Tony Bennett, legendary crooner, delivers rant about 9/11 on Howard Stern show: 'We caused' it

[steve2470]

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2011/09/20/2011-09-20_tony_bennett_legendary_crooner_delivers_rant_about_911_on_howard_stern_show_we_c.html?google_editors_picks=true



Legendary singer Tony Bennett raised eyebrows in a bizarre interview with Howard Stern when he proclaimed that "we caused" the 9/11 attacks and former President George W. Bush admitted to him that the Iraq war was a mistake.

"They flew the plane in, but we caused it," the 85-year-old crooner told Stern on his Sirius Radio show Monday night. "Because we were bombing them and they told us to stop."

Bennett's controversial answer came after Stern asked the World War II vet how the U.S. should deal with the terrorists responsible for toppling the Twin Towers.

"But who are the terrorists?" Bennett said, according to ABC News. "Are we the terrorists or are they the terrorists? Two wrongs don't make a right."

[lunatica]

1. Who are the terrorists is a good question.

We have our share of the blame.

[indepat]

19. The terrorists are who the guys who wear the white hats say are the terrorists

:patriot:

[malaise]

28. Excellent question

Rec

[True Earthling]

36. I'll clear this up for you...The people who hijacked the planes were the terrorists

And who were we bombing and who was telling us to stop?

"They flew the plane in, but we caused it," the 85-year-old crooner told Stern on his Sirius Radio show Monday night. "Because we were bombing them and they told us to stop."

[lunatica]

40. Yeah, sure. We're innocent of all wrongdoing

As Bush said, they hate us for our freedoms. We've done nothing at all to make anyone mad at us. Ever.

Ignorance is bliss.

[True Earthling]

44. I never said the U.S. was innocent...unlike Mr. Bennett who approves of

the murder of 3,000 innocent people and believes highjacking ang flying commercial airliners into populated skyscrapers is reasonable.

[EC]

47. Tony Bennett approves of the murder of 3,000?

Where does it say that? I think you are projecting what you want the statement he DID make to say. He did not say that he APPROVED of it. He explained what he thought was the reason for it. And he is more right than ** was. They did ask us to leave Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Middle East, we didn't, so they attacked. Doesn't mean I approve of what they did, it's just a reason of why they did. Your reasoning isn't sound, it sounds more like a Faux viewers thinking.

[True Earthling]

50. If "we caused it"... doesn't that mean the responsibility lies with us..

and not the highjackers? He didn't say he approved it but he didn't condemn it... did he? His silence speaks volumes.

[laundry_queen]

51. *laugh*

He has to condemn it constantly while he's having a conversation? Condemning it is pretty much a given. Duh. He is explaining WHY someone might do something so extreme. Trying to figure out why a serial killer has murdered 30 people doesn't mean you condone it. If the investigator says, "Well, Joe the serial killer was severely abused as a child" doesn't mean the investigator approves of Joe's murders or excuses them. It's simply looking for a cause in hopes of preventing similar tragedies in the future. Perhaps Tony is simply trying to get people to understand WHY it happened in the first place so that you (the US) can change your pattern of behavior in order to avert another disaster.

As an aside - right after 9/11 here in Canada, pretty much every Canadian I talked to said something along the lines of "we all knew it was coming, the US needs to stop meddling in everyone's business because this is what happens when they do." It's pretty much common knowledge around the world that this was a consequence of a meddling US government. Doesn't mean we all throw up our hands and say, "see? told you so. they deserved it." NO! We look on it with as much horror as you (heck Canadians died on 9/11 too) but we understand that actions have consequences and we don't excuse your government for those actions as most Americans seem to. It's unfortunate there's not a lot of introspection with regards to foreign policy within the US.

[True Earthling]

55. Bennett already has it figured out... "we caused it"

By Bennett's reasoning... the 30 people "caused" the serial killer to murder them. In the warped mind of Bin Laden our meddling may have justified his actions but I don't expect any reasonable person, including Tony Bennett to buy into the same justification.

[julian09]

69. It wasn't Tony's justification, he was stating their justification

[reggie the dog]

77. how much you want to bet that 911 was a CIA hit?

bin laden was a cia operative officially in the 80's, watch the bbc documentary "the power of nightmares"

[EC]

56. You seem to be hearing something in that

silence that isn't there. When there is an attack, the first thing asked is, Why? - All Tony did was answer the why.


