“I realized they could take everything away from me except my mind and my heart. Those things I would have to give them. And I decided not to give them away.” Nelson Mandela, to Bill Clinton.

“During my lifetime I have dedicated my life to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons will live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal for which I hope to live for and to see realized. But, My Lord, if it needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.” Nelson Mandela, on trial in 1964.

“[I] tried every way I could [ to end apartheid in South Africa.]  But then when President Reagan came into office, he really undid the things that we did and tried to preserve the apartheid government …. But what (Nelson Mandela) has done has been right. After he was finally released from 27 years of imprisonment, his attitude was one of forgiveness and reconciliation, and building a better nation for his people.” Jimmy Carter, here.

In 1981, Reagan explained to CBS that he was loyal to the South African regime because it was “a country that has stood by us in every war we’ve ever fought, a country that, strategically, is essential to the free world in its production of minerals.” Here. Reagan also had Mandela placed on the U.S. international terrorist list, here.

“I was honored to be the first American President to welcome Mr. Mandela to the White House. It remains a genuine highlight from those four years I was privileged to hold that high office. Together with Poland’s Lech Walesa and Czechoslovakia’s Vaclav Havel, I viewed Nelson Mandela as one of the great moral leaders during that hopeful and transformative era of global change.” George H. W. Bush, here.

“We had a genuine friendship … He managed to be an inclusive figure while never giving up his right to take a stand.” Bill Clinton, here.

“Laura and I join the people of South Africa and the world in celebrating the life of Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela. President Mandela was one of the great forces for freedom and equality of our time.  He bore his burdens with dignity and grace, and our world is better off because of his example.  This good man will be missed, but his contributions will live on forever.  Laura and I send our heartfelt sympathy to President Mandela’s family and to the citizens of the nation he loved.” George W Bush, here.

“We have lost one of the the most influential, courageous and profoundly good human beings any of us will share time with…. He belongs to the ages…. His commitment to transfer power and reconcile with those who jailed him set an example that all humanity should aspire to.” Barack Obama, here.

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“It is true that there has often been close cooperation between the ANC and the Communist Party. But cooperation is merely proof of a common goal—in this case the removal of white supremacy—and is not proof of a complete community of interests…. the history of the world is full of similar examples. Perhaps the most striking illustration is to be found in the cooperation between Great Britain, the United States of America, and the Soviet Union in the fight against Hitler. Nobody but Hitler would have dared to suggest that such cooperation turned Churchill or Roosevelt into communists or communist tools, or that Britain and America were working to bring about a communist world.” Nelson Mandela, on trial in 1964, here.

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“He was a communist, but I would never attack Nelson Mandela,” Bill O’Reilly to Rick Santorum, on the O’Reilly Factor, here.

“Nelson Mandela stood up against a great injustice, and was willing to pay a huge price for that, and that’s the reason he mourned today, because of that struggle that he performed. You are right, what he was advocating for was not necessarily the right answer, but he was fighting against some great injustice. And I would make the argument that, you know, we have a great injustice going on right now in this country, with an ever-increasing size of government that is taking over and controlling people’s lives. And Obamacare is front and center in that.” Rick Santorum to Bill O’Reilly, on the O’Reilly Factor, here.

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Except for President Reagan, Presidents Carter, G. H. W. Bush, Clinton, G. W. Bush, and Obama have spoken highly, respectfully, and admiringly of Nelson Mandela. Bill O’Reilly and Rick Santorum are not in their league.

O’Reilly, who grabs hold of a half-truth and twists it like a pit-bull on amphetamines, seems more “propagandist” than “journalist.” Goebbels would be proud. The “Mandela is a communist (therefore unworthy)” attack is both a red herring fallacy and an ad hominem attack that Mandela, as noted above, refuted in 1964.  (See “List of Fallacies,” on Wikipedia.)

Santorum’s statement is absurd. The Affordable Care act attempts to allow the vast majority of Americans to purchase health insurance, but also compels them to do so. Apartheid denied basic human rights to the vast majority of the people of South Africa. This is a classic “Red Herring” argument. Mr. Santorum attempts to distract the audience by deviating from the topic at hand with a separate argument.

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Larry Furman co-founded Popular Logistics with Jon Soroko in 2007. Larry holds a Bachelor’s in Biology, the equivalent of a minor in Computer Science, and an MBA in “Managing for Sustainability” from Marlboro College, Vermont. He can be reached via e-mail to G-Mail,  “L Furman 97″.