[From a local newspaper.]
That’s Congressman John Shimkus (R, Illinois-15), speaking of the Republican candidate for Illinois governor, Bruce Rauner. Whether Shimkus knows it or not, he’s comparing Rauner to Benito Mussolini — and favorably.
The comparison fails in three ways: 1. Mussolini wasn’t responsible for making trains run on time. 2. The claim that he did make trains run on time is typically advanced as a grim joke: “Yes, but he made the trains run on time.” 3. It is inadvisable to laud an American political candidate by likening that candidate to a fascist dictator.
You may remember Congressman Shimkus making the news in 2009 for his observation that we need not worry about rising sea levels because God promised not to destroy the world by flood.
For more on Mussolini and trains, see snopes.com.
Monday, August 18, 2014
Congressman compares gubernatorial candidate to Mussolini, favorably
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comments: 3
It was GOD who made the trains run on time!
There's something in people that loves a dictator...
As I wrote that line about something loving a dicator, I was dimly remembering a quote, which just came clear in my mind:
Maude, in Harold and Maude, saying,
"Oh my, how the world still dearly loves a cage."
That reminds me Lewis Hyde’s observation: “Irony has only emergency use. Carried over time it is the voice of the trapped who have come to enjoy their cage.” The movie came first though.
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