http://politicalwire.com/archives/2011/11/21/democrats_pray_for_newt.html
Paul Begala: "Republicans, apparently, will date anyone before they'll marry Mitt. Remember their brief fling with Donald Trump? Then, after he decided not to throw his hair into the ring, they fell for Michele Bachmann, the Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya of the far right. Then it was Rick Perry -- the guy who claims he jogs with a loaded gun (without a safety) tucked into his shorts. And now that they've tired of Herman Cain's, umm, hands-on style of leadership, it's Newt's turn."
I am pretty sure if anyone had read the quote above he/she hadn't noticed anything unusual. Ok, Mr. Begala used some funny name, maybe a Russian saint or someone to metaphorically address the far right obsession with Michelle Bachmann, so what? He is an educated guy, most likely heard something.
For the record: Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya was an 18-years' old Russian woman who voluntarily joined the Red Army in 1941 to fight with Germans. She was assigned to a special ops group and was captured during the mission in the Petrishevo village, not far from Moscow. After grotesque tortures which included flogging and making cuts in her breasts she was publicly hanged in front of women and children of that village. It was done not by SS but by a regular Vermacht regiment. Due to that atrocity Stalin issued a special order to not to consider the soldiers of that regiment as POWs. Now you know. I hope Mr. Begala knows too.
The reader can judge for himself/ herself if any reasonable writer would associate the name of the hero of the most horrible war with the half-human personality of Michelle Bachmann. I understand that to Mr. Begala all of that means most likely nothing: he wanted to refer to the obsession with the name, the hysteria of the far right and he had no other example than Zoya. I guess he was just lazy and vane. The Devil finds work for idle hands.
Smirking is common among the US MSM folks. Still, I am wondering why Mr. Begala had chosen a Russian character. Why didn't he use Joan D'Arc, Sofia Sholl, or Anne Frank? After all, you can say that those names are not only widely known but also were the subjects of quite a hysterical approach for a long period of time. Mr. Begala bypassed them. He picked up a person not well-known in the West. That way he avoided possible complications with someone here and could consider himself safe in smirking. Who cares about an obscure Russian girl?
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