And You Wonder Why I Haven’t Registered As a Democrat
By Larry Johnson on November 2, 2007 at 6:49 PM in Current Affairs
Let’s hear it for Diane Feinstein and Chuck Schumer, 21st century sonderkommandos, because they are helping install an Attorney General who parses words and facts while refusing to delcare that water boarding is torture. For the poorly educated, sonderkommandos were Jewish prisoners in the Nazi death camps who helped entice unsuspecting Jewish men, women, and children into the gas chambers and helped dispose of the bodies. And yes, I mean the comparison.
I am sure my characterization of Feinstein and Schumer in this regard will be condemned but so be it. It is what it is. As a teenager reading William Shrier’s The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, I was fascinated and horrified to learn that some Jewish prisoners willingly took part in helping the Nazis exterminate other Jews. I grant you, Feinstein and Schumer are not executing anyone, but they are putting their blessing on a man so clueless that he does not know that a practice that mimics drowning is torture.
I had always assumed that Jews who survived the Holocaust or the relatives of those who were murdered under the Nazi plan would understand the importance of standing against tyrants and torturers. And for the most part that has been true. But now we are confronted with the spectacle of two prominent Jewish American legislators who are enabling a President who has authorized torture. They have no shame.
I will be changing my registration as a Republican in the State of Maryland (I will register as an independent). But I will be damned if I leave one group of clowns who will not protect the Constitution and habeus corpus and condemn torture to join a party with an equally clueless group of clowns. When the likes of Feinstein and Schumer decide it is okay to have someone running the Justice Department who cannot figure out that water boarding is torture, then they are part of the problem.
Well, nobody is being executed, at least not yet. But by signing off on a potential Attorney General who is unwilling to condemn without reservation a practice that is inhuman and illegal, we can begin to understand how seemingly decent people will let themselves participate, whether by omission or commission, in facilitating the violation of international conventions. The road to gas chambers starts when good people find excuses to justify torture and murder. Feinstein and Schumer are enablers.
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There is a reason I refer to Diane Feinstein as Lieberman lite.
I would have said Lieberman with tits, but same idea.
Some Dems are just as bad as the Republicans, outside of Fiengold and Kucinich has any other Dem stood up consistantly to uphold the Constitution?
Call me crazy but the more I listen/read-up on Ron Paul the better he looks. He’s been steadfast on his message and speaks truth to power, even when laughed at by the other Republican candidates and boo-ed upon by the Fixed-Fox dabates. I just don’t see any other candidate that wants to Restore the Constitution as much as Ron Paul.
You’re right. There are some men and women of principle. Unfortunately, when there is a real chance to make a difference, folks like Feinstein and Schumer fail to stand up.
you are a fool johnson
Ron Paul talks a good talk about the Constitution and i believe him, but i can’t give him my vote because of the impending retiring Supreme Court judges and a woman’s right to choose. i also have issues with his views on unregulating businesses.
it appears to have some associations with a few hate groups / white separatist groups — see these posts on Orcinus.
Man of the Hour
Saturday, June 02, 2007
http://dneiwert.blogspot.com/2007/06/man-of-hour.html
The Trouble with Ron
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
http://dneiwert.blogspot.com/2007/06/trouble-with-ron.html
Ron Paul vs. the New World Order
Friday, June 08, 2007
http://dneiwert.blogspot.com/2007/06/ron-paul-vs-new-world-order.html
(the link-y thing wouldn’t work for me. sorry)
peg,
PICKY, PICKY, PICKY! The important issue is the Gold Standard. Ron Paul wants to return to it, as in back-to-the-future. He’s also in favor of, “a good 5-cent cigar.” Need I say more?
….Call me crazy but the more I listen/read-up on Ron Paul the better he looks. He’s been steadfast on his message and speaks truth to power….
Agreed 100% about Ron Paul. I hope all Democrats are aware that they have to change their registraton to Republican in order to vote for him.
Personally I can’t really get behind the guy who gets the endorsement of Stormfront radio.
Left and right republicans
That is all we have. We have been suckered. Continue to vote dem for prez = BIGGER SUCKER
The Yellow Congress needs to face another republican prez.
Vote republican (for prez) or stay home.