Why would you insist that he is not condemning the act in itself, just because he is stating a reason for it happening?


I know....you're a mind reader?

[dotymed]

64. Over 10,000 Americans DIE EACH YEAR

from lack of health care. Are you responsible for that?

The Majority of Americans want universal health care. Every 1st world country (except America) has it. We have been asking for this money saving benefit for a long time. The politicians, paid for by the, for-profit, insurance companies keep denying us this "right."

Who then is responsible for these needless deaths?

BTW, at the very least, the deaths in WTC7 has to be an "inside job." WTC7 was not hit by an airplane. There has never been a steel-framed building, collapse from a fire. The odds are astronomical. who is responsible for those deaths?

All evidence of 9-11 was immediately "hauled-off", but not before passports of the "terrorists" were "found" on top of all the burning rubble. Many scientists had the presence of mind to gather samples of the debris before it was removed. In every sample analyzed, there was thermite present.

Thermite is one of a very few substances able to melt steel. That is why it used in the "controlled demolition" of steel framed buildings. these controlled demolitions make these structures collapse into their own footprint. just like all of the WTC buildings did. Many witnesses also described explosions that are consistent with these purposeful demolitions.

IMO, being called a "Truther" is much better than a liar. Read PNAC, which was signed by all of the (R) politicians in office. It called for a catastrophic event, resulting in many American deaths to enable the goals of those same politicians.

We have never had an independent investigation of 9-11, it has been verboten. Hitler had the "burning of the Reichstag", that enabled him/them to implement "the final solution." Post 9-11, Americans rights are non-existent. National Security is all that needs to be said. wiretapping, spying on citizens, sneak and peeks, etc..are "the law" now. How convenient.

[reggie the dog]

79. +1000 good to see your power of observation still works despite

the propaganda. have you seen the bbc documentary banned from us airwaves called 'the power of nighmares' which explores the idea that the conservatives and al quieda needed each other as arch rivals in a kind of cold war.... hell they could have easily helped each other as their mutal goal was to lie to their people for their own good....

[dotymed]

103. lol, The propaganda Reggie?

My powers of observation are fine. maybe you can explain WTC7 to me.

You may have to write real s l o w.

Honestly, free my brain.

I am aware of "the enemy of my enemy.." and yes, it could have been a joint operation, it was not normal happenstance.

[reggie the dog]

110. i have no idea what happened to wtc7

but the securities and exchange commission lost a lot of evidence against the enron execs when wtc7 tumbled......


the propaganda from the msm is on par with that of the soviet union of the 30's, they paint a false picture of reality and just repeat the bullshit the government says without question in most cases. we have to look on "alternative tv networks" and look to "comedians" who are really doing what reporters should do but under gise of comedy (another sign of how far gone the country is)

[reggie the dog]

75. seeing as people like rummy, cheney, wolfie et al organized this

yes we did this to ourselves.... tower 7 should be the eye opener, the towers were brought down and not by jets. no video every shown to us of what hit the pentagon and a film made to cover up the initial eye witness acounts of a father and son, wwII and vietnam vets, who swore to journalists that the planes were shot down. the whole set up, the shock and awe, made the dim among us ready for the patriot act and 2 wars

[coalition_unwilling]

101. I'm sure our sanctions on Iraq during the 90s that led to the deaths

of over 500,000 Iraqi children from entirely preventable causes had absolutely nothing to do with it. After all, if our Secretary of State (Madeleine Albright) could say the deaths from sanctions, while regrettable, were "worth it," that makes it perfectly OK and thus not a "cause" for the rage behind 9-11.

:sarcasm:

[WilliamPitt]

53. Wow.

[newspeak]

67. so, maybe the government picked on the wrong country

to begin with. Iraq had nothing, absolutely nothing to do with 9/11. Why did the * administration begin a major PR campaign to declare a "war on terror" and target countries, rather than do strategic strikes?

And since 15 of the 19 terrorists were saudis and now we find that there were probably Saudis funding the terrorists, then why didn't little boot's go after SA? I mean if the chickenhawk wanted a war, why didn't he go after SA?

