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The Spectacle Blog
Representative Steve Cohen refuses to apologize for the statement Phil noted earlier (“They say it’s a government takeover of health care, a big lie just like Goebbels”). “In no way did I call them Nazis,” he insists. “I did say they’ve been using a big lie.”
Since Rep. Cohen wants to plant his flag on this “big lie” attack, it’s worth noting that, contrary to widespread misconception, the “big lie” was not a tactic advocated by the Nazis, is was a Nazi accusation against their enemies. Michael Moynihan noted this in August:
It isn’t the blueprint for a Nazi media strategy, but a mad exposition on what is considered a “Jewish” way of media deception; i.e. the Jews, via socialist newspapers like Vorwärts, have spread a “big lie” that the First World War was lost militarily when, in fact, said those on the radical right, it was lost in the salons of Berlin and Munich. So here is the important context of the “big lie,” from Mein Kampf:
By branding [General] Ludendorff as guilty for the loss of the World War, [the Jews] took the weapon of moral right from the one dangerous accuser who could have risen against the traitors to the Fatherland. In this they proceeded on the sound principle that the magnitude of a lie always contains a certain factor of credibility, since the great masses of the people in the very bottom of their hearts tend to be corrupted rather than consciously and purposely evil, and that, therefore, in view of the primitives implicity of their minds they more easily fall a victim to a big lie than to a little one, since they themselves lie in little things, but would be ashamed of lies that were too big.
The closest Goebbels came to using the phrase was an article in which he said that “The English follow the principle that when one lies, one should lie big” — again, an accusation. The same accusation that Rep. Cohen is making. So no, Rep. Cohen didn’t call Republicans Nazis, he just smeared them in terms that the Nazis pioneered. I’m sure his bubbe would be proud.
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http://spectator.org/blog/2011/01/19/the-big-lie
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Clint| 1.19.11 @ 6:43PM
Democrat Cohen gets called for playing The Nazi Card.
Liberal Reader| 1.19.11 @ 7:00PM
So ... Cohen was wrong to bring Nazis into the conversation?
Or....Cohen is just like a Nazi?
Any chance you guys can figure out whether you approve of comparing people to Nazis or not?
I get seasick trying to keep up with your arguments.
How about this, as a rule of thumb:
If you find yourself tempted to compare someone to a Nazi, remind yourself any educated person is going to think you sound like an idiot unless you are actually talking about Nazis.
Patriot| 1.19.11 @ 7:13PM
You think it's a compliment when I call you a Marxist, sicko. lol
BD57| 1.19.11 @ 9:41PM
Seems like you should be directing these comments to Cohen ....
He invoked Godwin's law pretty early ...
Occam's Tool| 1.29.11 @ 3:15PM
Chen is just like a malignant idiot. He also happens to be Liberal. The two frequently overlap.
Occam's Tool| 1.29.11 @ 3:19PM
Sorry, Cohen. No disrespect to anyone named Chen.
Clint| 1.19.11 @ 7:03PM
We think You sound like an idiot, who comes here craving negative attention.
jharp| 1.19.11 @ 9:22PM
"They say it's a government takeover of health care"
Yes, "they", the republicans, say it's a government takeover of health care.
And it is lie.
So why don't you all quit lying?
Do you not believe in obeying the Ten Commandments? Day after day after day after it is clear that you are lying?
I don't think Jesus is going to like this.
Patriot| 1.19.11 @ 10:25PM
How do you know if a Liberal is lying?
His/her lips are moving.
Don't lecture us about truth, you're embarrassing yourself, libtard.
Ryan| 1.20.11 @ 9:08AM
How is it NOT a government takeover? Yes, maybe that is an exaggeration, but from a conservative point of view, not by much.
It expands the government's role in providing services.
It places limitations and regulations on private business.
It decreases the marketplace.
It creates situations where people - particularly those who work for small business - will be forced into government programs.
jharp| 1.19.11 @ 9:24PM
Liberal Reader says...."remind yourself any educated person is going to think you sound like an idiot unless you are actually talking about Nazis."
Their target audience is not educated. Thus, this rule does not apply.
Patriot| 1.19.11 @ 10:22PM
YOU are Cohen's target audience and he is the one spewing the Nazi baloney--you are the real uneducated idiots here. Fool.
