GOP Godwins Itself

9:47 pm EST April 19th, 2009 | Republicans | 3 Comments

As I noted last week on HuffPo, this will not work because when people who haven’t been brain-damaged by conservatism think of fascism, Barack Obama is the last thing on their minds

Workaday labels like “big spender” and “liberal” have lost their punch, and last fall, Senator John McCain of Arizona and Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska gained little traction during the presidential campaign by linking Mr. Obama’s agenda to socialism.

So Mr. Anuzis has turned to provocation with a purpose. He calls the president’s domestic agenda “economic fascism.”

“We’ve so overused the word ‘socialism’ that it no longer has the negative connotation it had 20 years ago, or even 10 years ago,” Mr. Anuzis said. “Fascism — everybody still thinks that’s a bad thing.”

Whether fellow Republicans think that is factually appropriate or strategically wise is another question.

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3 Responses to “GOP Godwins Itself”

  1. Duros62 says:
    April 20, 2009 at 12:05 pm

    “Fascism — everybody still thinks that’s a bad thing.”

    Especially since no one knows what it means.

  2. Sean D. Martin says:
    April 20, 2009 at 12:29 pm

    “Fascism — everybody still thinks that’s a bad thing.”

    Translation: We’re not interested in accurately naming or describing what we’re objecting to. We just want to use a word the will get people riled up.

    If we had to be accurate we’d first have to figure out what it is we’re objecting to. And that’s hard.

  3. Boronx says:
    April 21, 2009 at 4:17 am

    Slapping on nonsense labels to gin up hatred against your opponents…sounds like something a fascist would do.