More excesses from Bush critics (8/18)

By Brendan Nyhan

In several recent cases, prominent liberal figures have resorted to rhetorical extremes and factual deception to attack conservatives and the Bush administration.

Molly Ivins, a syndicated columnist, invoked the specter of fascism with no serious justification in an August 7 column:

This is more than just, "Boy, do their policies suck." There's a creepy advance of something more menacing than bad policies.

I keep thinking of Mussolini's definition of fascism: "Fascism should more properly be called 'corporatism,' since it is the marriage of government and corporate power." When was the last time we saw this administration do something that involved standing up to some corporate special interest in favor of the great majority of the people?

Obviously, this last question is a logical absurdity. The fact that the Bush administration does not oppose corporate interests to Ivins' satisfaction is hardly proof that it bears any relation to fascism.

James Taranto of Opinion Journal's "Best of the Web Today" also pointed out that Reverend Jesse Jackson, an activist and former presidential contender, compared proponents of the California gubernatorial recall to the extremists of the French Revolution in the Chicago Sun-Times on August 12:

Democracy offends reactionaries. The majority of Americans oppose their extreme agenda, so they plot ways to subvert democratic elections.

Now these Jacobins of reaction have increasing control over the Republican Party. In the French Revolution, the extremist Jacobins espoused liberty and the rights of the people, but used the guillotine to silence the opposition. Today's reactionary Jacobins call themselves conservatives but would overturn democracy to suppress the opposition.

Jackson additionally calls Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform the "Republican guerilla leader."

Finally, as Rush Limbaugh noted on his radio show, former Vermont governor Howard Dean, a contender for the Democratic nomination for President, paraphrased President Bush as having said "that the Iraqis were purchasing uranium from Niger" on the August 12 edition of MSNBC's "Buchanan & Press". As we have shown, Bush actually said the following during his State of the Union address: "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."

Dean misrepresents Bush's claim in two ways. First, he falsely alleges that Bush said "Iraqis were purchasing uranium" rather than that they "sought" it -- a much stronger claim. Like many commentators, Dean also misstates the geographical focus of the supposed pursuit as Niger specifically rather than Africa in general, thus attempting to link Bush more directly to forged documents purportedly showing that Iraq attempted to obtain uranium in Niger.

Those who profess concern for the state of American democracy or honesty in democratic debate - as Ivins, Jackson and Dean all do - should do their part to improve the discourse by refraining from rhetorical excesses and falsehoods.

[Email this to a friend] [Subscribe to our email list]

Related links:
-Lies, spin and truth in the controversy over Iraq's alleged pursuit of uranium (Ben Fritz and Brendan Nyhan, 7/29/03)

8/18/2003 04:45:48 AM EST |

This website is copyright (c) 2001-2005 by Ben Fritz, Bryan Keefer and Brendan Nyhan. Please send letters to the editor for publication to letters@spinsanity.org and private questions or comments to feedback@spinsanity.org.

Comments by YACCS