What's the REAL Significance of Obama's Nazi Gaffe?

GlennSacks.com ^ | 5/28/08 | Glenn Sacks

[PercivalWalks]

The latest stupid, petty controversy in the presidential primaries/election is people being "outraged"--and the Republicans demanding an explanation--for Senator Obama confusing Auschwitz with Buchenwald in a recent speech. According to the Associated Press' Obama mistaken on name of Nazi death camp (5/28/08):

"The Barack Obama campaign said Tuesday the candidate mistakenly referred to the wrong Nazi death camp when relating the story of a great uncle who helped liberate the camps in World War II.

"The Democratic presidential candidate said the story is accurate except that the camp was Buchenwald, not Auschwitz...

"Obama's mistaken mention of the camp on Monday quickly generated Internet chatter, ranging from puzzlement to outrage. The Republican Party demanded an explanation.

"'It was Soviet troops that liberated Auschwitz, so unless his uncle was serving in the Red Army, there's no way Obama's statement yesterday can be true,' said Alex Conant, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee."

So Obama--who must be so tired from the endless, endless, endless campaigning that he can probably barely see straight--confused the names of two concentration camps. Big deal--most Americans couldn't even name two concentration camps.

But the real significance of the gaffe is this--"'It was Soviet troops that liberated Auschwitz, so unless his uncle was serving in the Red Army, there's no way Obama's statement yesterday can be true,' said Alex Conant, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee."

An ironic comment, to say the least. American conservatives have spent the last 60 years pretending it was the US and Britain who defeated Nazi Germany, when the vast majority of Nazi Germany's casualties occurred on the eastern front, against the USSR. When celebrating the 40th anniversary of D-Day in 1984, then-president Ronald Reagan read General Eisenhower's announcement for the day and deliberately omitted Eisenhower's reference to America's Soviet allies.

The first president to properly acknowledge the Soviet role--the leading Soviet role--was Clinton, not because he was more honest but because the Cold War was over so we could stop the stupid charade. It was that generation of Russians--28 million of whom died in World War II, and millions of whom also died at the hands of their own dictatorship--who saved humanity.

The picture above is of the Soviet Army liberating Auschwitz. The video here has footage of the Soviet Army capturing and liberating Auschwitz--it's in German (I think) but it is still worth watching.

Thanks to Valerie, a reader, for sending the story.

Glenn Sacks, www.GlennSacks.com

[Note: If you or someone you love is faced with a divorce or needs help with child custody, child support, false accusations, Parental Alienation, or other family law or criminal law matters, ask Glenn for help by clicking here.]

[Dr. Ursus]

Obama and Hillary are trying to impress the ladies!

[Paradox]

American conservatives have spent the last 60 years pretending it was the US and Britain who defeated Nazi Germany,

WTF? What american conservative believes this?

[SaltyJoe]

It might be an interesting article if it mentions that Stalin, himself, killed more Russians. Also, it might be more accurate for the sake of military history to note that it was Corporal Hitler's micromanaging that killed more Germans rather than letting the generals fight the war.

The devil is in the details.

[dirtboy]

It might be an interesting article if it mentions that Stalin, himself, killed more Russians. Also, it might be more accurate for the sake of military history to note that it was Corporal Hitler's micromanaging that killed more Germans rather than letting the generals fight the war.

Not to mention that it was the sacrifices of the American merchant fleet in getting the required war materials to the Soviets that first kept the Soviets afloat and then allowed them to turn the tide of the war by providing Dodge trucks for mechanized transport of logistics when the Nazis were still largely using horses.

A real stinker of an apologist screed, this one.

[contemplator]

Someone should tell the author that a closed mouth gathers no feet.

Wait till he finds out that it now appears that Obama’s great uncle was in the Navy not the Army. He will find yet another reason to attack Republicans for questioning the poor, tired, can’t think straight, shouldn’t be held accountable for anything he says at this point Obama.

Since when is being tired an excuse for a potential Commander in Chief? Heaven forbid we go to war and Obama has to issue clear and concise orders after having been awake for many hours.

[Liberty1970]

I’m a conservative by any standard, and have characterized WWII (from a casualty and national-impact standpoint) as a Russian-German and Chinese-Japanese war, with minor side conflicts. I doubt Sacks could find documentation to back up his claim.

Still, it’s important to understand that while we may not have suffered huge casualties, American (and British, etc.) war supplies and the strain on Japanese and German resources to fight multi-front wars were critical to allied success. The USSR, and certainly China, would never have held out alone for long against their aggressors.

[devere]

Wouldn’t this post, which slanders conservatives, fit better on a Liberal website?

[WayneS]

The real significance of this gaffe (and others he has made) is that the man many have annointed as our savior, our next President, is IGNORANT of U.S. and world history.

And you know what they say: Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. You can’t learn from history if you don’t even KNOW history.

