Last week Brandenburg’s interior minister Jörg Schönbohm (CDU) started a firestorm of controversy after the remains of 9 babies were found there, apparently killed by their mother. Schönbohm immediately blamed the legacy of the ruling communist SED party and its "forced proletarization" of the population in the east. The ideology of the collective had eradicated Christian values, making inevitable such unspeakable acts of violence and brutality. No doubt, Schönbohm saw a chance to make an indirect attack on his political rivals – the PDS and the Linkspartei – who now have a commanding lead in the polls in Brandenburg and all of the five east German states. Schönbohm immediately came under attack from all sides for his remarks, although some commentators like Claus Christian Mahlzahn in Der Spiegel praised the "politically incorrect" Schönbohm for his "necessary" statements. Schönbohm later apologized for having "damaged" his party by making these remarks.
But we know from our experience in the US that politicians cannot resist using personal tragedies like this for their own political gain:
- In 1994 Susan Smith drowned her two infant children and then lied about it. The Speaker of the House, Republican Newt Gingrich blamed the drowning deaths on the Democrats and their "loose morals" until it was revealed that Smith was a life-long Republican.
- After the Columbine school massacre in 1999, House Majority Whip Tom Delay (Republican) addressed Bible-waving preachers on the Capitol lawn, blaming the Columbine High School shootings on ”liberal relativism that has hollowed out the souls of too many in our society.” Later on the House floor, DeLay linked Columbine to the abortion culture and instruction about evolution. ”Our school systems teach the children that they are nothing but glorified apes who are evolutionized [sic] out of some primordial soup.”
- After the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center conservative religious leader Jeffy Falwell blamed the "gays and lesbians" for creating such depravity that made the attacks possible, while numerous Republicans blamed former president Bill Clinton, even though George W. Bush was the incumbent president and just 4 weeks before the attacks had been handed a security briefing entitled "Bin Laden Determined to Attack in the US." (Bush was on vacation, so he was unable to act on this information.)
- More recently, Rush Limbaugh and the right-wing establishment blamed John Kerry for the prisoner abuse scandals at Abu Ghraib, since Kerry had admitted to committing atrocities in Vietnam.
- And my personal favorite: Senator Rick Santorum (Republican)- preparing for a possible presidential run in 2008 – holds Harvard University responsible for the child sex abuse scandal involving Catholic priests. As a former student and teaching fellow at Harvard, I had no idea that the school was encouraging this type of behavior from priests. I had always assumed that it was the fault of Yale University!
At least Jörg Schönbohm apologized for making his idiotic remarks. None of his US counterparts have made apologies to this day.
