For the past two weeks President Bush has been exhorting Americans to support his disasterous Iraq War by comparing the debacle to the "Good War" against "Nazi fascists" and the insurgents to "evil Nazis". The latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll (pdf file) shows that -so far, at least – Americans are not impressed:
President Bush has compared the war in Iraq to the fight against the Nazis and fascism. Do you believe that this is an appropriate comparison that reflects the danger of the current situation, or an inappropriate comparison that is only being made to justify the Bush policy in Iraq? + **
Appropriate comparison/reflects the current danger………
32
Inappropriate comparison/made to justify the Bush policy
61
Not sure………………………………………………………….
7
** Asked of one-half the respondents (FORM B). + Results shown reflect responses among registered voters.
I was so distracted by the discussion of Islamic Nazis and Islamofascists that I didn’t realize what was happening in the eastern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Checking in on the NPD Blog, which does a great job monitoring the activities of the neo-Nazi NPD, I was horrified to learn that this openly Nazi group has an excellent chance of winning seats for the state parliament in the upcoming election. This is no accident, according to NPD Blog:
“So haben die demokratischen Parteien viel zu spät und kopflos auf das Erstarken der NPD reagiert. Bereits seit Jahren bauen Neonazis Strukturen in dem Bundesland auf, sie engagieren sich in Bürgerinitiativen (”Schöner Wohnen” in Wolgast, Ueckermünde und Anklam), bringen Zeitungen heraus (”Der Inselbote”), kaufen Grundstücke (Region um Lübtheen) und dominieren in einigen Regionen die Jugendkultur. ”
Once again, the main democratic parties in Germany are clueless how to counteract the economic despair, alienated youth, and pure xenophobia that is so deeply entrenched in many parts of eastern Germany.