I am tired of so many people continuing to give this moron the “benfit of the doubt” when Hillary Clinton or John McCain would have been pilloried for such a mistake.

[null and void]

It is my personal opinion that US planners looked at how determined an enemy ordinary Russians were at Stalingrad, and decided to keep the cold war as cold as possible.

Besides the vast numbers directly saved by breaking the back of Hitler’s army, only God can know how may lives the defenders of Stalingrad saved in the long run.

Thanks guys!

[Paperdoll]

This clown belongs in the circus, not the White House!

[Cecily]

“The real significance of this gaffe (and others he has made) is that the man many have annointed as our savior, our next President, is IGNORANT of U.S. and world history.”

Not only is he ignorant of U.S. and world history, he is ignorant of his own family history (so is Hillary “named for Sir Edmund,” but she is just a non-stop fibber as opposed to ignorant).

[SaltyJoe]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQNj2mgpqRk



US merchant ships on the Murmansk Run:

http://www.usmm.org/murmanskships.html

*****ship's with asterisk were sunk*****

Abner Nash
Adolph S. Ochs
Africander* (Panama)
Alamar*
Alanson B. Houghton
Albert C. Ritchie
Alcoa Banner
Alcoa Cadet*
Alcoa Rambler
Alcoa Ranger*
Alexander White
Amasa Delano
American Press
American Robin
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew George Curtin*
Andrew Turnbull
Andrew W. Preston
Aneroid (Panama)
Arthur L. Perry
Artigas (Panama)
Arunah S. Abell
August Belmont


Ballot*
Barbara Frietchie
Bateau* (Panama)
Bayou Chico
Beauregard
Bellingham*
Ben F. Dixon
Benjamin H. Hill
Benjamin H. Latrobe
Benjamin Harrison
Benjamin Schlesinger
Bering
Bernard N. Baker
Byron Darnton


Caesar Rodney
Calobre (Panama)
Campfire
Capira (Panama)
Capulin (Panama)
Cardinal Gibbons
Carlton*
Cecil N. Bean
Charles A. McAllister
Charles Bulfinch
Charles Dauray
Charles Gordon Curtis
Charles Henderson
Charles M. Schwab
Charles R. McCormick
Charles Scribner
Chester Valley
Christopher Newport*
City Of Flint
City Of Joliet*
City Of Omaha
Clark Howell
Cocle (Panama)
Cold Harbor (Panama)
Collis P. Huntington
Cornelius Harnett
Crosby S. Noyes


Daniel Morgan*
Daniel Drake
Daniel Willard
David B. Johnson
David Stone
Deer Lodge
Delsud
Dexter W. Fellows
Donald W. Bain
Dunboyne
Dynastic


Edmund Fanning
Edward A. Savoy
Edward E. Spafford
Edward H. Crockett*
Edward L. Grant
Edward N. Hurley
Edward P. Alexander
Edward Sparrow
Edwin L. Drake
Effingham*
El Almirante (Panama)
El Capitan* (Panama)
El Coston (Panama)
El Estero (Panama)
El Lago (Panama)
El Occidente* (Panama)
El Oceano (Panama)
El Oriente (Panama)
Eleazar Lord
Eldena
Elijah Kellogg
Eloy Alfaro
Esek Hopkins
Eugene Field
Executive*
Exford
Expositor
Exterminator* (Panama)


F. T. Frelinghuysen
Fairfield City*
Francis C. Harrington
Francis Scott Key
Francis Vigo
Frank Gilbreth
Frederic A. Kummer
Frederick W. Taylor


Gallant Fox (Panama)
Gateway City
George Gale
George H. Pendleton
George M. Cohan
George Steers
George T. Angell
George Weems
Gilbert Stuart
Grace Abbott
Greylock*
Gulfwing


Harold L. Winslow
Hawkins Fudske
Heffron*
Hegira
Henry Adams
Henry B. Brown
Henry Bacon*
Henry Lomb
Henry Villard
Henry Wynkoop
Hollywood
Honomu*
Hoosier*
Horace Bushnell*
Horace Gray*
Hybert*


Ironclad
Israel Putnam


J. D. Yeager
J. L. M. Curry*
James A. Farrell
James Bowie
James Gordon Bennett
James Kerney
James M Gillis
James Smith
James Woodrow
Jefferson Davis
Jefferson Myers
John A. Donald
John A. Quitman
John B. Lennon
John Carver
John Davenport
John Fitch
John Gibbon
John H. B. Latrobe
John Ireland
John J. Abel
John La Farge
John Langdon
John Laurance
John McDonogh
John Penn*
John Randolph
John Rutledge
John Sharp Williams
John Stevenson
John T. Holt
John Vining
John W. Powell
John Witherspoon*
John Walker
John Wanamaker
John Woolman
Jose Marti
Joseph E. Johnston
Joseph N. Nicollet
Josephine Shaw Lowell
Joshua Thomas
Joshua W. Alexander
Joyce Kilmer
Julien Poydras
Julius Olsen