And...remember--WE WON!
Bob | 1.19.11 @ 11:46PM
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it." ~ Joseph Goebbels
GOP take their propaganda tactics directly from the Joseph Goebbels handbook. http://bit.ly/efTPuo
Patriot| 1.20.11 @ 3:08AM
And just what are these 'propaganda tactics" of which you speak, cheese-ball? Care to expound and share with us your razor-like intellect and rapier wit or did you just read them on a public bathroom wall?
Bob | 1.19.11 @ 11:46PM
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it." ~ Joseph Goebbels
GOP take their propaganda tactics directly from the Joseph Goebbels handbook. http://bit.ly/efTPuo
Patriot| 1.20.11 @ 3:15AM
And of course, like the doltish troll you are, you had to double-post your fatuous remarks. Thanks for that.
Irish22| 1.20.11 @ 11:44AM
“The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly - it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over” Joseph Goebbles [http://bit.ly/efTPuo]
Apparently Goebbels discovered "talking points" long before the Dems and the GOP.
Is there no way to make lying to the American public for political gain a crime?
Patriot| 1.20.11 @ 12:39PM
We don't want or need the "Thought Police" you seem to be asking for. Besides, if we criminalized lying, the jails would be full of Democrat politicians.
Be careful what you wish for.
Clint| 1.20.11 @ 1:23AM
THE FACTS
* Workers and Families Face Increased Costs: Businesses will suffer under Obamacare by facing higher costs. They are struggling to meet disruptive employer mandates; accommodate new taxes on insurance, drugs, medical devices and investment; and comply with piles of Federal agency regulations and IRS paperwork. These costs will be either passed on to customers or to employees who will face lower wages or lost jobs.
* Senior Americans Lose Access: Many seniors will find that access to health care will become more difficult because of massive reductions in Medicare payments. Deep cuts to private Medicare Advantage options alone will cause 7.4 million seniors to lose current coverage.
* Physicians Lose Too: Obamacare did not fix the Medicare physician payment formula, so doctors face a 23 percent payment cut in December 2010. The increase in the number of Americans enrolled in Medicaid, combined with the fact that Medicaid pays doctors an average of 56 percent of what they would get in private practice with paying customers, will test the willingness of many doctors, and especially specialists, to continue to serve the Medicaid population. Further, under Obamacare doctors face more Federal Government regulations and reporting requirements, driving up the cost and hassle of practicing medicine.
* States Already Objecting: States understand the Obamacare disaster and have sued the Federal Government. Their goal is to try to strike down as unconstitutional Obamacare’s commands to States to expand their Medicaid programs and set up federally designed health insurance exchanges and to individuals to buy insurance or suffer penalties.
* Federal Taxpayers Hit The Hardest: Obamacare will add a trillion dollars in new Federal spending and create spending "time bombs" set to go off in 2014. These come in the form of prohibitively expensive new entitlements for long-term care and for insurance subsidies (which discourage work and penalize marriage). Obamacare will also impose about a half-trillion dollars in new taxes over the next decade, which fall heavily on the middle-class.
Bob | 1.20.11 @ 2:55AM
Do you have any source for these "facts"? A link perhaps?
Occam's Tool| 1.29.11 @ 3:17PM
My Dear Bob: MDs are increasingly refusing Medicare, as who wants to face the IG, applied increasingly erratically. As for Medicaid---when I was in private practice in the 1980s, most specialists I knew refused to take it, as they were sicker and it paid pathetically. We sell our time and expertise and, often, physical discomfort, for our profession.
Occam's Tool| 1.29.11 @ 3:18PM
Sorry---trained in the 1980s, started practice in the early 90s. My bad.
Richard Baker| 1.20.11 @ 10:21AM
Bob:
Do the work yourself. Try reading Clint's post again and find the information that he did. Do you want him to type the keyboard for you, as well?
Dale Cord| 1.20.11 @ 1:23PM
As always with dishonest and immoral people, if you give them enough rope they will hang themselves.Washington has enough trees to accommodate them all.After they have been swinging in the tree tops, they can bathe in the Lake of Fire until consumed by their own rebellious hatred for their Creator and His creation.
Patriot| 1.20.11 @ 2:51PM
Dale, you really need to lighten up there; unless of course you're a skeevy troll impersonating a Conservative.