There is a reason people should unregister as Democrats and it’s the same one you have for not registering as one. Not to say anyone should be registered Republican either, but we REALLY have to stop encouraging their cowardice and perfidy and start ACTIVELY opposing it. I do so wish we could all register with the American Freedom Campaign… yesterday.
I just recieved my father’s medals from WWII. If I weren’t saving them fos someone else, I wuld be sending them to those two torture apologists.
It is hard to find anything positive in their decision, but hopefully, they will be out of Congress soon. What a disgrace!!
I 100% agree with Larry Johnson on this issue. What I think Larry could use pulpit to point out is just how bad Feinstein and Schumer have been in the past. In particular, Dianne Feinstein, Incorporated, has been one of the most insipid figures in the Senate for a very long time. She’s an absolute Royalist at heart and has no values whatsoever beyond her own interests.
Also, I am with Larry - it’s time to dump the party affiliation. The Republicans obviously don’t deserve votes and the Democrats either. I’ve been a registered Democrat for my entire adult life but I’m dumping those ass clowns. Independent, yep.
I just moved back to KAuai and have to register to vote. I have decided to register Independent. I was right on the fence but no longer. The 06 election was our vote for change and nothing has changed. If anything, it has gotten worse. Now they are trying to march us into another war and condone spying on us, torturing and shitting all over the Constitution. I am just as pissed as you Larry at the Dems but what about the repubs too. I know we all expect them to vote the way they do but damn can these people really all be that stupid or are they just greedy?
Thank you Larry for saying what needed to be said. They are truly enablers, and we, as a part of the human race, should be outraged, as you clearly are, at the continued lack of shame that they show. I trust you to continue to stand as tall and honorably as you always have. We must keep on top of this, and I know you will… Thanks for all you do. I am unregistering my party as well. I am just a few years a Dem, but will not vote for anyone in a party of enablers. Guilt by association. How very sad a world we now live in…
I haven’t sent them a dime despite repeated requests..disgusting.
Amen Larry. Yeah, the curled fetal position seems to be the position a lot of them take when it’s time to make a stand. I also heard their excuses as to why, too. Pitiful. If you won’t stand up for something you’ll - (feel free to insert the appropriate words here)!
No I won’t give them money either. I will do everything I can to see them, and the rest of the minions buried deep in the ground, politically. I keep sending their solicitations back at their own expense. Shame on me, but my comments are too very crude to re-publish here… They make me sick.
Hiya Prchrlady,
Of course I was glad to have supported people like Jim Marciniak, Jim Webb, Patrick Murphy, Joe Sestak and a few others in ‘06. I just stopped sending to the national and state level. Just indiviual candidates, which is what I’ll continue to do. It’s not like I’m George Soros.:)I like ActBlue and VoteVets. Sandy Levin is my Rep., I’m happy about that. And as you know - his brother Carl and Debbie Stabenow are pretty decent. I’ve written a lot of letters to them and the responses do not appear to be form letters, as opposed to what I’ve seen and heard of Boxer and Feinstein.
Umm, Mukasey isn’t clueless. He’s being evasive, because acknowledging the obvious might force him to investigate the obvious, and that means investigating the President.
On that subject, John Dean has a good point:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/057806.php
But, given the way a number of Democrats are behaving, you’d think that it was still the day after 9/11/01. Funny, though, it’s the Dems in Congress that seem the most terrorized of the citizenry–by Bush and Cheney, not bin Laden.
Speaking of 9-11, Thom Hartmann will be talking about what really happened next week.
The same that I eviscerated (Michael Shermer) on Washington Journal will be a guest.
So much for Mukasey being independent, and for the rulr of law.
Larry, I would have used the term, “Judas Goats,” because the whole Nazi comparison seems like an hysterical overreach to people who aren’t already sympathetic to your point of view. Or maybe “Quislings,” would be religiously neutral.
Reminds me of the founding of the Republican Party in 1854 in reverse: “We entered the meeting hall as Republicans, but left as Democrats, Independents, Populists, Libertarians, Christian Puritans, and Worshippers of Mammon. All that remained of the GOP was the unpaid rental on the hall, which no one would assume responsibility for–our only point of agreement in a highly contentious final meeting. When the Chairman moved that we adjourn sine die it was received with relief and passed unanamously.”
I lived in California for many years, and Feinstein is utterly disgusting. It didn’t used to show up so much before we got this anti-Constitutional regime in charge. But now when it really matters, she and so many other Congressional Dems are utterly useless.
