Dialog International

Happy (Aryan) New Year!

(Via Publikative.org) People all across Germany are wishing each other today "einen guten Rutsch" ("a good slide") into the New Year, but the "linguists" within the neo-Nazi NPD have "discovered" (in horror!) that the word Rutsch has a Yiddish root:

Sie kommt aus dem Hebräischen. Rosch Haschana heißt wörtlich übersetzt “Kopf des Jahres” und bedeutet den Jahresanfang. Die Juden wünschen sich einen “guten Rutsch” nicht in den letzten Dezembertagen, sondern im September oder Oktober, wenn sie das neue Jahr beginnen.

("It comes from the Hebrew. Rosch Haschana means literally "head of the year" and means the start of the new year.  Jews wish each other "guten Rutsch" not in the last days of December, but rather in September or October, the start of their new year.")

Therefore, no honorable German should use the greeting "guten Rutsch"!

But, fortunately, the more intellectually astute cousins of the NPD over at Junge Freiheit have rescued this favorite phrase from the Jews:

Denn im Deutschen ist auch ohne jiddischen Einfluß bereits das Wort „Rutsch“ vorhanden, auch in der Bedeutung „kleine Reise“. Außerdem: Wer denkt eigentlich ans hebräische Neujahrsfest, wenn er einen „guten Rutsch“ wünscht? Hierzulande verbindet jeder damit doch eher den Gedanken an eine „gute Reise“ vom alten Jahr ins neue.

("For the word "Rutsch" already existed in German without the Yiddish influence, meaning "little journey".  Besides, who thinks about the Hebrew new year when he says "guten Rutsch"?  We all make a thought connection of a "good journey" from the old year into the new.")

We certainly owe a debt of gratitude to the "scholars" at the völkisch-national weekly Junge Freiheit for keeping New Years "Judenfrei".  

In diesem Sinne wünsche ich allen Leserinnen und Lesern von Dialog International  einen guten Rutsch in das Jahr 2012 hinein!

Ron Paul and the Neo-Fascists

The right-libertarian magazine eigentümlich frei is positively ecstatic that "their candidate" Ron Paul is surging in the polls and is now viewed as a frontrunner to win the Iowa Caucus:

"Weitere Anzeichen für eine beginnende regionale Marktdurchdringung der Marke „Ron Paul“ häufen sich. Die Internet-Wettplattform Intrade sieht Paul derzeit in Iowa mit einer Wahrscheinlichkeit von 47 Prozent in Führung, Romney und Gingrich folgen mit 34 und 8 Prozent. Selbst in den Hauptstrommedien, die Paul so lange wie irgend möglich totschwiegen, wird jetzt die Möglichkeit diskutiert, dass der vermeintliche „Außenseiter“, dem man dort „null Chance“ auf die Nominierung gibt, die erste Vorwahl gewinnen könnte. Auch die „New York Times“ sieht Paul dort klar in Führung."

("There are more and more indications that the brand "Ron Paul" is experiencing a regional market penetration. The Internet betting site Intrade now sees the probability of a Paul victory at 48%, followed by Romney and Gingrich at 34% and 8%.  Even the mainstream media which totally ignored Paul now discusses the possiblity that the supposed "outsider" could win the first nominating election even though he has "zero chance" of winning the nomination.  The New York TImes as well sees Paul in the lead.")

But the editors of eigentümlich frei fail to point out who many of these enthusiastic supporters for Ron Paul really are.  The New York Times published an excellent article on support for the Paul campaign from white supremacist groups in the US who were enthusiastic subscribers to Ron Paul's racist newsletters in the 1990s. 

The TImes piece, however, is incomplete in that it fails to explore Ron Paul's contacts with prominent neo-fascist groups both in the US and abroad.  For example, in November of this year Ron Paul met with Marine LePen, leader of the French neo-fascist Front National (FN) and a serious opponent of Sarkozy.  In Germany, the völkisch-national weekly Junge Freiheit has written extensively - and admiringly - about Ron Paul as the father of the Tea Party movement, which the editors Junge Freiheit would love to replicate in Germany as the vanguard of a neo-fascist movement. A reporter for Junge Freiheit - Kristof Berking - even traveled to the US to attend a Ron Paul "Rally for the Republic".  Berking has compiled a useful "Internet Guide the Ron Paul Revolution" and also writes about Paul for eigentümlich frei   - demonstrating the close links between libertarianism and neo-fascism.  Junge Freiheit's American Cousin - the "intellectual" white supremacist site Alternative Right has written approvingly of Ron Paul's racist newsletters and the site's senior editor - Professor Paul Gottfried - has endorsed Ron Paul. 

