Historical Fantasy (part one of many)

One thing I want do on this blog is talk about the way people misuse history. I have nothing special to add to the discussion of Lieberman's defeat by Lamont, but I do want to chime in on this Lieberman quote that Mark Schmitt snagged.

“I’m worried that too many people, both in politics and out, don’t appreciate the seriousness of the threat to American security and the evil of the enemy that faces us — more evil, or as evil, as Nazism and probably more dangerous than the Soviet Communists we fought during the long Cold War,” Mr. Lieberman said.

Schmitt rightly calls him out on this, and I have nothing to add. But it's possible that Lieberman is not as unhinged as Schmitt suggests, for he may not be thinking of the real Soviets or real Nazis here. If I were generous, I'd say he's talking about them as abstract concepts, iconic representations of Evil and Danger. In this case, what he's really saying is:

“I’m worried that too many people, both in politics and out, don’t appreciate the seriousness of the threat to American security and the evil of the enemy that faces us — more evil, or as evil, as Evil and probably more dangerous than the Danger we fought during the long Cold War.”

Here, Nazis and Soviets are merely cardboard stand-ins, signs for something else, not meant to be taken literally. There is of course, another possibility, that what he had in mind was something else, altogether.



In which case, of course, he's completely right.