Words Can Kill
The American
Spectator gives us a historical example of exactly how a loyal opposition
should act during wartime. In 1942, the Republicans had plenty of ammunition
to use against FDR. Theories about his incompetence leading to Pearl Harbor,
or worse that FDR knew the attack would happen, were commonplace. The isolationist
United States was now sucked into a worldwide conflict that it was not prepared
for. So how should the Republicans react . . . ?
Savage FDR? Run on a campaign of “Roosevelt lied and people died”?
Should they go out and tell the American people just how dangerously incompetent
the man was, that the best thing to do was make peace with Hitler and Japan’s
Hirohito, then elect Republicans who would simply force FDR to bring home the
boys and let the rest of the world cope with chaos? After all, a few years earlier
FDR himself had turned back an ocean liner filled with 937 Jews escaping the
looming Holocaust. The idea of not making Hitler, Hirohito or Mussolini any
angrier than they were was certainly one approach.…
What happened in 1942?
The Republicans won the election, gaining 44 new House seats and 10 in the
Senate, not quite a majority, but erasing FDR’s control. Dewey won in New York
and was instantly bannered as a presidential sure thing. GOP gubernatorial candidates
won across the country.What was FDR’s reaction? The news account of his post-election press conference
reported FDR "laughs." Why? Said the headline: "Assumes New Congress
is for Winning, So Why Should Poll Make Any Difference?"And the Nazis and the Japanese? The so-called Axis Powers? What was their response?
The New York Times editorial page trumpeted "an admission from Berlin that
it would be ‘harboring an illusion’ to expect the Republican victory to bring
any change whatever in the policy of the United States." Focusing on
the silence of Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels, the paper concluded: "His
silence is proof of the fact that we have made the unity of our purpose apparent
to our enemies."We’re a long way from 1942.
Far from being silent, our enemies such as Osama bin Laden fairly regularly
send out tapes that regurgitate the Democrats’ talking points. Osama does not
need to work all that hard to put together a PR campaign – he has Michael Moore
on hand to do exactly that for him, who issues propaganda tailored to an American
audience in a way bin Laden could not achieve on his own, and could not purchase
with tens of millions of dollars.
(h/t Dean Esmay
and QandO)
Crossposted from WILLisms.com
Tags: War On Terror