The NYTimes piece points out that Ron Paul was heavily influenced by the Libertarian thinker Murray Rothbard, who tried to build a Libertarian political movement in the 1970s and 1980s.  Rothbard's most famous disciple is the German-born Libertarian anarcho-fascist thinker Hans Hermann Hoppe (also, incidentally, a contributor to Junge Freiheit) who, in his 2001 book Democracy: The God That Failed advocates a new feudalism centered on a cult of private  property where enemies of the "natural order" - Gays, Lesbians, Democrats, etc. - would be forcibly expelled or detained:

"There can be no tolerance toward those habitually promoting lifestyles incompatible with this goal. They-the advocates of alternative, non-family-centered lifestyles such as, for instance, individual hedonism, parasitism, nature-environment worship, homosexuality, or communism-will have to be physically removed from society, too, if one is to maintain a libertarian order."  -Hans Hermann Hoppe, Democracy: The God That Failed

The Web site Daily Paul has links to videos of Professor Hoppe endorsing the "Ron Paul Revolution". 

 

Open Letter of the German Auschwitz Committee

Perhaps no group is more alarmed by the increase in neo-Nazi terror and growing intolerance against "foreigners" in Germany than the survivors of the Holocaust.  Now the Auschwitz-Komitee der Bundesrepublik Deutschland has published an open letter (pdf warning)  to Chancellor Angela Merkel, President Christian Wulff and cabinet minister Kristina Schröder asserting that they have abdicated their responsibility to prosecute right-wing extremism in German society:

iIn großer Sorge wenden wir uns heute an Sie. Antisemitische, rassistische und neofaschistische Ideologie und Praxis finden Akzeptanz bis in die Mitte der Gesellschaft. Sie, die Regierenden, tragen Mitverantwortung an den "deutschen Zuständen" heute, an der Ökonomisierung des Denkens, an der Entsolidarisierung der Gesellschaft, und, daraus folgend, an der sozialen Spaltung, die Ängste schürt. Rassismus, Antisemitismus und Fremdenfeindlichkeit haben heute wieder Konjunktur in Deutschland.

(Deeply concerned, we turn to you today. Anti-Semitic, racist and neo-fascist ideology and practice are finding acceptance in the mainstream of society. You, our government leaders, bear responsibility for the "German situation" today, advancing the commodification of thought, the lack of solidarity of society, and, consequently, the social division, the fears. Racism, antisemitism and xenophobia in Germany are back in fashion today.)

What is especially grotesque is that some of the aging survivors of Hitler's death camps are themselves under surveillance for being "leftist extremists".  78-year old Ernst Grube survived Theresianstadt and has been active in labor and other progressive causes, but the Web site Bayern gegen Linksextremismus ("Bavaria against Left Extremism")  lists Herr Grube as a potentially dangerous radical.  Meanwhile, neo-Nazi organizations have been operating openly - often committing violent attacks on "foreigners" (mostly Africans and Muslims) - in Bavaria and other regions.

The committee singles out Kristina Schröder for special criticism, since the minister for family affairs has made the false equivalence of left-and right-wing extremism.  Since the reunification more than 120 people have been killed by right-wing violence, while none have a been victims of "left-wing violence".  Recently Frau Schröder called the mainstream socialist daily Neues Deutschland an "extremist" newspaper.  There has been no similar condemnation of the völkisch-national weekly Junge Freiheit, which routinely promotes bigotry against "foreigners" (Fremde) in Germany and advances historical revisionism (a recent piece whitewashed the notorious Feme-Morde ("Vigilante Murders") in the Weimer Republic). 

US Companies Profiting from German Neo-Nazi Underground

It is now apparent that the neo-Nazi terrorist cell in Zwickau was only the tip of the iceberg.  The excellent Web site Publikative.org reports that the criminal investigation into the “Nationalsozialistischer Untergrund” (NSU) has led them to Ludwigshafen in southwest Germany, where a well-known neo-Nazi is suspected of arson in a 2008 fire that resulted in the deaths of eight people of Turkish descent.  More revelations of right-wing extremist activities in Germany surface daily.

