"Right-wing extremism may be the same as it ever was, but it clearly has more adherents now than it did a couple of years ago. Why? It may have a lot to do with a troubled economy."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/17/opinion/17krugman.html
It is remarkable how Krugman refuses to entertain the possibility that right-wing extremism might also have much to do with a failed left-wing presidency, which has:
• escalated U.S. involvement in a disastrous war in Afghanistan;
• avoided public press conferences;
• refused to rein in the greed of the financial sector;
• ignored ongoing abuses by government agencies;
• sought to appease the world's most oppressive dictatorships;
• responded meekly to an ecological disaster of epic proportions;
• and most fundamentally has failed to deliver on its promise of "change".
How frightening is right-wing extremism? Consider the May 13 response of Patrick Buchanan, founder and editor of The American Conservative and a political analyst for MSNBC, concerning the Supreme Court nomination of Elena Kagan:
"If Kagan is confirmed, Jews, who represent less than 2 percent of the U.S. population, will have 33 percent of the Supreme Court seats."
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=153417
Is there still breathing space for moderates in the U.S.? Can parallels be drawn to Weimar Germany?
unfair to single out that one quote from Pat Buchanan from what was actually a somewhat fair critique on the absence of diversity in SCOTUS nominations. I was upset by the lack of religious diversity on the Supreme Court when Sotomayor became the sixth Catholic, and, now the complete absence of a single Protestant or veteran or non-Ivy League education. Maybe Obama will nominate himself when Ruth Ginsburg retires next. Unless he thinks the next Supreme has to be from Staten Island so that the five boroughs of New York City have the majority.
ReplyDeleteAs to Krugman? He is wrong. The left is doing the same thing to the Democratic Party, which is cleansing itself of fiscal conservatives.
It is too bizarre to watch this in real time since 2004. All we will have next Congress will be intolerant closeminded screamers from both the left and the right.
comments are open for this nugget:
ReplyDeletehttp://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/16/chomsky-barred-from-west-bank-by-israel/?hp