The Line

Thank you, dear most right-wing of Republicans, for broadcasting your intent so very clearly. Those of us paying attention to the nascent line of attack are already imminently aware. He doesn't hire guys who you like, or who have any Washington experience? "So much for change!" He calls for national service? "Socialist!" He demonstrates the ability to rally people with charisma, at a grassroots level? Either "Empty Suit!" or "Dictator!" (The HuffPost called this "intellectual violence" - as in, attacking logic/reality itself).

But then, when you decide you're just trying to tear down the new administration just to help your party either save face or rekindle a culture of fear? I call you pathetic.

Georgia congressman warns of Obama dictatorship
By BEN EVANS – 2 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Republican congressman from Georgia said Monday he fears that President-elect Obama will establish a Gestapo-like security force to impose a Marxist or fascist dictatorship.

"It may sound a bit crazy and off base, but the thing is, he's the one who proposed this national security force," Rep. Paul Broun said of Obama in an interview Monday with The Associated Press. "I'm just trying to bring attention to the fact that we may — may not, I hope not — but we may have a problem with that type of philosophy of radical socialism or Marxism."

Broun cited a July speech by Obama that has circulated on the Internet in which the then-Democratic presidential candidate called for a civilian force to take some of the national security burden off the military.

"That's exactly what Hitler did in Nazi Germany and it's exactly what the Soviet Union did," Broun said. "When he's proposing to have a national security force that's answering to him, that is as strong as the U.S. military, he's showing me signs of being Marxist."

Obama's comments about a national security force came during a speech in Colorado about building a new civil service corps. Among other things, he called for expanding the nation's foreign service and doubling the size of the Peace Corps "to renew our diplomacy."

"We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we've set," Obama said in July. "We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded."

Broun said he also believes Obama likely will move to ban gun ownership if he does build a national police force.

Obama has said he respects the Second Amendment right to bear arms and favors "common sense" gun laws. Gun rights advocates interpret that as meaning he'll at least enact curbs on ownership of assault weapons and concealed weapons. As an Illinois state lawmaker, Obama supported a ban on semiautomatic weapons and tighter restrictions on firearms generally.

"We can't be lulled into complacency," Broun said. "You have to remember that Adolf Hitler was elected in a democratic Germany. I'm not comparing him to Adolf Hitler. What I'm saying is there is the potential."

Obama's transition office did not respond immediately to Broun's remarks.

What a ham-fisted, pathetic attempt to publically and very loudly call Obama Hitler. You do this in private, you're just a douche. You do this in public, you're a certified nutjob who's playing to the shreds of the hardest-right wing of his party. By this chunderloaf's reasoning, ANYONE he disagrees with could "potentially" be Hitler. Sometimes, it's the "real America;" other days it's "Red Commies." The politics of desperation, the politics of the lost party, though, never changes.

If the Republicans can learn anything from this election, rather than lining up in the circular firing squad (McCain aides blame Palin; Social conservatives blames McCain for not being right enough; Palin blames the policies of George Bush), they should learn this: the time for that shit is over. That card has been played. The people are sick of it. This race was won by the independants, the definition of the political middle, and they voted against the mudslinging and gnarly half-truths and outright distortions and the return of the culture wars. Find your platform. Figure out why you lost, why you REALLY lost, rather than pointing to everything else and blaming that. You messed it up. Learn, or get used to the cold, cause you'll be out there quite a while.