[nadine_mn]

76. wow - that was quite a leap you made there

He never said he "approved of the murder of 3,000"

He pointed out the obvious issue we all should have been addressing - what are the ramifications of our actions around the world. When our leaders bomb countries or get involved in conflicts we have no business in (oh wait except there might oil involved) we put thousands of innocent lives in jeopardy or worse kill them.

Were the terrorists right to attack us? No. Do the civilians of other countries that we have intervened in have a right to be angry at our government? Yes.

We cannot put our heads in the sand and ignore the effect our actions have on the world.

[True Earthling]

115. Bennett absolved the highjackers of any responsibility...

"We caused it"

[OwnedByFerrets]

104. That was an idiotic statement from you

[RetroLounge]

42. Oh, you poor naive child

:eyes:

RL

[DeSwiss]

66. "And who were we bombing and who was telling us to stop?"

1. Pretty much anyone we damn well pleased.
2. Everyone who was brave enough to tell us to stop.

- So ends your history lesson for today.......

[lark]

72. Here's a question that will make your head spin

Who hired the terrorists? Why did none of our plans knock them out of the sky when our response time is set at 15 seconds and hours later they were still successfully terrorizing us? Did you know the man in charge of our air defenses is the same ole BW boss who turned a blind eye when he was AWOL in the military? Did you know that GW passed an order that no Saudi citizens were to be stopped from entering the US, a direct contravention of US practices put in place within weeks of GW;s selection by the SCOTUS.

Keep ignoring the truth and listening to Faux news.

[reggie the dog]

80. +1000

[OwnedByFerrets]

105. All 100% truth

[sabrina 1]

78. Gulf War 1? Iraq Sanctions? Half a million dead Iraqi children?

Between that and the sanctions on Iraq over one million people died. But what's a million Muslims here or there, all that oil is what we ought to be thinking about!!

[RaleighNCDUer]

82. And who were we bombing and who was telling us to stop?

We were flying missions out of Saudi Arabia and bombing targets in Iraq in support of the no-fly zone, which Iraq did not acknowledge as being legitimate. Radicals of Al Queda, including Bin Laden, objected to our use of bases in Saudi Arabia and proclaimed jihad against America so long as we had troops there. We ignored him (an a billion other Muslims who were not keen on it).

Your history lesson for the day is over.

[dpbrown]

100. They were the disruptors, but our government was the one who terrorized us over it

They were suicide hijackers, disruptors of our social order, attackers of our financial system. But the group that did the most to ensure that we were terrorized and compliant following the attacks was the U.S. government, who sought to use the attacks to portray George Bush as the stolid Commander in Chief who could do no wrong while he lied us into Iraq.

[roguevalley]

97. I looooooooooooooooooooooooove this man.

[patrice]

2. K&R

[BeyondGeography]

Man, give me a nation of Tony Bennetts

:patriot:

[valerief]

21. Yeah, smart and great music, too! nt

[Warpy]

33. When I did lighting, I usually avoided the talent like the plague

Bennett was a rare exception, a really nice guy when I dealt with him.

I wish they all could have been Tony Bennetts.

[gauguin57]

38. Saw him in concert, and he was a real gentleman. Encouraged audience to clap for musicians, etc.

Real old school dude.

[Warpy]

74. Yes he was, and knew the show depended on everyone

I met a lot of old timers who were the same, good people who knew they got where they were because so many of us busted our asses behind the scenes.

Then there were the ones who thought they did it all by themselves...

[MedicalAdmin]

87. So FDR would be old school and little boots would be new, no? n/t

[trumad]

3. Good for Tony...

Love it when the older generation thinks outside the box.

[patrice]

4. There's a poll on that page about whether you agree with Mr. Bennet or not.

[steve2470]

6. yes, agreed, thanks for pointing that out nt

[lob1]

12. In that poll, 25% say that Bennet is just a singer and no one

should listen to him. That means that no one should listen to just a plumber, or just a cop, or just a teacher. Makes me wonder who those people listen to. Actually, I have a good idea.

[patrice]

18. Right on! It continues to amaze me how these people contradict themselves with every position they

take.

They're soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo authoritarian, a.k.a. ENSLAVED, NOT FREE, they are almost completely incapable of thinking for themselves, so of course there are all of these proscriptions about who you can listen to and who you can't.

