Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA) comes to my school and says something shocking.

[The Sheik]

My school is the only school in California to have won the Blue Ribbon "No Child Left Behind" award in California four times, and is the only middle school in the country to have won it this round, so naturally here in the bay area there is a large frenzy among the education and political community about us being one of the nation's most well known and credited schools. So today we had an assembly where our principal, vice principal, Superintendent, state senator, and of course, congressional representative Tom Lantos spoke.

The school gave a short presentation about him before he spoke, and told a little about his history and his role in Congress, after the spiel, Rep. Lantos came up to the stand to speak, and started talking about the value of education and the power of freedom and liberty and his visit to North Korea. Now I thought his speech was pretty awesome, especially the part where he blasted the fascists and commies, yet then came the part that irked me:

"...I found the State of the Union very powerful...I think it is time we spread the playing field of democracy and freedom around the world..."

Now obviously, he is talking about how he supports the war in Iraq, and how he supports even further exctentmant of the "global spread of freedom" that the neocons have pushed through. This disappointed me, so I am wondering, does anybody know anything else on Lantos or why he said something like this?

[Kagemusha]

1. He's sung this tune for many years.

It's nothing new for him.

[autorank]

2. What a jerk. He's lost his critical faculties.

The SOTU wallowed in abstractions that were never defined. The obscene irony of talking about spreading freedom when we now have the Patriot Act and helping people in need when we've destroyed large parts of Iraq and killed many innocents is just too much to bear. People like Lantos, people of high intellectual abilities and broad experience, those people who endorse * do it for narrow political reasons. What those are for Lantos, I do not know. Disingenuous is the mildest thing I can say about anyone with an intellect whose been awake since 2001 who supports anything * does.

[The Sheik]

3. Wait, Lantos endorsed Bush? I didnt know he went that far.

On Edit: Just found out that he endorsed Kerry.

[autorank]

15. Might as well have endorsed Bush. He's a crank.

[Yupster]

4. I may be wrong, but

I thought he was from one of the Baltic States, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. During World War II those countries had their independance swallowed by the USSR. Then Germany invaded, then the Soviets came back.

Maybe he's remembering his youth and thinking he wished someone had come in to save his people from the Nazis and the Communists.

Or maybe he's from Connecticutt and my memory has gone completely fuzzy.

[Coastie for Truth]

6. He's from Hungary

I grew up in the "Little Budapest" section of McKeesport PA and then the "Little Budapest" section of Pittsburgh PA. We used to celebrate "Captive Nations Week" -- and Cardinal Minzenty was a folk hero - even among non-Catholics.

[Maat]

11. My husband was born in McKeesport, Pa.

Came out to Cal when he was six months old. Went to work for a company, made friends with a co-worker, who was also born in McKeesport, and found another worker who was born there!

Your name doesn't begin with a 'P' (your first name), does it?

[Coastie for Truth]

25. No.

We moved to the East End when I was 3 - but my Dad's family was half in the 'Port, and half in the East End.

[Maat]

27. It's funny.

All the 'born in McKeesport-ers" we know are engineers. What does your hubby do?

[maveric]

37. He's a jew that escaped the holocuast.

Did some underground work too.

[Coastie for Truth]

5. Wrong Twist

He is from Hungary - and has lived under both Communism and Fascism. So, he may have a different frame of reference then those of us who have lived under "relative freedom and democracy" in the US (Bush and Nixon are aberrations)

Having lived under Tricky Dickie Nixon and George W. Bush -- I also support the global spread of freedom --- starting here in the US.

[cally]

7. Lantos is a great man

I disagree with him about this war but he has a long record of supporting issues I value.

I love DU and the internet. We can record what they say and call them on it.

[Spinzonner]

8. Did he say how many of the students at the assembly

he was willing to sacrifice to the crusade ?

[The Sheik]

9. Nope.

When he talked about the war we were never mentioned.

Don't get me wrong though, man is great and I am glad he represents me.

[ultraist]

17. Next week they will set up the ROTC recruitment tables!!!

He's priming the pump!

[ebayfool]

19. Interesting sig, curious - ketchup boy ?

Ketchup boy dont have guns like these!

[The Sheik]

45. It's from a poster on whitehouse.org.

[Gyre]

10. Lantos is an Israeli first

and American second. http://www.counterpunch.org/madsen02152003.html

Gyre

[The Sheik]

12. Wow.

Now that is a piece of heavy reading.

[Judi Lynn]

28. You are so helpful in delivering this article.

The first time I saw him, on C-Span, I also was impressed by his more cultured manner of behavior, his quiet voice, and started watching him, and reading what he was saying.