Keith Palmer
Kentucky*


Lafayette
Lancaster
Larranga
Lawrence J. Brengle
Lebaron Russell Briggs
Leo J. Duster
Lewis Emery Jr.
Linn Boyd
Lord Delaware
Louis D. Brandeis


Macbeth* (Panama)
Makawao (Honduras)
Mana (Honduras)
Marie M. Meloney
Mary Luckenbach*
Massmar*
Mauna Kea
Meanticut
Michigan
Minotaur
Mobile City
Mormacmar
Mormacrey
Mormacrio
Mormacsul*
Morris Hillquit
Mount Evans (Panama)


Nathan Towson
Nathaniel Alexander
Nathaniel Greene
Nelson W. Aldrich
Nemaha
Nicholas Biddle
Nicholas Gilman
Norlys (Panama)
North King (Panama)


Oakley Wood
Oliver Ellsworth*
Olopana*
Oregonian*
Oremar
Owen Wister


Pan Atlantic*
Pan Kraft*
Park Benjamin
Park Holland
Patrick Henry
Paul H. Harwood
Paul Hamilton Hayne
Paul Luckenbach
Penelope Barker*
Peter Kerr*
Philip F. Thomas
Philip Livingston
Pierre S. Dupont
Puerto Rican*


R. Ney McNeely
Raceland* (Panama)
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Raymond B. Stevens
Reigh Count (Panama)
Renald Fernald
Richard Bassett
Richard Bland*
Richard Henry Lee
Richard H. Alvey
Richard M. Johnson
Robert Eden
Robert J. Collier
Robert Lowry


Sahale
Samuel Chase
Samuel MacIntyre
Schoharie
Seattle Spirit
Silas Weir Mitchell
Silver Sword*
St. Olaf
Stage Door Canteen
Stanton H. King
Steel Worker*
Stephen Leacock
Stevenson Taylor
Stone Street (Panama)
Syros*


Texas
Thomas Donaldson*
Thomas H. Sumner
Thomas Hartley
Thomas Kearns
Thomas Scott*
Thomas Sim Lee
Thomas U. Walter
Thorstein Veblen
Topa Topa
Townsend Harris
Troubador


U.S.O.


Vermont
Virginia Dare


W. R. Grace
Wacosta*
Warren Delano
Washington*
West Cheswald
West Gotomska
West Nilus
West Nohno
White Clover (Panama)
Will Rogers
Willard Hall
William Clark*
William D. Byron
William H. Webb
William H. Wilmer
William Hooper*
William L. Marcy
William Matson
William McKinley
William Moultrie
William Pepper
William S. Thayer*
William Tyler Page
William Wheelwright
William Windom
Wind Rush
Winfred L. Smith
Winston-Salem
Woodbridge N. Ferris


Yaka
Yorkmar


Zebulon B. Vance

[bravo whiskey]

if osamabamnation is so stupid because he is tired from campaigning, do we really want him answering the phone at 0300? most likely michelle my belle will be making all the big decisions. barry is a wuss.

[RogerD]

Senator Obama confusing Auschwitz with Buchenwald ... Obama--who must be so tired from the endless, endless, endless campaigning that he can probably barely see straight ...

Obama confused his great-uncle (served in WW II) with his uncle (born after WWII), confused the Navy (into which his great-uncle apparently enlisted) with the Army (which actually liberated concentration camps), and confused Auschwitz (liberated by the USSR) with Buchenwald (liberated by the USA). Obama is an exceptionally confused man already, and the job gets harder one a candidate takes office. Why is anyone supporting for him?

[Redmen4ever]

To follow-up on the characterization of WWII as mainly a German-Russian and Chinese-Japanese war from the standpoint of casualties:

At the beginning of the war, Germany and Russia were allies. Fortunately, one fell upon the other. If the two countries had, instead, sought to consolidate their totalitarian empires, it is improbable that the remaining democracies could have removed them from power (first Germany and Japan, and later Russia).

[ZULU]

“so unless his uncle was serving in the Red Army”

Wouldn’t surprise me.

The man just has a problem getting names mixed up. The longer he talks, the more often he puts his foot in his mouth.

Guess its going to be a contest between him and Obama to see who can stuff more toes into their mouths. I hope Obama does a better job stuffiing his feet into his mouth than McCain does.

[Doohickey]

The Democratic propaganda machine is really on top of things. Check this out (about the middle of the page): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buchenwald_concentration_camp

[nikos1121]

Problem is that Obama and his wife and his preacher keep getting passes from the press.

[pgkdan]

If one of my uncles helped liberate a Nazi concentration camp I’m darned sure I’d know which one it was.