It's stupid and childish!!!

[gratuitous]

5. Ward Churchill lost his job saying things like that

Nice to see the Daily News at least still calls it "bizarre," but it seems that more people are coming to terms with our own actions that may have invited the Sept. 11 attacks or justified them in the minds of the perpetrators.

[Ohio Joe]

10. Churchill did not lose his job for things he said

He lost his job because he plagiarized other peoples work.

[SteveM]

14. Given his age and mine (63), this calls to mind what happened when smoking pot...

while walking down Austin's 6th Street a year ago. A shocked friend asked: "What if you get caught?!" I said: "What are they going to do? Ruin my career?"

I think Tony is also a confirmed pot-smoker, BTW.

[dipsydoodle]

16. In his book

he explains quite lucidly that full blowback would see off the entire population of the USA. Read the book to grasp that.

The moral is to not piss others off.

[Auggie]

7. "We caused it" -- K&R

[Ian David]

8. This is my favorite line from the article...

"Bush could not immediately be reached for comment."

[patrice]

11. Amazed that he admitted this. Moved up a notch in my sense of him, still creepy, but it WAS CHENEY

and Shrub was in waaaaaaaaaaaay over his head.

[AnneD]

9. I gave Tony ....

a little love for telling it like it is in the poll, but he is doing well.

I also love the Dixie Chicks but that is another story. THEY are REAL Texans.

[xchrom]

13. Thank you, mr Bennett. Nt

[ixion]

15. Thank you, Mr. Bennett for saying what needs to be said.

:applause: :woohoo: :applause:

[lindysalsagal]

22. No, it's 50-50

25 said we should defend ourselves (which makes no sense at all since iraq didn't have any part in taking down the towers) and 25 said he's just a singer and his opinion is worthless.

So glad to hear he's this centered and informed. Wow.

[Booster]

17. So far 50% agree with him. Go get 'em, DU.

[joeybee12]

20. That's very brave for a public figure to say this...knr for Tony.

[Name removed]

23. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Glimmer of Hope]

24. This got coverage on NBC news. He also said asshat told

him that he maybe made a mistake with regards to Iraq. Asshat camp is denying he said this.

[CBGLuthier]

25. Funny to contrast this with Pat Boone outing himself as a birther

Jazz is cooler than whatever the fuck you called Pat Boone's raping of the black mans music.

[sixmile]

26. Tony Bennett is a flaming liberal and a pacifist - and I just love him!

I heard the entire interview. Ask me anything.

For instance, he served in the Army in Europe in WW2 and the horrors of war turned him against war forever (he said it was the lowest form of human behavior.)

His duties included digging up unidentified casualties, and liberating Polish concentration camps.

The racism he saw against fellow soldiers made him fight against racism forever.

He made sense. Period.

Tony Bennett is a treasure, and he could sing me to sleep every night.

[pacalo]

27. Nothing "bizarre" about that. What IS bizarre is that our media is still stuck on STUPID.

[saras]

29. What's "bizarre" about it? It sounds pretty straight-up.

[latebloomer]

30. another article which discusses his military service and pacifism

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/09/tony-bennett-on-911-attacks-they-flew-the-plane-in-but-we-caused-it/

[FourScore]

31. Thank you Tony!!!!

:hug: :patriot:

[librechik]

32. Thank you Mr. Bennett n/t

[True Earthling]

34. Bull shit......juvenile, simplistic thinking

To say "we caused it" is to make the argument that the murder of 3,000 innocent people was a reasonable response by a group of religious fanatics who bear no responsibility. That's the same logic used against women when they are raped because the way they dressed... "they were asking for it".

[countryjake]

39. and I suppose this is reasonable...

estimated Iraqi deaths due to U.S. Invasion - 1,455,590

http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq

[True Earthling]

45. The invasion of Iraq was a tragic mistake... However to cite it as a cause for 9-11

is unreasonable... 9-11 preceded the Iraq war. Also... the casualties in the study... how many of those deaths were a Iraqi on Iraqi... Shiite on Sunni?
There's plenty of responsibility to spread around. To blame multidimensional, complex, parralel events on one cause is simplistic nonsense.

[truebrit71]

49. How about the entire US Middle-East foreign policy from say 1946 onwards...

...justification enough for you?

