I’m finding it very difficult to believe that Anita Dunn, who said on film on June 5 that communist mass murderer Chairman Mao was one of her philosophical heroes, still has a job. Can you imagine the ramifications of a Republican in her position saying something even mildly similar? For folks who don’t pay attention, under Mao nearly 34 million people were murdered, many in concentration camps. Think North Korea. Disgusting. This woman has no place in any responsible administration.
October 20th, 2009 at 12:00 am
Make that 50 to 70 million!
October 20th, 2009 at 12:00 am
My gosh. That’s horrible. The next thing you know, some politician will be saying something good about Hitler. Oh that’s right, they have. President’s Nixon, Reagan and George H.W. Bush all said that they drew different parts of their economic plan from those that were put into effect in Germany in the 1930’s. This is silly. Anita Dunn was talking about the philosophy needed to be the White House Communications Director and talked about quotes from Chairman Mao and (somehow this one didn’t get mentioned, I am sure it was an oversight) Mother Theresa. She also mentioned when she was first attacked for her quote, that she first started reading Chairman Mao after hearing Lee Atwater talk about how he liked to get ideas for his campaigns from Mao’s quotes.
October 20th, 2009 at 12:00 am
Mr. Kaptain:
Can you supply some citations and dates in which Nixon, Reagan and G.H.W.
Bush, “all said they drew different parts of their economic plan… from Germany
in the 1930s”?
Somehow I have NEVER seen any substantiation of that, or even heard the
Claim before.
If you cannot substantiate that statement, then you should withdraw it.
October 20th, 2009 at 12:00 am
Tom,
So I take it if Anita Dunn had referenced Hitler instead of Mao, you’d be fine with that as well?
DDD
October 20th, 2009 at 12:00 am
Apathy folks by the media as usual.
It is hard to undersand how these people get a top secret security clearance….Hoover is rolling over in his grave!!!!
October 20th, 2009 at 12:00 am
Someone sent a virus over that wrecked my computer, so I just got online at a Kinko’s.
I will try and source my quotes on the three Presidents as quickly as I can. However I will repeat while adding in explanation, that all three answered questions about specific economic programs they implemented by talking about how part of the process involved looking at what Germany had done successfully in the 1930’s.
Each time a reasonable number of people asked if the quotes weren’t mainstreaming Hitler in some way by seeming to praise his actions, but no large number of people jumped on it or tried to take it out of context the way I think some are taking Dunn’s comments here.
October 20th, 2009 at 12:00 am
and of course if I wanted to make the same point more easily, all I would have had to do would be to point out that no one on this site complained about crazy Pat Buchanan who went a whole lot further in support of Hitler and Germany than just about anyone I know of.
October 21st, 2009 at 12:00 am
Mr. Kaptain:
Sorry to hear about the virus issue… For your consideration, and any other FR readers,
there is a FREE, effective anti-virus software called “Avast” which I (and millions of
others) have used successfully for years. Here is the link:
http://www.avast.com/
Back to business… let’s stick to your original outrageous claim that Ronald Reagan,
Richard Nixon and George Bush Sr. as Presidents spoke positively about Nazi eco-
nomics of the 1930s.
There are two intractable problems with your claim:
(1) Hitler expanded the power of government over private enterprise. He famously said,
“It goes without saying that only a Planned Economy can make full use of a People’s
strengh.” Hitler was not a supply-sider. The word “socialist” in the Nazi name actually
MEANT something. He was a Socialist.
(2) All 3 of these future Presidents were in US military uniforms in WWII (Reagan in
Army, Nixon and Bush the Navy). They fought against fascism in a real-live shooting
war. Their personal history would have blocked them from praising anything about
Adolph Hitler. They LIVED through that era.
That is the problem with Ms. Dunn… she did not live through that nightmare, and her
remarks demonstrate effective ignorance of what happened then. That kind of anti-
historical ignorance is another reason President Obama should dismiss her.