So how do the neo-Nazis recruit members, identify targets for violence, and organize their criminal actions?  One path, unfortunately, leads to the US.  With the support of American partners and businesses neo-Nazi groups can easily set up Web sites and online discussion forums to debate such topics as whether Jews or Muslims should be the first targets.  A notorious American neo-Nazi - Gary Lauck - has even developed a business model where for a monthly fee of 20 Euros he will register a neo-Nazi site in the US. His offer is available on his site zensurfrei.com:

Die Vorteile: 1. Die Netzseiten in den USA werden höchstwahrscheinlich nicht gesperrt, 2. Man hat einen politisch zuverlässigen, deutschsprachigen, als Geschäftsmann erfahrenen Mitarbeiter in den USA, der alles regelt, 3. Man kann einfach mit Euro-Banknoten bezahlen, und zwar pro Quartal oder pro Jahr. 4. Es handelt sich um einen der größten und zuverlässigsten Server in den USA.

Wenn Sie eine Netzseite von uns bestellen, registrieren wir den Domain Namen. Wir errichten Ihre Netzseite, und zwar fast immer innerhalb 24 Stunden(!), damit Sie mit dem Hochladen Ihrer Dateien anfangen können.

(The advantages: 1. The Web pages in the US will more than likely not be blocked, 2.  You have a politically reliable, German-speaking business partner in the US, 3. You can pay in cash, quarterly or annually, 4.We work with one the biggest and most reliable hosting services in the US.

When you order your Web site through us, we register the domain name. We set up your Web site, almost always within 24 hours! - so that you can begin to upload your data.)

A quick look at Lauck's business partner  - "one of the biggest and most reliable hosting services in the US" - reveals that the neo-Nazi Lauck is a reseller of California-based DreamHost - one of the biggest hosting companies on the west coast.   

I requested an interview with DreamHost CEO Simon Anderson but only got the following message from the company:

Concerns over the specific content of a DreamHost hosted site should be referred to the site's operator. As a part of our commitment to free speech and expression, DreamHost does not censor the content of its hosted sites beyond the removal of illegal content and protecting the security and integrity of shared network/server resources

So once again a company is hiding behind the freedom of speech guaranteed by the US Constitution.  If DreamHost were an ethically-run company it would sever its business partnership with Gary Lauck or else donate all of the profits it makes from "Gauleiter Lauck" to the German victims of neo-Nazi terror.

More information: Der Spiegel: Hetz-Propaganda aus den USA

Review: Eugen Ruge's In Zeiten des abnehmenden Lichts

In his engrossing, if rather conventional, debut novel In Zeiten des abnehmenden Lichts ("In Times of Fading Light") Eugen Ruge has written a family saga which has also been received in Germany as a definitive response to die Wende (the collapse of the GDR) from the East German perspective.  In Zeiten is a melancholy East German Buddenbrooks which traces the decline of the Powileit/Umnitzer family through four generations, shifting back and forth through time and perspective during critical dates from 1952 to 2001.  The "fading light" refers to the dream of the socialist utopia, which diminishes over time until it is extinguished entirely with the "post-Wende" generation. 

The patriarch of the family, Wilhelm, is a staunch Stalinist and member of the anti-fascist resistance who, during the war, is sent to Mexico with his wife Charlotte.  The couple leave behind two sons in the Soviet Union - Kurt and Werner - who are thrown into a prison camp after complaining about the Hitler-Stalin pact.  Werner perishes in one of Stalin's Gulags, while Kurt survives and arrives in the newly-formed DDR with his Russian wife Irina.  Kurt becomes a leading "historian" for the DDR but his son, Alexander or "Sascha", has little enthusiasm for the "real existing socialism", and eventually flees to the west, leaving behind a son, Markus. 

Ruge employs a biting sarcasm in depicting a family in total denial.  Wilhelm is happy to receive phony awards from the Party for brave anti-Nazi resistance activities he was never a part of.  Charlotte pretends that her son Werner wasn't murdered by the very system she and her husband embrace.  Kurt is blind to the fact that the volumes of "history" he has produced are worthless, while Alexander destroys everything that is of value in his life.  But the family is able to cope - even thrive - as part of the privileged mid-level functionary social class precisely because they live under a state order that was founded on denial, and denied reality for forty years.  When the house of cards collapses and reality sets in the family's downward spiral only gathers speed. 

As in every family, sickness and death take their toll. As the light fades the body fails as well, and Ruge excels at describing the physical ailments that afflict the Umnitzers - from Wilhelm's deeping dementia, to Charlotte's asthma, Irina's alcoholism, and Alexander's cancer.  Especially effective is the first chapter when we first encounter Kurt. It is the year 2001 and the "historian" is lost in the fog of Alzheimer's disease - his own past obliterated - and this intellectual who could not say "no" to the party leadership for so many years is now reduced to uttering just one word - "Ja" , Yes. 

