Speaking of Clinton Derangement Syndrome …

… “Re-Defeat Communism” with a picture of Hillary Clinton? WTF?

… I’m hardly a fan of HRC myself, but enough is enough already.

Remember the elaborate fuss Red Blogistan kicked up when a contestant in a MoveOn TV-spot contest called GWB a Nazi?

Well, this ad, featuring the an Ann Coulter wannabe even more unpleasant-looking than Ann Coulter,

Townhall-Polina-158x265.jpg

has been running persistently on TownHall.com.

Now since it’s an article of faith among the wingnuts that Communism is just as bad as Naziism, I fail to see the difference, other than accuracy. After all, Bush does believe in torture, the Big Lie, the Leader Principle as a legal doctrine, and the superiority of passionate conviction to rational thought. That doesn’t make him guilty of genocide, but it makes the comparison to Hitler merely far-fetched rather than utterly baseless. HRC, by contrast, does not believe in torture, state ownership of the means of production, “democratic centralism,” or one-party rule, so unless you believe that any departure from laisser-faire constitutes “Communism,” the charge isn’t even a good caricature.

It’s not that I expect any of the people now calling themselves “conservatives” to mind. But remember this the next time you hear about “civility” from the right.

Author: Mark Kleiman

Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out. Books: Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken) When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993) Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989) UCLA Homepage Curriculum Vitae Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com