Arnie criticized for Austrian History Gaffes

[LordShaithis]

Arnie's just playing the "moderate conservative" card to lull us asleep. Once we amend the constitution and elect him President, it's all over. As soon as he's sworn in, he'll take that hand off the Bible and throw it into a Sieg Heil, as the Swastika banners unfurl down the sides of the building. Then it's into the oven with the remaining Democrats and some of the wussier Republicans, as our Abrams panzers roll into France.

[The Yosemite Bear]

He made a comment saying that he admired Hitler's public speaking skills or somesuch. His opponents immediately made him sound like he was praising Hitler. Hence, the Nazi title.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

That's ridiculous. However anyone might feel about Hitler (and I think I hate him about as much as it's possible for someone born after WWII to hate him), he had great public speaking skills.

And Wagner was a great composer, I still listen tto forest music on head phones.

[Stormbringer]

Baseless smear? The Gropenfuhrer invited a known Nazi war criminal to his wedding. That's a fact. If you can't handle the unpleasant truth, that's your problem.

It is a baseless smear to suggest that because of that connection Arnold is a Nazi. Where's the evidence for your assertion that he is a Nazi? I have yet to see any. Until then it is a baseless guilt by association smear.

Your comparison of Waldheim to Von Braun or other scientists also shows an inability to face facts or think rationally. Anyone who can't tell the difference between members of an SS unit that tortured and murdered people and an engineer working on rockets is ethically challenged. What exactly did SS "intelligence" units give to the world that is as beneficial as rocket science? What silver lining was there in Waldheim's Feldgrau?

Do you know the conditions under which Von Braun built those rockets?

I'll enlighten you. They were as bad as most of the concentration camps because they were in all realistic effect. This was not some safe, clean factory. The V-1 and V-2 were built under hellish conditions in a prison-factory facility whose construction and operation killed many. And yes Von Braun knew all this and continued his work there with out qualms. Oh, and might I point out that they also knew these were being use indiscriminatly against civilian populations? Oh, and their research also helps bring us the ICBM?

Make no mistake, those rocket scientists were not angels either.

And it's also worth noting that the US didn't really have to go to the Nazis. While Robert Goddard had died, the Nazis basically just used his work for their weapons. Had we really been feeling as self righteous, we could have done the same with out them.

Kurt Waldheim was a complete piece of goose-stepping Nazi shit and the fact that Ahnuld wanted anything to do with him on a personal level AFTER he was exposed is revolting. I would say the same thing about any other elected official if they did the same thing.

And many in the Apallo program liked Von Braun and his cohorts, are they all Nazis? It might not enter into your tiny, self righteous brain but there mighe be more to a person's life than just the label Nazi.

[Elfdart]

Baseless smear? The Gropenfuhrer invited a known Nazi war criminal to his wedding. That's a fact. If you can't handle the unpleasant truth, that's your problem.

It is a baseless smear to suggest that because of that connection Arnold is a Nazi.

Which I didn't do.

Where's the evidence for your assertion that he is a Nazi?

Strike two.

I have yet to see any. Until then it is a baseless guilt by association smear.

http://slate.msn.com/id/2086742

I didn't call Ahnuld a Nazi, or imply that he is one. Gropenfuhrer refers to the sexual harassment allegations as much as his woody for Waldheim.

Strike three -you're lying.

Your comparison of Waldheim to Von Braun or other scientists also shows an inability to face facts or think rationally. Anyone who can't tell the difference between members of an SS unit that tortured and murdered people and an engineer working on rockets is ethically challenged. What exactly did SS "intelligence" units give to the world that is as beneficial as rocket science? What silver lining was there in Waldheim's Feldgrau?

Do you know the conditions under which Von Braun built those rockets?

I'll enlighten you. They were as bad as most of the concentration camps because they were in all realistic effect. This was not some safe, clean factory. The V-1 and V-2 were built under hellish conditions in a prison-factory facility whose construction and operation killed many. And yes Von Braun knew all this and continued his work there with out qualms. Oh, and might I point out that they also knew these were being use indiscriminatly against civilian populations? Oh, and their research also helps bring us the ICBM?

Make no mistake, those rocket scientists were not angels either.