I will say this: my Democratic reps in Oregon Ron Wyden, and especially Pete DeFazio in the House are pretty good. And I’m going to stay a Dem because at least where I’m located democracy is still viable at the local level.
I sent a letter to Leahy suggesting that he have one more round of hearings with Mukasey on national television, and while there, have a water boarding demonstration. Have Mukasey, a Republican, Schumer or Di-Fi be an eager volunteer. Then we’ll see what America really thinks about water boarding.
Its time for us ordinary Americans to get creative since Congress and the Bush Administration have sold us out.
Oh, that is perfect. Would love to know if you get a response back. Send it to Olbermann. MAybe he will talk about that concept on air.
Maybe since Larry has the media contacts he could suggest this to Olbermann?? I did see on the news this morning that a DOJ official volunteered and took part in a staged water boarding demonstration and was fired three years ago for doing this….and according to reports he was a yes-man in the Bush Administration.
Maybe Keith could have an entire show on some of the more torturous techniques that are outlawed by the Geneva Conventions.
I’m serious when I say its time for us ordinary Americans to get creative. Otherwise, we are going to end up under martial law like those in Pakistan. Its happening right under our noses.
If you live in Texas, you don’t have to select a political party when registering to vote. Lots of Ron Paul bumper stickers here in the North Houston area.
Waiting in Texas. I am a registered Texas voter. I vote absentee but I think I’m registered in Texas as a Democrat. Are you sure I don’t have to unregister in Texas in order to vote for Ron Paul? Please advise ASAP. Thanks.
So happy to hear there are lots of Ron Paul bumper stickers in North Houston.
And remember, folks, Ron Paul is from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Declaration of Independence was signed in Philadelphia. When was the last time we had a president from one of the original 13 colonies? JFK — Massachusetts!
My mistake. The last president from an orginal colony was Jimmy Carter from Georgia. He wasn’t all that bad THEN and he’s definitely not bad NOW!
Where do you people get your information? There is NO party registration in Texas. Everyone registers the same–as a registered voter. On Primary Day each voter can decide to vote in the Republican Primary OR the Democratic Primary. Then if there’s a Runoff Primary, only voters who voted in that party’s Primary OR didn’t vote in either Primary are eligible to vote in the Runoff. Only voters who DIDN’T vote in either Party Primary are eligible to sign ballot petitions for Independent or Minor Party candidates.
In the next election cycle everyone resets to Registered Voter again and starts over. So you can vote in the Republican Primary in one election and the Democratic Primary in the next election, because your previous transgression is forgiven under the Statute of Limitations, so to speak.
This is basically an Open Primary system in which you declare yourself a Republican or Democrat for the purposes of participating in the Primary, but without adopting it as your permanent affiliation.
Welcome to the club (of independents, that is), Larry. I only disagree with one part of your piece. I don’t care what body of law, international or otherwise, does or does not authorize torture, and whether or not our government conforms or doesn’t conform to such laws. I am against torture purely on moral grounds as an absolute.
The fact that torture is unnecessary (see my comment below) makes this “debate” even more sorrowful. It truly shows how little we are as a people.
You just say shit like this because you are a thoroughly decent soul. A brave and honorable one at that. And since I know you and a bit of your history I only wish our current leaders had a tenth of your integrity. We’d all be better off and well served if that was the case.
Semper Fi
Hey Larry, did you hear about this?
I saw a documentary about Nazi Art and how after Germany was occupied by the Allies the paintings were seized so they wouldn’t inspire more Nazism. Guess what? The paintings taken by U.S. forces were shipped to the U.S. and hung in Federal Office Buildings as a sort of visual Muzak. Some years ago the paintings were returned to Germany, so more uh, CONVENTIONAL art had to be substituted. The funny thing is that very few people realized what they were looking at! One wonders if it didn’t have a subliminal effect. Funny how Cheney seems to walk with a pronounced goosestep.
Do these Vichy Dems have any idea how much they just cost and co$t the D party? Do they care? Are they saboteurs? What are they? Any leadership around? A Senate whip, maybe?
As an Indie in Floorduh, I can’t vote in the primaries. I feel liberated! The primaries are used as a carrot or a hook to keep people within the 2-party construct; makes them think they have a say, which of course they don’t.
