Tim Fernholz on the news that “bodyguards” of Alaska Senate Candidate Joe Miller had handcuffed a journalist:
What is it about the fear of big-government fascism that makes Tea Party candidates act like big-government fascists?
Miller, on illegal immigration, on Sunday:
On Sunday, Joe Miller, candidate for US Senate, held a town hall meeting at a middle school in Anchorage. When asked about illegal immigration, Miller offered up: Build a wall! “If the East Germans could do it, so can we!”
There may be some objective economic and logistical factors missing from that analysis, like the fact that there weren’t any jobs in East Germany and the fact that the Berlin Wall was about 100 miles long, while the U.S.-Mexico border is about 2000 miles long. But other than that, sure, imitating East Germany? I mean how could that possibly end badly?
This also seems to be one of those moments where it’s worth reflecting on what the reaction at Fox News would be if a liberal, sarcastically or otherwise, suggested replicating the triumphs of East German communism.
