Despite the left's continued inability to get the facts straight on last year's "Citizens United v. FEC" Supreme Court decision, some continue discussing it as if it were an atrocity of truly historic proportions.
Actor Richard Dreyfuss, for one, berated Citizens United president David Bossie at last week's Conservative Political Action Conference. He compared Bossie to genocidal Cambodian dictator Pol Pot, and wondered whether Bossie was "stacking skulls" in his office (a reference to the remains of hundreds of thousands of Cambodians found in mass graves after Pol Pot's rule).
Bossie relayed the tale in a Thursday post at Big Hollywood:
Last week at CPAC I ran into liberal Hollywood icon Richard Dreyfuss. The rumor around CPAC was that Dreyfuss had seen that shining city on the hill and was “turning conservative.” I wondered if I would see him because I have enjoyed some of his movies.
The opportunity arose when we both finished interviews on radio row. I approached Dreyfuss, put out my hand, and said “Hi, I am David Bossie, President of Citizens United.” Dreyfuss’ eyes lit up like he just saw Jaws and he said, “You’re going to have a hard time getting into heaven if you believe in that sort of stuff.” I was taken aback and asked, “Why?” Dreyfuss then went on a diatribe equating the Citizens United v. FEC Supreme Court decision to the Khmer Rouge. He compared me to Pol Pot “stacking skulls” back at my office. He actually used his hands to seemingly act out the stacking of skulls. I replied by saying, “I thought you would have been supportive of my First Amendment Supreme Court case because you are in the business of supporting the First Amendment.” He did not have a clear response and looked like a frustrated, institution-bound Dr. Leo Marvin from his Oscar-worthy performance in What About Bob?
For someone who was at CPAC to promote a civics and civility campaign, calling me one of the worst mass murderers in history strikes me as awfully hypocritical. But this is not the first time Dreyfuss has used extreme and offensive language to make a political point. He once compared former Vice President Dick Cheney to Adolf Hitler and agreed with comments that wished Cheney dead (though later apologized).
Such rhetoric is, sadly, a reality of American politics in all ideological circles (as the media forced us to demonstrate after the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords), but something about Citizens United really drives the left nuts.
Former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann was perhaps the most consistent source of "Citizens United" hyperbole. He called the case "our Dred Scott" and likened an attorney who supported Bossie's position to Nazi collaborator Vidkun Quisling.
The ever-excitable New York Times editorial board said the Supreme Court had dealt a "blow to democracy" with the "Citizens United" decision. Corporations - the Times was less worried about unions, of course - would now "use their vast treasuries to overwhelm elections and intimidate elected officials into doing their bidding"
As absurd as these claims were, to compare Bossie - or any other American political figure - to a genocidal Marxist responsible for the slaughter of more than two million innocents is simply beyond the pale. Dreyfuss should be ashamed.