Sorry, forgot to add that it seems the bu$hCo wreckers are not only taking down the R party, but the D party right along with it. This may be beneficial somewhere down the line in laying the foundation for the rise of other, better parties.
“Vichy Dems”. Fantastic, I’m adding that one to my phrasebook, giving you full credit, of course!
Retired, wish I could take credit, but that one’s been floating around for awhile now.
They’re always shocked, shocked!, I tell you.
I could not agree more, Larry. I have worked with torture victims for 25 years and the damage done to them is lifelong and devastating. Schumer and DiFi are complicit and they deserve to face the same charges as the rest of this criminal government. I have been a lifelong Democrat, but they are no better than BushCo. I am so ashamed of my government.
Larry,
You won’t get any condenmnation from me. What happened to this man??
Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey’s confirmation hearings got underway this morning…
Not only did Michael Mukasey repudiate the so-called 2002 “torture memo” signed by Office of Legal Counsel chief Jay Bybee — which appears to have survived in spirit, if not in letter — but he compared U.S. torture to the Holocaust.
Chomsky said the persecuted became persecutors. This applies to Schumer, Mukasey, Lieberman and any other Stella Goldschlag types who are in bed with the devil to save themselves.
Speaking of saving themselves, I wonder what will happen to derail the AIPAC hearing now that Condi, Grossman and others will be called to testify.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/057806.php
Scott Horton has an interesting take on Mukasey’s predicament at—
http://www.harpers.org/archive/2007/11/hbc-90001567
I agree 100% that Feinstein & Schumer are worse than useless. Nevertheless, my state does not have open primaries, so I will remain registered as a Dem so I can vote for progressive candidates in the primary, and get rid of the Lieberdems.
hi folks
I can understand some frustration with the dems here..
I am a lifelong democrat..there are good ones and there are useless ones..But we are the party of the people..We were a minority party during a very difficult time in america’s history..Soon we will be a majority party in congress and the White House.
Changes will come..attitudes will change..leaders will emerge..That’s my outlook.
You know i have to say something..alot of people have bashed Feinstein here..and to tell you the truth i haven’t kept up with her politics lately..BUT..Let me explain a history with her..
This lady has character and experience, i would be careful of bashing her..
I remember I was in college in California when she was thrust into the limelight when harvey milk was gunned down in SF. Later she became a us senator. she did great while i was there. I’m proud of her.
She makes me proud..
You know it’s so easy to be an armchair quarterback with politics..we forget the give and take and the compromises required to be leaders..
like in sports..we bitch when the point guard sees a play and makes a bad pass or the no.2 guard shoots from 25 ft. out and misses an open shot. In football the running back cuts left instead of right and gets thrown for a loss..That’s life, that’s the way it goes..But a winning team wins more than it loses.
A hall of fame batter only hits 1 out of 3 balls..yet we expect a batting average of 1000% or else we bitch and moan..
I don’t expect my politician to be perfect..but i expect him to win more than lose..and to have character, goals and expectations to help america.
Let’s join together and defeat the GOP and take back america..leave the unrealistic expectations at the door..
There is alot of work to do.it won’t get done in a day..no great feat is done in a day…
the hoopster
Let her character reflect her vote. To me, her vote will reflect her character, and I can not look the other way.
Umm, hoops, this ain’t sports. Especially in the Senate–it’s supposed to be a careful, deliberative process. These people are supposed to have our best interests at heart, and are supposed to act, carefully, on both best instincts and the will of the people.
Both of those compel thinking people to reject any nominee for Attorney General whose primary concern is protecting the wrongdoing of high officials, and that protection is evident in Mukasey’s evasions on questions ranging from definitions of torture, to the “unitary executive,” to the voter ID question. If he spoke of those honestly and directly, his motives could be discerned. But, he did not. That’s prima facie evidence that his nomination should not be confirmed. The way to prevent the nomination of Mukasey is to never let it out of committee, and Schumer and Feinstein have seen to it that it will. If Mukasey is evasive–or if his views are ill-thought out or offensive to democratic principles, or if there’s even a whiff of partisanship–there’s no need for discussion. He’s not the best candidate.