I started realizing my first impression was WAY off, even taking time to pay tribute to his time spent in a concentration camp. That is never an excuse for a destructive presence in the world many decades after ANY kind of traumatic experience.

Suffering is supposed to enoble people, not encourage them to become little tyrants.

[CreekDog]

30. Madsen article not helpful...it is crap

It calls his recollection of the Holocaust, "stressing his victimhood".
I wonder what Madsen would say about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.? Did he "stress his victimhood" or did he stand up for the powerless?

MLK acted in the face of injustice.

Lantos also acts on his experience, but he certainly doesn't act as a victim. And also, not as Madsen suggests, for some therapeutic purpose(to make himself feel better).

The rest of the Madsen article is mainly invective with little in the way of attribution or actual quotes. The well-covered Admiral Borda hearings were a big gaffe on the part of Lantos, as he later acknowledged, but that does not make him evil.

If the Madsen article is the strongest criticism I can find of Lantos, I might do something I've never done before --that is sign up to campaign for him (I'm in his C.D.).

That's how weak the Madsen article is.

[BuyingThyme]

33. Comparing Dr. King...

to a war-mongering piece of garbage is not appropriate.

(Just one person's opinion.)

[BuyingThyme]

32. Exactly

Lantos is an Israeli supremacist. He would send a million Americans to die in war if he thought it might, possibly, perhaps someday benefit Israel. And if not, no big deal.

Fuck you, Lantos!

[Freddie Stubbs]

41. The author of that article also claimed to have 'inside information'

that the the US was going to invade Iran before the 2004 election. Not only was this of course untrue, it is ridiculous to believe that the administration would leak this exclusively to a liberal columnist.

[peacetalksforall]

13. I believe he is conflicted.

n/t

[ausiedownunderground]

14. This guy's in the wrong party. Another Rethuglican stooge in the Dems.

When is the Democratic party going to weed out these pseudo dems in disguise. The party has a serious problem with its congressional representatives. To many of them are to close to "The Bush Gang" and the jewish lobby. They only have their own self interests at heart. These people do not serve in Congress to help the middle and lower classes of the US. If the Dems want to shake the Rethuglicans up in 2006 then a clean up of its own cupboard would be a great start!

[ISUGRADIA]

16. oh yes, let's weed out anybody who doesn't vote

progressive 100% of the time: Lantos, Ben Nelson, Mary Landrieu, et al and run liberals in every state and congressional district. Then we can celebrate our 150 House and 35 Senate seats. *whatever*

[mazzarro]

18. Hey - the reThugs did it!

How do you think they got the monolithic congressional legislators? Even the so-called moderate reThuglicans fall in line when there are needed and never ever openly advocate against their party! But on the democratic side - we have all the psuedo-dems going about whichever way they want and for whatever self interests appeal to them! Why?

[shadowknows69]

20. if I've said it once......

they all drink from the same water fountains and eat from the same cafeterias in Washington. Follow the food and you'll find the mind control device <tin hat off now>


P.S. I have no basis for that statement but in this day and age conspiracy theories just tend to spew forth from my fingers uncontrollably for some reason. It's probably the alien's fault.

[Idioteque]

44. Lantos is actualy very liberal.

http://ontheissues.org/CA/Tom_Lantos.htm

I'm uncomfortable with some of his foreign policy positions but let's not pretend that he's a DINO. He's a member of the house progressive caucus and has a very strong progressive voting record.

[Pepperbelly]

21. Isn't he a Holocaust survivor?

That could explain a lot about how he views the world.

[BiggJawn]

22. "Lebensraum"

That's how Hitler sold his plan for Global Domination to the "Good Germans". There were people of German descent living in countries under the tyrannical bootheel of Communism, and it was his holy mission to "free" them...

So you change a few things, and create the myth of "Freedom-loving people" (who wouldn't know what to do with Murkan-style "freedom" if you hit 'em in the ass with it) who are living under "Tyranny" the world over, and suddenly you see the clarity of Il Douche's Holy Mission.

Then you're supposed to get caught up in the feeling and sprint to your local recruiting station and sign up for "Duration plus Five Years"...

[neweurope]

23. Ah, another Vichy Democrat - I especially love the term "playing

field of democracy and freedom". The Iraqis must surely love living in one of your playing fields of democracy and freedom!

----------------------

Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague!

[Skwmom]

24. So we bankrupt our country

to spread this democracy around the world? Why are we talking about liberating Iran when there is a crisis in Sudan that could really use our help?

