Simple answers to simple questions

[womzilla]

supergee asks,

Khrushchev's visit didn't seem to bother us as much as Ahmadinejad's has. Have we become a bed-wetter nation?

Answer: Yes.

Longer answer, a la digby:

9/11 . . was when Henry [Hyde] and the rest of his stalwart defenders of the rule of law promptly wet their pants and then let their president use the Constitution to clean up the puddle.

Comments

[barondave.livejournal.com]

Indeed. This sort of thing makes Rep. Keith Ellison's comparison of 9/11 to the Reichstag fire (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/07/14/wbush114.xml) seem more and more on point. I'm glad he's my Congresscritter.

However, I do think this is a flawed comparison. Khrushchev was the head of The Other Superpower. It was in the best interests of the Military Industrial Complex to play UP the power of the Soviet Union to keep people scared and to get taxpayer dollars into their pockets. We had to treat him like a king, as we would like our President to be treated when visiting them.

Now the talking points have changed. The US is The Only Superpower, and the threat isn't the insidious spread of Communism, it's unchecked terrorism. Ahmadinejad and co. have to be played DOWN to justify our harsh treatment of his country up to and including a pre-emptive war.

[avram]

But the media aren't playing Ahmadinejad down. He's getting the Next Hitler treatment. His visit to Columbia was the focus of a Hate Week eight out of 1984.

[barondave.livejournal.com]

They're playing him like a madman, not like an equal head of state, and by extension his whole country is insanely terroristic and should be invaded for their own good. For our protection. We're going to fight them there so we don't have to listen to him here. Hugo Chavez doesn't get this kind of treatment, nor Castro. All this conservative media hype is clearly being manipulated by Rove or his clones.

[avram]

Chavez and Castro do both get a milder version of the same treatment. Milder probably because the administration isn't gearing up to attack their countries any time soon.

I think Krushchev got better treatment because in some ways the media then wasn't as easily led as the media now.