How did that kooky, insidious, false Dinesh D’Souza piece end up on the cover of Forbes? Take a look at the boss man.
Not content to smear the president for supposedly being an anti-American beholden to the “dreams of a Luo tribesman of the 1950s” and a “philandering, inebriated African socialist,” Forbes editor-in-chief and former GOP presidential candidate Steve Forbes uses his front-of-the-book column to compare Obama unfavorably to Vladimir Lenin.
I kid you not. They even Photoshopped Obama sitting next to old Vlad.
Here’s the dictator rhetoric (emphasis mine):
In his mind the President probably figures he has miraculously achieved a big chunk of his agenda: The federal government will, in effect, be in charge of the health care and financial industries. Through regulatory decrees Obama can continue to extend the power of unions in the workplace. He may get some sort of cap-and-trade legislation passed in the lame-duck session of Congress after the election, which would also make the energy industry a de facto vassal of the federal government.
If reelected, Obama can go back to his power-grabbing ways by having the federal government intrusively dominate higher education via programs that will make college “free” to virtually everyone. Student loans are already under his thumb.
And look out, America!
Rigid ideologists have long known how to make tactical maneuvers to further their ultimate goals. The most famous case was Vladimir Lenin in the early 1920s. While the Communists had won the civil war, the Soviet Union’s economy was moribund, threatening the Red regime’s survival. Entrepreneurs did not fear taxes and regulations; they feared for their very lives. Lenin knew the economic paralysis had to be broken. With great fanfare he introduced the New Economic Policy. Small, privately held businesses would be permitted and would be allowed to pocket their profits. Peasants could keep and till their land. This liberalizing had the desired effect of bringing the Soviet economy back to life—allowing Lenin and his confederates to consolidate their power. Once that was achieved, the New Economic Policy was murderously reversed.
My mouth is agape. The crazy is really getting bad, folks.
(h/t to commenter Benedict@Large)
— Ever watched the Fox Business Network?
I’m guessing not. Okay, steel your stomach and watch this clip Mediaite pulled last night from a Republican roundtable on whether to shut down the post office.
Former GOP Senator Al D’Amato calls out Republican consultant Jack Burkman for his “racist bullshit” for saying “most of these guys working in the Post Office should be driving cabs, and I think we should stop importing labor from Nigeria and Ethiopia. That’s the skill level.”
— Let’s head to the weekend with a little dose of sanity. Okay, a lot. You can thank Jonathan Weil of Bloomberg who writes that “Zombie Banks Have Us Right Where They Want Us.”
How long will it take before we see some semblance of robust free-market capitalism return, where the value of an asset is based on what bona fide market participants will pay for it, the cost to borrow money is based on a company’s fundamental financial strength rather than its ability to access a government safety net, and corporations are free to fail no matter what their size?
And
Meanwhile, executives who lie about their companies’ financial condition still have little to fear. Criminal prosecutions for such transgressions are rare. On those few occasions when the Securities and Exchange Commission sues a large company for fraud, chances are that its bosses will get off scot-free or, if they’re unlucky, with a wrist-slap.
It’s no wonder many investors now conclude the whole game is rigged. It would be easy to limit the blame to government and crony capitalists. Ultimately, though, we are responsible for the leaders we choose. As long as the American people remain unwilling to bear the full economic consequences of the last financial crisis, there will be no end to the bailout culture. The lords of finance still have us right where they want us.
Happy weekend, folks!
Since CJR prides itself on keeping the facts straight, I'll note that I was taught Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov used the pen name N. Lenin. In his famous identity as leader of the Soviet Union, he always signed things "N. Lenin" and never "V. I. Lenin" despite what Wikipedia might tell you.
#1 Posted by Bill G., CJR on Sat 18 Sep 2010 at 11:22 AM
What is so stunning about the Post Office clip is the absolute ignorance, even of their own lived experience, demonstrated by the panelists. The leading comparison was between UPS/FedEx and the Post Office, needless to say to the detriment of the latter. And the leading idea was to privatize the Post Office.
But the Post Office and UPS/FedEx aren't in the same business. In addition to package delivery (which the Post Office generally does less expensively than anyone), the Post Office also delivers letters, advertising material, magazines, non-profit mailers, and similar materials. A privatized service would do none of the latter things; the price of "mailing" such things in a privatized world would be so high no one would do so. That would kill off magazines (except on-line), all letter mail (including greeting cards), advertising, and a lot of non-profits. All the panelists needed to do to realize the problems their idea would create was to recognize that the despised Post Office will deliver a letter from Alabama to Alaska for 44 cents,while UPS/FedEx would charge more than $6.00.
These guys are so in love with their abstract ideas (not like conservatives but like the French revolutionaries Edmund burke despised) that they are incapable of even imaging the consequences of implementing them. That makes them both very foolish and very dangerous.
#2 Posted by George, CJR on Sun 19 Sep 2010 at 09:25 PM
Look at a print of the the original photo (with only Soviet retouching, not Forbes'), and you'll find that Forbes has put put Obama's head on Stalin's body. A new low indeed.
#3 Posted by Steven Saum, CJR on Mon 20 Sep 2010 at 09:38 AM
Do Americans realise just how close they are to toppling into political disaster?
The rest of the world watches in despair as not only groups like the Tea Party peddle complee lies with apparent impunity from the mainstream media, but the mainstream media itself peddles lies and complete nonsense about the government. And then there is Big Business which was saved by the very government it now seeks to undermine.
The Right may not yet be seen to burn books, but that's only because "the books" are being burnt in another way.
#4 Posted by C Murphy (Australia), CJR on Thu 23 Sep 2010 at 12:08 PM
It's ironic that Forbes is photoshopping Stalin's body. Stalin's propagandists practically invented picture-doctoring. Maybe Steve Forbes should have stuck his own head on there.
#5 Posted by OD, CJR on Thu 23 Sep 2010 at 01:14 PM
@C Murphy As an American, I realize it every day. I've made arrangements to stay with a friend in Canada if the beast awakes from its slumber, slings its tail at the pillars, and sends all that I've known into cracks, crumbling, and an irretrievable plummeting into the abyss, dark as a moonless evening, and a harbinger of the long twilight that will haunt me no matter which land I seek refuge.
The beast. Anarchy.
#6 Posted by Lothar, CJR on Fri 24 Sep 2010 at 12:20 AM
Thank God for groups like the Tea Party. Criticize the President and people yell "racist!" Make a logical argument that Obama is America's Lenin, and people cry "He's no Stalin! How dare you make such a comparrison!" --- Calling Obama a Social Marxist is not saying that he's evil, and waving a red flag ith an Ak-47. Rather, it's saying he's completely, immovably ideological and that his ideologies ARE in fact Marxist, NOT Christian (Christianity emphasizes PERSONAL responsibility and CHARITY - not force and coercion), and he believes in his ideology enough to be politically deceptive.
#7 Posted by Mark, CJR on Fri 29 Jun 2012 at 01:06 AM