The people in this country that couldn't figure out why a bunch of radical arabs might have a grudge or two against the USA are almost too stupid to breathe..

[True Earthling]

54. Nothing justifies 9-11.. in my mind...

However to someone who's devoted to warped ideas and misguided religious doctrine I'm sure to them it's quite reasonable and justified. Knowing that doesn't temper my outrage and disgust at what they did.

There are nuts in every country who want foreigners off their soil and 9-11 makes as much sense as Anders Breivik murdering 93 people in Norway.

[LanternWaste]

62. appears to be the same as a dogmatic denial without qualifier or condition...

"However to someone who's devoted to warped ideas and misguided religious doctrine..." appears to be the same as a dogmatic denial without qualifier or condition. Six of one, half a dozen of the other... :shrug:

[reggie the dog]

86. it depends on who you think did the job

i think a group of americans hired bin laden out to do the job and bin laden recruted true believers to carry out the plane part of the attack. to the true believers the USA could be targeted as its military was responsable for many deaths around the world, particuarlly their alliance with israel which meant that the usa favors apartheid, at the same time american businesses practice de facto colonialism around the world too, so attacking the pentagon and the world trade centers actually makes sense in that context. when the usa uses our tax money to basically enslave the majority of the people in the world as permanent losers in capitalism and the same us govt uses our money to pay for an army to enforce their economic hegemony other people who die from that action see hitting us as legit, it is as simple as that.

[valerief]

57. Ah, another one for the Ignore pile! nt

[tuckessee]

63. The American war against Iraq started in 1991.

Just ask Ms. Albright about all the deaths caused by the US-led siege which spanned the decade before 9/11.

Get your facts straight. As a propagandist you're still an amatuer.

edit - typo

[reggie the dog]

85. iraq war I and the sanctions killed how many?

now when you factor in that we gave saddam the green light to invade kuwait and used it as an excuse to make war against him.....

[20score]

94. No one, not a person here, including Bennett is saying those people deserved to die. Or that the

attacks should have happened. Everyone is is against the people who pulled it off and everyone wishes it never happened. (It was terrible and changed my life, too. Just like yours.) They just don't want it to happen again.

Anyone who acknowledges our role in the attacks is doing two main things. They are taking a non-childish, reality based look at the facts, and they are using those facts to stop our country from doing the wrong things. And in doing so are hopefully decreasing the chance of it happening again.

We did cause hundreds of thousands to die in Iraq over a lie. What happened is called blow-back. Those are facts. Ignore them, and be prepared to repeat history. In the meantime, please act like an adult and stop the childish attacks.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

96. Bush and Blair had already decided to invade Iraq long before 9/11

The Saudis of course are never to blame?

[frylock]

65. they hate us for our freedoms is probably more your speed..

in the spirit of simplistic thinking.

[True Earthling]

112. No... however you believing that I believe that is an example of YOUR simplistic

and prejudicial thinking... I never said anything about why I think Bin Laden, Muslim extremists or anyone else hates us. Obviously "they hate us for our freedoms" is silly, childish, simplistic gibberish.

Why the extremists hate us and a majority of the Middle East are anti-American is a complex mixture of our historical support of repressive, anti-communist authoritative regimes, our support of Israel, and the wars and war atrocities i.e. Abu Ghraib. That's the short version.

It's interesting how one can be attacked on DU without any knowledge of a person's beliefs. How someone can make the leap that I believe "they hate us for our freedoms" from my criticism of Tony Bennett for absolving murderous highjackers of any responsibility is beyond me.

[frylock]

116. now condense that second paragraph and you pretty much said the same thing as mr. bennet

[Xithras]

68. We killed a HALF MILLION Arab children in Iraq before 9/11

The total number of combined Iraqi deaths from the sanctions and airstriikes under Clinton is estimated at 1.2 million to 1.7 million people. To put it another way, the total number of Iraqi children killed under U.S. enforced sanctions is equal to half the Jewish children killed by the Nazi's in WW2. Don't you think that's bound to inspire some rage?

And we supported and re-elected the administrations that did it.

I believe that acts of violence against civilians are NEVER justified, but the juvenile, simplistic thinking is the belief that the attacks happened in a vacuum and that we did nothing to provoke it.