More to the point, regarding Feinstein–this is not an isolated instance of capitulation. This is part of a long history of giving in to Bush’s threats. Whatever you may have believed of her performance in the past, you must look dispassionately at her voting record in the last few years and judge this decision of hers in a more current context. Too often, influential Democrats have relied upon the “well, it’s not the best [bill, candidate, nominee, fill in the blank] that we could have, but it’s the best we’re going to get” excuse. In those instances, they have invariably acceded to Bush, rather than saying, “it’s not good enough.”
Given the available history of the past nearly seven years, there’s no reason for any sentient, sensible person to give Bush what he wants, because what he ultimately wants is unrestricted and unrestrained power, which he will, given his character and performance, misuse. Diane Feinstein ought to know that. I do.
This is how bad she is
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/09/23/feinstein/
Dianne Feinstein, symbol of the worthless Beltway Democrat
her votes over the last several years, and especially this year after she was safely re-elected, are infinitely closer to the Bush White House and her right-wing Senate colleagues than they are to the base of her party or to the constituents she allegedly represents. Just look at what she has done this year on the most critical and revealing votes:
* Voted in FAVOR of funding the Iraq War without conditions;
* Voted in FAVOR of the Bush White House’s FISA bill to drastically expand warrantless eavesdropping powers;
* Voted in FAVOR of condemning MoveOn.org;
* Cast the deciding vote in August on the Senate Judiciary Committee in FAVOR of the nomination of far right Bush nominee Leslie Southwick to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.
In 2006, Feinstein not only voted in favor of extending the Patriot Act without any of the critical safeguards sought by Sen. Feingold, among others, but she was one of the most outspoken Democratic proponents arguing for its extension (”I have never been in favor of allowing any provisions of the Patriot Act to expire.”). Also in 2006, she not only voted in favor of amending the Constitution to outlaw flag burning, but was, as she proudly described herself, “the main Democratic sponsor of this amendment.”
In October of 2002, she (naturally) voted to authorize President Bush to use military force to invade Iraq. She now self-servingly claims that she “regrets” the vote and was tricked by the Bush administration into believing Saddam had WMDs, yet Scott Ritter has disclosed: “This is far different from the statement Feinstein made to me in the summer of 2002, when she acknowledged that the Bush administration had not provided any convincing intelligence to back up its claims about Iraqi WMD.” And when it was revealed in August of this year that Awad Allawi had hired the most influential GOP lobbying firm to help oust Prime Minister Maliki, there was Sen. Feinstein leading the way in demanding Maliki’s ouster.
Time and again, not only does she vote in favor of the most right-wing aspects of the Bush agenda, she uses her alleged expertise in areas of intelligence to pressure or give comfort to other Democrats wanting to do the same. Several of the 16 Democratic Senators who voted in favor of Bush’s FISA bill in August, such as Jim Webb, cited assurances by Feinstein that she had obtained Secret Information as a member of the Intelligence Committee which proved how necessary this bill was. Similarly, as a member of the Intelligence Committee, she was one of the Democratic leaders urging the confirmation of Gen. Michael Hayden as CIA Director notwithstanding the central role he played as NSA Director in Bush’s illegal surveillance programs.
Her primary allegiance is to the Beltway power system and her overwhelming affection is reserved for Beltway power brokers who are her true colleagues and constituents.
Feinstein and Schumer have carried water for the Bush crowd on a whole host of important judicial issues. They should be roundly condemned for allowing this nomination to get to the floor. Too bad DiFi just won re-election last year.
But I am very uncomfortable with you using the sonderkommandos analogy. Indicting them as Jewish apologists for Nazis is quite beyond the pale.
I’m not totally happy with the analogy either. It’s quite unfair to the Sondercommandos, who were forced to do what they did, or die. Nobody is holding a gun to Feinstein & Schumer’s heads.
I guess that was supposed to be clever on your part? As a Jewish person, I find the analogy offensive.
Utterly predictable. In fact, Larry did predict it.
Good way to dismiss a whole lotta progressive voters, Karin. But it’s nothing new.
And it’s still offensive.
good morning..ok about my posting last night about feinstein. Here should be rule #1.
last night it was boy’s night out and the hoopster came home and blogged..probably not a good idea..Sorry about that.
I remember when diana was first elected into the senate and some rethug was blasting her on the floor about her stand on gun control.
she turned to him and said something like ‘Senator..i came into office because of gun violence..don’t you dare preach to me..’