As the world deals with the horror of the Twin Towers attack on Sept. 11, 2001, Alexander, riddled with cancer, flees to Mexico to die but also to search for some meaning in his grandparent's past.  In the end, we are left with the fading light of the sunset over the Pacific.

Historians will argue whether the Deutsche Demokratische Republik was anything more than just a footnote in history. It collapsed from a fatal sickness 22 years ago, unloved and, for the most part, unmourned.  But with Eugen Ruge's novel In Zeiten des abnehmenden Lichts we have a vivid portrait of that vanished footnote of history which has resonated with many readers.  We see the world as it really was, and we understand the human foibles which allowed it persist as long as it did.

Eugen Ruge recieved the 2011 Deutscher Buchpreis for In Zeiten des abnehmenden Lichts. 

Angela Merkel - die Hungerkanzlerin

 Angela Merkel's handling of the financial crisis in the Eurozone brings to mind failed leaders of the past - such as Herbert Hoover - whose actions - or inactions- only exacerbated an already dire situation.  But Steve Forbes as a better historical analogy - this one from the Weimar Republic:

Not since the early 1930s has a democratic government made such grave economic miscalculations as today’s Merkel administration. In the pit of the Great Depression German Chancellor Heinrich Brüning imposed severe austerity measures, the most damaging of which were an array of new taxes. Berlin feared that an unbalanced bud-get, even as the economy was catastrophically contracting, might unleash a bout of hyperinflation. Merkel worries that if the European Central Bank goes whole hog trying to stem the euro-destroying crisis by massively buying Spanish and Italian bonds, a destructive inflation will result.

Berlin’s fear of inflation is as wrong now as it was in 1930–32. European financial institutions are being mortally threatened: Their liquidity is being drained. U.S. money market funds, for instance, have withdrawn about $1 trillion. At the same time, regulators are telling banks to shore up their capital, which means distressed asset sales and the calling in of loans. Europe is headed for another recession. More dangerously, the implosion of its banks will trigger another global financial explosion à la 2008–09, or something even worse.

It is very rare indeed that Steve Forbes and Paul Krugman agree on anything, but here is one instance where they are in accord. 

Brüning and his policies remain controversial even today.  Historians such as Knut Borchardt point out that Brüning had very little choice but to ram through a budget surplus in light of Germany's reparations payments under the Versailles Treaty.  Also, the hyperinflation of the early years of the Weimar Republic made it impossible for Brüning to devalue the Reichsmark.  Nevertheless, Heinrich Brüning will always be remembered as "der Hungerkanzler" (the "starvation chancellor"), and he died embittered and disgraced in Norwich, Vermont (in 1970). 

Whether one agrees with Borchardt or not, we all know what Brüning's austerity ushered in.  We can only hope that Angela Merkel will not suffer the same fate:

Will Angela Merkel be a modern-day Brüning? Her place in history depends upon the answer—as does the well-being of the world. (Steve Forbes) 

Merry Christmas! Deutsche Bank tries to evict 103-year old woman

It's coming on Christmas and Deutsche Bank - America's Foreclosure King - is stepping up evictions of American homeowners whose mortgages ended up in the junk securities sold by Deutsche Bank and its peers on Wall street.  Latest target is 103-year old Vita Lee in Atlanta and her 84-year old daughter. But in this case things didn't quite go as planned as officials refused to obey the German banking giant: 

Deutsche Bank officials got a bit of a surprise yesterday when a sheriff and moving guys refused to evict a 103-year-old woman from her Atlanta home. The details surrounding the eviction remain unclear, but it's obvious the bank was attempting to foreclose on the centenarian and her 83-year-old daughter for quite some time.

The two elderly women have been fighting the banksters so that they could stay in their house where they have lived for the past 54 years.

Not only that, but the temperature has been dipping below freezing lately and winter is coming quickly. Ms. Lee said that Deutsche Bank was well aware of the problem and still ordered her eviction, which really shows the kind of business it is. Really, who in their right mind would put out two elderly women into the freezing cold just weeks before Christmas?

Score one for human decency in this one. The deputy and moving company have just won untold amounts of good karma for refusing to do the big bank's bidding.