An asshole is walking down a trail in a forest and sees a bear and its cub. Being an asshole, he throws large rocks at them, killing the cub and injuring the bear before it can run back into the forest. An hour later that injured and angry bear walks across the trail, sees another innocent hiker, and kills him. The bear knows that this isn't the person who attacked it, but it's angry at humans and wants to strike out.

Who is at fault? The bear or the asshole? Nobody is questioning that the dead guy didn't deserve his fate and was an innocent victim, but who carries the responsibility for the death?

[elias7]

73. And your logic lacks symmetry

A more adequate analogy would be that a woman is raped in response not to the way she was dressed, but because she was thought to be a serial rapist herself.

Mr Bennett is merely suggesting this was an act of vengeance. Is it a reasonable response? Is violence ever reasonable? But Mr Bennett is not addressing the reasonableness of the act. He is suggesting motive.

They hate us for our freedom....really? Can you tell me what that means?

[LiberalLovinLug]

93. Yeah, They hate us for our freedoms

I always thought this was a strange declaration.

So the ones left to rot in Guantanamo and even worse in Iraqi and Afghan prisons and who knows how many others renditioned to other torture states....they must LOVE it. They finally have achieved that lack of freedom they so desperately wanted.

:toast:

[True Earthling]

113. Show me where I said this...

>They hate us for our freedom....really?<

[reggie the dog]

84. it was reasonable in response to how many killed by sanctions

in iraq before 911???? but do not forget that 911 was an inside job, factions of our own people who ordered that hit to give us shock and awe so we would accept their fascism

[OwnedByFerrets]

35. WOW! Props to Mr Bennet for some TRUTH

[Vidar]

37. Glad to hear it, Tony. The Rat Pack's gone but this is a great tribute from

a worthy successor.

[Philosoraptor]

41. Tony should be sent to the 9-11 Dungeon for even saying such things.....

[blindpig]

43. Terrorism or counter-terrorism?

Be it the knout or Predator drones or anything in between, there is the source of so-called terrorism, state violence of the imperial powers.

[leftguard55]

46. Recommended

Tony is right.

[Enthusiast]

48. Kicked and recommended!

I am a Tony Bennett fan. I fear he will be punished for expressing his views, however right they are. We live in a shit country.

[jwirr]

52. Wow! I agree. We are causing hate all over the world with out

interference in the business of others. We have been Milton Freidmaning the world since the 1950s - did we really think they would love us for those kind of actions?

[ProfessionalLeftist]

58. I'll take Mr. Bennett's word LONG before I'd take GWB's.

Good man.

[NBachers]

59. Thank you Tony Bennett

What a classy dude!

[WI_DEM]

60. He has since backed away from his comments.

[dpbrown]

61. Oh, but the "liberal media" had to slip in that this was a "bizarre interview" didn't they

Can't very well let people think it's normal to question our overseers.

[whatchamacallit]

70. Any opinion other than the state lie is "bizarre"

Your reflexive defense of the official story is a testament to the power of authoritarian propaganda. :banghead:

[spanone]

71. 4 hours ago Tony Bennett apologizes for 9/11 remarks

http://scoop.today.com/_news/2011/09/21/7877486-tony-bennett-apologizes-for-911-remarks

[Plucketeer]

81. Thank you Mr. Bennett

I love your singing AND your commentary.

[Moostache]

83. "THEY HATE OUR FREEDOMS" = "Arbeit macht frei"

If you've been buying the line about America being a "force for good" in the world, you're a government stooge and the kind of slack-jawed lackey that allows these ignorant myths to persist. Its Nazi-style propaganda writ large and in my mind is the 21st century moral equivalent of the death camp slogan "work will make you free" ("Arbeit macht frei")...

Bennett was 100% correct in his assessment of what motivated the terrorists to do what they did - it does not excuse it, nor does it endorse it, it merely states what causality led to the actions. It was precisely the refusal to confront this truth that is the enduring tragedy of our national response to 9/11 and 10 years+ later shames me, you and everyone else who calls themself "American".

I hate the fact that so many Americans are so reactionary and superstitious that they can't even think for more than a few seconds without becoming distracted or bored and needing an influx of external stimulus to function - stimulus that usually arrives in the form of advertising or advertising disguised as programming.

