Friday, October 24, 2008

You can't make this stuff up

Tuned into the Neal Boortz radio show earlier today. A caller was on the line. Said caller was comparing Obama to Hitler; saying Hitler promised change and was not a real German but an Austrian (thus implicitly saying that Obama isn't a real American but a foreigner.)

Boortz did not take offense at the comparison or chastise the caller. At first, Boortz jokingly asked the caller if he was talking about Germany or New York, citing mayor Bloomberg's proposal to extend his term limit.* Then, getting back to the caller's point, Boortz said that while he wasn't sure he'd compare Obama to Hitler (while he has on previous occasion described Democrats such as H. Clinton and Obama as fascists, citing Jonah Golberg's Liberal Fascism as a source for that claim) he would say that if Obama could, he would send capitalism to the oven.

Although I don't expect it was his intention to make the implication, but it is easy to see how some members of Boortz's wild-eyed audience - a caller once suggested, quite seriously, making Newt Gingrich dictator of America for five years - might make the inference that Obama would literally persecute capitalist persons.

I've sent Media Matters a tip about this and hopefully they'll post the audio and a transcript so that the exact conversation can be presented.

*For the record, I'm against the extension.

[Blogger's Note] - I've edited this slightly since originally posting it. I had written that "it is easy to see how Boortz's wild-eyed audience ..." but changed it to read "some members" as I do not think it fair to stereotype his entire audience as being that paranoid.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

"...persecute capitalist persons."

The Democrats may well, and hopefully will, PROSECUTE the crooks who stole so much money from others by fraud and political corruption, as well as the people ruining America's good name by torturing "prisoners of War"..but that 's NOT PERSECUTION.

It's justice.