I said ‘that’s my girl’ stood up to 90+ old white rich guys in the senate..
The hoopster likes dems, women or men that stand up to the GOP.
Think I’ll email her and remind her
of those days and how she needs to stand up to them now more than ever….
Well, the Sonderkommando analogy isn’t apt. It’s really overdramatic, to say the least. But there were lots of civil servants, professors, lawyers, and politicians in German society who had not been Nazis, who became enablers of the new regime when it became expedient, or even earlier, when they might have been able to do something useful to stop it. That’s where I place people like Feinstein, Schumer, and other Washington Dems who have served as collaborators. I also put moderate Republicans who really knew better yet collaborated in this category. The Hagels are few and far between.
As for Feinstein’s career: like I said up higher in this thread, before the Bushies came to power, her conservatism really placed her simply as a conservative Dem, and she mainly served to balance the more liberal Boxer. It wasn’t so much of an issue. But since Bush took over, she’s really been a sellout on a lot of issues. Now people change over the years, and sometimes they get more conservative as they get older, and sometimes after they’ve been in Washington a very long time, they get indebted to various vested interests. I don’t know what’s happened to her. But she’s sold out to the criminal gang.
There’s pros and cons to either registering Dem on going Indie. Indie is the morally correct choice, the truest one to stick by policies you believe in.
The only problem with it is where is the Indie candidate that can win in 2008? We can all vote for our favorite obscure (but right, dammit!) candidate and we will end up with a Republican President.
What Dennis Kucinich says is right a lot of the time.What Ralph Nader says is right a lot of the time.
But they aren’t going to be President. America is not going to elect for President a vegan who hangs out at Shirley MacClaine’s house in hopes of seeing a UFO. Even if what he says is right.
And Ralph Nader’s campaign was busted by an effort that came largely from the Democratic Party in 2004.
There’s only one candidate with a political machine behind them that has even a chance in blue hell of battling the Cheney machine. And we all know who that is.
And there’s lots of things to not like about her. And die-hard Republicans hate her and her ex-Pres husband with that special brand of 180-proof pure vitriol matched only by the extreme left’s guttural, enraged hatred of Bush/Cheney.
So everybody vote for whatever candidate most fulfills their fantasies of the perfect president.
And the GOP will, in perfect Aryan lockstep, all unanimously vote for their single “chosen” candidate.
Who wins that election?
Think about it.
we need a new party. I wonder if there are enough of us yet to form something like the “common sense” party? No politicians would be eligible. No one has to be a member, only persons that ask constituents what they want and accept no contributions could be considered.
Most likely the party would have to select someone that did not want the job. That way we might get a responsible person for a change. Democracy is possible, but for it’s enemies.
[...] Diane Feinstein and Chuck Schumer will vote to confirm Michael Mukasey Filed under: Chuck Schumer, Democratic Party, Diane Feinstein, Justice Department, Michael Mukasey — jr @ 10:58 pm Diane Feinstein and Chuck Schumer will vote to confirm Michael Mukasey [...]
Sonderkommando Jesus Larry……
Spineless, affraid of their own shadow, testicly challenged, but sonderkommando….
Still I must admit being shocked (it is really hard these days to admit that being we are living in a shock laden environment…)
Still, our DEMS are the good guys, we just have to keep hammering them to do the right thing….
It seems the long twilight in the minority role has left DEEP scars and timidity, we just have to keep pushing….and try to not loose faith, and YES you need to register as a DEM, think OUR platform vs. THEIR platforms, YOU are a SPINE lade guy and can help bring out that in our fellow dems….
Tom
and as rick said in Casablanca “confusion to the enemy”
Larry,
I usually agree with you, but not this time.
Because comparing Feinstein and Schumer to the sondercommandos is a bit beyond the pale. Because, as Shoephone points out, the sondercommandos had guns pointed at their heads. No one is pointing a gun at Schumer or Feinstein.
For the sondercommandos disposing of the corpses meant a few more days, weeks, months of life. It meant that, if they survived, they could bear witness against the terrible crimes. The Nazis forced them into that position. What choice did they have? They knew the Nazis would murder them eventually too. Because the sondercommandos were often privileged to have inside information about Nazi operations, they became a liability. The Nazis would kill the old sondercommanders, and have the new ones destroy the corpses of their predecessors. The sondercommanders knew there was a death sentence over them.
