Crybaby Fascism (Alternative Title: "Gee, Look Who's Talking")

It looks like Rumsfeld is off his meds again ("Rumsfeld lashes out at Bush's critics"; Associated Press; August 29, 2006):

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday the world faces "a new type of fascism" and likened critics of the Bush administration's war strategy to those who tried to appease the Nazis in the 1930s.

Well, he's sort of right on two counts:

1. The world is facing a new type of fascist-like behavior.
   
2. As he implicitly states, fascists and those like them should not be appeased.

Sad as it is to need to compare contemporary politicians to the fascists, it's worth noting that Rumsfeld himself, in his statements above, is certainly guilty of fascist-like behavior. Much like the cowards who ruled 1930s Germany and Italy, Rumsfeld, and for that mater his administration and many of their remaining supporters, cannot bear to be criticized. As a matter of fact, much like the terrorists he's accusing of being "fascists," Rumsfeld and the administration he works for seems to have a religious certainty that they are infallible. Everybody else, the majority of Americans at this point, is apparently wrong:

In unusually explicit terms, Rumsfeld portrayed the administration's critics as suffering from "moral or intellectual confusion" about what threatens the nation's security. His remarks amounted to one of his most pointed defenses of President Bush's war policies and was among his toughest attacks on Bush's critics.

Well, at this point, it's probably fairly safe to say that the majority of people who still support Bush would find a way to rationalize it if Bush appeared on live television raping an infant and saluting Hitler.

But, to be fair, let's consider who Rumsfeld is talking about. He's criticizing super-national terrorism. I say super-national, rather than international, because these people are operating outside of the framework of the Westphalian state (by the way, fascists had no problem operating behind that shroud of legitimacy that statehood provides, and even relished having that legitimacy). While both certainly have their authoritarian bents, it seems that this would make Rumsfeld's party more like fascists than Al-Queda.

On another note, OneGoodMove posted some rather hilarious examples of how thin-skinned American right-wingers can be. Watch the clips:

• John Kasich cries about Fox News being picked on. Poor, poor Fox News!
• On a more serious note, Republicans have their panties in a bunch because the mayor of Salt Lake City is protesting Bush.