[Destro]

fyi

[Diddle E. Squat]

[RightWhale]

Trotskyism is a living force that people fight over

Even if Trotsky had never lived, Trotskyites would still exist.

[Incorrigible]

What the....?

Destro!

What are you thinking posting this without commentary?

Christopher Hitchens an influence on the White House?  Ha Ha Ha!!!  More like the other way around.  He can barely get enough people to read his blog!

Trotsky's followers today are agnostic Jews with inexplicable Marxist views.  There are unfortunately a great number of these folks.

Wolfowitz?  Cheney?  Hardly!

This is yet another smear of "neo-conservatives" or in common parlance today, Republican Jews.

Not to stereotype too much but Jeet Heer would appear to be the self-hating type.

 

[Southack]

It's time to let poor Jeet (the author of this spiel) in on an old joke.

You see, "bolshevik" means "majority" or "big piece", but it was a DEROGATORY term for Lennin and his most loyal followers.

In Communist circles, Lennin was considered a radical and he wasn't very popular, however, after Lenin had insulted numerous Communists at a Party meeting, enough of them walked out that Lenin and his small group briefly constituted a majority. In those few brief moments, Lenin siezed control of the local socialists and propelled himself into the leadership position for the October Revolution et al.

But the joke among Communists was that Lenin and his tiny group were "Bolsheviks". Everyone called them "Bolsheviks" in the same way that politicians called Lyndon Johnson "Landslide Lyndon" after his questionable victory in his Senate race (by 13 votes from box 13 after the polls closed). The joke was so prevalent that the name stuck. Lenin and his followers were forever laughed at as "Bolsheviks", even though they only had a "majority" for a few brief moments in time.

Alas, such a joke is probably too complicated for Jeets to grasp, however, even after a full explanation!

[WorkingClassFilth]

Here's a good Russian joke...

One night Stalin is up late and can't sleep. The spectres of those he's killed are haunting him and the hate and fear of those around him isolate him as though he were in prison.

He decides to go out into the night and walk the streets of Moscow.

After walking several hours, he finds a small tavern open and goes in for some vodka.

Inside is a bleary patron well into his cups.

Stalin, hungry for human companionship, strikes up a conversation with the fellow.

They laugh. They drink. They become very, very drunk.

Suddenly, Stalin asks the man point-blank what he thinks of the Soviet Leader Stalin.

The man is instantly sober.

The sleepy bartender stops wiping the counter and quickly leaves the room.

The tick of the clock becomes thunderously loud.

The man, his eyes darting all about, stands up and moves to the door motioning Stalin to follow him out into the night.

Stalin rises after a moment and follows.

When Stalin gets outside, he looks about and sees the man turning the corner.

Stalin walks quickly to the corner just in time to see the man walk into a darkened alley in the middle of the next block.

He walks quickly to catch up and reaching the alley he turns into it.

The alley is silent and black. Fearing that he might be ambushed, Stalin walks cautiously through the darkness.

Just as he reaches the dead end of the alley, he hears the scrape of shoe leather on cobblestones.

He turns around and sees the figure of the man huddled in a doorway alcove.

The man motions for him to come closer.

Stalin bends his ear to the mans cupped hand, and the man says:

"I like him."

[baseballmom]

[x]

Taken one by one, Jeet's articles contain some useful information, but put them all together and they get sillier and sillier, and amount to a child's view of the world. So Wolfowitz has heard of Schachtman. That hardly explains administration policies. Politicians and policies can't simply be reduced to some assumed intellectual influences, whether real or (as in this case) merely presumed. They have to be examined on the own terms, and in light of the purposes they are supposed to fulfill.

[rmlew]

1. Silly title. Neocons are the only consistant anti-Communists these days.
2. Expansionism to forward the revolution preceded the Declaration of Independence. We invaded Canada in 1775.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Of course Trotsky is most famous as the Mr. Body in the Clue case, "Raoul in the library with the ice pick."

[CurlyBill]

[BlueNgold]

While the article is interesting the headline is misleading. One would assume from the headline that some top Bush aides are Trotsky-ites and dedicated communists. There is no direct line between Trotsky and the White House presented in this article, and the conclusion of the article does not lead back to the headline. Does my study of various political leaders throughout history make me a 'student' of Hitler, Stalin, Lenin, Kennedy, or Churchill? Maybe. But being a student of history and politics does not mean I espouse anything I have ever read, it just means I studied it in order to gain an understanding of the world we live in.

Unfortunately, a more appropriate headline would not garner the 'splash' this one does, and I think therein lies the explanation. I wouldn't quite call it yellow journalism, but it certainly has an off color hue due to a poor, although sensational, title.

[1rudeboy]

bttt
This thread really deserves more replies.

[GatekeeperBookman]

This article was used in JBS.org The New American July 14. Fascinating that it was employed to attack the Bush Administration. We could learn much about propaganda by reading the various interpretations of & about the Communists, the Left, & their fellows of the Media.

[petitfour]

This is interesting. And I haven't read any of the replies yet. (probably should do that first.) Didn't Bubba call the current power base in DC the "Fourth Way?" He's a part of the "Third Way." His lying about Monica Lewinsky is what brought him down. Monica's grandparents were original Trotskyites or Trotskyists or whatever they're called. Hmmmmmmm. And her grandmaw was living right there in the Watergate while Moniker was carryin' on with the POTUS.

[petitfour]

btw, VP Cheney influenced by Troskyists is laughable. I don't know about any of the other folks in this commentary. I don't follow 'em closely enough.