November 3, 2008 | 10:33 pm

McCain o Obama: ¿Quien es mas peligroso?

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

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It seems Jewcy has lost all its best regular bloggers: Ali Eteraz, Daniel Koffler, Joey Kurtzman. But here’s a good piece from Josh Strawn about the hollowness of calling Barack Obama a socialist. (Seriously, a friend of mine responded to another friend’s mass e-mail in support of Obama last night with “Obama for the people’s republic of America!!!”).

Most of Strawn’s blog post is after the jump:

Cal Thomas at the Washington Times has delved into the illustrious pages of dictionary.com to show us why an audio clip of Obama might be the smoking gun that proves he may as well be a socialist:

Is socialism too strong a word? Consider one of its definitions from dictionary.com and tell me it is something other than Mr. Obama’s economic philosophy: “A theory or system of social reform which contemplates a complete reconstruction of society, with a more just and equitable distribution of property and labor.”

OK, Cal, I’ve got the Internet—shall we consider what dictionary.com says about the word ‘fascism’ then?  Fascism “appeals to strident nationalism” and “promotes suspicion or hatred of both foreigners and ‘impure’ people within his own nation.”  It “does not demand state ownership of the means of production, nor is fascism committed to the achievement of economic equality.”  And lastly, “fascists are usually described as right-wing.”  While this is the proper definition, it can also refer to “governments or individuals that profess racism and that act in an arbitrary, high-handed manner.”

So, is it now time for the Obama campaign to roll out charges of fascism against the McCain camp?  McCain, who asks on the stump, “Who is the real Barack Obama?”  Whose operatives emphasize his foreign-sounding name and send out race-baiting robocalls as they gallivant around the nation intimidating voters by placing their commitment to fervent nationalism—to “Country First”—on the line?  An avowedly right-wing party, that has acted arbitrarily and high-handed by almost any measure?  McCain has made clear that economic equality is nothing he’s committed to.  And think about this: fascist leaders are usually military men, too.  Barack Obama has never served in the military.  John McCain has.  Ergo, McCain has more in common with fascists than does Barack Obama. 

See how this logic works?  It’s childish, it’s loony and most of all it’s false.