Children as Human Shields

unclesaddamThere’s a great thread over at Firedoglake discussing Rep. Reynolds’ (R-Denial) use of children as props at his recent press conference to fend off questions regarding his role in PageGate. Joyce in comments mentioned the similarity with Saddam Hussein’s use of young Brit Stuart Lockwood in August of 1990.

Okay, a bit extreme, perhaps, but the similarity in mindset is the same: “if I’m surrounded by little kids, I’ll come across as something other than the monster I’ve been exposed to really be.” (Photo courtesy of murdoconline.com)

reynolds3 Below is Rep. Tom Reynolds performing in upstate New York Tuesday (Photo: Harry Scull Jr. for the Buffalo News).

That little guy on the far right has about the same look in his eyes as Stuart Lockwood did 16 years ago: “What the fuck am I doing here held hostage by that nasty old guy with the warped agenda?!”

PS: it occurs to me that while Saddam abused his kiddie shield in the general context of his role as nasty dictator under pressure, there’s something even creepier about a representative of a democracy using a kid as a prop during the discussion of a sexual predator with a prediliction for underage boys. We expect a dictator like Saddam to do ugly shit like this; we (used to) expect more from our Congressmen. Just sayin’.