[rockymountaindem]

26. He is a Holocaust survivor who barely survived

being killed by both the Nazis and the Soviets in Hungary. That probably means that he isn't fond of dictatorships and is willing to go farther than most of us to get rid of them. I can't say I blame him.

[CreekDog]

29. Mr. and Mrs. Lantos' entire families were killed in the Holocaust

Tom Lantos fought in the resistance against the Nazis while he was a teenager. He is my congressman and when I was in high school spoke to us about his experience in the Holocaust...not to make himself a hero, but to educate about the subject. The stories he told were incredible. Having lived through that experience, I'm not surprised it still moves him some 60 years later.

Wayne Madsen's article is pure invective, worse than what he accuses Lantos of employing. I think Madsen also finds himself in league with a lot of unapologetic Anti-Semites and resorts to their criticisms, almost verbatim.

Lantos has always been against totalitarianism. He never trusted Saddam Hussein and wanted him out since Hussein gassed the Kurds in 1988. And Saddam ordered it whether you like it or not.

Otherwise Lantos is definetely not a Republican:

always pro-choice
against NAFTA
against the tax cuts

He has a 95% rating from the ADA
79 from ACLU
4 from the American Conservative Union

[Ms. Clio]

31. I'm not shocked at all n/t

[Technowitch]

34. That's sad, Sheik

Makes me glad to have someone sensible and progressive like Anna Eshoo, down at my end of the SF Bay area.

BTW -- if you're "The Sheik" I happen to know from BM and BLD... Hiya!!!

-Technowitch

[CreekDog]

35. So many anti-jewish remarks on this thread, I'm astounded (DU?!)

Is this really Democratic Underground???!!!

[BuyingThyme]

36. Please identify a couple of the "many anti-Jewish remarks."

[CreekDog]

38. Ok...here are the 'anti-jewish' or at least suspect remarks I spotted

Lantos is an "Israeli first"

And the "Israeli Supremicist"

The Madsen article indulges in it too but manages to impugn individual Mormons at the same time (and Lantos' wife).

Also, in reference to your comment, I wasn't comparing Lantos to Dr. King when I quoted Madsen's "stressing his victimhood" quip. Instead I was trying to show how asinine Madsen's quip really was. To refer to someone quoting their time in the hands of the Nazi's as "stressing victimhood" is ludicrous. I'd like to ask Madsen if the Holocaust really happened, just to make sure he is in the reality-based community.

And Lantos is not a "war-mongering piece of garbage". That comment should be reserved for real villains.

[BuyingThyme]

39. Just because Lantos is Jewish...

doesn't mean that an attack on him is an attack on Jews.

That's like saying that an attack on Hitler is an attack on Catholics.

On the march to his war, I saw Lantos for what he is. He lied over and over and over and over. Just like GWB, he lied for the sole purpose of rallying support for war. Just like GWB, he lied for the sole purpose of convincing America that young people needed to die for his special interests. Just like GWB, Tom Lantos is a monster.

Being anti-monster is not the same as being anti-Jewish.

[CreekDog]

43. Ellen Tauscher has the same stands on Iraq and Israel basically

...but nobody calls her an Israeli first

...or an Israeli surpremicist.

I never said criticism of Lantos was EXCLUSIVELY anti-semetic,

It is, however, a COMMON feature of it. It just happens that the people who use these terms find it very handy to use them against Jewish leaders and organizations and for some reason, I don't see these terms used against other people.

And I'm in Lantos' district, so I'm used to hearing it. A lot of the criticism against him does have this element. Much the same when some people criticize black politicians that they don't like, but you can tell there is more to the dislike than policy.

[mitchtv]

40. I like Lantos a lot, very Liberal

Kerry also supported this war- or said he did. I think lantos and many other politicians blindly obey the wishes of the pro Sharon idealogues who direct our foreign policy. He leaves himself wide open to the charges made. I don't think they were anti-jewish although, the unswerving loyalty to the Isreali agenda may confuse many people, similar to people who confuse criticism of Isreal with anti semitism.

[BuyingThyme]

42. The Kerry analogy doesn't work.

Kerry danced around the war issues and voted to support a last-resort war contingency. Lantos wanted to kill from the start. Lantos wanted to slaughter tens of thousands of innocent people. Lantos is a monster.

[The Sheik]

46. BD? BLD?

I am sorry, but what are those?:(

[The Sheik]

47. BD? BLD?

I am sorry, but what are those?:(

[The Sheik]

48. BM? BLD?

I am sorry, but what are those?