Via Roy we see that Erik the Red-Faced is giving himself a subarachnoid haemorrhage over news that as many as a million people may attend Obama’s speech in Berlin.
Barack Obamessiah Goes To Berlin: Not Since 1939 Have So Many Germans Turned Out To Hear A Politician in Berlin Irony Thy Name Is Barack Obama
“Berlin authorities say that as many as a million people could attend. Four TV stations are broadcasting the entire speech, and the rest are scrambling to secure prime locations at the site.”
Originally, the column was in a different location, but Hitler moved it in 1939 to its present location. He too wanted a beautiful stage and backdrop in Berlin. I’ll refrain from pointing out the irony here.
Thanks for the praeteritio, as Doghouse Riley might say. And in turn, I’ll refrain from posting a picture of Reagan laying a wreath at Kolmeshöhe Cemetery near Bitburg, because now that I think about it, there really wasn’t any irony involved. It actually did contain Nazis.
Oh what the hell.
Fast forward from 1939 to 2008 and Barack Obama will take the stage at the Victory Column. I’m sure Barack Obama is unperturbed by the military and Nazi history of the Victory Column and only recognizes it as being in U2′s video for “Stay (Faraway, So Close!)”.
And the Wim Wenders film, Wings of Desire, which depicts the Siegessäule as a hang-out for off-duty angels. However the use of the words “Nazi history” is a bit misleading, since the column was erected in 1873 to celebrate Prussia’s victories over Denmark in 1864, Austria in 1866 and France in 1870. All before Hitler had been born. The Fuhrer’s involvement with the pillar seems largely limited to an order to move the damn thing, because it was in the way of his plans for a grand remodeling of the Reichstag neighborhood.
So Erik is guilty of a typically tendentious bit of wingnut hackery, but as these things go it’s a fairly mild spasm of intellectual dishonesty, the kind of thing cranked out at The Corner on a minute-by-minute basis, nothing particularly entertaining or–
But, okay, I can’t help myself, Barack Obama is using propaganda FILMED IN GERMANY MADE POSSIBLE BY THE NAZIS RELOCATING THE FREAKING STATUTE!!!!!!! to woo Americans to vote for him. He’s going to have freaking film crews there and the media to make sure the full emotional impact reaches back to the United States.
Check that. Popcorn, anyone?
The man has no shame. He’ll say anything and do anything to get himself elected.
He’ll even stand in front of Prussian monuments that are not where they originally were! And the pillar was probably dismantled by Nazi construction workers with SS cranes and Nazi block and tackle and moved by members of the Fuhrer’s Own 18-Wheel Trucker Korps!
Oh, and you lefties who would point out Kennedy and Reagan at the Brandenburg gate fail to understand history. They were there on substantive matters in relations between the East and West during the Cold War.
Right, right. What about when Clinton spoke there?
What purpose does Obama have other than campaigning for office and whipping up the crowd into a frenzy?
Well, he’s also hurting your feelings, but I’m not so sure if that’s a purpose or just a bonus.
He is not, after all, an elected world leader. Oh, and then there is the total number of attendees? Only half of Berlin was able to show up for Kennedy and Reagan.
There was a scheduling conflict. ABBA was in town.
Get the Butterfly Net! | 6 Comments »