I never said they were angels. You can't even set up decent strawmen.

And it's also worth noting that the US didn't really have to go to the Nazis. While Robert Goddard had died, the Nazis basically just used his work for their weapons. Had we really been feeling as self righteous, we could have done the same with out them.

Kurt Waldheim was a complete piece of goose-stepping Nazi shit and the fact that Ahnuld wanted anything to do with him on a personal level AFTER he was exposed is revolting. I would say the same thing about any other elected official if they did the same thing.

And many in the Apallo program liked Von Braun and his cohorts, are they all Nazis? It might not enter into your tiny, self righteous brain but there mighe be more to a person's life than just the label Nazi.

Did Von Braun volunteer for the SS? Waldheim did. Did Braun distribute leaflets that read "enough of the Jewish war, kill the Jews, come over."? Waldheim did. Were the men in the Apollo program Nazis? Probably not, but being pals with a Nazi is in very poor taste (Boy, what an edgy, outrageous comment from ole Elfdart! ). If any Apollo vets were running for office and it turned out they were buddy-buddy with a Nazi war criminal I wouldn't vote for them either and would call them on it, too. Besides, there's a HUGE difference between working with someone for the government and inviting them to your wedding.

[Stormbringer]

It is a baseless smear to suggest that because of that connection Arnold is a Nazi.

Which I didn't do.[/quote]

True, people cry "wolf" too often when it comes to Nazis, but if you see the pointy ears, bushy tail, wide paws and sharp teeth prowling near your herds...

Sure.......

Are you by any chance Ann Coulter's liberal twin?

Did Von Braun volunteer for the SS? Waldheim did. Did Braun distribute leaflets that read "enough of the Jewish war, kill the Jews, come over."? Waldheim did. Were the men in the Apollo program Nazis? Probably not, but being pals with a Nazi is in very poor taste (Boy, what an edgy, outrageous comment from ole Elfdart! ). If any Apollo vets were running for office and it turned out they were buddy-buddy with a Nazi war criminal I wouldn't vote for them either and would call them on it, too. Besides, there's a HUGE difference between working with someone for the government and inviting them to your wedding.

And once again you miss the point.

[Uther]

Who cares if Arnold was a Nazi? If it stands for anything, doesn't the USA stand for the idea that a man can change his mind, shed the warped ideologies of yesteryear, and embrace a brave new life in the land of the free and the home of the brave?

When you stick your hand in a pile of goo, then you'll know what to do! It's Chinatown Marge.

[Elfdart]

Are you dumb as a stump or are you just trying to tighten my jaws?

"True, people cry "wolf" too often when it comes to Nazis, but if you see the pointy ears, bushy tail, wide paws and sharp teeth prowling near your herds... "

referred to KURT WALDHEIM! Jeez what a putz! That's why I wrote in the very next sentence that Ahnuld was NOT a Nazi. Have you considered a remedial English course?

[Alex Moon]

This is a little different from what we've been used to for the past four years, namely in that there's absolutely no hope of plausible deniability in Arnold's statement. It was simply impossible for him to have seen Russian tanks in Austria because he was born after they left. Whereas Bush never said that Saddam had something to do with 9/11.

The soviets didn't fully withdraw from Austria until 1955. Arnold was born in 1947, so it is entirely possible for him to have seen soviet troops.

Here's the entirety of what he said.

When I was a boy, the Soviets occupied part of Austria. I saw their tanks in the streets. I saw communism with my own eyes. I remember the fear we had when we had to cross into the Soviet sector. Growing up, we were told, "Don't look the soldiers in the eye. Look straight ahead." It was a common belief that Soviet soldiers could take a man out of his own car and ship him off to the Soviet Union as slave labor.

My family didn't have a car -- but one day we were in my uncle's car. It was near dark as we came to a Soviet checkpoint. I was a little boy, I wasn't an action hero back then, and I remember how scared I was that the soldiers would pull my father or my uncle out of the car and I'd never see him again. My family and so many others lived in fear of the Soviet boot. Today, the world no longer fears the Soviet Union and it is because of the United States of America!

He's obviously talking about seeing the soviet occupied zones, not growing up inside one.