October 21st, 2009 at 12:00 am
I will stick to my claim because I remember all of the conversations about it. But I don’t doubt your skepticism and realize the onus is on me and I will try and answer the challenge in the next few days.
I am also producing a slate for the election in two weeks, so that and my computer problems are not helping. On your suggestion, I have Norton Anti-Virus which I thought would be enough, but evidently not. I have had a repair person out to look at it, but when I get my terminal back, maybe I will try your recommendation over what I paid for.
As for the politics, I actually agree to some extent with your point about Hitler, although I should add that Hitler always believed a gifted elite was supposed to run everything, while considering the interests of the whole community and he separated himself from communists, socialists and of course liberals by that belief. Liberals believe they are fighting against the establishment of an aristocracy in this country and the debate over that point is a part of what goes on in every election season.
You may in fact remember that was Roosevelt’s response to the conservative concerns about government intervention in his time. He argued that with our history of freedom, there was a lot smaller chance of a government dictatorship because of power hungry people taking control than there was of a revolt of the “left out” who at some point would become frustrated if the gap in income became too large or if they felt they didn’t have a chance to improve their circumstances. But as I said, that’s for a debate between politicians with a different view of the world and for the voters to choose between the differing views.
But, to imply that saying anything favorable about the enemy from a war just doesn’t square with the facts I don’t think. I am an honorably discharged veteran who didn’t serve in combat, but spent a lot of time talking to older veterans and in my experience, they constantly talked about what the enemy did and sometimes talked about ideas that they thought this country should borrow. That doesn’t mean they supported the other side, but that they looked at them closely because they wondered how they were as successful as they were. It’s what intellectually curious people do.
So when Anita Dunn, follows the lead of Lee Atwater and starts reading Chairman Mao (and Mother Theresa) to get ideas about how to communicate, I don’t really see anything wrong with it and in my experience it happens all the time.
October 21st, 2009 at 12:00 am
Mr. Kaptain:
* WHO is the source of the claim that Lee Atwater praised Mao Tse-Tung? The an-
swer is Anita Dunn, trying to get herself out of a jam.
I just did a full-text database search and found NO SUBSTANTIATION of Lee Atwater
ever quoting, or recommending that mass-murdering dictator, most of whose victims
were themselves Chinese by the way
But I DID find the late, great Lee Atwater praising ANOTHER famous Chinese figure. This
is from the Los Angeles TIMES of November 23, 1989, by Dan Sewell of the Associated
Press:
…………” Republican Party Chairman Lee Atwater, perhaps the most hard-nosed …………. political strategist of this decade, is a devotee who reads “The Art of War”
…………..before every campaign.”
The “Art of War” was written by a 6th-century-BC philosopher and Chinese general named
Sun Tzu. Repeat, not Mao, but a Chinese patriot officer from 2600 years ago.
The AP’s Sewell then explains more about Sun Tzu, and reporter Sewell also mentions Mao
Tse-Tung in passing:
………….”Sun Tzu’s writings finally reached the Western world in the late 18th Century …………..and were reputedly followed by the Soviet Red Army, the Japanese military, …………..Vietnam’s leader Ho Chi Minh and Chinese revolutionary leader MAO Tse-tung.”
This is the Chicago Way of Truth !! Lee Atwater recommends a 2,600-year-old Book, the AP men-
tions Mao supposedly also read it, and Volia ! Lee Atwater endorses Mao !
* Mr. Kaptain, I know you only by your excellent reputation. May I respectfully suggest that you be more skeptical about startling claims that comes from the MSM or the Obama ad- ministration?
I only wish the great Lee Atwater were still alive to call the disgraceful Ms. Dunn a Liar to her face.
It truly takes a coward to attack the dead, who cannot talk back and defend themselves.
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:00 am
Anita Dunn did not claim to look to Mao as a tactician or strategist; she claimed to look to him as a political philosopher.
The difference is one of kind, not of degree.