But fighting Deutsche Bank is taking its toll on other homeowners, such as New Yorker Jocelyne Voltaire who spoke to the Occupy Wall Street protesters:

Before addressing the crowd, Jocelyne Voltaire, a homeowner in Queens who came to show her support, could be heard shouting, "I cannot take it anymore. Enough is enough!" "I need to speak!"

The crowd became silent as volunteers led her up to the steps of the home. She spoke about her inability to sleep and eat because she said her lender, Deutsche Bank, wanted to take away her home. Voltaire shared the loss of her son after fighting in Kuwait and Iraq, her new illness, and said she had put down $80,000 on her home after living there for more than two decades.

And so the struggle goes on, as bankers at Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt and New York throw lavish parties to celebrate their record bonuses.  The only thing that might put a damper on their holiday cheer were these remarks by President Obama the other day in his major speech on saving the middle class:

The fact is this crisis has left a huge deficit of trust between Main Street and Wall Street. And major banks that were rescued by the taxpayers have an obligation to go the extra mile in helping to close that deficit of trust. At minimum, they should be remedying past mortgage abuses that led to the financial crisis. They should be working to keep responsible homeowners in their home. We’re going to keep pushing them to provide more time for unemployed homeowners to look for work without having to worry about immediately losing their house.

Zwickau in the Rockies: Neo-Nazi "Paradise" in Montana

Germans were understandably shocked to learn that a neo-Nazi terror cell had been operating for years in the town of Zwickau, with support from right-wing extremist groups across Germany.  But this cell operated in secrecy.  In the United States we have an armed neo-Nazi group operating openly in Montana, and authorities are doing nothing to contain it.  The group is building a "whites only" region in the Rockies - and the community of hate is growing. 

The founder of the racially-pure community in Kalispell, Montana is the "Eva Braun" of the neo-Nazis in America, April Gaede: 

Best known for her twin daughters, Lynx and Lamb, who perform folk music at white supremacist festivals and elsewhere under the name Prussian Blue, April Gaede was suckled on neo-Nazi ideology. She grew up on a ranch near Fresno, Calif., where her father branded the family’s horse and cattle with swastikas.

In 1986, when she was 20, Gaede says she selected her first husband, Kris Lingelser, for his “Aryan” looks. The couple settled in Bakersfield, Calif., and, eight years later, Gaede gave birth to her blonde-haired, blue-eyed twins.

She has named her third daughter Dresden, in honor of the fire-bombed German city.  April Gaede runs a blog for Pioneer Little Europe group, which is dedicated to "creating racially conscious White communities."  A recent post celebrated all the "wonderful White babies being born in Kalispell, Montana."

Why are neo-Nazis flocking to Kalispell?  This is a remote area of the far West, with little or no law enforcement presence. Also, Montana and Idaho have long been white supremacist strongholds.  But the single biggest magnet for right-wing extremists are Montana's lax restrictions on gun ownership, and the neo-Nazi groups have amassed a huge arsenal of weapons - legally.   In 2009 one of the neo-Nazi leaders shot an unarmed Latino in a racially-motivated assault.  Open and shut hate crime, right?  Wrong: 

Earlier that year, however, the Montana legislature had passed the "Shoot to Kill Bill," which codified that Montana residents are legally allowed to use deadly force with a firearm if they are "legally in a place" and feel threatened, whether or not the person by whom they feel threatened is displaying a weapon. The law further declares that its up to prosecutors to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a shooter's actions were not justified.

Although the young man that Goff shot was unarmed, the neo-Nazi's lawyer argued that his client was justified in using deadly force because he felt threatened. The jury acquitted him.

Word has gotten out about Kalispell, and Nazis from all over the United States are calling it home.  One white supremacist relocated from Florida and is gushing with enthusiasm:

"It's paradise here. I open carry [a handgun] every day. If you can, you should too."

Much more on this "Zwickau in the Rockies":

• Media Matters: High Country Extremism: Homeland on the Range
• Media Matters: Pioneering Hate
• Media Matters: Armed And Dangerous
• Media Matters: Patriot Games

Christa Wolf is Dead

Wolfgang Hilbig's brilliant novel "Ich" (1993) deals with a group of "dissident" writers know as "die Szene"  in the former East Germany (GDR) who are idolized by critics in the West.  It turns out that these brave writers are in fact all in the employ of the Stasi or are Inoffizieller Mitarbeiter (IM - informants) for the Stalinist state. 

