Thursday, February 21, 2008

Steyn: Who's the biggest Holocaust denier of them all?

Canadian Liberal strategist Warren Kinsella is accusing those in Canada and around the world fighting to end Canada's hate speech laws as being on the same team as David Irving, who he calls "the most notorious Holocaust denier on the planet."

Mark Steyn quickly corrects the record.

By "most notorious Holocaust denier", Warren means the British historian David Irving. In fact, "the most notorious Holocaust denier on the planet" is President Ahmadinejad, who denies the last Holocaust even as he urges on the next one. Warren doesn't seem to have much to say on that score, which is a pity. Nobody needs "brave" (Warren's word) men like Richard Warman who dedicate their lives to battling an enemy vanquished 60 years ago. It's easy to pick the right side when it's all settled and retrospective.

But, since "guilt by association" is the only game Warren knows how to play, look at it this way. Yes, David Irving's on my side, and David Icke, the man who believes the Queen is a shape-shifting blood-drinking space lizard. But who's on Warren's side? Mohamed Elmasry, who thinks all Israelis over 18 are a legitimate target for murder, and Khaled Mouammar, who smeared Bob Rae for the crime of having a Jewish wife. Are you "proud" to have the "most notorious" Judeophobes in Canada on your team, Warren?

More to the point, they're the only guys on his team. Over on my side, we have not only David Irving but Keith Martin, Liberal Member of Parliament; The Globe & Mail, Canada's establishment newspaper; two-time Canadian columnist of the year Margaret Wente; the CBC's Rex Murphy; Toronto Star columnist Kelly Toughill; leftie colossus Noam Chomsky; and PEN Canada, an organization headed by former viceregal consort John Ralston Saul and run by the cream of the CanCon literati - Margaret Atwood, Rohinton Mistry, David Cronenberg, Louise Dennys, etc.

Are they all Nazis just because they're on the same side as notorious Jew-haters like David Irving, Ezra Levant, Jonathan Kay and Mark Steyn?