Plus, I’ve read stories of how people enroute to the gas chambers saw the sondercommandos sobbing and trying to join the condemned, which would be a death sentence if the Nazis saw them. The victims forgave them and begged them to survive in order to bear witness. The sondercommandos probably had to watch friends, family and neighbors being killed. There’s no comparison between sondercommandos and Bush enablers.
It’s offensive to draw these WWII analogies: Whether we compare Bush to Hitler or Democratic leaders to sondercommandos. Neither is true, nor is it accurate.
Plus, it’s offensive that anyone would compare Feinstein and Schumer to sondercommandos just because they’re Jewish. Why do Feinstein and Schumer have a greater moral obligation than anyone else? Would you expect Cambodians, for example, to have a greater moral obligation against tyranny and war, just because they survived the Khmer Rouge?
I don’t like Feinstein or Schumer very much either. But these casual comparisons trivialize the horrors of WWII, making what happened appear less threatening. As if the terrors of the concentration camps were about support for Mukasey. As bad as Feinstein and Schumer are on this issue, they don’t rise to the level of the holocaust. That’s why these types of comparisons are so offensive.
I also don’t get why Feinstein and Schumer would prevent anyone from registering as a Democrat? Why would two bad eggs, or more accurately two mediocre eggs, be cause to join or not join a political party? There are bad eggs, mediocre eggs, really good eggs in every party. The reason for joining a political party ought to be the party platform, what the party stands for, not the actions of one or two members.
Hey! I was the one who said the sondercommandos had guns pointed to their heads, not shoephone. And yes, I think we do expect greater moral authority from people who have suffered injustice themselves. I expect Vietnamese to be against ever dropping napalm on anyone. I expect black South Africans to be against any form of apartheid. I expect Jewish people to be horrified at any type of concentration camp, whether in Bosnia or Gitmo. Plus, they do make that “Never Again” claim.
“I expect Jewish people to be horrified at any type of concentration camp, whether in Bosnia or Gitmo.”
Or Gaza? Or the West Bank? Oh - no, wait. Those would be more like ghettos, wouldn’t they? Or, as some people refer to them, Bantustans.
Apologies Karin, thought it was Shoephone.
Leslie, thank you for your well articulated and thought provoking response. I spent some deal of time through the night thinking about what you said, and examining my own feelings. Only a few writers have had that kind of effect on me over the years, some in greater depth than others.
I find that my outrage, at the deeds of these enablers is so great, that I felt that release of tension when hearing their crimes called out for what they are, despite the ‘tag’ not really being an honest assessment of the actual situation. Now, that is not to say that I don’t agree on some viseral level with the analagy. I know I do, or I would not have felt it. But it can still be wrong. And not gereally productive in any good meaning of the phrase. You are right on this point.
That being said, I hope that others will also look within themselves for strength and understanding, as we do live in very dangerous and pitiful times… that we even are of needs discussing this stupid decision of Feinstein and Schumer is testament enough… Where is the common sense? where is the outrage? where are we heading if we turn on one another??
Thanks PrchrLady,
Yeah…I think there are other names we could call Feinstein and Schumer without injecting religion into it. For example: Bush enablers, torture-abetters, cowards or whatever…and I think those labels would be more effective and to the point.
Because I’ll bet the ensuing conversation below, which I haven’t read yet, is all about Judaism and not about Mukasey.
[Note: My analogy to Cambodia's killing fields wasn't well thought out. What I meant was it was amazing if the Cambodian's survived Pol Pot. Just survived! But, as far as Feinstein and Schumer are concerned, they never experienced WWII death camps. Maybe they had family who did, but they never did themselves. And really it's not relevant to Mukasey.]
Is Feinstein Jewish? I read long ago that she was Catholic.
Anyway, the comparison is apt. We could also call the idiots Court Jews. How would that be?
