Naaaaaaaah, Nah Nah Nah

One of my Top 5 Ramones songs is Bonzo Goes to Bitburg, which is the subject of discussion over at Aquarium Drunkard today:

What Reagan’s aides initially missed in planning out the visit was that the cemetery included the graves of 49 members of the Waffen-SS, the armed wing of the paramilitary inside Nazi Germany. As a result, a furor erupted ahead of time about Reagan’s visit, especially since he initially planned to pass on visiting the concentration camp. Reagan tried to help his cause by stating in his defense that a good number of the SS soldiers were drafted against their will. “They were victims, just as surely as the victims in the concentration camps.” This comparison didn’t go over well with those already angry about the visit.

Joey was himself Jewish and that couldn’t help but inform his perspective on the matter. Reagan did, by the time of the visit, agree to actually go to the concentration camp as well, though it was a little late to ward off some of the criticism as more than half the members of the Senate and House of Representatives had signed letters either asking Reagan to cancel his visit or for Kohl to rescind the invitation.