ALASKA’S MILLER SEES VALUE IN EMULATING COMMUNISTS…. We talked at some length yesterday about extremist Senate candidate Joe Miller’s (R) event at an Alaska middle school yesterday, which culminated in the candidate’s private security team “arresting” Alaska Dispatch editor Tony Hopfinger. But let’s not overlook what Miller had to say at the event itself.
Yesterday, Miller spoke to (who else?) Fox News about the incident, and justified the forced detention of a journalist by saying Hopfinger was “unruly” in asking the candidate questions. The so-called “constitutional conservative” seems to have forgotten that reporters pressing political candidates is entirely legal, even when the candidates are Republicans.
But Miller has not yet been asked to explain one of the answers he provided during the event itself, in response to a question about dealing with immigrants to enter the U.S. illegally.
Anchorage blogger Steve Aufrecht was there and is among those today who are criticizing Miller’s response that Communist East Germany is a good example of a nation achieving border security. He quotes Miller as saying: “The first thing that has to be done is secure the border…. East Germany was very, very able to reduce the flow. Now, obviously, other things were involved. We have the capacity to, as a great nation, secure the border. If East Germany could do it, we could do it.”
Now, as a rule, right-wing candidates don’t look to East Germany for inspiration. During the Cold War, East Germany was communist.
Indeed, Miller may not realize this, but East Germany “was very, very able to reduce the flow” because there was a heavily-fortified wall intended to keep people from fleeing the country, not enter it. Reducing the “flow” is easy when no one wants to go in, and no one’s allowed to leave.
What’s more, the border was protected by well-armed East German soldiers, all of whom were ordered to open fire on anyone trying to sneak past them.
In fairness, I don’t imagine Joe Miller really wants to duplicate Cold War tactics, with Americans emulating the communists — but then again, I’m not certain exactly what he has in mind, either. One of the downsides of fringe extremists winning Republican primaries for key public offices is that no one’s really sure what the public will get if they win.
In Miller’s case, his limited professional background includes allegations of professional misconduct. As a candidate, we’ve heard him talk about eliminating the minimum wage and unemployment benefits, and looking to communists for guidance on immigration policy.
In the Year of the Nutjob, this somehow seems par for the course.