March 14, 2003
An Open Letter to Paul Wolfowitz
To My Former Dean and Other “Court Jews”
by JOSH RUEBNER
My brother, I don’t blame you for accepting the starring role of “court Jew.” It must be a pretty amazing feeling to convince yourself that you have as much power as everybody says that you do. I hope that I never get close enough to the power structure of this crumbling, decrepit empire to get a taste of it. In my humble opinion, there is only one honorable thing that you can do to undo the shameful damage that you have caused already: resign. For the sake of your own dignity, you must refuse to be exploited as the “court Jew.” Step down and deprive the power structure of its “court Jew” and you will expose to the world the actors who really motivate the Bush Administration. Please, before it is too late, tell the world that it is not the powerless Jews who are pushing for this war, but the greedy, venal barons of corporate America who stand to profit while cowering behind the myth of the all-powerful Jew. Tell everybody what you and I both know. That the real interests hawking for this war are the defense contractors and the oil industry who will make billions of dollars to first destroy Iraq and then “rebuild” it under the protective wing of American “democracy.” And, while you’re at it, please tell the world that the $100 billion the Bush Administration will require to pay the military-industrial complex to finance this war of aggression will be sucked from the wallets of the impoverished American working class which is systematically being stripped of government services by this rapacious regime.
http://www.counterpunch.org/ruebner03142003.html
I appreciate your reasoned disagreement. I acknowledge being deliberately provocative. But I also will not hinder others, like you, from challenging me, particularly when it is done in an intelligent manner.
Best
Thanks Larry, your interest in hearing well-reasoned opposing views is one of the reasons why I like your blog. Know you were trying to be provocative. I can think of a few things to call Schumer and Feinstein too.
But one of the problems with comparing them to Sondercommandos is that it diverts the conversation toward religion and away from your point about Mukasey.
That sonderkommando reference may or may not be over the top, Larry, because of its holocaust inference, but no one really knows how many “guns to the head” bu$hCo holds. Look at how key people appear to be easily “gotten to” and how they flip seemingly overnight.
The now-familiar phrase, “leaving to spend more time with my family” has a sinister undertone and implies, “while I still have a family to spend more time with.” Under bu$hCo, it’s “no one here gets out alive.”
I don’t give a damn if people had guns pointed to their heads.
People making excuses for the complicity of others past and present really amaze me.
Some things are worth dying for.
That’s soooooo easy to say when you are not the one with a gun pointed at your head by someone demanding you betray your principles. It’s quite a different matter when the bullet that could end one’s life is real and a few inches from your head, as many a former moralizer-for-others has discovered.
Never allow the water boarding apologists to use the term water boarding without the accompanying “disclaimer” … “water boarding, the torture technique used by the Nazi SS and Gestapo during WW II …”
For example, “The future AG of the United States of America, the highest law enforcement officer in the land, was today unable to declare water boarding illegal. Water boarding was the torture technique used by the Nazi SS and Gestapo during WW II. The torture technique origins date back to the Spanish Inquisitions of the late 14th century.”
We have been betrayed.
I saw some of christine amanpour’s religious nuts series on CNN. on the Jewish one, they showed George HW trying to make a stand against the settlement creation going on in israel. they had a great shot of shumer on some talk show phoning it in for AIPAC much to our subsequent detriment. jerk
sonderkommando does fit. It is someone that under the pain of punishment up to death, turns on their people and kills them for their new master. It indicates someone that would rather be comfortable than human.
You will note that when the bandini hits the ventilator, schumer and feinstein vote against their party. They have done so on so many occasions that one must draw conclusions based on these specific votes. It could be they are in the pay of the Israeli lobby? They do not vote with the people of their state, and that is the best indicator. I am convinced that the way they voted, they have committed treason. You can’t vote for someone that you know to be a criminal, or to be installed by someone you know to be a criminal, that is obviously being installed to further a criminal agenda. Why is this action by the exu acceptable to anyone?
Larry; would you consider, if someone else hasn’t, putting something together about likely future scenarios? With all the intel you have, show us what can’t be changed about our world. That which we don’t have the bulldozers or helicopters or dynamite to change to our advantage. Let’s compare the physical realities of the world, to potential political issues. If we concentrated on a few staples of life, we may be able to better visualize what happens when the oil is gone, the water is re distributed, the air, etc…
We make no sacrifices for the war because those profiting wish for us to enjoy our normal life, it gives stability to anyone that can hide the truth from the people, and continue their war of plunder.
It would perhaps educate people as to just how difficult it may be to support the existing population, and how this little globe is going to change, before our eyes. Some of these are obvious, some are far more obscure and visible only to those with access to the information.
The sondercommandos didn’t kill anyone. The Nazis did that. The sondercommandos would bury the corpses.