"They hate our freedoms" was tailor made to service that demographic and allow our military-industrial complex to go right on garrisoning the planet and stealing resources for our corporate masters at will. Failure to acknowledge this - or failure to realize that it is happening in all our names RIGHT NOW, STILL - does not make it less true.

[RZM]

92. For the millionth time

The Nazis were not the only people in history to come up with propaganda slogans. My guess is you made this connection for two reasons:

1) You couldn't think of any other well-known slogans off of the top of your head
2) You like linking things you dislike to the Nazis, because they are the most well-known recent example of human capacity for evil and terror

Of course 'they hate our freedoms' is too simplistic. But what one-sentence slogan describing an incredibly complex phenomenon isn't? I don't get why people just can't make arguments about contemporary politics without marshaling the memory of the most horrifying crimes of the 20th century to add weight to their points.

[MADem]

99. I'm sure you've heard of Godwin's Law. That pretty much seals any discussion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_law

[RZM]

102. Yeah of course

But of course Godwin is only really about the likelihood of the reference happening. When I see one I think is inappropriate (which is most of them) I prefer to say directly why I think it's wrong.

My personal formula goes like this:

If you make an unwarranted Nazi reference it is for one or more of the following reasons (often a combination of all three - 1 and 2 are almost always at play)

1) You don't know much about whoever or whatever you are comparing the Nazis to
2) You don't know much about the Nazis
3) You are deliberately trying to mislead people

[MADem]

107. There's also number 4

4) You've lost the bubble on the argument and are just tossing crap!

I suppose that could also be a subset of your number three--but it could also stand on its own!

[Militant_Liberal]

111. Just beacuse people are not being stuffed into ovens

does not mean that the USA does not do many of the exact same things as those who did.

Many times the truth hurts.

[OwnedByFerrets]

106. Perfect

[madrchsod]

88. listen to bin boy`s first tapes...double cross by the usa and saudi arbia

so what did bush/cheney do?.....

afgan war-oil and gas pipelines

iraq war-pipeline from iraq to jordan, drilling right,and cheney `s american oil field service buddies


bin laden? who?

[mrdmk]

89. Right the smack on, "Two wrongs don't make a right."

Could have not said it better!

[calendargirl]

90. From Rags to Riches to Ranting and Raving Old Man. nt

[JuniperLea]

91. When we bomb their buildings and kill their citizens...

It's called war and we are warriors. When someone fights back, they are OBVIOUSLY Terrorists (TM).

You don't live to be 85 without knowing a thing or two.

I say anyone who kills and destroys is a terrorist, including us.

There's no reason for war in this day and age.

[Hawkowl]

95. FUCKING AWESOME!

The terrorists attacked Wall Street. Does anyone wonder why at this point? Wall Street and the Banksters have wreaked havoc all over the world, and we, as Americans did nothing to stop it!

I am a pacifist and could never condone wholesale murder, no matter who is doing the murdering, be it with guns or dollars.

[MADem]

98. He delivered an apology on THE VIEW for his remarks, though.

He's probably regretting that he ever opened his mouth. His purpose was to sell records, not get everyone all pissed off on one side/cheering on the other.

This is what he read from a card: http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/09/21/tony-bennett-apologizes-again-for-911-remarks/

“I am sorry if my statements suggested anything other than an expression of my love for my country, my hope for humanity and my desire for peace throughout the world,” the singer said, echoing his statement on Facebook.

“Nobody loves America more than I do,” Bennett said, reading from the card.

On his Facebook page, Bennett wrote “My life experience… made me a life-long humanist and pacifist, and reinforced my belief that violence begets violence and that war is the lowest form of human behavior.”

That said, not everyone is pleased with the apology. On his Facebook page, some were critical.

“My brother died in one of those buildings, and frankly you are so off base in your views of who the terrorists are, I now question your patriotism,” wrote Ron Bogdan of Lawrenceville, New Jersey.

[upi402]

108. God he's cool. Miles Davis step back!

:patriot:

[DrunkenBoat]

109. Tony Bennett does *not* "rant". He speaks his mind, firmly but politely. And completely sanely.

[krabigirl]

114. It's blowback, plain and simple. At least he gets it.

[Marr]

117. I've always been surprised that we don't have terrorist attacks from Latin America.

Different cultural dynamics, I suppose.