I couldn't help but think about Hilbig and die Szene when I learned that Christa Wolf had died yesterday in Berlin.  Back in the 1970s and 1980s the West celebrated Christa Wolf as the most important figure in "East German Literature" (DDR Literatur).  Here was a brave writer who stood up to the state apparatus of her chosen country but who also condemned the West for its moral hypocrisy and capitalist excess.  Her important novels Der geteilte Himmel (1963) and Nachdenken über Christa T. (1968) had a moral authority which seemed to be lacking in the decadent literature of West Germany (BRD).  We admired this new voice of "subjective authenticity" which was light-years from the dreary socialist realism we associated with the literature sanctioned in the East Bloc.

But Christa Wolf knew exactly how far she could go before crossing the line that would mean the end of her privileged life in East Germany.  Never would she give up the nice apartment, the personal meetings with Honecker, the trips to West where she could preside over conferences on DDR Literatur.  The collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989 was a great personal calamity for Christa Wolf, for overnight the genre of DDR Literatur was irrelevant.  In desperation she tried to portray herself as a victim in Was bleibt (1990) but shortly thereafter the Stasi archives were opened and the evidence was there for all to see: Christa Wolf was part of "die Szene", and all along the Unrechtsstaat had been using her to legitimize itself. 

What remains - was bleibt - of Christa Wolf's reputation will quickly fade, her novels will live on a historical artifacts, devoid of lasting literary value.  Those East German writers who will be remembered in future generations will the ones who were expelled (Hilbig) or were silenced (Werner Bräunig, Peter Huchel). 

See also my post Der Neger von Adorno. 

Der Spiegel: "GOP Freakshow" Damaging America's Reputation

Cross-posted at DailyKos

Did you ever have a crazy relative - an Aunt Mabel from Tupelo or an Uncle Archie from Queens - who made you cringe whenever he or she would open their mouth?  When they came to visit you would live in fear that a friend or classmate would drop in and overhear some racist or inappropriate comment your relative would make, and then everyone would know the secret that your family is really crazy.  That's how I feel about the Republican Party.

The GOP debates make me cringe.  I fully expect that Mitt Romney will make some stupid remark about "American Exceptionalism", that Rick Perry or Michelle Bachman will espouse their Christo-Fascist worldview, that Herman Cain will display his total ignorance about everything, and that Newt will make a total ass of himself with his bombast.  I just wish the rest of the world wasn't watching as well, for the GOP performance this election cycle diminishes our nation in the eyes of the world.

My worst fears have been realized by this latest piece in the German weekly Der Spiegel.

The article is titled appropriately "A Club of Liars, Demagogues and Ignoramuses".

Africa is a country. In Libya, the Taliban reigns. Muslims are terrorists; most immigrants are criminal; all Occupy protesters are dirty. And women who feel sexually harassed -- well, they shouldn't make such a big deal about it.

Welcome to the wonderful world of the US Republicans. Or rather, to the twisted world of what they call their presidential campaigns. For months now, they've been traipsing around the country with their traveling circus, from one debate to the next, one scandal to another, putting themselves forward for what's still the most powerful job in the world.

It's bad enough that they are an embarrassment to any thinking Republican - if there are any left in the party.  But these individuals are competing for the most powerful job on the planet.  What does it say about America?

It's true that on the road to the White House all sorts of things can happen, and usually do. No campaign can avoid its share of slip-ups, blunders and embarrassments. Yet this time around, it's just not that funny anymore. In fact, it's utterly horrifying.

It's horrifying because these eight so-called, would-be candidates are eagerly ruining not only their own reputations and that of their party, the party of Lincoln lore. Worse: They're ruining the reputation of the United States.

Der Spiegel is especially harsh in its critique of Newt - and of the US media's disgraceful failure in covering the former Speaker:

Then there's Newt Gingrich, the current favorite. He's a political dinosaur, dishonored and discredited. Or so we thought. Yet just because he studied history and speaks in more complex sentences than his rivals, the US media now reflexively hails him as a "Man of Ideas" (The Washington Post) -- even though most of these ideas are lousy if not downright offensive, such as firing unionized school janitors, so poor children could do their jobs.

Pompous and blustering, Gingrich gets away with this humdinger as well as with selling himself as a Washington outsider -- despite having made millions of dollars as a lobbyist in Washington. At least the man's got chutzpah. [,,,]

Yet the US media rewards him with a daily kowtow. And the Republicans reward him too, by having put him on top in the latest polls. Mr. Hypocrisy, the bearer of his party's hope.

The world is shaking its head in amazement.  What happened to a once great nation that a charlatan like Newt would be taken seriously as a "Leader of the Free World"?