I thought this was just a fluke--one of the silly, hyperbolic things that Chris Matthews tends to say when he's worked up about something. In discussing Ted Cruz, the current object of Matthews' well deserved disgust, Matthews compared Cruz to Joe MacCarthy and insisted that Cruz is a kind of political terrorist. What struck me was not the comparison to MacCarthy, nor the hyperbole (one should expect that from Matthews, and it is, to a certain degree, part of his shtick--like Colbert's pretended O'Reilly-ism). It was the reason for the comparison that was so bizarre--Matthews insisted that Cruz has the same sneering attitude and moral condescension, and that he even looks like MacCarthy. These may be true, but the comparison seems incredibly disingenuous. It would be like comparing someone to Hitler because he is short, or to Stalin because he has a big mustache. The comparison may not be false, but it is meaningless, since neither figure is considered the model of shortness or of mustachioedness. This same phenomenon--the complete misuse of metaphor--occurred twice more this week. First, during Cruz' own so-called filibuster, the Texan compared those who would support ACA to those who supported the Nazi's. Yes, those who support ACA may be supporting a bad idea, and Nazism was a bad idea--but is that the full extent of our understanding and estimation of Nazism? Cruz' ideological compatriot, Mike Lee, made a similar claim, only Lee used the Revolutionary War rather than WWII. So, instead of being Nazi sympathizers, those who would support ACA are British soldiers, and Lee and Cruz are American patriots. I am not opposed to an informed and intelligent debate about Obamacare--it is too big, too important, and too costly not to debate the issue. But this is not a debate. At least they haven't broken logic (yet).
