05 Mar 2005 Shame on Andrew Greeley, Anti-Democrat, and Anyone Who Shakes His Hand

Consider just two sentences:

I am suggesting that for President Bush to come to the edge of Russia (Slovakia) and preach about democracy to Putin is rude, crude and undiplomatic. It is an insult to Putin and to Russia and to the Russian people.

First, Slovakia is a sovereign nation. It is not “the edge of Russia.” Would you refer to Canada as “the edge of the United States”?

Second, diplomacy achieves nothing, save perhaps the digestion of canapes.

Third, it is not rude to question Putin’s commitment to democracy when Putin’s commitment to democracy is questionable.

Fourth, and most important, standing up for the right of the Russian people to govern themselves and enjoy full civil rights is not an insult to the Russian people.

What is an insult to the Russian people is something Greeley says next:

Putin seems by all accounts to be popular with his people. He is the strong leader that Russians have always wanted…

Greeley’s bizarre belief in Putin’s popularity aside, Greeley is saying the Russian people don’t really want full self-government.

Why not spell it out, Andrew? Just call them “untermenschen” — sub-humans — people not quite wanting or deserving of the full political and civil rights Americans demand and deserve.

Too harsh? Spot-on, actually. The Nazis coined the term untermenschen not just for Jews, but also for Gypsies and Slavs. The Russians are Slavs.

Coincidence? I think not.

The deliriums of the lectures we received from the pinko left from the Cold War days still echo in my mind: The Russians aren’t like us. They don’t like freedom the way we do. You are wrong to try to force it on them.

That’s what Cold Warriors used to be told — well, scratch the past tense, since Andrew Greeley’s still doing it. Is the world better off now because America and the West won the Cold War?

Based on what he has written here, I very much doubt Andrew Greeley thinks so.

Oh, and by the way, Andrew: You are wrong when you claim conservatives don’t believe the Cold War is over. We know it is over.

The reason we can be sure is that we’re the ones who won it. Not your sort, Andrew. You lost. Get over it.