELIEVE in their own righteousness. SICK FUCKS!!!

[TexasLawyer]

18. Another DU thread

We were discussing this Salon article on another DU thread (see below) this morning. The paragraph in your post was the one that I cited as the scariest in the article.

Also, go to the article and look at the small print underneath the Uncle Sam illustration. That's the second spookiest part of the article.




http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1608278

[zulchzulu]

20. This is no surprise to me...but it is alarming...maybe GannonGate will...

...open the gates to see who is behind the Bush Admin's plans to distort the truth and actually harm America.

I've dealt with Bush supporters who would actually choose to ignore the truth and act like those that dare see past his idiocy are un-American...

Ignorance is bliss...to Bush supporters.

[leesa]

21. Just like the morons who worshiped Reagan...same thing. An undeserving

President who is dumber than a doorknob and completely ineffective becomes a God.

100:1 this guy doesn't recognise himself as one of those same idol worshipers.

[quaoar]

24. wrong thread

[applegrove]

27. Baser instincts begat baser instinctives. This is their time to shine...

normally people who cannot get beyond adolescent behaviour don't get much chance to extoll the virtues of their world vision. Bush's coalition is of the baser types, the prissy, the delusional and the greedy.

My only solace is the number of books that will be written about these idiots in the years to come.